Rick Wakeman: The Caped Crusader of Prog

I've also started adding some album reviews from Rick's Plaice, which I'll backdate to previous posts.

 

By the way, why do you need to search for Rick's albums on Spotify when they're all there for free on YouTube?

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 Sea Airs (1989) - The second album in Rick's New Age piano trilogy.

 

 

"Seemed like a good idea at the time to do a follow up to the well received Country Airs. At the time I thought the music was fine that I'd written. I've changed my view now and would like to re-record all three of the "trilogy" one day, (Country Airs, Sea Airs and Night Airs), with slightly altered arrangements and more enhanced melodies."

 

 

"Wait for the re-record before buying!!"

 

The Fisherman (video courtesy of Akeldama) -  https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLoIDt_C5y1Lvlaw_m0y6MXeyGB9Xw1C1n

 

 

Review by Robert Ugalde on 1st November 2003:-

 

"Very inspired piano by the maestro. Sea Airs is full of ambience and evoking pictures. Every song is so rich, melodic and melancholic. This work of art is one of Wakeman's best, yet most underrated treasures!"

 Phantom Power (soundtrack) (1990) - The Phantom of the Opera is given the Rick Wakeman treatment in a dramatic reworking.

 

 

"This is the strangest soundtrack album ever and in many ways I think it is the best. I would certainly love to get my hands on the original film that the music was used for and do a joint package. The owners actually approached me about the idea and I said I was well up for it - and that was the last I heard from them!"

 

 

"Try and find the film on DVD or even video. It's quite brilliant."

 

Heaven (video courtesy of Miklos Goga) - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLoIDt_C5y1Lsqj_KHMGepULnZO0Bii5BG

 

 

Review by Ben Jordan on 28th March 2011:-

 

"Phantom Power essentially presents the musical highlights to the new score Rick provided Universal in 1989 when they decided to update the 1925 adaptation of Phantom Of The Opera starting Lon Chaney for a modern audience. If the purists weren’t already offended by the colour tinting added to the ensuing drama, the wholly un-traditional score would have had them in fits of apoplexy. Not only do we get Rick’s contemporary keyboard motifs, but actual songs in both the rock genre and more operatic entries in between. These in turn are brought to life by long-time stalwarts of the Wakeman sound Ashley Holt, Chrissie Hammond and opera tenor Ramon Ramedios, with their respective talent really broadening the scope of the production.
Holt, for example, lends his powerful lungs to the production’s excellent opening number, The Visit, as well as wonderful moody pieces like Evil Love. Romance is of course what Phantom is all about and much of its musical commentary is expressed through Hammond’s contrasting tones, from the poppy Fear Of Love to the slow and reflective You Can’t Buy Me Love. There is indeed a lot of love in this soundtrack! Ramon Ramedios unsurprisingly fits into the endeavour extremely well, being the one vocalist Andrew Lloyd Webber might have used in his melodramatic musical, and often appearing to great effect on many a Wakeman album of the period. His incredible range and commanding voice brilliantly illustrate many moods throughout the film, from professions of undying affection in The Love Trilogy to a mob with burning torches pursuing the fleeing Erik through the streets of Paris in the fittingly-titled Rock Pursuit.
And of course there’s the keyboardist himself, ably shifting not only through the musical genres but of course interpreting the action on screen. Since there are actual songs in the score, only some of the music is interpretive and entirely in-sync with the action, The Sand Dance being the stand-out example on the album. With Phantom Power being only part of the score, it doesn’t contain much of the incidental music one can hear while watching the real thing. This makes for a much tighter album in its own right and therefore a great listen on its own terms. Credit must also go to D’zal Martin, whose guitar work can also be heard on another of my favourite Wakeman albums, African Bach, and of course Tony Fernandez who needs no introduction.
Indeed to borrow from African Bach for a moment, my two main criticisms of Rick’s Phantom score are that it is sometimes a) “born out of time”, which is to say that over two decades on, thanks to the rapid progress of electronic music, what was once an attempt to be a bang up-to-date contemporary reinterpretation of the film is to modern ears an anachronism; and b) “out of place”, in that much as I love the songs, by their nature, they don’t sync up with the action causing a feeling of disconnect – they are thematic and could appear anywhere. Nonetheless, the first is certainly no-one’s fault and the second entirely a matter of taste. Overall, I enjoy the music immensely and it is now as much a part of Phantom Of The Opera as a certain 1974 concept album is synonymous with a certain Jules Verne novel. Alternative soundtracks are a lot of fun and who else would you want to put a new creative spin on an old classic than Rick Wakeman?
To get a proper sense of what he achieved back in 1990, I do strongly recommend you track down the Universal film. That, after all, is what it was all about and only then do you really get the context of the project. At the same time however, the album stands as a classic in its own right and certainly simply having a familiarity with the story will bring it all to life."

