Album title: Piano Portraits
Artist: Rick Wakeman
Genre: Classical/Instrumental
Nationality: English
Release date: January 13
Position in Discography: Well over ninetieth; I ain't countin' them all!
Fear Factor: Nonexistent
Familiar with this artist? Oh yes
Familiar with the genre or subgenre? Yes
Check out more from this artist? Yes
Check out more from this genre or subgenre? Yes
This won't take much writing. There can be few people who, even if they hate him, are unaware of who Rick Wakeman is, either from his time with progressive rock giants Yes or through his own solo albums, which, as related above, will soon hit the one hundred mark. Impressive stuff. This is something anyone who loves piano music can enjoy: a collection of rock standards, classical tunes and songs that either mean a lot to the man or on which he once played.
I was going to say that The Beatles' “Help” was an odd and incongruous choice, as the rest of the songs are all pretty much slow ones, but he does a nice laidback version of it. “Stairway to Heaven” follows, then “Life on Mars”, “I'm Not In Love” ... you get the picture. Sprinkled in among these rock and pop standards are classical tunes such as Debussy's “Clair de Lune”, Faure's “Berceuse” and Tchaikovsky's “Swan Lake”, as well as the likes of “Amazing Grace” and “I Vow to Thee, My Country”. Naturally, there's a Yes song in there (“Wondrous Stories”) and basically if you like rock or classical music and can't relax and enjoy this, as I think Batty said, kill yourself, because this kind of thing transcends, or should, likes and dislikes, and translates to pure enjoyment and losing yourself in the moment. Let it wash over you and take you places you probably have been before, but in a whole new way.
Expectation Index: 0