Softsword (King John and the Magna Carta)
by Stephen RaiteriBased on music Wakeman wrote for the finale of a Dickens Festival in Rochester-upon-Medway, England, this is an unclassifiable melange of an album, stylistically similar to Phantom Power or Time Machine. If the songs fit into a storyline, this is not explained in the liner notes. There are songs based on historical topics (but with lyrics grounded in modern idiom), sad and pleading love songs, and several instrumentals, a couple of which feature some good keyboard playing.