Voiceprint Music - Release

Release

£7.99

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Catalogue number

MFVP107CD

Release date

14/08/2006

Format

Label

Music Fusion

Rick Wakeman

Tribute

Disc 1

1. Norwegian Wood 2. You've Got To Hide Your Love Away 3. The Fool on the Hill 4. Eleanor Rigby 5. Come Together 6. While My Guitar Gently Weeps 7. We Can Work It Out 8. Help 9. Things We Said Today 10. Blackbird 11. She's Leaving Home

Rick Wakeman's interest in music began at an early age and it was originally thought that a career as a classical pianist lay in store for Rick and a spell at the Royal College Of Music would seem to support this theory. Unfortunately Rick preferred playing in bands and appearing on the lucrative session circuit than studying as a classical pianist and decided to leave the Royal College Of Music or was perhaps gently pushed in that direction depending on who's story you believe.

Whatever the facts one thing is certain Rick Wakeman was in heavy demand playing sessions for some of the biggest names in pop music at this time (Late sixties/early seventies) and as such played on many hit singles including records by Brotherhood Of Man, Cat Stevens, T.Rex and also played on the David Bowie single Space Oddity.

Around this time Rick also decided to join the British folk rock band the Strawbs and it was with this band that Rick first caught the attention of the band with whom he is most closely associated...Yes

Rick left the Strawbs following a well received live album (Just A Collection Of Antiques and Curios) and a studio album (From The Witchwood) and joined Yes in time to record the bands fourth album Fragile and the single from that album (Roundabout) went on to achieve great success in America.

Rick would achieve great success with Yes recording a number of highly successful albums with the band including Close To The Edge, Tales From Topographic Oceans and the live Yessongs.

It was also around this time that Rick released his own debut solo album The Six Wives Of Henry The Eighth. Rick decided to leave Yes following disagreements over the bands album Tales From Topographic Oceans and went solo full time recording his second album a musical interpretation of Jules Verne's Journey To The Centre Of The Earth.

With this album Rick became a bona fide superstar and recorded more themed albums including The Myths and Legends of King Arthur and The Knights Of The Round Table. He also recorded two well-received film soundtracks for the films White Rock and Ken Russell's Lisztomania in which he also had a small role.

Returning to Yes in 1977 Rick managed to juggle both the responsibilities of a solo career and also his obligations to Yes although once again in 1979 Rick departed Yes for a solo career. Rick would return to Yes again on a number of occasions and at the time of writing is still a member of the premier British progressive rock band.

Tribute is just that, an affectionate tribute to the greatest rock band of all time The Beatles. Originally recorded and released in 1997. The project grew from a commission from a private company that wanted Rick to record Eleanor Rigby alongside other Beatles classics.

A popular album with not only the regular Rick Wakeman fan base but also many people who would ordinarily not purchase Rick Wakeman albums.

Reviews

When I noticed the first time that an album of Rick Wakeman had the title "Tribute" I thought that on this album other musician were performing songs from this great musician. But I was very wrong. A certain soundcheck before one of Rick's live concerts was the reason that "Tribute" features songs written by The Beat.

les. During this soundcheck he played a classical version of "Eleanor Rigby" and was very much welcomed by his sound engineer. He advised Rick to play it during the next gig. Rick did not like the idea that much but tried it anyway. The crowd loved it and since that time the song was almost on every setlist. He actually never did record the song in a real studio. Recording this song was also a good reason to rearrange 10 other Beatles tracks and to include them on an album which can be considered as a tribute to the Fab Four. With the help of Fraser Thorneycroft-Smith (guitars), Phil Laughlin (bass) and Stuart Sawney (percussion programming) he managed to produce fine version of songs such as "Norwegian wood", "The fool on the hill" and "While my guitar gently weeps". The best version included is probably the "Help Trilogy". He has combined this Beatles track with a piece of his own which has the title "Quartet". This way the songs really sounds as a classical piece performed by an orchestra. Iam sure that a lot of people might call this kind of music too poppy. But that's obvious because The Beatles were one of the first bands that did write great poppy tunes. I also have to admit that his own work sounds better. But that does certainly not mean that the songs on "Tribute" are bad. The recordings are certainly of a very high level and played with a lot of passion. Maybe it helps if you are a fan of this keyboard player that's for sure. Hopefully someday a real album with the title "Tribute" will be released and has bands on it who perform Rick's music. *** (Henri Strik)