Rick Wakeman live from '75

[EMwhite]

Wow. Thanks for the link.

Shame that he peaked at the age of 25; brilliant. I like the way he's dialing in the next patch on Minimoog #2 while playing his Organ like a dickens.

I had a chance to see him @ Prince Albert Hall a few years ago but my flight was cancelled on the way to Heathrow and I had to fly the next day. Ended up buying the program, that was as close as I got.

Six wives is my cup of tea, and a few tracks off of Retro; but the singer on the studio Journey To album is a bit of a bummer. Reminds me of the guy from Tommy : )

[Kevin Lightner]

Ahhh, I do have to admit I did have an early Yes obsession in my teens, and don't regret it, or hesitate to put some selections on the Ipod, when doing housework especially!-

No worries. There's been many a time we've cleaned house to Close to the Edge.

[Rob Smith]

I listened to Close To The Edge so much that I had to purchase a second one as a back up. The three Prog Rock standards are Selling England by the Pound by Genesis, Trilogy by ELP and of course Close to the Edge by Yes.......... IMHO. It all probably started with, In the Court of the Crimson King by... King Crimson and ended with UK Danger money. 8 to 9 fun years in music. Im glad I was there for the ride!

[jimtheswede]

I listened to Close To The Edge so much that I had to purchase a second one as a back up. The three Prog Rock standards are Selling England by the Pound by Genesis, Trilogy by ELP and of course Close to the Edge by Yes.......... IMHO. It all probably started with, In the Court of the Crimson King by... King Crimson and ended with UK Danger money. 8 to 9 fun years in music. Im glad I was there for the ride!

Yep - pretty much agree. I was in the seat next to you. Those were some exciting times for music and synths! Many other albums we could mention though - Gentle Giant, Brand X, etc., etc. - and of course Richard Wright with PF!

[Vsyevolod]

I was 16 when Six Wives came out. I loved that album no end. Then when Journey to the Centre of the Earth hit the stores, I ran out to buy it. It never spoke to me then, and still doesn't.

I considered him washed out and tired with his contribution to Tales from Topographic Oceans. It was a great relief to me that he opted out of Yes and allowed the keyboard seat to pass to Patrick Moraz. When Rick got back together with Yes, it was never the same. Some of that old magic was left behind.

Thanks for the link Kevin, I enjoyed watching him do his strange head movements just like I remembered them from so many years ago. He seemed so young then, just a fresh kid who happened to play quite the dazzling keyboard.

Stephen




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[Kevin Lightner]

I didn't mind some of the stuff on "Journey to the Centre of the Earth", but was disappointed with "Tales from Topographic Oceans."
It was a two record set and had just one small solo part I liked.
Specifically, the Mini solo here: http://www.minimoog.net/topographic_solo.mp3
This style was a lot like much of the soloing on "White Rock", including the rarely used Mini noise modulation.

I think Rick was the one who got tired of Yes' direction and left.
That's what I read anyway.
However (and despite that he's a nice guy in person), I thought Moraz was terrible and a huge mismatch for Yes.
Everyone has their own tastes, but I truly despised "Relayer."

I DID like some songs from Rick's "Criminal Record" and "Rhapsodies" though.

[Mr Arkadin]

Hah, Relayer is my favourite Yes record although I prefer Wakeman to Moraz. Actually Tales... suffers from being too long. I find that by skipping the overdone third part it's a much better work (try it). I love that part (two?) of Tales... where Jon is singing "Relayer" with a great chugging riff.

Also, wasn't this one of those albums where everyone was over dubbng their parts individually rather than playing together as a unit, or am I thing of Pink Floyd?

[Wesley]

Rick did a lot of work over the years with Dave Cousins and the Strawbs.

[Vsyevolod]

However (and despite that he's a nice guy in person), I thought Moraz was terrible and a huge mismatch for Yes.
Everyone has their own tastes, but I truly despised "Relayer."

Yes, everyone has their own taste. For me, Relayer was difficult to wrap my head around for the first month. It slowly grew to become (and still is by a huge margin) my favourite YES album. I saw them at the Hollywood Bowl in 1974 and Fresno in 1976, Moraz's first and then his final tour with YES.

My sense was that he was the perfect candidate to take on the keyboard duties. He wasn't a Wakeman by a long shot, yet he played the old Wakeman parts in his own unique way. I always love it when people dare to do things their own way. Too many tribute bands these days try to make their stage performance sound exactly like the studio album.

