Rick Wakeman vividly remembers the day he was presented with his first gold (“or platinum, or whatever it was”) disc for Journey To The Centre Of The Earth, at a music industry conference Midem. In a proud moment for irony, one of the heads of A&M, who had been “very anti” the album and hadn’t wanted it released, was doing the honours in front of a shedload of journalists. “He stood up,” recalls Rick, “and spoke words to the effect of: ‘Every now and then, an album lands on your desk and the minute you hear it you know you’ve got something very special here. Something you must nurture and go forward with. And that’s exactly how I felt when Journey To The Centre Of The Earth came to me.’”
Our man, waiting at the side of the stage, felt his jaw dropping with disbelief. “But what was really brilliant, as I approached him, under the applause he leaned over into my ear and said, very clearly: ‘Don’t. You. Fucking. Dare!’”
