Rick Wakeman appreciation thread |
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lazland
Prog Reviewer Joined: October 28 2008 Location: Wales Status: Offline Points: 13249 |
Posted: March 16 2012 at 14:14 | ||
Indeed!
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Enhance your life. Get down to www.lazland.org
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lazland
Prog Reviewer Joined: October 28 2008 Location: Wales Status: Offline Points: 13249 |
Posted: March 16 2012 at 14:15 | ||
And to think, we gave the world a language to be forgotten and abused
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Enhance your life. Get down to www.lazland.org
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dennismoore
Forum Senior Member VIP Member Joined: April 19 2011 Location: America Status: Offline Points: 877 |
Posted: March 16 2012 at 15:12 | ||
I prefer to think that we Yanks have "fine-tuned" the King's English a bit.
And no, nothing we American's have done has come close to the complete trashing of English
that your own "Cockney" subculture has done!
At least we Americans got rid of all those "Ye and Thou" silly words.
Oh, about Rick:
I don't think 1984 is that bad. If you drop the songs with vocals, and you splice together all the instrumentals from 1984,
you have around 18 minutes of pure Wakeman classical & Orchestral magic!
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"Yeah, people are unhappy about that - but you know what, it's still Yes." - Chris Squire
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Slartibartfast
Collaborator Honorary Collaborator / In Memoriam Joined: April 29 2006 Location: Atlantais Status: Offline Points: 29625 |
Posted: March 16 2012 at 15:59 | ||
I put in an order for a used copy of that at half.com. Many days passed before it arrived and I was about to report it. It came from somewhere in Russia. Had some pretty cool stamps on it and was wrapped in old typing paper with Cryllic typing on it. I think it was a pirate copy. Anyway, for all of that it was really disappointing musically.
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Released date are often when it it impacted you but recorded dates are when it really happened...
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Dayvenkirq
Forum Senior Member Joined: May 25 2011 Location: Los Angeles, CA Status: Offline Points: 10970 |
Posted: March 16 2012 at 16:04 | ||
Aw, we are sorry .
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Slartibartfast
Collaborator Honorary Collaborator / In Memoriam Joined: April 29 2006 Location: Atlantais Status: Offline Points: 29625 |
Posted: March 16 2012 at 17:17 | ||
By the way Shock A Con also puts in an appearance on the recent Return To Forever, sorry Chaka, you are no Flora or fauna...
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Released date are often when it it impacted you but recorded dates are when it really happened...
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Dellinger
Forum Senior Member VIP Member Joined: June 18 2009 Location: Mexico Status: Offline Points: 12608 |
Posted: March 16 2012 at 21:43 | ||
My very favourite albums from him are 6 Wives and Arthur, and for me they are some of the very best prog albums. Arthur may just as well be the album guilty of getting me into prog. I first heard it because a friend from High School lent me a cassette copy of it, she said it was just their at her house (from her parents, I guess). I copied it, and was rather intrigued by it... of course I had now idea what it was, nor who Rick Wakeman was, nor what prog was, and it was all rather weird and old fashioned, and had all this ridiculous "humorous" bits or whatever, but still I was intrigued, and came back to it some times. Of course, later I discovered Wakeman wasn't the singer, but the keyboard player, and he was considered among the best keyboard player in rock (and prog), and he was famous for being in the band "Yes"... well then I thought Yes was a mediocre little known band, perhaps just a one hit wonder with "Owner of a Lonely Heart"... but whatever. Still, now Arthur is among my favourite albums, and I no longer can hearr that "old fashioned" thing that bother me, though I still can't get into the "Chaplin-like" part on the middle of Merlin... but the rest of the album is sublime, and the title song is among my favourite prog songs. Six Wives is also a perfect album for me... a survivor poll for this album would be some kind of Hell for me... just no way I could choose any song below (or above) any other, they are all great.
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Dellinger
Forum Senior Member VIP Member Joined: June 18 2009 Location: Mexico Status: Offline Points: 12608 |
Posted: March 16 2012 at 21:49 | ||
I also like Criminal Record a lot. I find it very similar to 6 wives, specially the first 3 songs... plus they are almost some Yes songs (with Squire and White performing on them). Judas Iscariot is also an awsome piece of music, with the Church organ thing, and the choirs... really amazing (though perhaps a tiny bit overlong for it's own good). The Breathalizer is the one song I don't like at all on this album, and it's the main reason I don't consider it at the same level as 6 wives. I was lucky enough to get this album (as a matter of fact, a store at my city was able to find it for me), though weirdly enough, it was recorded with "Journey to the Centre of the Earth" in the same CD (as a duo album), which I already had... however, I still think it would have made more sense if it had been paired with 6 wives instead of Journey. |
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Dellinger
Forum Senior Member VIP Member Joined: June 18 2009 Location: Mexico Status: Offline Points: 12608 |
Posted: March 16 2012 at 21:57 | ||
Those three are also my favourite Wakeman albums... perhaps I could throw in Journey and Out There too. I also liked the Retro albums quiet a bit, though not as good as the other albums mentioned, I think Wakeman proved he still has the prog flame burning brightly, and there are some wonderful prog songs in both albums, specially "Just another Day" and "The Temple of Life" (along with "Cathedral in the Sky", from Out There) are among my favourite prog songs from the last decade, as good as anything from the 70's. Oh, and "The Temple of Life" features Jemma Wakeman on lead vocals, his doughter, who did a very fine job at singing here. All in all, perhaps if Wakeman had made only one "Retro" album, with the best songs from both, he might have achieved another 5 star masterpiece. |
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cstack3
Forum Senior Member VIP Member Joined: July 20 2009 Location: Tucson, AZ USA Status: Offline Points: 6754 |
Posted: March 16 2012 at 22:18 | ||
Great thread! Few give Rick the credit for being the first electronic keyboardist to stack up lots of keyboards in the studio & onstage, back in the days when most prog & rock keyboardists seemed to be stuck with only Hammond organ with a Mini-Moog plopped on top!
