Defend The Indefensible: Rick Wakeman

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"Send an instant korma to me/Initial it with loving care . . . "

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Thursday, 18 November 2004 07:48 (8 years ago) Permalink

The weirdest line in that song is "Just remember that the goal is for us all to capture all we want". It doesn't even seem to be used in a critical or satirical sense AFAICT. Didn't it occur to anyone that this might be a little contradictory to the overall message of the song. Actually the lyrics to that song are pretty weird on the whole - all that chess imagery and "use me any time you want" stuff.

I can't fucking believe the shit that the keyboardist on the glorious Yes Album is taking. Joe v OTM - what he played was perfect for those songs, whereas Wakeman could sometimes be really intrusive and overbearing. The organs and the jam on "Good People"! The organ riff on "Starship Trooper"! Also Moraz deserves major props.

Despite Wakeman's flaws, mind you, no one who played "South Side of the Sky" and "Siberian Khatru" is anything close to indefensible. He did get some classic sounds out of the keyboard - I love his bits on "And You and I" and nick is right about the synth float on "Heart of the Sunrise". And I'm surprised Ned doesn't even like "Long Distance Runaround".

― sundar subramanian (sundar), Thursday, 18 November 2004 08:44 (8 years ago) Permalink

i heard another story about wakeman torturing audiences with ridiculously high frequencies; is this true?

― jake b. (cerybut), Thursday, 18 November 2004 09:27 (8 years ago) Permalink

when i saw him it was the opposite - at one point he was almost inducing chest cavity resonance with slow-decay high-resonance filter-sweeps on 32'/sawtooth set minimoog oscillators...
god it was wonderful

― Snowy Mann (rdmanston), Thursday, 18 November 2004 11:22 (8 years ago) Permalink

(i always thought moraz much more towards the high-pitched squealy end of things - i haven't listened to 'relayer' for about 28 years, but the tendency is also all over his semi-mentalist 'story of i' 1st solo album)

(which nonetheless has an amazing first couple of minutes....as if Propaganda/ZTT had appeared 10 yrs earlier as mid-70's south american prog-rockers !)

― Snowy Mann (rdmanston), Thursday, 18 November 2004 11:33 (8 years ago) Permalink

The organ riff on "Starship Trooper"!

That's three chords — and Kaye didn't even write them.

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Thursday, 18 November 2004 15:18 (8 years ago) Permalink

Wakeman still has tea & biscuits with his keyboard tech during Alan White's drum solo on "Ritual", I think. Its become a tradition.

― Jay Vee (Manon_70), Thursday, 18 November 2004 16:13 (8 years ago) Permalink

no mention of his other 'classic' of the era - no earthly connection.

this along with Wives, and King Arthur are 3 wonderfully OTT albums for when your 14>16 and haven't discovered Foetus/ON-U Sound yet

.. then to be hidden deep in the archive forever after.

he was also one of the first Rock stars to ever respond to a sad fanboy letter ..

i'm revealing wayyyy too much here .. but hey ..

and live in 1984 Braford St Georges hall - he was quality (again, i was still within the predefined 14-16 years of age)

but damn - when the dude is bad he is seriously bad .. 'rock-n-roll prophet' album .. WTF ..

― mark e (mark e), Thursday, 18 November 2004 16:41 (8 years ago) Permalink

Three chords and the truth, man!

― sundar subramanian (sundar), Thursday, 18 November 2004 18:27 (8 years ago) Permalink

the keyb solo sounds like a harpsichord on "Sibertian Khatru" is indeed fine. That song is a masterpiece all around, actually. i actually found an old, scratchy copy of "Six Wives" yesterday in a box stored for years and it's...fun...

and while Tony Kaye was sort of neutral, I like that Hammond sound he got on "Yes Album," and "Yours is No Disgrace" does utilize the I-IV-VII progression (I think it's B-flat pedal tone with B-flat/E-flat-B-flat 7 sus 4 there) well.

― eddie hurt (ddduncan), Thursday, 18 November 2004 19:08 (8 years ago) Permalink

A monkey could've played it.

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Thursday, 18 November 2004 19:12 (8 years ago) Permalink

i wish there were more monkeys playing music, actually.

― eddie hurt (ddduncan), Thursday, 18 November 2004 19:17 (8 years ago) Permalink

And I'm surprised Ned doesn't even like "Long Distance Runaround".

