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1994
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Source: TyeDye.com
http://www.tyedye.com/writings/wakeman.html
"And I Heard a Million Voices Singing":
Texture and Color in the Music of Rick Wakeman
By Nick Peck
Editor's note: I wrote this thesis a few years ago, as the senior project for my B.A. in Electronic Music from San Francisco State University. The
paper is an in-depth look at the orchestrational techniques used by Rick Wakeman in the music he has created with Yes, and on his own. It also
includes a brief musicological treatise on progressive rock.
Though the paper is certainly written in a formal academic style, I think there is interesting information here for any fan of Yes and Rick, musical
training or not. Hope you like it! - Nick Peck
Contents
* Introduction * Personal History * Wakeman's Session Work * The Strawbs * Yes and the Progressive Rock Phenomena * The Beginnings of Wakeman's Solo
Career * Wakeman's Departure From Yes * The Return to Yes * Wakeman's Solo Career in the Eighties * The Third Installation in the Wakeman/Yes Saga * A
Look at Wakeman's Diverse Use of Keyboard Sound * Piano * Harpsichord * Hammond Organ * Pipe Organ * Mellotron * Orchestra and Choir * Analog
Synthesizers * Digital Synthesizers * Conclusion * End Notes * Bibliography
Introduction
Keyboardist/composer Rick Wakeman is best known for his virtuosity, flashy stage personality, and grandiose, often mythical subject matter. His
recorded output, spanning the last quarter century, has been an incredibly diverse collection of songs, rock suites, and album length concept works.
Wakeman's pollination of the rock idiom with the lavish complexities of Western art music has introduced a generation of rock listeners to the
classical world, and served as a beacon for younger composers. The accolades he has received from within the classical community have helped
to call attention to and elevate the status of art rock in general.
Though his achievements are impressive, I will examine here a somewhat overlooked aspect of Rick Wakeman's contribution to the progressive rock
movement, and music in general: his diverse use of tone color. Wakeman's timbral choices complement and work in conjunction with his compositional
technique, sophisticated command of the keyboard idiom, and personal stylistic gestures, to make his music distinctive. Wakeman finds the right
instrument for the part, and then performs upon it idiomatically, all the while maintaining his unique, instantly recognizable personal style.
In addition to being a pioneering synthesist, Wakeman has used piano, Hammond organ, pipe organ, harpsichord, Mellotron, and full orchestra for
his musical palette. Scarcely an electronic or electric keyboard has been released in the last twenty five years that has escaped Wakeman's scrutiny;
the good ones inevitably appear on his albums. His knack for careful, subtle orchestration has helped his music to withstand the test of time. In
today's music industry, synthesized timbres are overused, worn out, and quickly replaced by the "next big sound." Though most popular music sounds
dated and stale within a decade, Wakeman's best works, such as "Roundabout," "And You, and I," and "Awaken" still sound fresh and aurally
stimulating, some twenty years after they were recorded. In this paper, I will examine a number of these seminal pieces, looking at the techniques,
sounds, and performances he used to make them interesting both then and now.
Personal History
Richard Wakeman was born on May 18th, 1949, to a middle class couple living in a suburb of London. His father Cyril was a part-time pianist, who
started Rick with classical piano lessons at the age of seven. Though a rebellious student, who preferred rearranging his classical pieces to
practicing scales, Rick won piano competitions throughout his childhood. At 16, he decided to become a concert pianist. Shortly thereafter, he passed
his O and A levels in music, and was accepted into the Royal College of
Music in London. He soon decided to forego the career of a concert pianist, citing the slim chances for success, low income, and intense competition.
Wakeman changed his major to music education, but soon found that he "made a very bad teacher. If I was teaching a class where only two [students]
were interested I couldn't bear it. Music in schools is often treated as the joke period of the week.(1)"
Wakeman's Session Work
During this same period, Wakeman began playing rock recording sessions. As his reputation grew, he became busier. The freedom and improvisational
aspects of rock music began to win out over the traditionalism of an academic system that Rick felt ever more removed from. Sessions soon came
at an average of more than one per day. What little spare time Wakeman had left was spent in the pub rather than class. To the horror of his parents,
he finally dropped out of the Royal College to concentrate on sessions and dance band gigs full time. Though Wakeman's rigorous classical training may
have seemed fruitless at the time, it would soon become a crucial part of his overall sound. The deep familiarity with classical techniques, colors,
and repertoire would be applied to Wakeman's electronic and acoustic rock music, allowing him to fuse the styles authentically.
Among the thousands of songs Wakeman contributed keyboards to as a faceless, often uncredited studio musician, were a few gems that would
become huge hits. One of these was the song "Space Oddity," by a then-unknown musician named David Bowie. Wakeman was hired to play
Mellotron on the session, and arrived late. He scanned the song chart, listened to one run-through, and began to play. According to producer Gus
Dudgeon, his performance was "exactly what I wanted. It was incredible! We
did one more take and it was a master."(2)
A fine example of Wakeman's emerging piano style can be found on the 1971 Cat Stevens song "Morning Has Broken." By this time, Wakeman was being
given creative latitude on some sessions. On "Morning Has Broken," Wakeman worked directly with Cat Stevens and producer Paul Samwell-Smith in shaping
the song:
We brought it up from nothing and worked out different ways of doing it, working from a little old hymn book. . . they were sessions where I was
allowed a bit of freedom to contribute what I wanted, not what either the musical director or the producer wanted me to play.(3)
The sessions came fast and furious. Wakeman played for such diverse artists as Elton John, Black Sabbath, Brotherhood of Man, and T. Rex. He was
introduced to Dave Cousins, leader of a folk group named The Strawbs, and played some piano sessions for their album Dragonfly. The band was in a
transition from pure folk music to pop, and they eventually asked Wakeman to join. Wakeman, wanting to gain public exposure and feeling constrained
by constant sessions, agreed: "I had become disillusioned with session work. I was getting good bread, but I wasn't getting a chance to be part of
the music: You're in there for three hours and then you're out again."(4)
The Strawbs
Joining the Strawbs was the right move for Wakeman's career. The group proved to be the perfect vehicle to showcase his virtuosity, as his
keyboards served as the solo instrument in place of the standard electric guitar. His extended neo-classical piano solos brought the attention of the
music press, as well as the appreciation of a growing number of fans. The Strawbs began to receive a great deal of publicity, mostly focusing on
Wakeman. For example, Melody Maker referred to him as the "Pop Find of 1970."(5) Wakeman recorded two albums as a full-fledged member of the
Strawbs: Just a Collection of Antiques and Curios, and From the Witchwood. Antiques and Curios was a live album, recorded at the Queen Elizabeth Hall,
while Witchwood was a studio record. Though both of these albums were successful, tensions began to drive Wakeman apart from the rest of the
group. Though the members of the group had a strong social bond, Wakeman began to feel limited by the technique and musical direction of his
bandmates. Cousins knew the end was near, stating later that "I knew we
could keep Rick for as long as we were able to keep him musically interested--after a year we knew we weren't progressing at the same rate he
was."(6) Wakeman felt that "things had gone as far as they could. There would have to be a complete change-around or it would have rotted away."(7)
Yes and the Progressive Rock Phenomena
One night Wakeman received a 3 a.m. phone call from Chris Squire, the bassist for Yes. They were dissatisfied with the limitations of their
current keyboardist, Tony Kaye, and were looking for a replacement with strong technique and an interest in synthesizers. Exhausted, Wakeman yelled
at Squire and slammed the phone down. The next morning, "I raked through my record collection and pulled out . . . Time and a Word. I played it and
thought. . . Maybe I shouldn't have said no. . . after all."(8) Wakeman reconsidered Yes' offer, and shortly thereafter entered into the most
musically significant time of his career.
