A few years ago, I had the distinct privilege to review Rick Wakeman\u2019s The Legend: Live In Concert 2000<\/i>, a DVD that featured the legendary keyboardist playing solo and telling some hilarious stories about his life in music. <\/p>\n
This came during a period where we were featuring his music on what I called \u201cWakeman Wednesdays\u201d — something we might be revisiting in the near future. (Wakeman even e-mailed me, wondering if I was dedicated or maniacal. Here\u2019s the answer, Rick: a little from column \u201cA\u201d, a little from column \u201cB\u201d).<\/p>\n
Now, we\u2019re treated to The Other Side Of Rick Wakeman<\/i>, which takes the same format, narrows it down to Wakeman on grand piano (the former featured synthesizers as well) and even dares to get the audience involved in the show.<\/p>\n
On paper, it seems like another smash hit. But, kind of like trying to recapture a magical moment, it’s not quite as special as the original. (Side note to Ben Williams, Rick\u2019s publicist: next time Rick\u2019s in Chicago, please let me know. I can\u2019t believe I missed him at The Abbey in \u201906.)<\/p>\n
For starters, Wakeman seems tired during this performance. Make no mistake, it doesn\u2019t affect his playing, which is as exceptional as it ever has been, but the show overall has the feel like this was recorded at the end of a very long tour. (Some of the stories, to be honest, I\u2019ve heard the punch lines before. Doesn\u2019t make them any less funny, though.)<\/p>\n
Second, while Wakeman is still a master storyteller, some of the tales don\u2019t quite have the same self-effacing charm as The Legend<\/i> did. A case in point being the \u201cSpur Of The Moment\u201d portion of the show. The tale of \u201cThe X Factor\u201d is astounding, but I must have missed the point of having six people in the audience name music notes at random, and Wakeman\u2019s working them into the beginning and end of the piece.<\/p>\n
The one other point of contention I have with this DVD is in no way Wakeman\u2019s fault. I understand that occasionally you\u2019ll get a cameraperson in a shot, especially from a distance. But featuring a shot of Wakeman at the piano, only to have a camera cross right in front of him \u2013 to the point you can see the image the cameraperson has on their monitor \u2013 was a poor editing decision.<\/p>\n
All of this might make The Other Side Of Rick Wakeman<\/i> seem like a sub-par release. This isn\u2019t true at all. Musically, while I\u2019d have liked to have heard a little bit of synthesizer in the mix, the performances by Wakeman are stellar. Even long-time fans of Wakeman, Yes or (to really draw on the memory strings) The Strawbs will be astounded to hear these versions of \u201cAnd You And I,\u201d \u201cA Glimpse Of Heaven\u201d and \u201cThe Henry Suite.\u201d (The tale Wakeman tells of working with David Bowie, leading into a performance of \u201cLife On Mars?\u201d is also a wonder to behold.)<\/p>\n
I said it five years ago, and I\u2019ll state again, that Wakeman is such an interesting person with so many wonderful stories to tell that I could sit and listen to him for hours over a pitcher of diet soda. While The Other Side Of Rick Wakeman<\/i> isn\u2019t the best solo DVD on the market to illustrate his hilarious genius, it still is worth checking out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":28970,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[6115],"rating":[5612],"class_list":["post-40476","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-rick-wakeman","rating-rating-b-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/40476","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=40476"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/40476\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28970"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40476"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40476"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=40476"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=40476"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}