Rick Wakeman to play with his sons at Gloucester

Dellinger wrote: Yes should have kept Oliver and not get Geoff Downes back.

Tom Ozric wrote: Yeah - a 'funny Prog facts' thread - great idea Oliver W. is nearly as good as his father. On the recent live Yes package 'Live In Lyon', if I wasn't aware that Oliver was on keyboards, I'd swear it was Rick !! Would be funny to see Rick play whilst intoxicated. It just doesn't work. many have tried, and all have failed   'White Rock' has many great tracks.  'Judas Iscariot' is a fantastic piece indeed - gives 'Awaken' a run for its money. Rick gets the best mini-moog sound out of the lot of 'em.  Maybe it's his playing style.  Dave Stewart is still my 'No.1' keyboardist. I hope you love 'tales From Topographic Oceans' - I've heard Rick thinks it's a pile of crap........(features some of his best work I think).    Track 2 of 'The Six Wives......' is a mind-blowing track that just 'cooks' - Alan White is amazing, and the bass-work of Dave Wintour just blows - a rare moment of Rick and band jamming hard !!

At the time I wasn't sure, but now I do believe Yes should have kept Oliver and not get Geoff Downes back. I would think that Oliver together with Davison could have given Yes the freshness to their writing they so desperatley need. And they could be the base for the new Yes for the next generation. As for Topographic Oceans, well, I do like it, though it's not my favourite Yes ablum; I do love "Revealing Science of God"... but somehow agree with Wakeman that the album would have benefited from not being a double album, and having the rest of the songs made into shorter ones. And yeah, I also love Anne of Cleves, and really like Alan's drumming on it.

Now, about what happened when Wakeman planned his show drunk, as far as I remember it (I must listen to the DVD where he tells his tale in order to start the funny prog facts thread) is: first, he saw one part of the band and told them he would change the opening song for... well whichever. Then he saw another part of the band and told them he would change the opening song... but he told them a different song. Then he the other musicians and told them he would begin with another song. So, three different blocks of musicians started playing something different. And then, well ones though they were mistaken and they tried to change to one of the songs the others were playing, while the other part also changed to another song, and so they went on not being able to settle on any one song for, well, quiet a while. Then, the venue happened to have a church organ, which was somehow concealed beneath the stage and would come out through some mechanism, so Rick wanted to use the oportunity to play "Jane Seymour". The thing is that during the concert, when he tried to get in to play the organ, the mechanism wouldn't work and the organ wouldn't come out, and Rick ended up hurting himself, and when the organ finally came out he was bleeding and wouldn't play anymore. Sorry the story is rather patchy, that's why I needed to check it out again. However, next day, when Rick went to take the plane for the next venue, he saw the review of his show. The critic went with something like he wasn't usually a fan of Rick Wakeman, but that last night's show was an eye opener. It began with a mindblowing pastiche of three of his most known songs and went on praising it. And then, he said the death scene on Jane Seymour was just mindblowing.

Yeah - a 'funny Prog facts' thread - great idea Oliver W. is nearly as good as his father. On the recent live Yes package 'Live In Lyon', if I wasn't aware that Oliver was on keyboards, I'd swear it was Rick !!

Rick Wakeman's Criminal Record is fantastic.  Gave that one a spin last night and I can't find much fault with it.  It doesn't hurt having Squire & White on side 1 (first 3 tracks). Oh, and Myths & Legends too - which I find hard to pick which one of these is better - Myths or Journey.......

My sister's ex left all his old vinyl when he left - he was big on Yes and Queen - lots of goodies in those crates, I tell you.