In one of the few scholarly articles available on progressive rock, Nors S. Josephson views the genre as "another manifestation of the
twentieth-century's tendency to synthesize the avant-garde. . . with
popular traditions, much as. . . Bartok, Janacek, and Stravinsky amalgamated their own folk heritages with
twentieth-century art music."(9)
Progressive rock itself is derived as strongly from Bach and Bartok as from the Beatles. In the late sixties, this art form was being defined in
Britain, by groups with such names as Pink Floyd, The Nice, The Moody Blues, and Procol Harum. The next generation of bands, such as King
Crimson, Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Genesis, and Yes, focused the style in a more virtuosic and classically-oriented direction. All of these groups, but
the second generation in particular, were concerned with stretching the rock form beyond the blues, beyond slick pop and experimental psychedelia,
into a more substantial and sophisticated style. "Songwriting" was replaced with "composing"; "players" had to become "musicians". Instrumentalists of
the caliber of Robert Fripp, Carl Palmer, Keith Emerson, and Chris Squire were showing the world that rock musicians could and would be taken
seriously. The three-minute pop song had already been extended, expanded, and run through the psychedelic wringer by such artists as The Doors,
Cream, Jimi Hendrix, and, most importantly, The Beatles. Progressive rock took the psychedelicized pop song and turned it into a multi-movement,
multi-style extravaganza running from six minutes to over an hour.
Genesis approached progressive rock from a theatrical perspective, with front man Peter Gabriel donning costumes and role-playing. His narrations
of stream-of-consciousness stories floated above the rigidly composed, highly structured, diatonic music of Tony Banks, Mike Rutherford, Steve
Hackett, and Phil Collins. Fripp's King Crimson was darker and more sinister. Successfully fusing improvisation with highly complex composed
material, King Crimson explored the nether regions of dissonance more than
their counterparts. Emerson, Lake, and Palmer made the strongest connection between rock and traditional classical music, playing arrangements of works
by such composers as Copland, Ginastera, Holst, and Tchaikovsky. Yes were the angels of progressive rock, with bright, major harmonies, uplifting,
spiritually-tinged (soaked?) lyrics, and contrapuntal, choirboy vocal exchanges between Squire and lead singer Jon Anderson.
Wakeman's addition brought the keyboard sounds and technique needed to allow Yes to fully realize and explore their established direction. Before
Wakeman, Yes had released three albums. Their self-titled debut album, and Time and a Word were studies in a band searching for direction. The Yes
Album was work by a band who had found their niche and were starting to explore it; "Yours is No Disgrace," "Starship Trooper," and "I've Seen All
Good People" are Yes classics. But Yes truly hit their stride when Wakeman joined. They had finally found a keyboard player whose virtuosity and
individuality matched the skills of the other members.
The release of Fragile in January, 1972 proved that Yes had found something that worked. Producer Eddy Offord helped Yes find a larger band sound,
creating long works peppered with bits of musique concrète and separated by short, esoteric solo interludes. The result was a highly varied and
experimental album, with long moments of brilliance broken up by short, perhaps less successful passages. "Long Distance Runaround" is a catchy pop
song, with contrapuntal bass and guitar lines dancing around the vocal melody. "Heart of the Sunrise" extends the epic explorations of such works
as "Yours is No Disgrace," standing as one of the pinnacles of Yes' work and pointing the way toward the larger song forms of the next few albums.
But it was "Roundabout," an 8 1/2-minute rocker with a multitude of textures and scorching Hammond B3 work by Wakeman, that brought Yes to the
radios of America, and stardom.
Wakeman's second album with Yes, Close to the Edge, was released in September, 1972, a mere eight months after Fragile. The complexity,
innovation, and brilliance of the work seems all the more astonishing in light of the hectic touring schedule and change in lifestyle undergone by
the band in the previous months. Yet Yes had equaled the achievement of Fragile, expanding their exploration of epic, multi-movement song forms.
Close to the Edge consists of three long pieces. The title track, clocking in at nearly nineteen minutes and
taking all of side one, was their most ambitious work to date, integrating a large number of themes and colors
into a consistent whole. "Siberian Khatru" is an up-tempo, joyous rocker. "And You and I" rounds out the
album, with Wakeman's analog synthesizer
sounds creating a rich contrast with Steve Howe's delicate acoustic guitar work and Jon Anderson's innocent, sing-song vocal lines.
