The Rick Wakeman Appreciation Thread
 

We can't have a prog thread without paying tribute to the most pompous progger of them all, can we?

Of course not.

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The keyboard wizard and prog icon, Rick Wakeman (the spider as he was sometimes called because of how his lanky arms would stretch out over all the keyboard equipment he would surround himself with) is best known for his work with Yes, particularly on landmark albums like Fragile, Close to the Edge, Yessongs, Tales From Topographic Oceans and Going for the One. Lending his virtuoso skills on piano, organ, moog, mellotron, harpischord and other keyboard instruments.

But he was also a highly regarded session man who lended his piano work to David Bowie's Hunky Dory and Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust, and also some keyboard work on Black Sabbath's Sabbath Bloody Sabbath.

Add to that his awesomely ridiculous solo career, the most hilarious backstage Spinal Tap moment stories you'll ever hear and some pretty funny rants on BBC 2's Grumpy Old Men. Oh, and those bitchin' capes.

But on a serious note, he's one of my favorite musicians. I even admit to liking some of his solo stuff. :laughing:

i'm not too keen on his prog shit but he played some mighty piano alongside Bowie. Ronson & Wakeman were both instrumental in crafting Bowie's trademark early '70s sound, certainly great musicians in my books.

EDIT: holy shit, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath too, that's easily my favorite Sabbath album. cool beans.

He played on a Black Sabbath album? I totally didn't know that, although I guess it makes sense, as I know the two bands toured together around that time. I'll have to give that record a listen.

I'm not a fan of Wakeman's solo work btw, but I do love his work with Yes. I think the other musicians in Yes sort of kept him in check.

I heard a story about how he wanted to play on two keyboards set up as far apart as possible on stage so that he would have his arms stretched out .. and then someone as a joke moved one of the keyboards like an inch too much so he couldn't play both anymore. Wonder if it's true, though.

His backstage stories with Yes are classic.

My favorite is the one about how when they were recording Tales, Jon and Steve started filling the studio with haystacks and farm animal cut outs to get the "environment" they wanted. Which led to lice infecting and ruining some of Wakeman's keyboard equipment. He spent most of his free time during the sessions playing darts and drinking beer.

And of course there's the famous incident when Yes were doing a live show playing the Tales set and Rick ordered some Indian curry on stage, what a guy. :laughing:

I bought this album at value village called "journey to the center of the earth" because of the hillarious cover. He was in the middle of this orchestra and was a glowing wizard. I know he conducted some mideval themed icescepades before.

Was it him or mick ronson that played piano in "life on mars"?...cause that was decent.

It was him that did all the piano work on Hunky Dory.

He contributed some piano and harpischord work on Ziggy, but I don't know for sure how much was him and how much was Bowie, he joined Yes around the time they were working that album and so Bowie became the piano player until he found Mick Garson to replace Wakeman.

He also played on Space Oddity, the mellotron, that's him.

He played organ on T Rex's Get It On (Bang a Gong) and piano on Cat Stevens' Morning has Broken.

And he played with another prog group, The Strawbs, before joining Yes.

....And now he's making hokey new age albums.

I have to admit, I actually dig Six Wives of Henry VIII, it's pretty good, seriously.

And now, just for the lulz. I present to you, King Arthur... ON ICE!!!

Some of it's not bad for a little spliff time in the bubble bath.