Dellinger wrote: Tom Ozric wrote: Dellinger wrote: Tom Ozric wrote: Dellinger wrote: Tom Ozric wrote: I don't know what material he's focussing on these days, but I've recently re-listened to the original 'Journey.......' and 'Myths and Legends.......' after not having spun them for, literally, years, and blow me away, they are just so exciting.  Wakeman has the best mini-moog sound ever He'll surely be focusing on those two albums and Six Wives. And indeed I love all this three albums, plus a few others he released later on (specially Criminal Record and Out There). Oh yeah !!  Six Wives and Criminal Record are the ones I listen to more often, I've just neglected the other 2 I've mentioned for some reason, and I just love where 'Journey.....' takes me.  Just having another revelation (as I did with Genesis' 'Duke' a while back) - you know - 'always thought it was good but not great...' I've heard several other later albums but they were pretty lacklustre, so I gave up...........I think you have to dig Rick Wakeman's music and style a lot, as opposed to 'Prog Rock', to have any more than, say, a 1/2 dozen of his albums. Though with a back-catalogue like Rick's, there surely many impressive Prog ones he's done that I'm missing................  Check out the "Out There" album I mentioned, specially the song "Cathedral in the Sky", that one's as good as anything he's ever made. I'll look into that eventually - thanks. I listened to 'Journey...' again - I conclude that Rick is a master craftsman.  Yes, it is pompous, but it works.  The way the orchestra blends with the (mainly) Moogs and the band, is pretty tight, and the choir contributes quite emotionally moving parts - I can really feel the epic adventure, the tension, the mystery.  Love the narration. If it weren't for some weak vocals (Holt always bellows, and Pickford-Hopkins sounds tired towards the end) I'd rate this as a 5 star album. Almost as good as Six Wives......... I have never cared about the so called "pompousess" of Wakeman, and other prog artists, actually, that's in a way the reason I like them. And indeed, the orchestrations of Journey are great, though I like them better on Myths and Legends. The orchestra really fits with the music, instead of being at odds as it might happen with some other orchstral rock adventures. Perhaps you would also like to check out the Return to the Center of the Earth album, that was nice too, though not as much as the 70's ones, but some of the songs are real killers. Also, Rick just released a re-recording of Journey, I haven't heard it yet, but certainly I must get it soon.

Oh yes - I have 'Return....' on CD.  Haven't listened to that one for ages, but it was decent from memory.  I'm curious as to what his updated rendition of Journey will be like. 

Dellinger wrote: Tom Ozric wrote: Dellinger wrote: Tom Ozric wrote: I don't know what material he's focussing on these days, but I've recently re-listened to the original 'Journey.......' and 'Myths and Legends.......' after not having spun them for, literally, years, and blow me away, they are just so exciting.  Wakeman has the best mini-moog sound ever He'll surely be focusing on those two albums and Six Wives. And indeed I love all this three albums, plus a few others he released later on (specially Criminal Record and Out There). Oh yeah !!  Six Wives and Criminal Record are the ones I listen to more often, I've just neglected the other 2 I've mentioned for some reason, and I just love where 'Journey.....' takes me.  Just having another revelation (as I did with Genesis' 'Duke' a while back) - you know - 'always thought it was good but not great...' I've heard several other later albums but they were pretty lacklustre, so I gave up...........I think you have to dig Rick Wakeman's music and style a lot, as opposed to 'Prog Rock', to have any more than, say, a 1/2 dozen of his albums. Though with a back-catalogue like Rick's, there surely many impressive Prog ones he's done that I'm missing................  Check out the "Out There" album I mentioned, specially the song "Cathedral in the Sky", that one's as good as anything he's ever made.

I'll look into that eventually - thanks.

Dellinger wrote: Tom Ozric wrote: I don't know what material he's focussing on these days, but I've recently re-listened to the original 'Journey.......' and 'Myths and Legends.......' after not having spun them for, literally, years, and blow me away, they are just so exciting.  Wakeman has the best mini-moog sound ever He'll surely be focusing on those two albums and Six Wives. And indeed I love all this three albums, plus a few others he released later on (specially Criminal Record and Out There).

Oh yeah !!  Six Wives and Criminal Record are the ones I listen to more often, I've just neglected the other 2 I've mentioned for some reason, and I just love where 'Journey.....' takes me.  Just having another revelation (as I did with Genesis' 'Duke' a while back) - you know - 'always thought it was good but not great...' I've heard several other later albums but they were pretty lacklustre, so I gave up...........I think you have to dig Rick Wakeman's music and style a lot, as opposed to 'Prog Rock', to have any more than, say, a 1/2 dozen of his albums. Though with a back-catalogue like Rick's, there surely many impressive Prog ones he's done that I'm missing................ 

Tom Ozric wrote: I don't know what material he's focussing on these days, but I've recently re-listened to the original 'Journey.......' and 'Myths and Legends.......' after not having spun them for, literally, years, and blow me away, they are just so exciting.  Wakeman has the best mini-moog sound ever

He'll surely be focusing on those two albums and Six Wives. And indeed I love all this three albums, plus a few others he released later on (specially Criminal Record and Out There).

Dellinger wrote: Since last year, Wakeman has been publishing about himself playing at a prog festival in Gloucester, in June I think (I may be mistaken). However, it seems there were some situations that made him change his plans for his performances, and he ended up inviting both Adam and Oliver to play with him on keyboards, as well as her daughter Jemma on vocals. Now, I hope some of this is released, for I would very much like to listen to some of this performances.