Sir Galahad (Rick Wakeman) (LP 4806 - 4814)

Rick Wakeman  The Six Wives of Henry VIII (Vinyl and CD, A&M Records, 1973) *****  

Rick Wakeman  The Six Wives of Henry VIII Live at Hampton Palace (CD and DVD, Eagle Records, 2009) ***  

Rick Wakeman  Journey to the Centre of the Earth (Vinyl and CD, A&M Records, 1974) ***  

Rick Wakeman  The Myths and Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table (Vinyl and CD, A&M Records, 1975) **** 

Rick Wakeman and the English Rock Ensemble  No Earthly Connection (Vinyl, A&M Records, 1976) **  

Rick Wakeman  Rock n' Roll Prophet (Vinyl, Dureco Benelux Records, 1982) ** 

Rick Wakeman  Silent Nights (Vinyl, President Records, 1985) **  

Rick Wakeman  Country Airs (CD, Coda Records, 1986) ****  

Rick Wakeman and the Martian Rock Ensemble  Red Planet (Vinyl, Madfish Music, 2020) ***** 

Genre: Prog rock 

Places I remember: DJ Records, HMV, Real Groovy Records, JB Hi Fi, Spellbound Wax Company.

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Sir Lancelot and the Black Knight

Gear costume: Glory Boys (Silent Nights)

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6; Part 7; Part 8

Active compensatory factors: Thanks to Yes' Fragile album I was a fan of everything in Yes World, which led me to The Six Wives of Henry VIII back in 1973. Consequently, I fell in love with the brilliant, but barking mad, world of Rick Wakeman - hence all these albums!

Six Wives is a majestic series of songs that thematically conjure up the spirit of each wives' personality, according to Rick. This was his second solo album, but kinda his first real one. He'd made an album called Piano Vibrations in 1971. It was a series of cover versions of popular songs, whereas Six Wives features his original content.

The album was recorded live in its entirety for the first time at Hampton Court Palace in 2009. The palace is a fitting venue - as it was home for Henry VIII. The show was released on DVD and as an album. 

It fools around with the order of tracks and includes one for Henry that was left off the original album. It's a fine performance, but I prefer the original sound and order. The live version is a bit too slick.

Journey to the Centre of the Earth was another epic concept album. I bought it and sold it off at some point, then many years later had a hankering to listen to it again. I bought a CD copy with terrible packaging so found a record with the original (also terrible, but not as terrible) packaging. 

It's easy to see where Alan Parsons got his concept ideas from - I bet he wished he'd found this idea first. Rick chose a live setting for this recording, and it pays off with the London Symphony Orchestra and English Chamber Choir. The whole album is entertaining and unpretentious for the most part.

The Myths and Legends of King Arthur and the Spiders from Mars, oops - I mean Knights of the Round Table, is one of my favourites. It helps that I love the source material.

Again, the packaging for the vinyl edition is missing from the el cheapo CD version. A shame, because the booklet that comes with the vinyl album is superb and it deserves wider distribution.

The music and story line are mostly in synch, except for the bits that sound like you've entered a western saloon. I can never figure out why prog rock gods like Wakeman and Emerson insert those bits. Aside from that quibble, it's another entertaining album.

No Earthly Connection was another album that had Rick playing with his English Rock Ensemble - a loose Plastic Ono Band style group. This time he focuses his talents on one song that covers all of side one and half of side two of the vinyl - called Music Reincarnate. It drifts by pleasantly but doesn't linger long in the memory.

From its tacky cover and title, to the fact Rick sings on three tracks, Rock n'Roll Prophet is a really weird one! It's a hard album to like, which is why critics derided it at the time. Apparently, the album was intended as a spoof but it seems sincere, so who knows. Easy to say that in hindsight, I guess. Oh, and his vocals aren't terrible.

The whole album is not that bad, but the chintzy synths do give the album a goofy veneer. When he plays piano he's on much more solid ground; clearly he wasn't in a serious mood though.

Onto the dreaded mid-eighties and Silent Nights had a much better cover and title for a start. It also had the mix of novelty songs (terrible) instrumentals (both excellent) and sub-par songs that strived to be current (meh). The mid-eighties were bleuch for a lot of artists who had a post punk curse to contend with. Rick was unfortunately no exception. Do love that cover though.

Maybe Rick realised all this and decided to record a beautiful instrumental solo piano album instead. Although Country Airs does encroach on new age pianist George Winston's territory, it's distinctly Rick Wakeman.

Side note - beware Rick's re-recorded version in 1992 because of Coda (the record company) going bankrupt. That version uses a digital piano, so the original is the superior one.

That Rick is at his best in an instrumental setting is borne out by his 2020 album - Red Planet. He's joined on the album by the latest iteration of his band, now renamed The Martian Rock Ensemble (I see what he did there).

It's similar in approach to Six Wives - lengthy prog rock songs married to a central concept. In this case life on Mars (b.t.w - Rick's piano is a feature of that Bowie song). Rick is back with a band who supplement his talents with drums and guitars. I especially like the guitar layers on the album.

Each of the song features plenty of twists and turns (I swear he suffers from ADHD) so there are always new things to listen out for. Each track is brilliant and the whole album coheres around the theme. It's a triumph!

Where do they all belong? He's extremely prolific and I'm not a completist. I'm happy with what I've got and there's a lot more of Rick to come when we reach Yes.