It's sorta goofy.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 18 November 2004 19:21 (8 years ago) Permalink

it is goofy. I do like the beginning bit, though, that's kind of cool. It's funny to me, they way they try to funkify the backing tracks with that drum/bass interaction.

― eddie hurt (ddduncan), Thursday, 18 November 2004 19:32 (8 years ago) Permalink

A monkey could've played it.

A MONKEY, eh. Apparently you've never heard Kaye on 9012Live: The Solos.

― savetherobot, Thursday, 18 November 2004 19:49 (8 years ago) Permalink

Oh but I have — but of course we're making the same point. Look, I'm fine w/ people saying Kaye didn't screw things up like Wakeman maybe did or didn't, depending on your taste. But to sit there and say, "Those three chords he played on organ there are truly the bee's knees"? I mean, seriously — give me a fucking break. That's like complimenting a session drummer for managing to keep time. Yay.

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Thursday, 18 November 2004 19:58 (8 years ago) Permalink

NTI, you are unnecessarily harsh on Tony Kaye.

Give it up for the white-haired wonder!

― wetmink (wetmink), Thursday, 18 November 2004 20:30 (8 years ago) Permalink

I mean, look at that shirt!

― wetmink (wetmink), Thursday, 18 November 2004 20:39 (8 years ago) Permalink

I'm w/Sundar & Eddie & all the other folks who rate The Yes Album uber alles and preferred Tony Kaye's minimal contributions because of the less-obtrusiveness factor. No question Wakeman was a better player and a major component of those twin '72 masterpieces, but he could be obnoxious at times: One of the best things about his "Close To The Edge" Hammond solo is the respite it provides after many minutes of "I Get Up I Get Down"'s near-painful sustained cathedral-organ chords.

I admit I haven't heard Rick's solo LPs, but only because I don't want to.

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Thursday, 18 November 2004 20:45 (8 years ago) Permalink

NTI, you are unnecessarily harsh on Tony Kaye.

I have nothing against Tony Kaye. I do, however, find the notion of praising his abilities to be patently ludicrous on its face. The guy stayed out of the way — that's it, folks.

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Thursday, 18 November 2004 20:55 (8 years ago) Permalink

Yeah, I mean, seriously, that's true. Wakeman is a more skilled player and more entertaining to watch. But on the other hand, as generally agreed, to some people's tastes there's something to be said to Yes as a whole without Wakeman. I'm just sort of jokingly lionizing Tony Kaye as an anti-Wakeman.

― wetmink (wetmink), Thursday, 18 November 2004 20:59 (8 years ago) Permalink

The guy stayed out of the way — that's it, folks.

I should note, however, that Robert Fripp once gave Bill Bruford a writing credit for choosing not to interrupt an improvisation by playing. Perhaps he learned such restraint from his time spent in Yes with The Indomitable Tony Kaye!

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Thursday, 18 November 2004 21:02 (8 years ago) Permalink

Speaking of Bruford, in The Music's All That Matters he does give Wakeman the credit for knowing how to write smooth transitions between the "movements" in Yes's songs.

― wetmink (wetmink), Thursday, 18 November 2004 21:28 (8 years ago) Permalink

... and implies Jon Anderson was not good at same...

― wetmink (wetmink), Thursday, 18 November 2004 21:30 (8 years ago) Permalink

Hey! This is a Wakeman thread? What's with all the Tony Kaye love?!

Listen to 90125. The man added practically nada to the situation.

― Jay Vee (Manon_70), Thursday, 18 November 2004 21:32 (8 years ago) Permalink

Thank you. Thank you.

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Thursday, 18 November 2004 23:05 (8 years ago) Permalink

1 month passes...

Listening to Close to the Edge today (after having found my cassette tape, yes cassette tape, again), it occurred to me that, perhaps, just perhaps, Rick Wakeman actually had a great sense of humor, even if he didn't realize it. I mean the harpsichord break on Siberian Khartu is effing hilarious. The prance-y electric rennaisance faire shit is a bit too much though.

― Hurting (Hurting), Wednesday, 29 December 2004 04:30 (8 years ago) Permalink

― Joe (Joe), Wednesday, 29 December 2004 21:37 (8 years ago) Permalink

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00000879J.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

― Joe (Joe), Wednesday, 29 December 2004 21:37 (8 years ago) Permalink

Greatest album cover ever.

― Joe (Joe), Wednesday, 29 December 2004 21:37 (8 years ago) Permalink

I fear to ask, but what does the 'plus' mean?

