To many people, Rick Wakeman’s time in Yes was
\nthe<\/i> definitive period for the band in terms of popularity.
\nReplacing Tony Kaye in 1971, Wakeman added a classical touch to his
\nplaying, as well as the occasional bit of jazz flair. Some have
\neven suggested that Wakeman
\nwas<\/i> Yes at this juncture in their career – casually
\nforgetting the influences of Steve Howe, Chris Squire and Jon
\nAnderson.<\/p>\n
But there is no denying that Wakeman’s keyboard work shaped
\nYes’s sound – and, in fact, might have held back Wakeman’s ability
\nto branch out. His 1973 epic
\nThe Six Wives Of Henry VIII<\/i> is ample proof of this. A
\nmixture of all sorts of influences and styles, this disc, with rare
\nexception, demonstrates how good progressive rock could be without
\nfalling into any of its inherent traps.<\/p>\n
Wakeman challenges the listener throughout the 36 minutes of
\nthis disc – most notably in keeping the melodies he structured for
\neach wife in historical context. More than a brief knowledge of
\nhistory is really needed to capture this essence, though even a
\nneophyte like myself, with the liner notes sitting in front of me,
\ncan occasionally put one and one together to see where Wakeman was
\ngoing with some of these pieces.<\/p>\n
The listener is also challenged by Wakeman’s refusal to be bound
\nby any strict categorization. One moment, he’s performing a
\nsouped-up prog lick from a keyboard; the next moment he’s on an
\nacoustic piano pulling out some incredibly haungint melodies. These
\ntwo examples occur in the opening track, “Catherine Of Aragon,”
\nshowing that the listener needs to not only be patient with this
\ndisc, but also paying attention.<\/p>\n
What keeps
\nThe Six Wives Of Henry VIII<\/i> going successfully is partially
\nbecause of Wakeman’s tight songwriting – but also because of the
\nintense energy one feels in the performance of these six songs.
\n“Catherine Parr” – one which I became familiar with again thanks to
\nwatching the DVD of
\nJourney To The Centre Of The Earth<\/i> (more on that soon) –
\nfeels like it’s switching genres every 30 seconds or so, but it all
\nseems to be a natural progression. Only a skilled tunesmith can
\naccomplish this feat.<\/p>\n
From reviews I read at the “Rick Wakeman Communications Centre,”
\nthere is some debate over the track “Anne Of Cleaves,” with many
\npeople claiming this one doesn’t fit the mood of the album, or that
\nit is the weak link. I disagree – in fact, it is the outward
\njazziness of this track that sucks me in each time I listen to it.
\nWakeman’s willingness to just let the music take him wherever it
\nwants to go is infectious, and you can’t help but smile and tap
\nyour foot to this one.<\/p>\n
Weaknesses? They’re all pretty much subjective. “Catherine
\nHoward” occasionally suffers from an unbalanced mix, leaving
\nguitars buried in the mix. (Anyone else catch the partial “Morning
\nHas Broken” riff in this one?) Likewise, “Jane Seymour” sometimes
\nhas the feeling that we’re missing much more than we’re physically
\nhearing – and that ends up hurting the overall track. Still, these
\nare minor points.<\/p>\n
It had been many years since I dug this one out of the Pierce
\nMemorial Archives, and it will probably be some time before it goes
\nback (though I’ve given this one about five spins just prior to
\nwriting this – and I
\nstill<\/i> don’t feel I’ve captured all the nuances). Where Yes
\nwas a strictly prog-rock outfit following the musical visions of
\nSquire and the lyrical inspiration of Anderson,
\nThe Six Wives Of Henry VIII<\/i> shows without a doubt that
\nWakeman was a force to be reckoned with.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":26245,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[6115],"rating":[5617],"class_list":["post-37467","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-rick-wakeman","rating-rating-b-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37467","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37467"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37467\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37467"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=37467"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=37467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}