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Produced by Wayne Hall and Jeffrey Crecelius
We are back almost to normal or what passes for normal in these parts this week. After the merry mayhem of the Yes UK and Irish tour celebrating CTTE’s 50th Anniversary, this week Mark and I return to our new-ish series trying to make semi-educated guesses about why Yes wanted to add new or different musicians to their fold. This time, we turn our excited attention to Rick Wakeman and consider what he was doing to attract the band’s attention. That’ll be fun.
Before that we have the final tour diary entry from the redoutable Simon Barrow complete with a new crop of photos below:
- What attracted Yes to Rick Wakeman?
- What had he been doing before?
- How does Simon sum up the latest tour?
Take a listen to the episode and then let us know what you think below!
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Producers:
- Jeffrey Crecelius and
- Wayne Hall
Patrons:
| Aaron Steelman | Dave Owen |
| Mark James Lang | Paul Tomei |
| Joost Maglev | David Heyden |
| Martin Kjellberg | Paul Wilson |
| Bob Martilotta | Lind |
| Michael O’Connor | William Hayes |
| Brian Sullivan | David Pannell |
| Miguel Falcão | Lobate Scarp |
| Chris Bandini | David Watkinson |
| Neal Kaforey | Rachel Hadaway |
| Craig Estenes | Dem |
| Paul Hailes | Mark ‘Zarkol’ Baggs |
| Doug Curran | Robert Nasir |
| Fergus Cubbage | Scott Colombo |
| Fred Barringer | Gary Betts |
| Geoff Bailie | Simon Barrow |
| Geoffrey Mason | Stephen Lambe |
| Guy R DeRome | Steve Dill |
| Henrik Antonsson | Steve Perry |
| Hogne Bø Pettersen | Steve Rode |
| IanNB | Steve Scott |
| Jamie McQuinn | Steven Roehr |
| Ken Fuller | Terence Sadler |
| Michael Handerhan | Tim Stannard |
| Jim | Todd Dudley |
| John Cowan | Tony Handley |
| John Holden | Joseph Cottrell |
| John Parry | Keith Hoisington |
| John Thomson | Barry Gorsky |
| Alan Begg | Declan Logue |
Robert and David
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Theme music
The music I use is the last movement of Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite. This has been used as introduction music at many Yes concerts. My theme music is not take from a live concert – I put it together from: archive.org
4 replies on “Why did Yes want…Rick Wakeman Part 1 – 542”
As it wasn’t mentioned on the show, I should explain (to anyone reading this, anyway!) that the aim of this particular set of photos was to show each of the eight venues on the UK leg of this tour – and a selection of ‘behind the scenes’ shots, including the mixing desks, one of the rehearsals, a signed setlist, and more. Photos on previous episodes have shown the band in action – and there are many more of those, as well as videos and sound recordings around. Those are best accessed from the encyclopaedic ForgottenYesterdays, and from social media.
According to Dave Cousins, the leader of the Strawbs, he and Wakeman enjoyed a friendship that preceeded the the keyboardist’s membership in the band, yet when Rick left he did so without a fare-thee-well to Cousins or any other member. The two former friends had no contact until two years later when Wakeman was hired to do session work on Cousin’s first solo album.
I’ve always loved ‘Antiques and Curios’ – it’s a bit of a feast for Wakeman fans, since it has his piano solo ‘Temperament of Mind’ and his extended organ solo on ‘Where is this dream of your youth’. He only plays organ and piano on the album, but makes the most of it! The extended version of the album also has the longer piano intro to ‘Song of a Sad Little Girl’, which is absolutely beautiful.
I’m not such a fan of ‘From The Wychwood’. The material is patchier from a band in transition with three lead vocalists at the time. Cousins wasn’t yet the dominating force he was to become. Rick again mainly plays piano and organ – the other credited instruments are fleeting at best, and while it’s definitely ‘him’, beyond ‘The Hangman and the Papist’ he’s very much a support player on some pretty short pieces.
Both albums are certainly worth hearing if you haven’t – but ‘Antiques’ – despite having no kit drums – is the better album.
Very good summary, Stephen…