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cstack3 View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Topic: New interview with Rick Wakeman
    Posted: February 19 2011 at 11:42
http://www.classicrockrevisited.com/interviewRickWakeman.htm

When asked if he will ever play with the band Yes again, Rick Wakeman answers with a resounding, “No.”
---

There are also some clips of the new Wakeman/Anderson tunes.  

I wonder what the real problem is with this band?  I'm guessing it might be Squire, based on the past split into a West Coast Yes & Other Yes!  

Oh well, he's a founder & one of the guiding lights, but it just doesn't seem right that Anderson is not included.  I guess Squire & Howe wanted to play material from "Drama" and Jon held his nose, so it gets complex.

Whatever.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 19 2011 at 12:15
i think the current line-up will be a lasting one but i do foresee a few Anderson and Wakeman guest appearances live and/or studio. Wakeman saying he'll never be seen with Yes again is like the Rolling Stones saying "NOW THIS IS THE LAST ONE"
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 19 2011 at 22:50
Eh. Oliver Wakeman is a better keyboard player anyway. Better songwriter too. Also, Oliver Wakeman doesn't stumble around on the stage in a drunken stupor.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 19 2011 at 23:09
I wouldn't say that getting new member to play in Yes so they could continue was such a bad thing for them to do... in the end it's their band too. However, I guess the main problem was that they didn't put the matters straight with Jon Anderson. As far as Rick is concerned, he was suposed to be supportive of the band touring again without him, and it was even he who sugested that Oliver take his place, but obviously something has happened since that made him mad with the band... perhaps just the way the band treated Jon, and how neither Jon nor Rick were considered for the line-up of the new record... both of them are perfectly capable of recording again, and Jon was really willing when he got better, and tried to get in touch with the others, and well, he was not accepted. I guess it's all right that the band didn't want to discard the new members once the tour was over, but the new album could have been made with both Benoit and Anderson, and perhaps also with both Rick and Oliver, and they could have had even a few concerts with that line-up. However, I still hope the Wakeman, Anderson, Rabin project may come to happen this year... and Wakeman had said he wanted to do some concerts in Mexico and Latin America (including King Arthur on Ice once again and Journey... I really wish that would happen too).
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 20 2011 at 00:23
Hackett and Squire have recorded a CD worth of material but not sure of its release date.
See the Hackett websites.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 20 2011 at 06:26
I couldn't make it all the way through the clip in the interview.  Not a computer issue, just wasn't interested enough to.  I hope they had a good time making the music but the new stuff by these guys - Jon, Rick, and the others just doesn't interest me any more.  The old stuff casts a big shadow.

Edited by Slartibartfast - February 20 2011 at 06:41
Released date are often when it it impacted you but recorded dates are when it really happened...

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 21 2011 at 13:29
Hi,
 
While I have to say that I always enjoyed Rick's work with YES, I did not, in general, enjoy a whole lot of his solo work ... I think he spread himself out too thin and wanted to do way too many things, because he was bored with the whole thing, but the things he did with YES are excellent and the band is different without him.
 
His classical training, helps him do a lot of things, but I wonder if he is stuck on the different keyboards, because the things he would like to do, he can do now with one workstation ... and it would not be a bother to most bands. It's hard to judge what he really wants ... and to be honest with yoy, many of his solo albums were not that good for my ears and I got really bored ... felt like a primer for classical music done with his synthesizers, and in the end, I think that he did not do as well, as he would have liked or enjoyed ... the lifestyle that he wanted, and it's hard not to think that he will do YES now and then, because he gets well paid for it.
 