1972 brought yet another project: this was Wakeman's first solo album, The Six Wives of Henry VIII. Written and recorded during the brief gaps in Yes'
touring schedule, Six Wives is an instrumental, programmatic concept album. The Eurocentric, quasi-historical program material was a departure from the
Eastern philosophies of the seventies-era Yes, though the grandeur and preoccupation with large-scale ideas are similar. Wakeman would use
history, royalty, and mythical material for many of his solo concept albums, including Journey to the Centre of the Earth, The Myths and Legends
of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, Rick Wakeman's Criminal Record, and A Suite of Gods.
The Beginnings of Wakeman's Solo Career
The Six Wives of Henry VIII was released in January, 1973; reaction to the album was positive, with Wakeman described as having a "brilliant feel for
tasteful impressionistic composition."(10)
Six Wives has much of the character of a Yes album of the period; this comes as no surprise, as Yesmen Chris Squire, Steve Howe, Bill Bruford, and
Alan White appear on the record. There are distinct differences, however. Six Wives is an instrumental keyboard album, with a strong baroque flavor.
The lively rock numbers have a humor that is missing from Yes music. Wakeman's extensive use of acoustic and electric keyboards as a replacement
for traditional orchestral instruments is manifestly clear.
Yes' level of musical success could not be sustained. 1973's Tales From Topographic Oceans created
musical rifts that would cause Wakeman to leave
the group. Written by Anderson and Howe, and based on a footnote from Paramhansa Yoganada's Autobiography of a Yogi, Tales would prove to be Yes'
longest and most experimental work. Composed of four album-side long movements, the 81-minute piece was the logical culmination of Yes'
epic-length explorations. The quest for longer, larger statements created a work that had wonderful moments, but lacked cohesiveness. Wakeman was
unhappy with the album's rambling, through-composed quality, feeling unable to contribute: "When we started doing Topographic Oceans, I found that I
couldn't find anything to put in. I knew the right bits to play, but I couldn't put anything in that I felt added something. . . when we did it on
stage, I found it pretty boring."(11) Jon Anderson had a different perspective on the piece: "we went to a kind of extreme with Topographic,
and maybe we weren't all ready for it. . . It was a bit heavyweight, maybe overweight. But you just do what comes."(12)
Wakeman's Departure From Yes, and the Continuation of his Solo Career
What came to Yes was not what Wakeman wanted. The Tales tour began, with the unfamiliar work falling on the ears of a perplexed audience. Wakeman
insisted that the third movement be cut from the set. The band agreed. Midway through, Wakeman informed Yes that he was leaving at the end of the
tour. He later summarized this era rather succinctly: "I had some great times and some lousy times. It was a band that was bonded together by
music--there was little love lost. . . I didn't enjoy Tales. . . so I
finished out the. . . tour we were doing and left."(13)
Wakeman wrote and recorded his second solo album, Journey to the Centre of the Earth, in between the recording and touring of Tales From Topographic
Oceans. Released in early 1974, and based on the story by Jules Verne, Journey was Wakeman's clearest attempt to fuse the worlds of classical
music and rock. A piece of program music in four movements, Journey was written and orchestrated for full symphony orchestra, choir, narrator, and
six-piece rock group. Wakeman was finally able to utilize the traditional timbres that he had been emulating on synthesizer. He wrote the music by
recording keyboard demos, then worked with a pair of professional arrangers to score for full orchestra and choir.
Journey to the Centre of the Earth was an enormous undertaking. The logistics of balancing and organizing the rock band, orchestra, choir, lead
singers, narrator, and synthesizers became a daunting challenge. David Measham was recruited to conduct the London Symphony Orchestra and the
English Chamber Choir. English actor David Hemmings served as narrator, summarizing the story during breaks in the music. Finally, the
album was
recorded live in front of an audience on January 18, 1974, at the Royal Festival Hall in London. To everyone's surprise, Journey reached number one
in the British album charts. The reviews were positive as well: one reviewer described it as "symphonic pop embellished by tasteful interludes,
superb narration, nice obbligatos, clever solos from Wakeman and a decent respect for the norms of symphonic construction." He went on to say "there
can be little doubt that it's in directions like these that Wakeman's future now lies. . . he has a disciplined musical head and it shows."(14)
All that was separating Wakeman from this future was the above-mentioned final Tales tour with Yes.
With Yes behind him for the time being, Wakeman embarked on the solo career begun by The Six Wives of Henry VIII and Journey to the Centre of the
Earth. Unfortunately, this new career began with a heart attack brought on by his exhausting schedule combined with substantial consumption of alcohol
and cigarettes. Following a brief recovery and a grueling tour of the United States, Wakeman began his newest epic: The Myths and Legends of King
Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. The record's seven tracks describe characters and stories from the Arthurian legend. The musical
orchestration is similar to Journey to the Centre of the Earth; rock band, lead singers, orchestra, choir, and a narrator are used.
In an attempt to reach new heights of entertainment, Wakeman staged King Arthur on ice. The reviews of the music and performance were mixed; Wakeman
was accused of creating superficial music. One critic felt that "The show. . . proved [Wakeman's] skill at packaging a pleasant evening's
entertainment. But he's done so at the expense of attention to his music. That four knights on skates could command one's senses while scores of
musicians made an ignored din just ten yards away said little for the appeal of the music itself."(15)
A series of less than stellar works followed. Wakeman scored two films: Ken Russell's Lisztomania (1975), and a skiing film named White Rock (1976). He
also released No Earthly Connection (1976), an album made with his band "The English Rock Ensemble." While all of these albums are filled with
Wakeman's fine playing, the pieces themselves lack inspiration and focus. It was becoming clear that his best work occurred within a collaborative
environment.
The Return to Yes
Such a collaborative environment appeared in 1977. Patrick Moraz, Wakeman's replacement in Yes, had left the band, and Wakeman offered to play on the
new album as a session musician. He received demos of new songs that were shorter, tighter, and catchier than the works that had caused him to quit
the first time. "What I heard was not the Yes that I had left. . . this is how I've always seen the band."(16)
Yes asked Wakeman to rejoin as an official member. He eagerly accepted, and work began on the first new Yes studio album in three years: Going For the
One. The result was perhaps the most uniform Yes album ever recorded. Going For the One did not break as much new ground as Fragile or Close to the
Edge, but every song was a diverse, mature, well-rounded work. There were no experiments gone awry, no awkward ideas. Wakeman's return combined with
Yes' time away from the studio brought refreshed energy to the album.
