by Geoff Bailie
At 76 years old, Rick Wakeman is still an active recording and touring artist – despite several “last-time” statements, the man keeps going, with an appearance at sea on Cruise to the Edge, and a forthcoming UK tour. He also has an enormous recorded output, which has received a lot of curation in the last few years. The Prog Years box set is an enormous work focusing on his pre-1977 material. A 5-album box set of some of the harder-to-get items from his catalogue also dropped a few months ago. And now we have The Broadcast Collection, a 10 CD / 5 DVD box set covering live performances from 1990 to 2014!
While I’m not sure if any of these are previously unreleased (they aren’t billed as such), Rick released a lot of DVDs in this period, across a variety of labels. Therefore, to have these now gathered as part of the RRAW label is helpful for those who missed out. In most cases, you get the DVD, with the corresponding audio on either one or two CDs. Let’s go through what you get here in chronological order!
Sweden 1980 is a TV broadcast, complete with the Swedish presenters’ opening credits. A blue-jumpsuited Rick is joined by band stalwarts Tony Fernandez and Ashley Holt, plus Tim Stone (guitar) and Steve Barnacle (bass). At the height of the New Romantic era, we get a very ’70s-heavy set, albeit with Barnacle adding some quite “of-its-time” slap bass in places. Large chunks of The Myths and Legends of King Arthur, Journey to the Centre of the Earth, The Six Wives of Henry VIII, and No Earthly Connection make up the set list. Rick is surrounded by an array of vintage and more modern keyboards, including his famous double Moog. The advances in technology mean that the keyboards sound very good. For me, unfortunately, Ashley Holt is the weak point of this show. His vocals, particularly on the No Earthly Connection material, just sound very out of date in their styling. Overall, it’s a bit of a time capsule piece – a 1970s performance, awkwardly stuck in the ’80s.
A jump of 7 years and a geographical leap brings us to London in 1987. No DVD this time, just a 2 CD set of a BBC radio broadcast. Fernandez and Holt are present, joined by David Paton on bass, opera singer Ramon Remedios, the BBC Radio Orchestra, and the Neil Richardson Singers. This set has a much broader selection of music from Rick’s catalogue, so you get choices from The Gospels, sung by Remedios, with The Hour being a particular highlight with the choir. Catherine Howard is a very familiar Wakeman track, but the version here with the orchestra is also very strong. The 1984 album gets great coverage too, with Robot Man and the Overture being played. This set was one I had not heard before, and it is a really worthwhile listen, straying as it does into albums such as White Rock and Rhapsodies, which don’t often get featured.
1989’s broadcast from Swansea by the Rick Wakeman Quartet (Fernandez, Holt, and Paton) is from around the Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe era. Quality-wise, it’s probably the weakest video in terms of clarity, with some audio dropouts that suggest it’s a VHS conversion of some sort. It’s a shame because the band is very tight, and the performances are strong. Again, a bit of a juxtaposition – men in 1980s attire playing very 1970s music. Paton’s fretless bass playing is excellent but again adds a date stamp to things. It’s one I would probably skip in favour of the next DVD – Nottingham 1990, which is a brilliantly filmed gig in a TV studio with an audience. Quality-wise, it’s a big step up from Swansea, with overhead cameras, and it features the same three-piece band. This set shows how well much of this material can come across with just keys, bass, and drums, with Holt adding some percussion in places. You get great footage of Rick and of Tony Fernandez in action. The highlight of this set is an excellent 20-minute edit/medley of music from Journey to the Centre of the Earth. The film crew are to be commended for capturing Rick’s hands in action from above and below – which, let’s face it, in a show of largely instrumental keyboard music, is what you want to see.
A jump of 10 years and a continental drift to South America, and the Brazil 2001 show is a very different proposition to what has come so far. The cape is back, and a new band line-up brings a new energy. Joined by son Adam on keyboards, plus the ever-present (it seems) Fernandez on drums, the rest of the band is made up of Ant Glynne on guitar, future ELO/ARW member Lee Pomeroy, and the accomplished Damian Wilson on vocals. With extra keys and electric guitar, the opening Journey sounds incredibly different and powerful when compared to the 1990 version. Threshold singer Wilson brings a much more modern rock edge to the vocals – he blends the sensibility of the original performances, minus some of the 1970s clichés. It’s a very different type of performance than Ashley Holt, so a nice change at this point in the material. The performances here are all very strong, and the crowd responds accordingly. Damian Wilson does a great job on Sir Lancelot, hitting all the high notes, leading into the brilliant Moog solo from that piece, played with almost jazzy accompaniment by the band. Ant Glynne’s playing on a very rocked-up version of Merlin is absolutely superb, and we even get a Yes song! A deceptive Heart of the Sunrise intro leads to Starship Trooper. Wilson has no problem making this his own, and the Wurm section allows Adam Wakeman to get his keytar out and duel with Glynne’s electric guitar – but it’s the main man who nails an incredible Moog solo while… well, headbanging the song to its conclusion.