I don't know ... I am not sure that Rick always wanted more classical things done, and the fact that YES did many long cuts during his time, is a sign of that, but in the end, I think he was not able to do what he wanted, even in his own solo work, which might have been a focus issue. It's sad, that so many other keyboard players the world over passed him right by, and did so many things ... I would have liked to see Rick be remembered and appreciated with the likes of Vangelis and Riuichi Sakamoto, but I'm not sure that it can be done with the kind of solo work he has done.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 21 2011 at 14:45
^ Rick has become much more personality than musician especially in the UK. Up until recently he hosted the Saturday morning slot on Planet Rock radio and did it brilliantly. Great when he is talking to an audience and tells a joke as well as anyone.
I will see say though that both his Retro albums have been criminally ignored. They show off his talent extremely well.
I went to see him with Jon Anderson just before Christmas and have to say I was a bit bored. Just the one keyboard (workstation).Doesn't do it for me. Want some razzamatazz.Still he's a great guy and a loyal 'supporter' of prog rock and you have to love him for that alone.


Edited by richardh - February 21 2011 at 14:50
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 21 2011 at 15:08
If Anderson did something like "Olias" with Wakeman on keys, I'd be quite a bit more interested! 

Realize both these guys are pushing the spiritual stuff (Wakeman's Christianity, and Anderson's whatever).  Makes for some rather weak music.  

Oh well, our prog heroes fade in the twilight....
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 22 2011 at 20:49
Originally posted by richardh richardh wrote:

...
I will see say though that both his Retro albums have been criminally ignored. They show off his talent extremely well.
...
 
They weren't, at least in Santa Barbara radio up until I left in 1982 ... very well represented, and I still find his first album the best of them all, and most enjoyable.
 
Originally posted by richardh richardh wrote:

I went to see him with Jon Anderson just before Christmas and have to say I was a bit bored. Just the one keyboard (workstation).Doesn't do it for me. Want some razzamatazz.Still he's a great guy and a loyal 'supporter' of prog rock and you have to love him for that alone.
 
That's sad ... anything he did then, can be done today really easy on one workstation with one exception  ... he probably wants to play on a second keyboard, and that's ok ... another workstation, or midi board.
 
The sad thing is, if it "does not do it for you", is that at that moment, it is not about the music ... it really should not matter if he has 10 keyboards in there, or 1 ... it has to be about the music ... close your eyes and let the music take you ... it shouldn't matter if it is a workstation or him in a gold robe on a big stage ... and it looks like you want some visual stimulation that you are not finding in the music itself, maybe?
 
I have to tell you that is so sad ... and it hurts musicians and artists so bad, because they can not explore and improve and change, because we want them frozen in time ... dead!
 
It's a different time or place, and he can play many other things ... and if he brought an iPad and played for my audience, that would be fine with me! ...  I would rather see him playing and doing that ... than roasting away, wasted with a talent that no one can appreciate ... how sad ... yeah ... I think I would rather be dead ... because being enslaved by fans is not something that I would enjoy a whole lot!
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 22 2011 at 21:58
Originally posted by richardh richardh wrote:

^ Rick has become much more personality than musician especially in the UK. Up until recently he hosted the Saturday morning slot on Planet Rock radio and did it brilliantly. Great when he is talking to an audience and tells a joke as well as anyone.
I will see say though that both his Retro albums have been criminally ignored. They show off his talent extremely well.

I went to see him with Jon Anderson just before Christmas and have to say I was a bit bored. Just the one keyboard (workstation).Doesn't do it for me. Want some razzamatazz.Still he's a great guy and a loyal 'supporter' of prog rock and you have to love him for that alone.


Indeed I liked his Retro albums very much... well, I just got Retro 2, so I'm still making my mind about it (it seems that Retro 1 was somewhat better, though). However, I felt the album "Out There" was even better, great album all around. If you haven't heard it, you should do it as soon as possible.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 23 2011 at 01:17
Originally posted by Dellinger Dellinger wrote:

Originally posted by richardh richardh wrote:

^ Rick has become much more personality than musician especially in the UK. Up until recently he hosted the Saturday morning slot on Planet Rock radio and did it brilliantly. Great when he is talking to an audience and tells a joke as well as anyone.
I will see say though that both his Retro albums have been criminally ignored. They show off his talent extremely well.