The title song, "Going For the One," is an uncharacteristically hard-rocking number, with blues licks played in odd time signatures by
piano and guitar. "Turn of the Century" is a lush, delicate, neo-classical piece based on the story from La Boheme. It features a through-composed,
unmetered feel, as Howe's nylon string guitar follows Anderson's blank verse. Wakeman builds the piece, adding cascading piano arpeggios and
synthesized string accompaniment. "Wondrous Stories" is a short, joyous song in the style of "And You, And I," with Wakeman's analog synthesizer
lines creating contrast with Anderson's innocent vocal melodies and Howe's straight-ahead steel-string guitar strums. All of these pieces show mature
and effective composition and performance; the band had seamlessly picked up where it left off with Wakeman's 1974 departure. The crowning piece of
Going For the One, however, is the majestic "Awaken," a 15-minute epic that re-establishes the power of such works as "Close to the Edge" and "Heart of
the Sunrise." Beginning with a neo-romantic piano introduction, moving characteristically through a number of moods and textures, and ending with
a bombastic climax featuring pipe organ, "Awaken" is Yes at its best.
A revitalized Wakeman released a fresh and interesting solo concept album in 1977. Rick Wakeman's Criminal Record consists of pieces based on famous
criminals, and ideas relating to justice. The pipe organ used on Going For the One is used here as well, and Wakeman's keyboards are bolstered on
several cuts by Yes' rhythm section of Squire and White. A complete choir is used on the piece "Judas Iscariot," hearkening back to the bombastic
days of Journey to the Centre of the Earth. One reviewer wrote that "Wakeman plays and arranges here with the confidence, vitality and
clearness of vision that has been missing in his last few outings."(17)
1978 brought forth another Yes album. Entitled Tormato, this collection of short (by Yes' standards, in any case) songs lacks the consistency and flow
of Going For the One, though some shining work is present. "Don't Kill the Whale," the quirky single for the album, has strong melodies and a reedy,
bubbly keyboard solo. "On the Silent Wings of Freedom" is an extended, high energy work with complex time signatures and interesting instrumental
interchanges. The best song on the album, however, is the neo-baroque Anderson/Wakeman piece "Madrigal." This song combines Wakeman's delicate
harpsichord arpeggios with Howe's nylon string guitar stylings to create a contrapuntal base that supports Anderson's rhythmically free flowing
lyrics. The elegance and beauty of "Madrigal" is comparable to the previous album's "Turn of the Century."
Wakeman's Solo Career in the Eighties
Things began to splinter once again. In 1979, Wakeman left Yes for the second time. Anderson left with him; Yes carried on by releasing the Drama
LP. The band then went into hibernation, and would re-emerge a few years later with a more accessible, stripped-down pop sound. Meanwhile, Wakeman
released Rhapsodies in 1979, a double album featuring a disco remake of George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue." Rhapsodies would be Wakeman's last
for A? Records, which distributed his work in the U.S. After that, and through most of the eighties, Wakeman practically vanished from the
American music scene. Though he was more successful in Europe, his string of solo albums did not realize the commercial success achieved by his work
from the seventies. Wakeman recalls that "during that time. . . the New Wave revolution happened, which meant that if you had anything to do with
the Seventies. . . you couldn't get arrested! . . . No one wanted to know, especially in America."(18)
Throughout most of the eighties, many of Wakeman's solo albums were released on a number of medium-size record labels, including Virgin and
Relativity. He also released six albums on President, his own label. All told, Wakeman released fourteen solo albums in the eighties, mostly in
small numbers, and now mostly out of print. A good deal of fine music was thus released to a small but appreciative audience, most notably A Suite of
Gods (1987) and Country Airs (1985). Both of these albums marked a transition from classical rock into a gentler, more subtle music, perhaps
best described as "classical new age." A Suite of Gods combined Wakeman with tenor Ramon Remedios to create a concept album based on stories from
Greek mythology. Though the subject matter is reminiscent of his mid-seventies solo albums, A Suite of Gods paints a more pastoral picture;
Remedios' operatic tenor lies awash in reverb, and is supported by gentle, synthesized strings and chordal pads (long, sustained background sounds
that are generally used to define harmonies).
Country Airs was a significant departure for Wakeman. The album is a collection of short, solo new age piano pieces, with a nod to the style of
George Winston. On first listening, one would not know that this was Wakeman. The pieces are simple and highly diatonic, with limited dynamics
and rubato. Simple verse/chorus/bridge structures, slow to medium tempi, and straightforward duple and tuple meters abound. Right hand melodies are
brought very much to the foreground over motoric left hand bass notes and arpeggios. The unaccompanied, unadorned sound of a grand piano is
uncharacteristic as well. Upon closer inspection, however, certain familiar tendencies emerge. Most noticeable are Wakeman's characteristic baroque
turns, used during scalar passages and arpeggios.
Though Country Airs is not Wakeman's finest album, it has charm, and delivers new insight into the performer. It is refreshing to hear live,
naked piano recordings, complete with occasional split notes and rhythmic irregularities. Country Airs highlights the sensitive, intimate playing
that Wakeman is capable of, but which is usually obscured by complexity, thick textures, and large-scale production.
During this time, Wakeman followed the transition in technology from analog instruments to digital synthesizers, samplers, and recorders. The new
computer-based technology made the process of creating and recording electronic music much easier; legions of amateurs and dilettantes began to
create albums. This glut of superficial music began to monopolize the music scene. In Wakeman's hands, however, the additional timbres allowed him to
expand his sound, though he still made use of his analog instruments where appropriate. On A Suite of Gods, for example, he used "digital keyboards to
make it as orchestrally authentic as possible. But we found that adding tinges of analog stuff all over the place gave it a flavor that was really
unusual."(19)
The Third Installation in the Wakeman/Yes Saga
The end of the eighties brought a new collaboration that would bring Wakeman and his music back into the public eye, creating a wider forum for
his new digital orchestrations. 1989's Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe represented a return to the Yes sounds and philosophies of the seventies.
