Rick Wakeman’s return to the cosmic atmospheres of Mars is realized with the release of “Return To The Red Planet,” issued on October 16, 2026, by Madfish Music. Six years after the previous chapter in 2020, the British keyboardist resumes the conceptual thread, reassembling The English Rock Ensemble. The lineup features bassist Lee Pomeroy and guitarist Dave Colquhoun, welcoming drummer Adam Falkner in place of Ash Soan, and introducing the vocals of Mollie Marriott, daughter of the late Steve Marriott. The integration of vocal parts and choirs constitutes the true structural shift from the previous work, offering a new expressive dimension to complex Progressive architectures. The creative process began with keyboard drafts composed by Wakeman at Nursery Studios, evolving into a group recording session at Decoy Studios between August 2025 and January 2026. Sound engineering was handled by Toby Wood, mixing by Erik Jordan, and mastering by Simon Heyworth. The inspiration is rooted in a rigorous analysis of the latest scientific data and satellite photography provided by NASA, translating Martian topography into symphonic scores. The opening is entrusted to “The Jezero Crater,” a six-minute and fifty-eight-second piece conceived as a mini-suite in four parts named “Shenandoah,” “Hogwallow Flats Pt1,” “The Yori Pass,” and “Hogwallow Flats Pt2.” The inspiration draws from the ancient Martian lake basin, translating into a majestic Symphonic display led by Wakeman’s keyboards and supported by the rhythmic section of Falkner and Pomeroy. Mollie Marriott’s vocal interventions weave through Colquhoun’s guitar textures, immediately highlighting the new stylistic balance. A piece that shows the album’s trajectories from the start, presenting an artist and a band in prime form. Wakeman’s solo interventions and melodies embellish the track, providing a characteristic touch that recalls the keyboardist’s historic releases, yet with a fresh and modern approach, the album opens with a masterpiece. The journey continues with “Bowie’s Vision,” a piece lasting over five minutes that represents the most intimate moment of the work. The track pays homage to David Bowie, evoking the historic collaboration that saw Wakeman record the piano for “Life On Mars.” As recalled by the keyboardist himself, the desire to dedicate a musical tribute to his late friend found its ideal placement in this return to Mars, giving rise to a personal composition that unites melodic warmth with sudden shifts in direction. Wakeman’s keyboard performance dialogues with Colquhoun’s solos and a Mellotron that expands into choruses of rare spatial suggestion. The sung parts marry perfectly with the track’s atmospheres, intense and delicate in theme. Musically, the sound moves on solid Progressive Rock ground, featuring guitar, keyboards, and vocals interacting over a robust rhythmic foundation. Wakeman’s solo interventions, of exquisite beauty, also exude passion and feeling for his friend, creating musical passages and architectures with the other instruments that are truly thrilling, conveying all the passion and highlighting the indissoluble artistic and human bond between Rick and David, two pillars of music. With “Noctis Labyrinthus,” a five-and-a-half-minute track, the music delves into the canyons of the Martian Night Labyrinth. The structure evokes medieval atmospheres and is characterized by a tight instrumental duel between Wakeman’s synthesizers and Colquhoun’s guitar, supported by the solid and elaborate rhythmic sections of Pomeroy and Falkner, and airy choral backdrops. Alternating symphonic openings with expanded sonorities counterbalance the accelerations and incisive textures of instrumental Progressive Rock. Here, Rick enhances the piece with refined solo work on multiple keyboards that intertwine with guitar interventions, in a crescendo of intensity developed through continuous time changes. The track “Noachis Terra (Land of Noah)” extends for over six minutes, exploring primordial geological regions. The concept links to the figure of Noah’s Ark navigating toward unknown lands, developing through a synth flute timbre skillfully dosed by Wakeman over a pulsing navigational rhythm, enriched by the dreamlike singing of Mollie Marriott. A piece that shows a different facet of Rick’s sound, more modern yet highly refined, concluding the track by experimenting with the synth flute over an engaging percussive rhythm. Following this is “Witch Hazel Hill,” a concise four-minute piece that showcases tight virtuosity. Rapid keyboard progressions intertwine with Lee Pomeroy’s dynamic bass and electric guitar stabs, challenging powerful Mellotron and choir cascades. An instrumental piece that proposes a more direct sound, yet highly elaborate, featuring continuous solo interludes and a tight rhythmic section. The composition “St Paul’s Bay,” lasting nearly seven minutes, looks directly to the complex structures of 1970s Progressive Rock. References to the style of YES are evident, accentuated by Colquhoun’s guitar work that pays homage to Steve Howe’s expressiveness, while Wakeman’s organ dominates the scene, supported by a powerful bass. Here, the artist’s classic atmospheres revive in a composition that manages to bring the same intensity to a modern sound, valuing all facets of Rick’s unmistakable style, both in composition and execution. In “Martian Dust Devils,” the music translates into notes the swirling dust devils that scour the red planet. The keyboards introduce the theme, allowing Mollie Marriott’s voice to climb on sustained notes of great delicacy, before the track transforms into a floating, carnival-like atmosphere. This is kept solid by the main melodic line and the excellent synth work that guides the theme in the instrumental sections, supported by an elaborate rhythmic section. The penultimate track, “Medusae Fossae,” lasting four and a half minutes, plays on the contrasts between light and shadow of the Martian geological formation. The spectral atmosphere is balanced by Colquhoun’s refined guitar lines and Wakeman’s sought-after keyboard timbres, confirming an analytical approach devoid of obviousness. A piece that alternates between expanded symphonic passages with Mellotron carpets and more incisive sections, developed in a crescendo that culminates in a refined acoustic guitar solo, which then leaves space for Rick’s keyboards. The work closes with the epic “The Epochs of Mars,” a nearly eight-minute piece divided into three phases: “Noachian,” “Hesperian,” and “Amazonian.” This final suite summarizes the geological eras of the planet through imposing symphonic architectures, reaching its climax in a touching duet between Wakeman’s piano and Mollie Marriott’s voice. A suite and an album to be listened to and re-listened to in order to catch all the nuances and textures created by Wakeman and performed by this lineup of absolute caliber. “Return To The Red Planet” proves to be a solid and mature work that fully confirms the inestimable artistic journey of Rick Wakeman in over fifty years of music history. The integration of Mollie Marriott’s vocals allowed the band to surpass the exclusively instrumental formula of the 2020 chapter, offering breath and variety to a band in a state of grace. As highlighted by producer Simon Heyworth during the mastering process, the disc goes beyond a routine release to impose itself as a cornerstone of contemporary Progressive Rock, a declaration I share. A disc that confirms Rick Wakeman as one of the pillars of world music, another masterpiece in the artist’s already rich solo discography.
Tracklist
01. The Jezero Crater (06:58)
02. Bowie’s Vision (05:48)
03. Noctis Labyrinthus (05:31)
04. Noachis Terra (Land Of Noah) (06:24)
05. Witch Hazel Hill (04:02)
06. St Paul’s Bay (06:55)
07. Martian Dust Devils (04:56)
08. Medussae Fossae (04:29)
09. The Epochs Of Mars (07:45)
Lineup
Rick Wakeman / Keyboards
Dave Colquhoun / Guitars
Lee Pomeroy / Bass
Adam Falkner / Drums
Mollie Marriott / Vocals