The final disc set captures a show from Buenos Aires in 2014, which has Wakeman and band playing backed by an enormous choir and orchestra. The ever-present Holt and Fernandez are here, along with Dave Colquhoun – on crutches, it would appear! Guy Prothero is responsible for conducting, and the music sounds fantastic. The set list covers a full version of Journey, with a “special ending” which incorporates elements of Return to the Centre of the Earth, including Ride of Your Life, with a guitar/keytar duel between Rick and Dave. The camera work is generally good, capturing the key moments, albeit one camera is a bit shaky throughout proceedings. I know I have been a bit critical previously, but Ashley Holt puts in a fantastic performance here. Florencia Benitez also covers some of the vocal parts – there are certainly some sections that suit her vocal range better than others, but once she gets up and running, her performance is a good contrast to Holt. This really is a lavish production, and while the audio mix – especially of the choir – isn’t perfect, it’s a good watch.
I would say that the people who would contemplate buying a 15-disc set of Rick Wakeman live recordings probably know who they are before they read this review! This box set is packed full of content, albeit a booklet perhaps with a bit more detail or even a few comments from Rick about the shows wouldn’t have gone amiss – especially since these are coming out on his own label. That said, if you are a fan of Rick, many of these recordings may have passed you by in previous incarnations – so to be able to get them easily, in one place, is excellent.
Track list
Live In Nottingham 1990 (2 x CD and DVD)
1. Catherine Parr
2. Elizabethan Rock
3. Make Me A Woman
4. Anne Boleyn
5. Journey To The Centre Of The Earth
6. The Hangman
7. Sea Horses
8. King Arthur
Line-up: Rick Wakeman – Keyboards, Ashley Holt – Vocals and Electronic Percussion, Tony Fernandez – Drums and Percussion, David Paton – Bass
Live In Brazil 2001 (2 x CD and DVD)
1. Intro
2. Journey To The Centre Of The Earth
3. Arthur
4. The Last Battle
5. Sir Lancelot And The Black Knight
6. Catherine Howard
7. 1984
8. Band Intro
9. Merlin The Magician
10. Starship Trooper
11. Eleanor Rigby
12. End Credits
Line-up: Rick Wakeman – Keyboards, Damian Wilson – Vocals, Anthony Fernandez – Drums, Lee Pomeroy – Bass, Antony Glinne – Guitar, Adam Wakeman – Keyboards
Live In London 1987 (2 x CD)
1. Myths And Legends Excerpts
2. Sea Horses
3. Welcome
4. The Star, The Hour
5. Gone But Not Forgotten
6. Catherine Howard
7. Robot Man
8. White Rock
9. Anne Boleyn
10. Summertime
11. Overture From 1984
12. Journey To The Centre Of The Earth
13. Merlin The Magician
Line-up: Rick Wakeman – Keyboards and Stories, Tony Fernandez – Drums, David Paton – Bass, Ashley Holt – Vocals, Ramon Remidias – Vocals & Narration
Live In Swansea 1989 (2 x CD and DVD)
1. Arthur
2. The Last Battle
3. Make Me A Woman
4. Journey To The Centre Of The Earth
5. Catherine Parr
Line-up: Rick Wakeman – Keyboards and Stories, Tony Fernandez – Drums, David Paton – Bass, Ashley Holt – Vocals, Special Thanks to Simon Howe for saving this recording.
Live Sweden 1980 (2 x CD and DVD)
1. Catherine Parr
2. No Earthly Connection Medley: The Warning, The Prisoner
3. Anne Boleyn
4. Happy Birthday Karls Krona
5. King Arthur Medley: Galahad, The Last Battle, Merlin The Magician
6. Journey To The Centre Of The Earth Medley: Journey Overture, The Journey, The Hansbach, The Battle, The Forest
Line-up: Rick Wakeman- Keyboards, Piano, Tony Fernandez – Drums, Ashley Holt – Vocals, Tim Stone – Guitars, Steve Barnacle – Bass
Live In Argentina 2014 (2 x CD and DVD)
1. The Journey
2. The Recollection
3. The Battle
4. Ride Of Your Life
5. Encore (The Battle)
Line-up: Rick Wakeman – Keyboards, Dave Colquhoun – Guitar, Tony Fernandez – Drums, Ashley Holt – Vocals, Florencia Benitez – Vocals, Ivan Espeche – Narration
