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Rick Wakeman first came to the public's eye performing with David Bowie on the Space Oddity album in 1969; he subsequently joined the British prog-folk band Strawbs the following year. He stayed with that band for two albums (Just A Collection Of Antiques And Curios and From The Witchwood), and was recruited by the more rock-oriented band Yes. Wakeman's debut with that band, Fragile, is generally considered to be one of the great prog-rock albums of all time. By his own estimation, he has appeared on over 2000 tracks by artists as diverse as Black Sabbath, Elton John and Lou Reed.


The six tracks on Rick Wakeman's 1977 album, Criminal Record, share a common theme: transgression. From the comparatively obscure ("Birdman Of Alcatraz") to the infamous ("Judas Iscariot"), Wakeman employs his keyboard wizardry to devastating effect. As with earlier solo works such as The Six Wives Of Henry VIII and King Arthur, Wakeman uses a central theme as a springboard to give flight to his musical fantasia.


Packaged in original LP artwork reconfigured to an oversized heavy board minijacket wrapped with an iridescent stock, includes a translucent sleeve to protect the CD, Criminal Record also comes with a four-colour 9-inch by 9-inch mini-poster. It is a numbered limited edition, with each copy individually foil-stamped.