The band, consisting of four-fifths of the Fragile/Close to the Edge Yes lineup (along with Peter Gabriel/King Crimson bassist Tony Levin), created
an effective, complex collection of short songs and multi-movement large scale works. The virtuosic playing, cosmic lyrics, expansive sounds, and
cover art by Roger Dean combined to create an updated version of vintage seventies progressive rock. While the album met with mixed reviews (and
downright hostility from trendy critics who consider progressive rock to be outdated "dinosaur music"), old Yes fans were ecstatic. "Birthright," a
song about the Aborigines, features Wakeman utilizing samples of Pacific rim instruments. "Brother of Mine," a ten-minute epic, uses string, brass,
piano, harp, and harpsichord-type sounds to augment the sectional changes with changes in texture. "Themes" uses quirky chordal piano stabs, and a
classic Wakeman harpsichord/brass solo played in tandem with Bill Bruford's percolating electric drum soundscapes to propel the piece forward.
In 1990, Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman and Howe were nearing completion of their 2nd album. The remaining members of Yes--Chris Squire, Trevor Rabin,
Alan White, and Tony Kaye--were recording as well. The two groups decided to merge into a new Yes, combining their recordings into a single album.
1991's Union was the result. While there are some good works on this album, it is far less consistent than Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe. The biggest
problem is the use of keyboards. Wakeman was unavailable during parts of the recording process due to prior commitments, and was left out of the
mixing process. Producer Jonathan Elias, who Wakeman "wouldn't trust with a food mixer,"(20) used session keyboardists and changed Wakeman's parts and
sounds without consulting him. This caused an uproar among Wakeman's fans. Fortunately, the next Yes album (currently scheduled for release in July,
1993) will not make use of Elias' intrusive and destructive touch.
A Look at Wakeman's Diverse Use of Keyboard Sound
What follows is a more analytical look at Wakeman's use of texture and color. While a focus will be placed on particular instruments or genres of
instruments and their use in conveying a song's message, it is within the complimentary and contrasting uses of tone color that Wakeman truly shines.
As a result, comments about the use of particular instruments in songs will take into account the musical context and surrounding instrumentation.
Piano
As mentioned, the piano was Wakeman's first instrument. Studying classical piano gave him the technique and sensitivity that would become the
foundation of his rock style. The classical elements of his playing remain unique and characteristic throughout his career, and across varied musical
contexts. Wakeman's 1971 piano session for the Cat Stevens song "Morning Has Broken" illustrates his individual pianistic tendencies. After Steven's
vocal line, Wakeman's piano is the primary melody instrument. The
arrangement is fairly simple, consisting of voice, piano, acoustic guitar, bass, and backing vocals. The acoustic guitar
recording emphasizes the high
end, leaving the mid-range open for piano and voice. Solo piano opens and closes the piece; a short solo piano melody occurs between verses as well.
During the verses, cascading arpeggio figures act as a counter-melody, contrasting with the simple but highly effective vocal lines. The arpeggios
are unmistakably Wakeman, with quick turns that break up the continual descent. The motoric eighth- and sixteenth-notes, strong emphasis on plain
triads and dominant seventh chords, and delicate dynamics are also characteristic of Wakeman's piano playing.
It is interesting to compare "Morning Has Broken" with "Stepping Stones," a new age solo piano piece from 1985's Country Airs. While the texture and
function of the piano within these pieces are totally different, and fourteen years separate the recordings, there are similarities that make
Wakeman's piano style and ear for orchestration evident. In "Stepping Stones," the melody is clearly articulated in the right hand, as the left
hand supports with a muted, constant stream of motoric sixteenth-note arpeggios. Bass notes define the harmony once per bar or so. Scalar
descending melodies with the characteristic Wakeman turn contrast the vocally-oriented main theme. "Stepping Stones" has a clear song-like verse
structure, with a dynamic range that does not stray much beyond pp to mf. The mood is gentle, even, and contemplative. The lyrical melody line,
motoric arpeggios, bass line, and descending counter-melody of "Stepping Stones" perform the same functions as the vocal melody, rhythm guitar,
bass, and piano counter-melodies of "Morning Has Broken."
Harpsichord
While studying piano at the Royal College of Music, Wakeman took every opportunity to sneak off and practice harpsichord. This practice paid off,
as Wakeman would later feature the instrument in numerous recordings. Some of his finest harpsichord playing occurs on Tormato's "Madrigal." This song
begins with a short harpsichord introduction in pure baroque style. As Anderson's rhythmically-free blank verse begins, the harpsichord switches
to a relatively sparse broken chord accompaniment in eighth- and
sixteenth-notes. As the song builds, the density of notes increases. Howe joins in on nylon string guitar, playing similarly authentic contrapuntal
classical guitar lines. Wakeman and Howe play short duet sections to break up the vocal
sections. Vocal 'ahhs' and a simple synthesized string line
enter halfway through to fill out the texture. In the final verse, Wakeman pushes the song to its climax by building the accompaniment to blinding
flurries of sixteenth-note triplets and thirty-second-notes. The
combination of virtuosic, authentically-styled playing, lush textures, and heroic yet quirky vocal melodies is what made Yes' style so distinctive,
whether playing a hard rock song, or a modern-day neo-baroque piece such as "Madrigal."
Intent on driving the point home (and perhaps a bit too far), Yes produced a short film version of "Madrigal," in which Wakeman, dressed in
Seventeenth-century garb, performs the piece in a palatial music room, for onlooking royalty. The other musicians appear within the harpsichord and
standing on the keys, as Wakeman's fingers fly by.
Hammond Organ
Since the sixties, the Hammond organ has been the quintessential rock keyboard. From Gregg Allman to Keith Emerson, Jon Lord to Brent Mydland,
Lee Michaels to Matthew Fisher, the Hammond organ has allowed keyboardists the power and sound to compete with electric guitar. The drawbars allow the
keyboardist to shape the timbre by mixing overtones in the desired proportions. The percussion switch determines whether an audible click will
be heard at the beginning of each note. Leslie rotating speakers add motion to the sound, by creating an adjustable tremolo/doppler effect. Finally,
keyboardists can personalize the sound further by running it through such devices as guitar amplifiers, distortion units, and phasers. All in all,
the Hammond is capable of a wide variety of colors.
