Rick Wakeman success allowed Wakeman to buy a new home in Gerrards Cross and start a collection of cars, which he rented out through his new business, the Fragile Carriage Company. In late 1971, Wakeman played two notable piano sessions, on "It Ain't Easy" on Bowie's album "The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars" and on "Orange" by Al Stewart. In the 1972 "Melody Maker" readers' poll, Wakeman ranked second in the Top Keyboardist category behind Keith Emerson. That year, Yes followed "Fragile" with "Close to the Edge". It became their best selling album since their formation
Journey to the Centre of the Earth (album) Wakeman wished to make an album that told a story with its music, something that he had been inspired to do so since his father took him to see a performance of the symphonic fairy tale "Peter and the Wolf" by Sergei Prokofiev which features a narrator telling the story and an orchestra illustrating the action. Wakeman had wanted to do an orchestral rock piece based on the 1864 science fiction novel "Journey to the Centre of the Earth" by Jules Verne as early as November 1971, but he put the project on hold until he had finished recording "The