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 29 December 2004 21:40 (8 years ago) Permalink

he wears that gold cape in every picture from 75-78 it seems

― chaki in charge (chaki), Wednesday, 29 December 2004 21:47 (8 years ago) Permalink

Oh my.

― 57 7th (calstars), Wednesday, 29 December 2004 22:25 (8 years ago) Permalink

Well, the original album was called "Rock n Roll Prophet", and for the CD release he added on some tracks. Hence: "Rock n Roll Prophet Plus". This album, by the way, features the positively outstanding "I'm So Straight I'm a Weirdo" and "Do You Believe in Fairies?", with Wakeman himself taking lead vocals (ironically, he's better than 99% of the people he actually hired to sing lead vocals on his albums).

Back to the album cover,I particularly like the Snoopy doll hanging from the coat rack.

― Joe (Joe), Thursday, 30 December 2004 01:20 (8 years ago) Permalink

Or maybe it's the model with the lollipop and McCartney bass...

― Joe (Joe), Thursday, 30 December 2004 01:21 (8 years ago) Permalink

am i the only one who thinks that this album cover is almost momus-esque?

I fear to ask, but what does the 'plus' mean?

it's like the "32" on every bottle of rolling rock beer!

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Thursday, 30 December 2004 06:21 (8 years ago) Permalink

Yeah, but "Perpetual Change" and "Yours Is No Disgrace" are both vastly superior on Yessongs
All Yours Is No Disgrace Are Belong To Yes!

― Ken L (Ken L), Thursday, 30 December 2004 07:29 (8 years ago) Permalink

Que?

― Joe (Joe), Thursday, 30 December 2004 12:07 (8 years ago) Permalink

Isn't it Wakeman who turns up on Grumpy Old Men? He's pretty funny on that - better than J Clarkson anyway.

― Charles Dexter (Holey), Thursday, 30 December 2004 13:53 (8 years ago) Permalink

it's like the "32" on every bottle of rolling rock beer!

What kind of drunk are you? It's 33

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 30 December 2004 13:54 (8 years ago) Permalink

It's 32 PLUS 1.

― dave225 (Dave225), Thursday, 30 December 2004 14:05 (8 years ago) Permalink

Que?
Sorry. Was a lame joke on this already lame joke.

― Ken L (Ken L), Thursday, 30 December 2004 20:22 (8 years ago) Permalink

3 years pass...

(But quite why I like Jon Lord a lot, say, is a mystery.)-- Ned Raggett (Ned), teisipäev, 16. November 2004 11:50 (3 years ago)

Oi, man. Had we met in, say, '75 or samthung, I woulda been ready & willing to talk away on JonLord-iana for days on end. :)

― t**t, Thursday, 10 January 2008 23:01 (5 years ago) Permalink

4 months pass...

er, lol?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IHVdG3rKqE

― gershy, Monday, 26 May 2008 06:30 (5 years ago) Permalink

Reminds me of somebody but I can't put my finger on it.

― Noodle Vague, Monday, 26 May 2008 18:37 (5 years ago) Permalink

Rick Wakeman, per chance?

― t**t, Monday, 26 May 2008 18:58 (5 years ago) Permalink

Or Gandalf the Grey with a reddish Rick Wakeman mane photoshopped unto 'im?

― t**t, Monday, 26 May 2008 19:00 (5 years ago) Permalink

('m making them silly jokeses just to alleviate the strain of awaitin' my cd copy of six wiveses, which i orderered on teh cheap, to arrive...)

― t**t, Monday, 26 May 2008 19:03 (5 years ago) Permalink

there some super funky shit on journey to the centre of the earth and no earthly connection.

― chaki, Monday, 26 May 2008 19:06 (5 years ago) Permalink

one of my first threads *tear*
Taking Sides! Rick Wakemen vs. Keith Emerson!

― chaki, Monday, 26 May 2008 19:07 (5 years ago) Permalink

Skipping 22 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

Not wanting to sound negative but no.

― everything, Tuesday, 8 May 2012 22:30 (1 year ago) Permalink

5 months pass...

I'm totally digging Rock and Roll Prophet at the moment. It's like Wakeman meets the Buggles. And he sings weird duets!

http://open.spotify.com/album/1cOv3eKLgw8Tuas65QvaS6

― Naive Teen Idol, Friday, 26 October 2012 19:28 (7 months ago) Permalink

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