Rick Wakeman used the Hammond as a primary component of his early sound. He played the instrument idiomatically, making use of the various colors, and
adding interest by changing the drawbar values during the course of a piece: "I never keep the same setting from the beginning of a piece to the
end. . . I think you have to keep playing with the drawbars constantly or it gets stale. It's like playing a Polymoog and just using one preset all
night. It'd get boring and unimaginative."(21)
"Roundabout," from Fragile, exemplifies Wakeman's Hammond style. He uses a regal, full setting on the choruses, outlining the chords with
sixteenth-note arpeggios. During brief instrumental breaks between verses, he contrasts the organ sound with a reed-like synthesizer. Halfway through
the song, the momentum is dissipated and a quiet, non-percussive section begins. Wakeman chooses sounds that will directly contrast with the
Hammond: first a watery, mellow synthesizer playing gentle arpeggios, then a Mellotron flute patch playing chord pads. This is all a setup for the
frenetic keyboard solo that follows, incorporating blues licks and played with a thin, edgy, distorted Hammond sound run through a quickly-rotating
Leslie speaker. The contrast and setup has its intended effect, creating a
cathartic moment that propels the song through a energetic guitar-keyboard duet, a final verse, and a coda that recapitulates the nylon-string guitar
intro, ending on a tonic borrowed from the parallel major key.
Pipe Organ
Though the Hammond organ has often been used to simulate the sound of a pipe organ, the electro-mechanical tone wheels cannot capture the depth and
majesty of the real thing; electrically-blended sine waves can not create the same complex structure of harmonics as air being blown through multiple
pipes, mixing together within an acoustically resonant space. On "Awaken,"
the epic from Going For the One, Wakeman played the pipe organ at St. Martin's Church in Vevey, Switzerland. The organ brought enormous power to
the final, climactic section of the work. The idea of using a church organ fit very well with the spiritual content of the lyrics, which concern
themselves with the enlightenment of humankind.
On "Awaken," Wakeman actually recorded the church organ over a telephone line. The rest of the band was back in the studio, listening and recording
their parts simultaneously. According to Wakeman, "We did it that way because that's the way things are done in Switzerland. . . Their telephone
lines are the highest quality you can imagine. . . It was great. The pipe organ was recorded direct to the studio."(22)
"Awaken" begins with a solo piano introduction, played in a fast, neo-romantic style. The first verse begins, consisting of a longing,
reverberant vocal melody over an ethereal wash of synthesizers and guitar. The full band enters, creating a churning, pulsing bed for Anderson and
Squire's ascending harmonies. Unison synthesizer and guitar lines appear between vocal sections, and a contrapuntal synthesizer solo steers the
piece into a large choral section. The pipe organ makes its entrance,
bringing the piece to its first large climax. A long, quiet fantasy ensues, with a chiming, drone-like ostinato played by crotales. The pipe organ
plays a series of descending scalar lines, in contrast to the ascending scalar motives sung by Anderson and Squire earlier. Occasional harp plucks
and Mellotron choirs enter the scene to add color. Wakeman begins a long, slow build by changing organ stops from an intimate setting to a louder,
timbrally richer tone. He gradually adds harmony notes to his scalar lines, until full chords emerge. A guitar melody ushers in the whole band again,
closing the fantasy and entering a climactic vocal section. Choirs and frenetic guitar accompany the organ, now playing large chords and pedals
with all stops out. The band drops away for a moment as Wakeman plays an ascending thirty-second-note run, bringing the piece to a final, bombastic
climax. One last ethereal verse functions as a coda, ramping the piece slowly back down to nothingness.
"Awaken" was the last, and perhaps the finest, of Yes' great epic works. Aside from creating a dramatic and full sound, Wakeman's church organ
playing underlines the spiritual content of the lyrics, and loosely connects the piece to long-standing traditions of church music.
Mellotron
The Mellotron is a unique instrument. Invented in the late sixties, it works by having an internal rack filled with strips of 1/4-inch recording
tape. Upon each strip of tape is a recording of a particular instrument at a particular pitch. Pressing a key causes the corresponding tape to be
moved past a playback head. One can thus change the sounds by changing the tape racks. In effect, this makes the Mellotron the world's only analog
sample playback device.
Embraced by keyboard players looking to add orchestral sounds to their arsenal, the Mellotron was an instant hit among the psychedelic and
progressive rock communities. The default tape rack that came with the instrument contained choir, string section, and flute sounds. The flute
introduction to The Beatles' "Strawberry Fields Forever" (1967) is one of the earliest recorded examples of the Mellotron. The Mellotron was used
extensively by such groups as The Moody Blues, Genesis, and King Crimson. As Yes was phasing out Tony Kaye, they were looking for a keyboard player who would bring orchestral sounds to their music. Wakeman, with his
Mellotron and synthesizer experience, was a natural.
The Mellotron is primarily a "filler" instrument. The mechanical configuration makes it difficult to play quick runs reliably, and most of
the sounds, such as the choir and string settings, are recordings of large ensembles playing or singing single notes. Wakeman capitalized on the
strengths of the instrument, using it primarily to add strategically-placed color. His first well-known Mellotron work is on the David Bowie hit "2001:
A Space Oddity" (1970). Waiting until the second verse to heighten the
drama, Wakeman's Mellotron string pads add a sense of pathos and longing to the acoustic guitar-dominated arrangement. Open chord voicings,
reverberation, and proper mixing heighten Wakeman's illusion of a string ensemble.
In Yes' music, Wakeman would often use the Mellotron for slower, regal passages, representing feelings of resolution and arrival. In "And You And
I" from Fragile, a single Mellotron string note emerges from a static vocal harmony at the end of the "Cord of Life" section. This note acts as a
bridge to the slow, stately "Eclipse" section, where it blossoms into full chords. The main theme is stated in the Mellotron string, then gets passed
off to and blended with other instruments. Wakeman will often bring out themes by adding organ or synthesizer to a Mellotron line, augmenting the
Mellotron melody while leaving the harmonies alone. At other times, he will use the Mellotron to add subtle changes of texture to an existing part. An
example is on "Awaken," where Wakeman extends the final, climactic pipe organ chord by doubling with a Mellotron flute which comes up briefly just
as the organ chord dies away. This small touch enhances the effect of the decrescendo by smoothly moving from a bright timbre to a darker one as the
sound fades.
