Progressive Rock
Madfish Music · 16 October 2026
With “Return to the Red Planet”, Rick Wakeman heads back to Mars, six years after “The Red Planet” (2020). According to the album notes, he immersed himself in mission reports and recent photographs of the planet before writing a single note. There are nine tracks, from “The Jezero Crater” to “The Epochs of Mars”, and, as on the previous album, some are named after places on Mars, such as “Noctis Labyrinthus” or “Noachis Terra (Land of Noah)”. “The Red Planet” had to be recorded separately because of COVID restrictions; this time the English Rock Ensemble played together in the studio.
The band is Lee Pomeroy on bass, Dave Colquhoun on guitars, Adam Falkner on drums and Mollie Marriott, Steve Marriott’s daughter, on vocals. Marriott sings on five tracks, but, in Wakeman’s words, not as songs: her voice is used as another instrument. One of those tracks is “Bowie’s Vision”, Wakeman’s tribute to his friend David Bowie – the piano on “Life on Mars?” is his.
Wakeman first recorded keyboard templates at The Nursery between 25 June and 31 July 2025. Bass, drums and guitars were recorded at Decoy Studios from 11 to 15 August, and the additional keyboards and vocals, also at Decoy, from 24 to 30 August. Toby Wood engineered the band sessions; Erik Jordan recorded the additional keyboards and mixed the album, and Bill Sellar and Simon Heyworth mastered it. Madfish Music released it on 16 October 2026 on CD, as a CD/Blu-ray set (with high-resolution stereo, 5.1 DTS and Atmos mixes) and on half-speed mastered vinyl; the deluxe editions, in a gatefold sleeve that opens out into a 3D Martian landscape, are sold only through Wakeman’s own store.
Text by Guillem Cardós