I went to see him with Jon Anderson just before Christmas and have to say I was a bit bored. Just the one keyboard (workstation).Doesn't do it for me. Want some razzamatazz.Still he's a great guy and a loyal 'supporter' of prog rock and you have to love him for that alone.


Indeed I liked his Retro albums very much... well, I just got Retro 2, so I'm still making my mind about it (it seems that Retro 1 was somewhat better, though). However, I felt the album "Out There" was even better, great album all around. If you haven't heard it, you should do it as soon as possible.
I've got the DVD for ''Out There''. Havn't played it for a while but will probably give it a spin this week now you've mentioned itThumbs Up
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 23 2011 at 01:22
Originally posted by moshkito moshkito wrote:

Originally posted by richardh richardh wrote:

...
I will see say though that both his Retro albums have been criminally ignored. They show off his talent extremely well.
...
 
They weren't, at least in Santa Barbara radio up until I left in 1982 ... very well represented, and I still find his first album the best of them all, and most enjoyable.
 
Originally posted by richardh richardh wrote:

I went to see him with Jon Anderson just before Christmas and have to say I was a bit bored. Just the one keyboard (workstation).Doesn't do it for me. Want some razzamatazz.Still he's a great guy and a loyal 'supporter' of prog rock and you have to love him for that alone.
 
That's sad ... anything he did then, can be done today really easy on one workstation with one exception  ... he probably wants to play on a second keyboard, and that's ok ... another workstation, or midi board.
 
The sad thing is, if it "does not do it for you", is that at that moment, it is not about the music ... it really should not matter if he has 10 keyboards in there, or 1 ... it has to be about the music ... close your eyes and let the music take you ... it shouldn't matter if it is a workstation or him in a gold robe on a big stage ... and it looks like you want some visual stimulation that you are not finding in the music itself, maybe?
 
I have to tell you that is so sad ... and it hurts musicians and artists so bad, because they can not explore and improve and change, because we want them frozen in time ... dead!
 
It's a different time or place, and he can play many other things ... and if he brought an iPad and played for my audience, that would be fine with me! ...  I would rather see him playing and doing that ... than roasting away, wasted with a talent that no one can appreciate ... how sad ... yeah ... I think I would rather be dead ... because being enslaved by fans is not something that I would enjoy a whole lot!
I actually like the sound of keyboards especially the retro variety. Six Wives and King Arthur are full of life with great sounds as well as great music. Both are very important to me but sory it doesn't fit with your ideal of what music is about.
I think the idea that what I do in anyway hurts Rick or other musiciains is complete nonsense. I buy his albums and buy tickets for his gigs. How can that possiobly be hurting him? .I just have a personal opinion about what he is doing at the moment.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 23 2011 at 14:41
Originally posted by richardh richardh wrote:

...
I think the idea that what I do in anyway hurts Rick or other musiciains is complete nonsense. I buy his albums and buy tickets for his gigs. How can that possiobly be hurting him? .I just have a personal opinion about what he is doing at the moment.
 
That's not what I meant ... what I meant is that he can play what he did THEN, with one keyboard today, with the exception that in one his hand is going left and the other his hand is going right, and for that he would need a 2nd keyboard, which could be a workstation or midi board.
 
Generally, carrying around some of those instruments today is really difficult and the expense is tough ... and you can have the issue that Richard Barbieri had in SF in 1999, when his Prophet 5 took a spill at the airport and from noon until about 4PM several folks tried to fix it and had it spread around the floor ... and it didn't work, and Richard spent several hours backstage while two other bands played and programmed a couple of other synthesizers and their show went on and sounded very good to my ears.
 