Orchestra and Choir
Though Wakeman has made a career out of emulating classical instruments with his keyboards, he has always taken advantage of the real thing when
the situation permits. His large-scale orchestral solo works have earned him critical acclaim, and a certain level of respect in classical circles.
Journey to the Centre of the Earth was even performed some ten years after its release by a 300-piece orchestra and choir of music students in
Edinburgh, Scotland.(23)
In Journey to the Centre of the Earth, Wakeman uses the juxtaposition of rock band and orchestra to manipulate color both horizontally and
vertically. He creates contrasting textures across time by arranging sections for different groupings of instruments. Orchestral fanfares lead
into sparse pop tunes followed by funky rock band grooves. He also creates new textures within sections by mixing blends of orchestral and popular
instruments. In general, Journey uses splashy, colorful orchestrations,
grandiose instrumentation, and continuously shifting textures. Wakeman (with the help of his orchestrators), favors heroic brass fanfares for his
primary melodies. The strings and choir are used mostly for accompaniment, creating chordal washes beneath the main action. Woodwinds are often used
to create counter-melodies, answering themes stated in voice or brass. Percussion appears from time to time; chimes and timpani are used for color
and climax. At one point, a xylophone plays a theme in tandem with the strings and flutes, adding a crisp attack to the lush melody. Wakeman uses
the orchestral instruments in exactly the same way as he uses their keyboard analogs: brassy and reedy synthesizers for melodies, and Mellotron
strings and choirs as chordal fill. Above the orchestra, often doubling the melody with the brass, lies Wakeman's solo synthesizer. His trademark
Minimoog portamentoed patch is the one cohesive element that ties the multiple sections of Journey together. To make it work within the context
of the orchestral instruments, Wakeman makes it thinner and buzzier than he otherwise might. Though this sound carries above the trumpets, it tends to
become fatiguing to the ear. The narrow range of partials present in the sound give it less timbral interest than most of his other analog
synthesizer sounds, particularly when heard against the richness of the brass instruments.
Journey opens with a brash, orchestral introduction, focusing on brass and strings. Wakeman's synthesizer doubles the opening heroic theme with the
brass. This is followed by a sparse band arrangement of a pop song, with a light woodwind accompaniment. He builds the song as he would a piece with
Yes: strings and choir enter halfway through to add drama. The song fades into a narrative passage, designed to directly illustrate the programmatic
content of the work. Sectional contrasts continue as the rock band jams on an instrumental reminiscent of The Six Wives of Henry VIII. This is
followed by a gentle, transitional section built from strings, horns, and harp.
What makes Journey to the Centre of the Earth particularly interesting is the continual juxtaposition of instruments that normally inhabit the
separate worlds of rock and classical music. This successful marriage of two diverse genres is the outward manifestation of an artist who stands
straddling both.
Analog Synthesizers
The emergence of portable synthesizers in the early seventies created a revolution in rock. An entirely new genre of instrument was introduced.
These instruments had an unprecedented ability to create and control customized electronic sounds quickly and easily. Though the early portable
synthesizers were expensive and had problems with tuning stability and reliability, they quickly found their way into the rigs of most rock
keyboard players. Wakeman was at the forefront of synthesizer exploration,
creating distinctive timbres from the new instruments: "When I got my first synths, there was no such thing as presets. You made your own sounds. You
had to. Though we didn't know it at the time, that's what made you identifiable."(24)
The early synthesizers were all monophonic. In addition, the inherent nature of the synthesizer design made them good for roughly emulating brass
and woodwind sounds. As a result, Wakeman tended to use analog synthesizers as soloing, melody, and special effect instruments, with polyphonic
instruments such as piano, organ, or Mellotron filling in chords. He would also multi-track layers of monophonic synthesizers with different timbres,
mimicking the sound of a chamber ensemble.
Wakeman, Emerson, and Banks evolved solo synthesizer sounds that had commonalties which made the type of sound synonymous with progressive rock.
Though their sounds had different types of overtone structures, and thus distinct timbres, they all used portamento. In electronic music
terminology, portamento refers to a smooth, timed pitch glide between notes, rather than distinct pitch changes. This type of sound is very
pleasing, creating a bouncy, rubbery connection between notes. Emerson's use of portamento can be heard on the solo to "Lucky Man," from Emerson,
Lake and Palmer (1971), while Banks uses this effect in the solo to "In The Cage," from Genesis' The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (1974).
Wakeman's use of a reedy or brass-like portamento-based solo sound can be heard on most of his recordings during the seventies. In "And You, And I,"
Wakeman uses this sound over tranquil acoustic guitar for the opening melodies to the first and third movements; he also uses it for the keyboard
solo in the third movement. In the second section of "Catherine of Howard" from The Six Wives of Henry VIII, Wakeman places this sound against an
uptempo rock rhythm section, creating gliding melodies over a hard, percussive groove. Wakeman uses it again in yet a different context in
Journey to the Centre of the Earth, as the above-described buzzy, ubiquitous accompaniment to the orchestra.
Wakeman used analog synthesizers for other types of effects as well. Most of his sounds have been pitch-based and instrumental in character, leaving
the white noise winds and random-pitched bloops and bleeps for other explorers of the electronic realm. On the "Starlight Movement" section of
"The Revealing Science of God" from Tales From Topographic Oceans, Wakeman creates a high, bright, percussive, pitched clicking sound. This sound
comes in on the fourth beat of each bar, working within the percussive framework to create an interesting accent. The sound is pitched to G-sharp,
the key of that section, and thus creates a high pedal. Toward the end of "Jane Seymour," from Six Wives, Wakeman creates a synthesized low pedal
tone that emerges from the bass notes played on pipe organ. Starting as a drone in the tonic of the piece, the pitch begins to wobble and
destabilize, before rocketing upward in pitch until it passes the threshold of human hearing. This strange sound brings the baroque organ piece into
the present, adding a unique flavor and reminding us of Wakeman's penchant for merging the old with the new.
