Rick Wakemans greatest Yes Album

[VCO]

Was wondering what fans of RW consider his best album with Yes. I like The Yes Album I believe that’s what it was called and if I remember right it was thier first album

[hieronymous]

Was wondering what fans of RW consider his best album with Yes. I like The Yes Album I believe that’s what it was called and if I remember right it was thier first album

Actually, their first keyboardist was Tony Kaye, he was on the first three albums (of which The Yes Album is #3), then Rick Wakeman joined for Fragile. Their early history is interesting - they didn't hit right from the start.

[VCO]

Right sorry got that wrong I did send out a correction . wasn’t there an album called fragile as well?
I also rember going for the one can’t rember which album that was off of and who the keyboard player was though. I love yes thier one of a kind. A while back I saw one of rick wakemans minimoogs for sale. I think he had 9 I remember him saying that in the Robert moog documentary. I also saw
Eddie jobsons Minimoog for sale on eBay I think that’s where I saw it posted it had been modified abit.
Would be so great to have owned a part of prog rock history. The only thing I have is an album that McCoy Tyler autographed when I saw him at caravan of dreams in Fort Worth Texas. It’s sad that all that great prog of music is a dinosaur just like jazz. But that music was ahead of its time and has great merit something that is lacking today. nice to meet you you have great taste in music and are very knowledgeable. Take care

[ummagumma]

I like his 70s Yes albums, and his solo albums.

His latest Mars album is pretty good too. Missing the feel of live players jamming together though.

[VCO]

Not familiar with that album. Didn’t he do an album entitled 6 wives of Henry the eighth. Just going by my memory. Sorry for my atrocious spelling. I don’t see very well I’m visually impaired. I was lucky to see them when I did. I even saw Crosby stills and Nash. I saw John Lennons upright piano at the Rand R museum HOF. I wanted to touch middle c on the piano cause in all probability he had to have played that note. He probably would have said play it man, he was such a rebel. Lol I didn’t though I was afraid of security, but it would have been a big deal for me. Take care

[ummagumma]

"Six wives" is amazing.

Especially the quadraphonic version. I have it on vinyl; it's very cool, especially the pipe organ which sounds absolutely massive with the rear speakers filling out the room ambience. I never thought recorded pipe organs sounded very good, before this.

[VCO]

When I was a kid I went to this local college and saw Virgil Fox I believe that was his name and he played all these Bach compositions on a organ he traveled with. I remember him playing the pedals. He was phenomenal. He really knew bachs works. Hector Olivera can’t spell his name right stayed with the man that sold me those Hammond organs and Leslie’s. He told me that this guy made his own pipes. And had three tvs to show his family when they came to visit him, this was a status symbol for him. He was from South America but was very famous in the classical organ world. He had been divorced a few times mainly due to the fact he was practicing all the time. I didn’t really know much about classical organs or the players of that genre. I’ve seen some pipe organs on utube. Thier massive and some were really old thier magnificent though . Quite a feat of engineering. And they way they tune the pipes is amazing. The cost of these pipe organs is astronomical as well. Makes a moog modular look affordable lol. I always thought moogs really lended them to doing bachs two part inventions well if you had two minimoogs. But Bradon God Rest His Soul collected pipe organ pipes and sold classical organs. They were gulbroson I believe. Sorry going by my memory a few things may be a bit off but the point was he sold classical organs and even had an eprom machine he used. He lived in a smal town in west sunbury Pennsylvania and was a find for me because he had been involved with hammonds and organs his whole life
And was like a grandfather to me. I would never been introduced to the Hammond if hadn’t been for him. His daughter when he passed burnt all these hammonds he had because she didn’t know what to do with them . sad that he’s gone but I will always remember himwhen I think of Hammond organs .

[ummagumma]

Wow sounds like you've done a lot of interesting stuff over the years. You should write a book!

I guess you sorta are....on this forum! Haha

Good to hear some of your backstories. It's been quiet around here. I've always admired hammond organs, never owned one but I do have a small leslie cab I feed things thru occasionally. It's a single 10" side firing speaker with a spinning motorized baffle piece. Wish I had a pair of full cabs with the horns!

[VCO]

I talk to much I hope I’m not bothering you. I’m just old. Just have memories and stories. Hammonds are really unique and they have a history. I know there’s that Goff professional. If you look you can find them on eBay. Some people don’t know what there worth and just want to get rid of them. Then there are places that specialize in them but usually they want a lot of money. You can find some decent ones in good condition but it gets harder and harder since they don’t make them any more. And to find techs that know how to work on them is a diminishing thing as well. Pianos and organs are a 20th century thing not so much a 21st century thing. I used to sell grand pianos for a short while. But they are a diminishing thing. They were when I was selling them and I’m sure they are now even more. All the companies that make pianos now make fewer and fewer grand each year. I bought mine in the 90s and payed 500 dollars a month payments and basically starved myself to pay for it. I got into a bad car accident and payed it offf with insurance money. It almost got reposed It cost me 15,000 dollars back then and in todays money it would be equivalent to 30,000 dollars. Today in 2022 that piano that I have the model 190 would cost about 55000 to 60000. Steinway are even more.
Only studios, music schools, symphony’s or ultra rich people can afford them. Some of those people don’t even play they just own them for status or just have them as furniture to go with thier dining set. I was just a poor boy that wanted a real piano because I wanted to be a real jazz musician. And jazz is not viable financially either and you have to be a genius
To make it in that occupation which I was not.

[VCO]

I once had a chance to get a Leslie that was half sized but chose not to. All my Leslie’s are tube.
There were some Leslie’s that were designed to be portable and they were solid state. I played one once at a music store. Have you ever ever played any of your moog synths thru your Leslie? I’ve heard of them used that way with a guitar. Those portable ones were in the 70s I believe. They were covered in black vinyl material. I know trek makes a box that has a line level input and an output that connects to the Leslie.. they have different ones since there are different pin configurations for Leslie’s.
I prefer tube Leslie’s. The 145, 147,122 are the most common tube ones. The solid state ones sound fine I just prefer tube ones. I call that trek a box but it’s really like a pedal , it may even be a preamp can’t remember. It has a switch that you depress with your foot. I was going to get one because I was going to use my cp300 and a korg half rack synth and run the cp300 into a Leslie via the trek
Pedal and then run the korg rack into a jazz chorus guitar amp one audi output to each. And then I would choose a Hammond organ patch on each Andthey both had different Hammond organ patch’s one was a percussive organ the other was a different Hammond organ setting and together it sounded good and I wouldn’t have to actually have a real Hammond organ . The chorus in the jazz chorus did a good job as well as the vibrato they have and of course the reverb tank. It was my keyboard rig that sounded like a Hammond organ but wasn’t a Hammond organ