Rick Wakeman: The Caped Crusader of Prog

Rick Wakeman's scintillating Piano Vibrations and stunning keyboard wizardly have been  entertaining and enthralling us now for half a century. He's almost as legendary in modern times as The Six Wives of Henry VIII were in Tudor times. Let's Journey to the Centre of the Earth with Rick and explore some of the Myths and Legends of his incredible career. Some of the myths  surrounding Rick Wakeman may have No Earthly Connection with reality, but that's how prog legends are created. His symphonic masterpieces have all the magnificent majesty of the towering White Rock of the Matterhorn, and for any self-respecting YES fan not to have at least one Rick Wakeman album in their collection is *almost* as embarrassing as admitting to a past Criminal Record. As we listen again to Rick's rapturous Rhapsodies, it's as well to remember that The Burning issue in 1984 for Rock & Roll Prophet Rick Wakeman was whether he'd ever make any profit again after staging the spectacular King Arthur on Ice in 1975 at enormous expense during an increasing Cost of Living crisis. 

Edited by Psychedelic Paul - November 05 2023 at 13:44

geekfreak wrote: What’s the question

Rick Wakeman is one of progressive rock's brightest lights. I haven't watched the video of that concert, but I will, and soon!

Have you watched the 2001 Live in Buenos Aires concert with Rick & Adam on keyboards, and Damian Wilson on lead vocals? It was also released on DVD. So much Caped goodness! 'Boards galore!

AFlowerKingCrimson wrote: There was actually a book about Rick Wakeman called the caped crusader.

Wakeman is one of my very favourite artists, and has some of my favourite albums indeed. I would actually rank more Wakeman albums with 5 stars than Yes albums. One thing I admire of his live shows is that he usually adapts the music he's choosing to be played with what he has available in the band, and won't use overdubs to fill in orchestrations or choirs or whatever (I think that Made in Cuba is one of the exceptions, though, using tapes for the choirs from Cathedral in the Sky).

The highlight of the Cuban show for me was where Rick took his keytar out into the audience and then brought a girl back up on stage with him. It gave the Cuban security guy a bit of a scare though.

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Edited by Psychedelic Paul - January 04 2021 at 06:29

Psychedelic Paul wrote: Rick Wakeman's scintillating Piano Vibrations and stunning keyboard wizardly have been  entertaining and enthralling us now for half a century. He's almost as legendary in modern times as The Six Wives of Henry VIII were in Tudor times. Let's Journey to the Centre of the Earth with Rick and explore some of the Myths and Legends of his incredible career. Some of the myths  surrounding Rick Wakeman may have No Earthly Connection with reality, but that's how prog legends are created. His symphonic masterpieces have all the magnificent majesty of the towering White Rock of the Matterhorn, and for any self-respecting YES fan not to have at least one Rick Wakeman album in their collection is *almost* as embarrassing as admitting to a past Criminal Record. Let's begin our journey now with Rick Wakeman's rapturous Rhapsodies in his marvellous "Made in Cuba" concert from 2005.

chopper wrote: Psychedelic Paul wrote: Rick Wakeman's scintillating Piano Vibrations and stunning keyboard wizardly have been  entertaining and enthralling us now for half a century. He's almost as legendary in modern times as The Six Wives of Henry VIII were in Tudor times. Let's Journey to the Centre of the Earth with Rick and explore some of the Myths and Legends of his incredible career. Some of the myths  surrounding Rick Wakeman may have No Earthly Connection with reality, but that's how prog legends are created. His symphonic masterpieces have all the magnificent majesty of the towering White Rock of the Matterhorn, and for any self-respecting YES fan not to have at least one Rick Wakeman album in their collection is *almost* as embarrassing as admitting to a past Criminal Record. Let's begin our journey now with Rick Wakeman's rapturous Rhapsodies in his marvellous "Made in Cuba" concert from 2005.   Considering how many albums he's made, this should have been much longer.

Edited by Psychedelic Paul - August 20 2020 at 04:37