All in all, in the end, when you hear Trillian, or Miroslav, or some of the things out there, the differences these days are amazing ... and if Richard Barbieri would have played his Prophet 5 on the machine, or Arturia's software, he would tell you that the differences are minimal now ... except that we are used to what we heard first (which was what taught me the difference) ... but the flexibility to go further is insane and considerably better ... the software is much more flexible than the machine itself actually was. From what I hear in Richard's work with PT and on his own, I think he actually mixes both analog and digital together, so he can get different things done with it, and since you can split the envelopes in the digital one, you can loop the original or vice versa.
 
I wonder if Rich did not get along with the computers, and I can understand that ... I still can't get a DAW to do what I want ... !!!


Edited by moshkito - February 23 2011 at 14:45
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 27 2011 at 02:08
For my money, the most technically-gifted Rock keyboard player ever; for pure technique, only Emerson comes close in Progressive terms, Ritchie was the most dynamic live organist of the three but never truly joined the progressive era. Wakeman opened the door to multi-keyboard multi-sounds. It's wrong to chip away at such a legacy simply because he's still around trying to do something that isn't necessarily as good as his best work. It shouldn't detract from what he's proved he's capable of.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 27 2011 at 03:43
Originally posted by resurrection resurrection wrote:

For my money, the most technically-gifted Rock keyboard player ever; for pure technique, only Emerson comes close in Progressive terms, Ritchie was the most dynamic live organist of the three but never truly joined the progressive era. Wakeman opened the door to multi-keyboard multi-sounds. It's wrong to chip away at such a legacy simply because he's still around trying to do something that isn't necessarily as good as his best work. It shouldn't detract from what he's proved he's capable of.
 
Patrick Moraz
Jon Lord
Rod Argent
Eddie Jobson
Kerry Minnear
Tony Banks
 
..and more besides if I really sit down and think about it properly. Prog has been blessed with a great many techniclally gifted keyboard players.
Wakeman and Emerson stood out because they were flamboyant. Emerson had the knife stabbing thing and Wakeman the long flowing blonde locks and cape. Both equally strong characters and personalities. They were prepared to take a leading role in their bands and not just sit quietly on the side while the guitarist and singer took the plaudits.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 28 2011 at 14:22
Originally posted by resurrection resurrection wrote:

For my money, the most technically-gifted Rock keyboard player ever; for pure technique, only Emerson comes close in Progressive terms, Ritchie was the most dynamic live organist of the three but never truly joined the progressive era. Wakeman opened the door to multi-keyboard multi-sounds. It's wrong to chip away at such a legacy simply because he's still around trying to do something that isn't necessarily as good as his best work. It shouldn't detract from what he's proved he's capable of.
 
You gotta be kidding me ...
 
You really need to spend more time listening to some of those Italians in some rock bands ... they make both of those sound, and look like children playing in their toy pianos!
 
Wakeman for multi-keyboard sounds I will accept to a point ... he was probably the most versatile in that area, but Keith had already been doing that for 3 years by then!
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 01 2011 at 23:00
Could you name some of the best Italian keyboard bands, and specific songs?


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Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 02 2011 at 13:14
Originally posted by brainstormer brainstormer wrote:

Could you name some of the best Italian keyboard bands, and specific songs?


I'm betting that PFM is one of themApprove
 
How about the track 'Out Of The Roundabout'? Love the keys on that.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 02 2011 at 13:46
Originally posted by richardh richardh wrote:

Originally posted by brainstormer brainstormer wrote:

Could you name some of the best Italian keyboard bands, and specific songs?


I'm betting that PFM is one of themApprove
 
How about the track 'Out Of The Roundabout'? Love the keys on that.
 
PFM, Banco, Le Orme ... just for starters!
 
But when you get into the secondary tiers and many other bands, you will find some folks that are quite classically minded and tend to do some rather interesting and off the wall things ... I have heard, Uno, Realle Academie del Musica, Acqua Fragile (PFM stole their lead singer and killed the band), and so many others ... and you might check out the Italian thread ... the list is insane, and these people were inspired by rock instruments, not necessarily rock'n'roll and that makes a difference in what you do with the music!
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