Rick Wakeman appreciation thread

Slartibartfast wrote: lazland wrote: Criminal Record remains to this day one of my favourite albums. When he is good, he is excellent, although, by his own admission, some of his stuff was to pay off the bank and ex-wives and total dross. 1984?

lazland wrote: And to think, we gave the world a language to be forgotten and abused

Slartibartfast wrote: 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.

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.

Dayvenkirq wrote: richardh wrote: I think I appreciate him more as a personality than a musician. He went through a distinctly weird phase around about 1980 when his personal problems (booze) seemed to overtake him. I remember him saying he was bankrupt but couldn't understand why ( I guess the 7 Rollers he purchased might have had something to do with it). What I really like about Rick is that he's a proper bloke. Enjoys his currys and the ermm aforementioned booze. Likes to moan about the government and stuff. He is also a commited Christian which even makes him a bit enigmatic.   Over the years I've collected various CD's and DVD's (you virtually can't avoid bumping into them there are so many) and seen him live (solo, with Yes and also the stand up routine). Great fun really.   The albums I like the most are 6 Wives , Criminal Record and King Arthur. All of those rank alongside the best keyboard based prog albums ever made. I have also given positive reviews to the Retro albums whihc have been unfairly overlooked/dismissed by many fans. OK they have Mr Holt 'singing' on them but there is much to enjoy depsite that. I also love the recent Six Wives DVD.   Overall I feel that Rick could have achieved a lot more than he has. Too many medicore releases would be a kind way of putting it. Those few gems make it for it though. I don't know. I think Rick achieved enough as a keyboardist in his lifetime. He has his own classic solos. How far can he really get? Give the man a break  (my actual smile is more genuine than that one) .

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.

Jim Garten wrote: Tha man himself at a very rainy Cropredy Festival 2 years ago: Played a stunning 90 minute set & despite the bulldog-chewing-a-wasp expression on the lady in the foreground, he went down a storm (appropriate for the weekend's weather that year), especially when he encored with Starship Trooper. Most recently saw him on the duet tour with Jon Anderson last year; plenty of banter between the two, some great music (plus some reallllly banal ballads...), overall a great evening.

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".

dennismoore wrote: lazland wrote: And to think, we gave the world a language to be forgotten and abused   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!

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).

Dayvenkirq wrote: richardh wrote: I think I appreciate him more as a personality than a musician. He went through a distinctly weird phase around about 1980 when his personal problems (booze) seemed to overtake him. I remember him saying he was bankrupt but couldn't understand why ( I guess the 7 Rollers he purchased might have had something to do with it). What I really like about Rick is that he's a proper bloke. Enjoys his currys and the ermm aforementioned booze. Likes to moan about the government and stuff. He is also a commited Christian which even makes him a bit enigmatic.   Over the years I've collected various CD's and DVD's (you virtually can't avoid bumping into them there are so many) and seen him live (solo, with Yes and also the stand up routine). Great fun really.   The albums I like the most are 6 Wives , Criminal Record and King Arthur. All of those rank alongside the best keyboard based prog albums ever made. I have also given positive reviews to the Retro albums whihc have been unfairly overlooked/dismissed by many fans. OK they have Mr Holt 'singing' on them but there is much to enjoy depsite that. I also love the recent Six Wives DVD.   Overall I feel that Rick could have achieved a lot more than he has. Too many medicore releases would be a kind way of putting it. Those few gems make it for it though. I don't know. I think Rick achieved enough as a keyboardist in his lifetime. He has his own classic solos. How far can he really get? Give the man a break  (my actual smile is more genuine than that one) .

A little unfair as I was only lamenting that he hadn't done more with his wonderful God given talent. I think he has been derailed with ex wife issues and booze. I also gave positive reviews of both Retro albums so I think I have have given the man more of a break than many What I do respect about Rick and also Steve Hackett a few others is that he didn't just rely on Yes(or Genesis in Steve's case) as some sort of pension plan and struck out on his own and was succesfull at it. Just that hundred odd albums later only a small handfull are actually that good of the ones I've heard and judging by the comments so far on this thread once you get past Six Wives, Journey, White Rock, Criminal Record and Arthur there isn't a lot else to get excited about.

Dayvenkirq wrote: richardh wrote: A little unfair as I was only lamenting that he hadn't done more with his wonderful God given talent. I think he has been derailed with ex wife issues and booze. I also gave positive reviews of both Retro albums so I think I have have given the man more of a break than many What I do respect about Rick and also Steve Hackett a few others is that he didn't just rely on Yes(or Genesis in Steve's case) as some sort of pension plan and struck out on his own and was succesfull at it. Just that hundred odd albums later only a small handfull are actually that good of the ones I've heard and judging by the comments so far on this thread once you get past Six Wives, Journey, White Rock, Criminal Record and Arthur there isn't a lot else to get excited about. 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.

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.

richardh wrote:   Overall I feel that Rick could have achieved a lot more than he has. Too many medicore releases would be a kind way of putting it. Those few gems make it for it though.

I agree.
My favorite Rick Wakeman albums are: Journey To The Centre Of The Earth and Criminal Record.