Rick Wakeman or Keith Emerson

richardh wrote: verslibre wrote: There's one other keyboardist who, to me, sounds almost literally like a cross between Emerson and Wakeman. Rick van der Linden of Ekseption and Trace.   not Patrick Moraz?

Edited by iluvmarillion - April 15 2019 at 01:15

.........I still think Dave Stewart is a cut above Rick and Emmo........

I love the both, they were simply gods. Choosing Wakeman or Emerson is choosing Close to the Edge or Tarkus, choosing Journey to the Centre of the Earth or Karn Evil 9. 

verslibre wrote: There's one other keyboardist who, to me, sounds almost literally like a cross between Emerson and Wakeman. Rick van der Linden of Ekseption and Trace.

 

Keith is my hero but I went for the 'both' option because Rick is such a great bloke and I appreciate his work very much. Six Wives is an album that Keith would have loved to have made and virtually defined the use of keyboard in prog rock. Fantastic achievement.  

ExittheLemming wrote: Dellinger wrote: ExittheLemming wrote: Dellinger wrote: ExittheLemming wrote: Love 'em both but I voted for Keith principally for this reason: Wakeman is a keyboard player who composes Emerson was a composer who played keyboards Then why did Wakeman compose so much more music than Emerson? And why did Emerson rely even more on doing covers? Six Wives, King Arthur and No Earthly Connection aside, quantity clearly doesn't trump quality. From around '86 Wakeman was churning out 5 or 6 albums a year of fondant new age drivel. Maybe he had more ex wives to satisfy than Keith? I'm not even convinced Keith has done more covers: (OK they've both done Christmas albums certainly) but Rick also has an entire album of Beatles covers (Tribute to the Beatles), an entire album of traditional hymns (Morning Has Broken), an entire album of classical adaptations (Classical Variations), a entire album of traditional christian music (Always With You) and an entire album of cover versions (Piano Portraits) there may be more but I ran out of patience looking for them, you might have better luck: http:////www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=766 OK, perhaps there's a lot more covers stuff from Wakeman than I remember, but I was thinking mostly of their more popular an creative periods (mostly the 70's, of course), in which Wakeman did mostly his own original stuff while... well, yes, ELP did mostly original stuff too, but they always included their covers in their albums (which I mostly love, actually). However, for me Six Wives, Arthur, and No Earthly Connection would be more than enough to choose Wakeman over Emerson (in a way, since No Earthly Connection wouldn't be among my personal favourites). I mean, with ELP their golden period consists of 4 or 5 albums, and fans of the band may just love them all. As far as I'm concerned, I like some of the songs, some others leave me cold, and some others I just can't stand, so in the end there's no really great albums for my enjoyment from them. From Wakeman, I find among my favourite albums 6 Wives, Arthur, and Out There, and I like almost as much Journey and Criminal record, plus two masterpiece albums with Yes in Fragile and CttE. And a whole bunch of songs from the rest of their albums (both Wakeman solo and Yes) that I love (more so than the ELP ones). So, in the end, much more music from Wakeman that I love, even if the amount of music in total will earn a good deal of music I wouldn't like (which doesn't really bother me much, for I just don't have to listen to that). And still, quality aside, the statemen had been that Emerson is considered more of a composer and Wakeman more of a player, when it is clear that Wakeman has composed so much more music (and as I said, for me in particular, more music that I like). I don't have a problem with any of that but just think how many keystrokes you would have saved us both if you had originally typed: Then why did Wakeman compose so much more music that I like, than Emerson?

OK, but Wakeman did compose much more music than Emerson, and mostly that's what I wanted to say, since my personal preference is, of course, subjective (amount of music composed isn't). But since you sort of dismissed that statement saying that Emerson's compositions are better (or at least that you liked them better), then I go on to add that there is also so much more from Wakeman that I like than from Emerson.

The question of this thread is:

Had to call this one a draw.  Maybe Wakeman for technique, Emerson for style.

ExittheLemming wrote: Dellinger wrote: ExittheLemming wrote: Love 'em both but I voted for Keith principally for this reason: Wakeman is a keyboard player who composes Emerson was a composer who played keyboards Then why did Wakeman compose so much more music than Emerson? And why did Emerson rely even more on doing covers? Six Wives, King Arthur and No Earthly Connection aside, quantity clearly doesn't trump quality. From around '86 Wakeman was churning out 5 or 6 albums a year of fondant new age drivel. Maybe he had more ex wives to satisfy than Keith? I'm not even convinced Keith has done more covers: (OK they've both done Christmas albums certainly) but Rick also has an entire album of Beatles covers (Tribute to the Beatles), an entire album of traditional hymns (Morning Has Broken), an entire album of classical adaptations (Classical Variations), a entire album of traditional christian music (Always With You) and an entire album of cover versions (Piano Portraits) there may be more but I ran out of patience looking for them, you might have better luck: http:////www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=766

OK, perhaps there's a lot more covers stuff from Wakeman than I remember, but I was thinking mostly of their more popular an creative periods (mostly the 70's, of course), in which Wakeman did mostly his own original stuff while... well, yes, ELP did mostly original stuff too, but they always included their covers in their albums (which I mostly love, actually). However, for me Six Wives, Arthur, and No Earthly Connection would be more than enough to choose Wakeman over Emerson (in a way, since No Earthly Connection wouldn't be among my personal favourites). I mean, with ELP their golden period consists of 4 or 5 albums, and fans of the band may just love them all. As far as I'm concerned, I like some of the songs, some others leave me cold, and some others I just can't stand, so in the end there's no really great albums for my enjoyment from them. From Wakeman, I find among my favourite albums 6 Wives, Arthur, and Out There, and I like almost as much Journey and Criminal record, plus two masterpiece albums with Yes in Fragile and CttE. And a whole bunch of songs from the rest of their albums (both Wakeman solo and Yes) that I love (more so than the ELP ones). So, in the end, much more music from Wakeman that I love, even if the amount of music in total will earn a good deal of music I wouldn't like (which doesn't really bother me much, for I just don't have to listen to that). And still, quality aside, the statemen had been that Emerson is considered more of a composer and Wakeman more of a player, when it is clear that Wakeman has composed so much more music (and as I said, for me in particular, more music that I like).

I can vividly recall whole albums of Emerson's playing while with ELP. Wakeman? More of a hear and there kind of keyboardist.