Rick Wakeman said: "It's just one of those decisions a manager has to make." Wakeman described the record as "the album Yes should have made instead of "Topographic Oceans"." Released in July 1977, the album spent two weeks at No. 1 in the UK and spawned the No. 7 single, "Wonderous Stories". Wakeman considered its fifteen-minute track "Awaken" as one of the band's best. During the "Going for the One" tour, Wakeman released "Rick Wakeman's Criminal Record", a solo album loosely based on criminality with Squire on bass, Alan White on drums, Frank Ricotti on percussion, and Bill Oddie on lead vocals
1984 (Rick Wakeman album) album, and was able to get his first choice each time. The album was recorded between 23 February–14 April 1981 at Morgan Studios in London, with Wakeman as the sole producer. It was then cut at Townhouse Studios. Upon completion, the album cost under £100,000 to make. At the time of recording Wakeman knew what keyboards he wanted to use and ordered some models from Korg, but they failed to arrive in time. Instead, he used a mix of his own instruments with rented or borrowed equipment. Wakeman said the finished product contains just one tape edit which occurs towards