It takes a singular singer to have an equal billing to Rick Wakeman on an album cover, and such an alliance usually results in a special record: if the platters the keyboard wizard laid down in the company of his old friends – a studio and live ones with Jon Anderson and one with Dave Cousins – followed their YES and STRAWBS formulas, his collaborations with outside vocalists tended to pander to more discerning audience. There were “A Suite Of Gods” with British tenor Ramon Remedios in 1988 as well as “Black Knights at the Court of Ferdinand IV” and “Stella Bianca alla corte de Re Ferdinando” with Neapolitan Mario Fasciano in 1989 and 1999, so when another Italian, Valentina Blanca, came forth with an offer of joint work, the veteran found her voice captivating enough to go along with this idea.
Having notched a few songs in Italian, the pair tried their might on-stage, and their one-off performance in Sicily in 2016 turned out to be spellbinding, so Valentina and Rick decided to film their next live endeavor which happened to take place two years later in Spain, at the Gran Teatro de Elche, where both Blanca and Wakeman’s pieces and his classics got an airing, and the results of it will be released on November 18th. It’s going to be a CD/DVD package wherein the audio-only part has a few concert cuts next to studio number, while the video presents the Spanish show in its glorious entirety. Clearly, for aficionados it’s a souvenir to cherish.
VALENTINA BLANCA –
Live From Elche
CD:
Live:
1. Amazing Grace
2. Julia
3. Merlin The Magician
4. Morning Has Broken
5. Oh My Beloved Father
6. The Hymn
7. The Meeting – L’incontro
Studio:
8. La Bambloa Di Pezza
9. Le Sirene Di Nettuno
10. Volano Le Farfalle
11. Fantasmi
DVD:
1. Pachelbel Canon In D
2. Morning Has Broken
3. Catherine Of Aragon/Catherine Howard
4. Amazing Grace
5. And You And I/Wonderous Stories
6. Oh My Beloved Father
7. Dance Of A Thousand Lights
8. Julia
9. Help/Eleanor Rigby
10. The Hymn
11. Space Oddity/Life On Mars
12. Merlin The Magician
13. The Meeting/L’incontro
14. After The Ball Bonus Tracks
15. La Bambola Di Pezza