When I first saw Rick on the CTTE tour, I couldn't believe how he could fluidly play two sets of keys, one in front & one behind! (only later did I realize that this was classical English church pipe-organ technique). |
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Dellinger
Forum Senior Member VIP Member Joined: June 18 2009 Location: Mexico Status: Offline Points: 12608 |
Posted: March 16 2012 at 22:24 | ||
I'm afraid I have missed many concerts I would have liked to see, many of which because I discovered the bands a bit (or not so bit) too late. But at least I'm grateful enough that I was able to go to Wakeman's performance of 6 Wives at Hampton Court, with orchestra and all (and that's the CD version I have of that concert, for they recorded it and sold it after the show... with great sound quality I may add). It was particularly great for me that I was able to attend to that concert, considering that I live in Mexico, and was able to schedule some holidays I had planned to Europe on the date of the concert so I could attend I really love that concert, by the way. It may be the best concert experience I have attended along with Waters' "The Wall". |
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Dellinger
Forum Senior Member VIP Member Joined: June 18 2009 Location: Mexico Status: Offline Points: 12608 |
Posted: March 16 2012 at 22:50 | ||
Even though that last question was not directed at me, here I go. I was actually a bit dissapointed with "No Earthly Connection". I already knew "The Prisoner" before (which I like a lot), and some live bits, but when I got the album, I found it sort of patchy. There were lots of great musical ideas, but I feel they were not fully developed nor properly organized throughout the "epic" centerpiece of the album. I liked much better the "shortened" version on the live album "Out of the Blue"... that one has all the best bits from the epic, and I may say better organized (even though I would have prefered if that live version had included "The Realization" at the end, instead of "The Prisoner"). I'm also looking forward to getting the live BBC recordings from Rick, which include concerts from Earthly Connection era, and I'm hoping it will include better organized versions from those songs. Oh, and my version of "No Earthly Connection" came coupled with "Cost of Living", which was, well, listenable. Not on par with his best work, but from time to time it may be enjoyable. Edited by Dellinger - March 16 2012 at 22:52 |
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Dellinger
Forum Senior Member VIP Member Joined: June 18 2009 Location: Mexico Status: Offline Points: 12608 |
Posted: March 16 2012 at 22:54 | ||
I didn't think 1984 was so bad an album either. Even some of the vocal songs are pretty decent... but still his 70's touch was gone (for the moment). |
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brainstormer
Forum Senior Member Joined: January 20 2008 Location: Seattle, WA Status: Offline Points: 887 |
Posted: March 16 2012 at 23:36 | ||
I found this quote on the YouTube Arthur post:
"Like Wagner, this is a perfect marriage of sound and subject matter. If your subject matter is sex and drugs and teenage rebellion, you probably want some edgy, punky sound. You do not, however, take on a subject like Arthur without expressing grandeur in the music. This is why some people find the music of Wakeman or countless other progressive rock acts overblown."
manlyduckling
11 months ago Thought that was pretty apt. That old "greasy spoon" aesthetic used to try to make proggers feel guilty for not sounding like Lou Reed and singing songs about "real life," which always had to be about something depressing. But I think this Manly Duckling really speaks truth to the old debate about the value of prog. |
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Robert Pearson Regenerative Music http://www.regenerativemusic.net Telical Books http://www.telicalbooks.com ParaMind Brainstorming Software http://www.paramind.net |
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richardh
Prog Reviewer Joined: February 18 2004 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 26171 |
Posted: March 17 2012 at 03:17 | ||
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Dayvenkirq
Forum Senior Member Joined: May 25 2011 Location: Los Angeles, CA Status: Offline Points: 10970 |
Posted: March 17 2012 at 03:39 | ||
No offense, but if I were you, I would try not to use words like 'fair' and 'unfair' because, after all, Rick is a human being who is in charge of his own life and music and does not have to feel indebted to his fanbase.
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Slartibartfast
Collaborator Honorary Collaborator / In Memoriam Joined: April 29 2006 Location: Atlantais Status: Offline Points: 29625 |
Posted: March 17 2012 at 04:32 | ||
If you are a musician making a living off of music then you do have a certain obligation to your fanbase to make good music. But musicians have their hits and misses. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. No guts, no glory. Rick is one of those prolific guys who is all over the place. |
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Released date are often when it it impacted you but recorded dates are when it really happened...
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richardh
Prog Reviewer Joined: February 18 2004 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 26171 |
Posted: March 17 2012 at 10:26 | ||
I am not offended just now extremely annoyed at you and your condascending attitude . As far as Rick goes he can do what he likes and makes a hundred more albums and I can choose not to buy them.
Just exactly what is your point?
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Moogtron III
Prog Reviewer Joined: April 26 2005 Location: Belgium Status: Offline Points: 10616 |
Posted: March 17 2012 at 10:39 | ||
I agree. My favorite Rick Wakeman albums are: Journey To The Centre Of The Earth and Criminal Record. |
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Dayvenkirq
Forum Senior Member Joined: May 25 2011 Location: Los Angeles, CA Status: Offline Points: 10970 |
Posted: March 17 2012 at 11:52 | ||
I do not know how you got the impression of my condescending attitude, but if so, then I sincerely apologize. You are right, you can choose what album to buy or not to buy, but I just don't like the idea of zapping Rick on this. I'm just very new to this kind of topic and has only developed a perspective. Everyone makes mistakes at some point or another.
Edited by Dayvenkirq - March 17 2012 at 11:55 |
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