You wanna talk about terrible mismatches for YES? Ever hear of Trevor Rabin? Geoff Downes? Tony Kaye (the second time around)? Benoît David? But especially Trevor Rabin.

Jes sayin...

Stephen




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[Kevin Lightner]

You wanna talk about terrible mismatches for YES? Ever hear of Trevor Rabin? Geoff Downes? Tony Kaye (the second time around)? Benoît David? But especially Trevor Rabin.

I somewhat agree with you.
However Yes itself had changed styles considerably by then.
That alone was disappointing.
Trevor Rabin wasn't a bad guitarist, but still kind of pop oriented to fill Steve Howe's boots.

Perhaps blame Trevor Horn.
It would seem he was more into pop than progressive rock.
I didn't mind "Tempus Fugit" for example, but it was nothing like earlier Yes.
Nothing later Yes played took me on any sort of "trip."

Geoff Downes WAS quite a disappointment though.
He'd stack piles of keyboards up... a huge wall.. and yet didn't play anything terribly inspiring.
One of those musicians who seemed to be enamored by how he appeared visually in front of all those keyboards.

[Vsyevolod]

Nothing later Yes played took me on any sort of "trip."

More than anything else we've said, this sums it up really well.

Stephen




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[LivePsy]

My favorite hobby is to collect the albums of bands and play them in chronological order being fully aware of the band changes, social trends and developing skills of the musicians. The arc of the band's life fascinates me. Yes is the most bizarre journey of them all! Fragile, Close to the Edge and Topographic Oceans are the masterpieces for me, and they all have a Rick Wakeman influence (although group decisions seems to be Jon's way or no way).

Rick was (sorry) cheesy without Yes, but I also cringe every time the 1812 Overture is played and its the same pompous, corny stuff suitable for a movie score and no more. This comment insults hundreds of great film scores, I know. Still, Rick Wakeman good or bad is part of my history

B

[Shutoku]

1st post here...Rick Wakeman being my keyboard idol it seemed like a good place to start!

Like many of you I grew up on Yes and Rick's solo work.

For me my favorites of his older solo work would be 6 wives, and Criminal Record. I am warming these days to King Arthur, but I think a big problem with a lot of his solo work is his choice of vocalists. Honestly I think I would have preferred he didn't have any vocalist at all in his solo work because I think most people buying his solo records wanted to hear him, not a singer.
Of later solo work I love the Wakeman with Wakeman stuff, and he has a few albums of piano solo which are quite nice.

One thing I wish Rick did more of, is use old analog sounds. Most of his playing the last decade or two is very digital with little effort to reproduce the older sounds. I get that he wants to keep things fresh for himself, but I guess I just much prefer analog sounds.

For Yes, I did see the Union tour and really enjoyed it. (I also had spectacular seats!) though the Union album is not one I've listened to in a long time. I did like Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe as well (and saw that tour too...but needed binoculars to see anything)
While Rick is my hero, I like Relayer a lot and enjoy Moraz's playing though it is much more Jazz to Rick's Baroque.
I may get Keys to Ascension some time, but otherwise I don't have much interest in current Yes. For me....no Anderson = no Yes and I strongly favour a Wakeman there as well....if not Rick than Adam.

For myself, currently in an effort to get my technique back I am putting together performing the 6 wives album, plus maybe some of the extra tunes from the Hampton Court performance, and maybe some of Arthur to stretch it out. I am sticking with analog sounds albeit with mostly modern instruments. Sadly my only Moog is an animoog which I'm not using right now for this project. I'd love to have a minimoog to use for it, but alas my Korg mono/poly has to fill that role (along with some mainstage/Garageband synths) for the time being.

[Voltor07]

Rick was (sorry) cheesy without Yes, but I also cringe every time the 1812 Overture is played and its the same pompous, corny stuff suitable for a movie score and no more. This comment insults hundreds of great film scores, I know. Still, Rick Wakeman good or bad is part of my history

B

I dunno. I enjoy listening to his Lord of the Rings inspired pieces from The Master of the Rings DVD/CD.

[Vsyevolod]

Just saw an advert that YES is coming to Seattle in March.

Howe, Squire, White, with Downes on keyboards and a new vocalist Jon Davison. They are advertising that they will play three albums in their entirety, The Yes Album, Close to the Edge, and Going for the One.

Bring Jon, Rick, and Patrick back and then play Close to the Edge, Tales from Topographic Oceans, and Relayer. Now that would be worth something...

Stephen




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