Digital Synthesizers
The emergence of digital technology during the mid-eighties brought a profound change to Wakeman's sound. Digital samplers and sample-playback
synthesizers (synthesizers that used samples of instruments instead of analog oscillators for their basic waveforms) allowed Wakeman to create new
and subtle timbres that were previously impossible. He felt that "when digital came, it was indeed like manna from Heaven."(25)
Wakeman capitalized on the new technology by layering instruments together, taking the best elements of different sounds to create a new one. On the
intro to "Themes," from Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe, Wakeman plays piano motives against a synthesized ostinato. The ostinato is made up of a
breathy, flute-like percussion sound, mixed with a bit of marimba and a high-pitched metallic plinking. The ostinato repeats patterns of
sixteenth-notes, as the timbre subtly shifts from one instrumental emphasis to another. The flute component's decay changes, moving from a longer sound
to a more percussive one and back again. Wakeman's solo in "Themes" uses a percussive, harpsichord-like attack grafted to the body of a brass sound.
This allows his solo to be very distinct and audible over a dense and fast-moving background.
Digital sampling has allowed Wakeman to explore ethnic flavors from time to time. On Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe's "Birthright," a song about Pacific
island Aborigines, Wakeman combines a sample of a digeridoo with a bowed cello to create a menacing drone that appears through most of the piece.
Ethnic percussion mixes with electronic drums, and nylon-string guitar contrasts with Anderson's Aboriginal chanting to create a synthesis of
cultures. This type of cultural mixing is also heard on A Suite of Gods, Wakeman's concept album about Greek and Roman mythology. He blends pan
pipes and lyre-type sounds with his synthesized orchestral timbres. This touch of flavor becomes especially important in light of the straight,
operatic delivery style of tenor Ramon Remedios.
In Summary
Over a career that has spanned 25 years, Rick Wakeman has used every keyboard instrument at his disposal to advance the exploration of color
within rock and classical contexts. His mixtures of old and new instruments and styles have consistently created highly distinctive and unique works.
Both within Yes and on his own, Wakeman has set standards of achievement that few other rock keyboardists could possibly match. Through
fleet-fingered, idiomatic playing, careful listening, subtle, sophisticated
use of tone color, and sheer drive, Wakeman has created a large catalog of high-quality music. May he continue to bring us his gifts far into the future.
End Notes
1) Michael Wale, "Pop-classical," Melody Maker 22 August 1970.
2) Dan Wooding, Rick Wakeman: The Caped Crusader, London: Robert Hale Limited, 1978. 34.
3) Wooding, Rick Wakeman, 36.
4) Dominic Milano, "Rick Wakeman - The Great Orchestrator," Rock Keyboard, Ed. Bob Doerschuk. New York: Quill, 1985. 68.
5) Mark Plummer, "Rick - pop find of 1970," Melody Maker 25 July 1970: 29.
6) Andy Childs, "Ten Years of The Strawbs--Part Two 1970-1975," Zigzag June 1975: 31.
7) Milano, "The Great Orchestrator," 68.
8) Wooding, Rick Wakeman, 67.
9) Nors S. Josephson, "Bach Meets Liszt: Traditional Formal Structures and Performance Practices in
Progressive Rock," The Musical Quarterly Spring
1992: 91.
10) Steve Apple, Rev. of The Six Wives of Henry VIII, by Rick Wakeman, Rolling Stone 21 June 1973: 69.
11) Ira Robbins, "Wakeman Tells Yesstories," Trouser Press June/July 1977:4.
12) Billy Altman, "Rick Wakeman Brings the Brew Back to Yes," Rolling Stone 6 October 1977: 21-25.
13) Milano, "The Great Orchestrator," 68.
14) Tony Tyler, Rev. of Journey to the Centre of the Earth, by Rick Wakeman, New Musical Express 13 July
1974: 14.
15) Paul Gambaccini, "Wakeman's Mythic Ice Capades," Rolling Stone 17 July 1975: 78.
16) Altman, "Brew," 25.
17) Alan Niestar, Rev. of Rick Wakeman's Criminal Record, by Rick Wakeman, Rolling Stone 26 January 1978: 54.
18) "Roundabout," Keyboard World July 1988:23.
19) "Roundabout," 23.
20) Robert L. Doershuk, "Rick Wakeman and Tony Kaye Face Off," Keyboard August 1991: 92.
21) Milano, "The Great Orchestrator," 72.
22) Milano, "The Great Orchestrator," 72.
23) Alexander Scott, "Wakeman in the Usher Hall," Music Teacher July 1984: 12.
24) Doershuk, "Face Off," 96-97.
25) Robert L. Doershuk, "Rick Wakeman," Keyboard September 1989: 72.
Bibliography
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Apple, Steve. Rev. of The Six Wives of Henry VIII, by Rick Wakeman. Rolling Stone 21 June 1973: 69.
Bangs, Lester. "Rick Wakeman Drowns in Suds!" Creem July 1975: 63.
Childs, Andy. "Ten Years of The Strawbs--Part Two 1970-1975." Zigzag June 1975: 30-33, 42.
Clarke, Steve. "Yes Lookin' Back." New Musical Express 13 July 1974: 18, 21.
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Salewicz, Chris. "The Rick Wakeman Consumer's Guide to Beers of the World."
New Musical Express 21 December, 1974: 11.
Scott, Alexander. "Wakeman in the Usher Hall." Music Teacher July 1984: 12.
Tyler, Tony. Rev. of Journey to the Centre of the Earth, by Rick Wakeman.
New Musical Express 13 July 1974: 14.
Uhelskzki, Jaan. "Lisztomania: Kiss Me where the Sun Shines."
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Wakeman, Rick. "Orchestration of 'Simple Things'", by Aaron Copland.
Keyboard November 1980: 21.
Ward, Ed. Rev. of The Myths and Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, by Rick
Wakeman. Rolling Stone 19 June 1975: 80.
Wooding, Dan. Rick Wakeman: The Caped Crusader. London: Robert Hale
Limited, 1978.
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