Bjorn Olaf Syvertsen on 08/04/2003 [Other reviews by Bjorn Olaf Syvertsen ]

This album sounds like Rick summing up the 80s - as well as taking a quick look back at "No earthly connection" from the 70s. The album features typical 80s instrumentals from Rick and songs sung by Ashley Holt, Chrissie Hammond and Ramos Remedios. The fact that these three singers all appear, makes this album sound a bit like a "greatest hits without the hits"-album. (Quotation: Bob Dylan). The album summs up the Ramos Remedios era, as well as the Chrissie Hammond era. The Ashley Holt tracks reminds me very much about the "Cost of living" / "1984" period. This album contains some very good tracks, like for instance the last two, but it can also be a bit too much to listen to the entire album. Programming can be a good idea to avoid losing interest along the way. The 90s was a period when Rick Wakeman sometimes seemed to prefer quantity to quality... (Who else would release ten to fifteen albums a year?) This has improved from "Return to the centre of the earth" and onwards.

Jon Hinchliffe on 27/09/1997 [Other reviews by Jon Hinchliffe ]

Phantom Power is a soundtrack Album but not in the usual style. The album consists of full blown songs and it is as if the film was added to the soundtrack instead of vice Versa. In fact the video for Queen's "Heavens for everyone" would be a good example