It was recorded live in concert at the Royal Festival Hall in London, England on 18 January 1974, staged for the premiere of his symphonic rock adaptation of Jules Verne's 1864 science-fiction novel of the same name.

It tells the story of Professor Lidinbrook, his nephew Axel, and their guide Hans, who follow a passage to the Earth's centre originally discovered by Arne Saknussemm, an Icelandic alchemist.

The finished album was poorly received by A&M management in England and refused to sell it, but American co-owner Jerry Moss heard the record and ordered its release.

Wakeman wanted his next album to tell a story, which he was inspired to do since his father took him to a concert performance of Peter and the Wolf by Sergei Prokofiev as a young boy, which features a narrator and an orchestra depicting the action.

[3] He settled on the idea as early as November 1971, but shelved the project until he had finished recording The Six Wives of Henry VIII in October 1972, and had some music written and money to finance it.

[4][5] Development progressed in December 1972 when Wakeman took part as a guest musician in the orchestral concerts of The Who's Tommy, which featured the London Symphony Orchestra and English Chamber Choir conducted by David Measham, and music arranger Wil Malone.

[11] Instead he chose a group of musicians that he jammed with on Sunday evenings at the Valiant Trooper, a pub in Holmer Green in Buckinghamshire, which became a popular local attraction.

[13][14][10] The decision greatly concerned Lane, who predicted a group of unknown musicians would be the "kiss of death" for the album, and Derek Green, the managing director of the British division at A&M, said it was "too frightening to contemplate", but nonetheless gave the green-light.

[15][3] Set in 1863, German Professor Lidinbrook discovers an old parchment that detailed a journey to the centre of Earth undertaken by Arne Saknussemm, an Icelandic alchemist.

The concerts were announced in October 1973, and organised for 18 January 1974 at the Royal Festival Hall in London, during a break in Yes' tour to promote Tales from Topographic Oceans (1973).

[17][5][18] The stress and worry surrounding the concerts took a toll on Wakeman's health; he had not slept for three days before the show, contracted a stomach ulcer, and required emergency dental surgery for a cracked tooth and nerve damage.

[21] A screen placed above the stage was used to present stock footage of mountains and underground caves at first, until 20th Century Fox granted permission to use clips from the 1959 American film adaptation.

[14] Bassist Roger Newell recalled several politicians, John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Paul McCartney, Yes guitarist Steve Howe, and Peter Sellers in attendance.

[20] The second was a rearrangement of "Twelfth Street Rag" (introduced as "Douzième Rue Tapis") with a The Big Ben Banjo Band cover and black and white minstrels.

[26][27] Music journalist Chris Welch noted: "Several members of the choir could be seen jiving during the more rhythmic moments, and when Rick played some beautiful classical piano, approving nods could be detected from the massed ranks of the orchestra".

[28] Ronnie Lane's Lyn Mobile Studio was used for recording which housed a 16-track desk that was operated by Keith Grant, who was chosen for his engineering experience.

[26] The album was edited, produced, and mixed by Wakeman at Morgan Studios in Willesden, London between 21–29 January 1974, with assistance from engineer Paul Tregurtha.

This sparked concern from management for potential bootlegs to be sold, but the label later reported that it would "tie in more conveniently with Wakeman's plans" as he had resumed touring with Yes which was scheduled to end in the same month.

Derek Jewell of The Sunday Times missed the concert, but thought on record the music "comes over magnificently ... a striking work which only occasionally lapses into pretentiousness".

"[5] The album received some negative reaction upon its release, with music critics having described the record as a "classical pastiche...genuinely appalling" and "brutal synthesiser overkill".

In a retrospective review, Mike DeGange of Allmusic called the album "one of progressive rock's crowning achievements" and noted "interesting conglomerations of orchestral and synthesized music".

[41] In July 1974, Wakeman headlined the Crystal Palace Garden Party concert, performing the album in its entirety with selections from The Six Wives of Henry VIII.

Wakeman decided to use the small lake in front of Crystal Palace Bowl as part of the show; balloon versions of the dinosaurs were built to act out the album's climactic fight.

The next morning, with the band at his house making preparations to take the show on a world tour, Wakeman was on the phone with a journalist when he again fell to the floor, this time regaining consciousness, but suddenly feeling very sick.

He was joined by his band, the English Rock Ensemble, formed of drummer Barney James, guitarist Jeffrey Crampton, vocalists Ashley Holt and Gary Pickford-Hopkins, bassist Roger Newell, and percussionist John Hodgson.

Each show saw the group performing with the 45-piece National Philharmonic Orchestra and the 16-piece Choir of America, both formed of freelance musicians based in New York City, conducted by Measham with Terry Taplin as narrator.

After the label folded in the early 1980s, he recalled that no one had knowledge of its location and declined offers from promoters to stage concerts as he thought a rewrite of the score would not live up to the quality of the original.

[1] However, in 2009, a box from Australia arrived at Wakeman's house which stayed in his garage for about five months before he looked through it, finding nothing that belonged to him except a copy of the original score which by then had suffered from water damage.

[1] Released on 20 November 2012, the album was packaged with a one-off magazine published by Classic Rock and a replica of the 1974 Royal Festival Hall concert program and a 132-page booklet.

[47] All music is composed by Rick Wakeman except "The Forest", which includes an excerpt of "In the Hall of the Mountain King" by Edvard Grieg.Credits adapted from the album's 1974 liner notes.