 

 

 

 

The first of the Aspirant Trilogy that was a genuine study of music and the effects it has on the human body and mind. Recorded after long discussions with the Manchester based professor of this subject, Cary Cooper, I made many experiments with sounds, tempos and musical design and "tested" the demos on all types of people from hyperactive children to elderly insomniacs and even with people who were terminally ill. The results were astonishing as the results all led back to a distinctive formula and that was what I then used for the trilogy of Aspirant Sunrise, Aspirant Sunset and Aspirant Sunshadows."

 

 

"The sounds may be a little dated now, but the effect on the listener is still the same. True relaxation."

 

Whispering Cornfields (video courtesy of LibraSunRising777) - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLoIDt_C5y1LtDOCDKSCEvIP9G79VEZtK4

 

 

Review by Levente Toth on 21st April 1997:-

 

"Suntrilogy - 3 hours of fragile, almost transparent music; sonic paintings of stunning colour, perfectly balanced ...the best experience a New Age music listener can have. The warmth of Rick's electronic arrangements, the melodic lines that are perfect in their simplicity, Rick's ability of translating into music landscapes, moods result in a brilliant ambient work."

 

This is the only Rick Wakeman album so far not to feature in Rick's Plaice, so there's no perspective and verdict from Rick this time around.

 

Mars, the bringer of war (video courtesy of Rick Wakeman) -  https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLoIDt_C5y1LsBW-Gidl8xtqrXJs-w2cmd

 

This is a good album if you really want the magnificent Jupiter set to a disco beat. 

 

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   Classical Connection Concert (1991) - The live video album to accompany The Classical Connection studio album, featuring a different selection of songs.

 

 

"Recorded at Hatfield this was a fun video but not one to buy really unless you're in to nostalgia. The company that made it managed to screw me mercilessly in the deal and to this day I've never received one penny from them!"

 

 

"Please don't buy it!"

 

Eleanor Rigby (video courtesy of Music on TV1) - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLoIDt_C5y1LtSLpNYWTM0Ei8o2xcUl5pv

 

 

Review by Peter H. Kort on 17th October 2005:-

 

"Despite Wakey's verdict "Please don't buy it", I like this DVD very much. I think it's too bad though, that I can't escape from the impression that parts have been deleted. As always, Rick's anecdotes are really funny (I especially liked the one about 'After the ball'). David Paton's guitar-work is sublime, specifically on Eleanor Rigby; truly a great instrumentalist! All in all, a very good buy (never mind what the grumpy old man thinks!)."

 

 

You probably wouldn't have minded too much then if I'd neglected to include Beyond the Planets here.

 

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  Softsword (1991) - Amazingly, this was the *eighth* album released by Rick Wakeman in 1991, in what must have been an incredibly busy year for Rick, and the album's a very classy swords & sorcery epic too. Sadly, I was only able to find 5 of the 11 songs from the album on YouTube, so it looks like I've drawn the short sword with an incomplete playlist.

 

 

"Based on the music recorded for a huge pageant at Rochester Castle, a lot of this music I am pretty proud of. The only downside was the usual lack of a proper budget in order to give the music the classy recording I think it merited. "After Prayers" was a piece I was particularly proud of and one of the best tracks that the great Chrissie Hammond ever sung for me."

 

 

"I'd buy it just to hear Chrissie Hammond sing After Prayers!"

 

Isabella (video courtesy of Dacrequena) - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLoIDt_C5y1LvaRTy6m6SCk9mm4tFBmesk

 

 

Review by Julian Simpson on 23rd July 1999:-

 

"A brilliant collection of songs and instrumentals with a common theme. For me the album highlights are the songs "After Prayers", "The Siege" and "The Story of Love" (Chrissie Hammond's voice suits them perfectly) and the instrumentals "Rochester Collage" & "Softsword" (very melodic and evoke a real feeling of the history). I totally disagree with the reviewer who criticises this album for "very weak" production. Sure the music has no orchestral or choral arrangements, but the resulting tight rock band sound makes this a really enjoyable listen. I rate Softsword right up there with Arthur, Journey (x2) and Six Wives."