{"id":31278,"date":"2026-08-10T05:30:45","date_gmt":"2026-08-10T09:30:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=31278"},"modified":"2026-04-02T11:01:41","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T15:01:41","slug":"take-five-rick-wakemans-am-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/10\/take-five-rick-wakemans-am-years\/","title":{"rendered":"Take Five: Rick Wakeman&#8217;s A&#038;M Years"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Virtuoso keyboardist and composer Rick Wakeman has been incredibly prolific. Since the release of his solo debut, 1973\u2019s<em> The Six Wives of King Henry VIII<\/em>, the British musician has released well over 100 albums. His wide stylistic range has taken in progressive rock, classical, new age and much more. And his session credits are of the highest caliber as well, including classic like Cat Stevens\u2019 \u201cMorning Has Broken,\u201d David Bowie\u2019s \u201cChanges,\u201d T. Rex\u2019s \u201cBang a Gong (Get it On),\u201d Black Sabbath\u2019s \u201cSabbra Cadabra\u201d and countless others. And then of course there\u2019s his work as a member of Strawbs, and his decades-long, on-and-off role in Yes.<\/p>\n<p>For many listeners, the golden age of Wakeman\u2019s solo output came during his years recording for the A&amp;M label. In that period \u2013 1973-79 \u2013 he released eight albums of new material, establishing and expending his dedicated following that continues to this day. In celebration of the 50th anniversary of one of those albums \u2013 1976\u2019s <em>No Earthly Connection<\/em> \u2013 here are five notable tracks from Rick Wakeman\u2019s A&amp;M years.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cCatherine of Aragon\u201d from <em>The Six Wives of King Henry VIII<\/em> (1973)<\/strong><br \/>\nWakeman\u2019s solo debut was an inspired work, a concept album without lyrics. Six Wives is a series of evocative instrumental pieces designed to capture and express the composer\u2019s thoughts and feelings about the succession of spouses of the imposing and legendary British monarch. <em>Six Wives<\/em> reached No. 30 on the U.S. album charts, earning a Gold record, and peaked at No. 7 in his native England. Wakeman performed a medley of songs from the album as a solo showcase in Yes concerts of the era. Bits of \u201cCatherine of Aragon\u201d figured prominently in that piece.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/d_1FOGuUmfs?si=j3fotNZx14TxhrpY\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cThe Journey\u201d from <em>Journey to the Centre of the Earth<\/em> (1974)<\/strong><br \/>\nFor his second album, Wakeman went in a different direction. Working with singers, a massive choir and orchestra, he adapted Jules Verne\u2019s classic 1864 science fiction novel to the symphonic rock idiom. Some critics panned the record for its excesses, coming as it did shortly before the dawn of the punk era, but <em>Journey<\/em> was a massive hit around the globe, reaching the No. 1 spot in Wakeman\u2019s native England, and No. 3 in the United States.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/xn-KqfMaSvs?si=ccd1Fpd7DV5pcI9w\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cArthur\u201d from <em>The Myths and Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table<\/em> (1975)<\/strong><br \/>\nWakeman continued in an adaptation mindset with his third solo release; <em>Myths and Legends<\/em> brilliantly combined rock and symphonic textures. An ambitious work, the album earned him another hit, reaching No. 2 in the UK and No. 21 in the States. Like <em>Six Wives<\/em> before it, the album has been revisited by its composer in subsequent years, both live onstage and in a modern day re-recording.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/VExLG8E6tMA?si=Gc04XMFXibLmmmW1\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cPart II: The Maker\u201d from <em>No Earthly Connection<\/em> (1976)<\/strong><br \/>\nAfter releasing his King Arthur-inspired work, Rick Wakeman took on a soundtrack project, creating music for Ken Russell\u2019s over-the-top film <em>Lisztomania<\/em>. Shortly after completing that project, he began work on a project based on a greatly scale-down instrumental setup. <em>No Earthly Connection<\/em> is based in part on the composer\u2019s fascination with UFOs and creation myths, but taken as a whole, it\u2019s less conceptual than his previous works. The original album came packaged with a mirrored piece of film that listeners could fashion into a tube, allowing them to view the record sleeve\u2019s cover image in a less-distorted fashion. Longtime associate Ashley Holt provided lead vocals on \u201cPart II: The Maker\u201d and other tracks.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/bEO4D3bk2rg?si=i2PrNVZj6q_YC2za\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cRhapsody in Blue\u201d from <em>Rhapsodies<\/em> (1979)<\/strong><br \/>\nThe final release from Rick Wakeman\u2019s time on A&amp;M Records, <em>Rhapsodies<\/em> came after a pair of 1977 releases: the <em>White Rock<\/em> soundtrack and the conceptual-instrumental <em>Rick Wakeman\u2019s Criminal Record<\/em>. For his sixth studio album, Wakeman composed and recorded enough shorter instrumental pieces to fill a double album. A musically varied collection, <em>Rhapsodies<\/em> doesn\u2019t have a conceptual theme. While most of the tracks are Wakeman originals, a pop arrangement of George Gershwin\u2019s \u201cRhapsody in Blue\u201d is a centerpiece of the record. <em>Rhapsodies<\/em> reached No. 25 in the UK, but only made it to No. 170 in the U.S.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Personal note:<\/strong> I wrote the liner notes for a 21st century reissue of <em>Rhapsodies<\/em> (and for a reissue of <em>Rick Wakeman&#8217;s Criminal Record<\/em> as well). And one of my interviews with Wakeman formed the basis of a chapter about his first album in my third book, <a href=\"http:\/\/30conceptalbums.com\/\"><em>What&#8217;s the Big Idea: 30 Great Concept Albums<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/vXNMf7YW5sE?si=JLVLdueXAQhv6b0v\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Virtuoso keyboardist and composer Rick Wakeman has been incredibly prolific. Since the release of his solo debut, 1973\u2019s The Six Wives of King Henry VIII, the British musician has released [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31279,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[1843],"class_list":["post-31278","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-essay","tag-rick-wakeman","cat-27-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31278","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31278"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31278\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31280,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31278\/revisions\/31280"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}