rick wakeman ( no earthy connection )

dr prog wrote: Cool album. Strong Melodies with the occasional cheesy moment

 

Dellinger wrote: Was it supposed to be a rain sound effect? I thought it was just a faucet running. And about the Out of the Blue medley, even though I usually hate medleys, in this case I think it's much better than the original album (except that I prefer the Prisoner part better on the original album... the only song I actually like as it appears in it).

 

I think it was several faucets running. 

But I like the original arrangements with the brass musicians, which the medley in Out of the Blue didn't have. So, give me that medley but with the original instrumentation. 

Rick is best when he uses electronic keyboards to make electronic keyboard sounds, such as with his Moog solos. He validates those technologies musically when he uses them in that way, even when they sound goofy. Mellotron is an exception--it's supposed to simulate orchestral or choral sounds but it's so uniquely different from real orchestras that it became its own characteristic sound. But when Rick (or, as happens on the later tours I've seen on DVD, Adam) fills in the missing other musicians, it always sounds simulated to me, and loses clarity. (I might grant an exception to that sweeping generalization to the flute sounds on Red Planet, which were more realistic than usual.) It seems to me that No Earthly Connection created quite a different mood from the heroic orchestrations of King Arthur and Journey.

Rick "wishing NEC had better vocalists" Denney

Being interesting to any one person is a matter of taste, of course, and everyone has their own.

I recall attending a bluegrass festival with my wife, and Punch Brothers were the headliners (this was about 8 or 10 years ago). I enjoyed it, but it didn't change my world view. I enjoy bluegrass in measured amounts, and appreciate it when it is done well, and they did it well. But one member of our group said, "Yes, but the sheer technique!" Some would say that is enough, and others would not. But for me, prog is about technique. Some prog has words clever enough to make it about the message, but most doesn't. And that doesn't apply to an instrumental album anyway. I want two reactions when I listen to an album: Admiration, and elevation. The elevation comes when the music commands my attention. I can't listen to that stuff at work; I'd never get anything done. Admiration comes from respecting the decisions made by the musician, and the skill with which those decisions were expressed.

But when I listen even to Wakeman's inappropriately categorized "new age" stuff, I don't hear the George Winston version of minimalism revisited, which to me is no more than pleasant background music, I hear Rick Wakeman, playing in a different style. My wife doesn't much like prog but she loves that stuff. And she loves it because it's musical, and the musical message is in no way clouded by any detectable flaws in technique. (She feels exactly the same way when she hears Steve Howe play guitar in the classical or even folk style, which he does at every concert.) Wakeman put out a lot of stuff, and not all of it is great. But a surprising amount of it has a devoted audience, notwithstanding that it may be a different audience, at least in part, from prog fans. I enjoy his piano albums every bit as much as his prog albums, but they suit my taste.

We also have to remember that Wakeman is a musician and early on became accustomed to owning vast stages and audiences. Of course he wants to record. That's his job. All his other side hustles have been sustained by that, and the only way musicians eat these days is by assembling a range of side hustles. Not all my professional work has been world-class (though I think some of it has), but I still did it because, you know, food, shelter, and the welfare of one's family is important. We are not obligated to like it, of course, but if what he's recording suits our taste, he's pretty reliable about delivering it at a high level. The non-prog stuff was something he did because he needed the money and that's what was popular at the time, but doing it because he needed the money doesn't seem to me to undermine the product's value as art.

His rock operas are overblown as narratives, but they are great fun as spectacles while also being musically interesting and compelling. They are not great philosophy. But I'm a musician--I hardly listen to the words. That's where I put No Earthly Connection: musically compelling but no need to read the words on the record liner.

By the way, Wakeman gave a concert on Swedish television in 1980, which is on Youtube. He plays a medley from NEC that I prefer to the medley on Out of the Blue, though it still does not have the same brass-oriented soundscape.

Rick "whose wife will allow Country Airs in the car on long trips, but not Six Wives" Denney