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132
m2A PIONEER OF THE
ELECTRIC KEYBOARD,
RICK TAKES US ON A
GUIDED TOUR OF HIS
FAVOURITE MOOGS,
SYNTHS AND GIZMOS,
AND RECALLS THE
NIGHT RIO’S TRAM.
SYSTEM HAD TO
SHUT DOWN SO
THEIR NATIONAL
GRID COULD POWER
AYES CONCERT.
. WORDS, BILL BRUCE
‘carly inthe morning Torre rain
ishammering down ouiide, ind soine
workmen have turned pat his font
dor, ot ofthe blue. Im expecting Ric.
Wakeman o bein fll grumpy man
the complete opposite,
ith entnstasn largely in anticipation of
the release of thé new reinterpretation of fare) To
The Cente Of The Fath. Where there
Fant, now there's often awry a
stony indulged whe ame stage"
explains. "You couldnt go. out and play this sor of
seuff bladdered" aVa 0 Wa wet dé 7 oy, OTL ae
eet“$246 “hecommits to it whole-heartedly, and
BRP is applies tile of eectone
ab eae
(CES) kesboa isjmenthe'seer played
AS wo shel pees. From pipe organs
toW
gotkeyshe'shad ago nit
we cuckles, "because no mater what it
scltzers, from Stylophones to Mellotron, is
fy,
is allinstraments ate diferent. Theyall ave a unique
islityseven clectronic instruments. ve gota mate
‘whollives near here, anidhe's got forty pianos, and stil
avert tried them all:And yet ifyou blindfolded me
could sill you'which of ray MitiMoogs is which
A, the MiniMog. Possibly no other insrument
Rick Wakeman as the worlds
it playsone
firs affordable, monophonic (meanin
note ata time) keyboard. Ricks unique lationship
_wih the Moog s inextricably ted to his friendship
with the synth’sereator, the late Dr Bob Moog. t's
‘eling that Rick pronounces the ame ofthe machine
asitshould be~ Moag, sounds lke rogue —and not as
‘might ook, Hehas owned more MiniMoogsthan
any other keyboard, atone stage using twelve of ther
in the studio and on tour, What sic that has made
this particular instrument so timeless?
fallin love,” says, wistfully, recalling the
first time he played one. "Is the closest electronic
instrument to the piano. When you play @key on
piano, you getthe sensation oft working of
a hammer hitting ake, the mechanics at work. Now
Tknow thi sounds strange, because i's an electronic
instrument and there arent any working
such, but when you playa Moog you cant help but
{eel this similar connection, You elit producing this
magnificent sound”
These days he mainains a relatively modest
collection of about nine, I couldnt imagine having
a keyboard Hg without one,”hesays. "Tt sill sounds
sigue, there's noth
today that even comes close.
‘There is something about the filers, the sweeps
and the oscillators that means never sounds the
same-way twice. That's why you can’ sample the
Jnecause you can hit a key thirty times and ach ine
youl et something slighty diferent
‘While smth aficionados applaud Bob Moos
engineering process, many overtook his deep lowe of
isc, something Rick acknowledges. "Bob adored
‘musicians, al he loved making instruments that
msicians adored, The first time me im, in 1971
‘while was touring the US with Yes, heinvited me up
this factory in Buffalo,
thought Fd go up, say hello and that would be
that. Instead he quizzed me forages about what
[waned ou of the MiaiMoog asking how he could
snake t beter. [sad to him, Wal, they dotend to
pick up RF radi incr
big stadiums i was worse, cos these places have ike
rence] Ifyou were playing
‘thousand aerials on the rf, So you'd be doing
‘gig and suddenly you'd get minicabs and air trafic
‘control coming through the PA. Bob ssid OK and
‘that was it. Nothing moge was said,
“Then in 1972, Yes were playing in Toronto and
Bab turned up atthe gig said, Hey Bob, niceto see
you and he replied, Tve solved the problena"Then
the went up om stage and starting taking my Moogs
spartan fixing them right here. Tis just before
the gig'ssbout to start, and he's tinkering withthem when we goon, Sowe start playing, and e's
sil fixing the ger, and he's so wrapped up in ithe
gst notice 22,000 peopleall thinking "Who's that
bloke with the curly hairon stage with Yes? Then he
Finishes, look up, suddenly realises what's hoppening
and says to me; "Well, suppose better get ff now
Ic ber fit was Jon (Anderson) or me,
Ricklaughs, “but one ofus announced, 'Ladis and
‘gentlemen, Dr Bob Moog, nd the crowd gave ima
standing ovation,
His current MiniMoog collection ismorea matter
‘of practicality. "You have to understand that these are
‘quite dlicate machines, and they don't travel well
Ihave a couple that never leave the studio because
‘theyre too fragile. take a couple out on the oad
with couple of spares and ac any given ime another
to will bein for repair So there’ around robin
process going om with them ll the Gime Having
‘a good ones worth its weight in gold
hon preset ythesisers ist
5 appearedin the late 70 onwards,
2 Rick had an ually nique way
fearing how wo programme
them: he would wipe the fa
sounds and try t programme
theam agai from sratch, “Oh yeah,” he admits,“
sill do that. Whenever we geta new keyboard in
wipeal the sounds off that and start again, Light
keep the od preset, ut l always edit them and (aon) Srocess
lectrnic artist Laurie Anderson once remarked
shat yathessrs were hike ars, each with their own
}OURNEY
ai "
“BobM voy Wid eas
stilllixing the year,
nol noticing 22,000
peoplethinking
Who's thatbloke
onstaye with dese”
= as
a? ae
int chartered Rick gre Teint
alocoftrth in that, but sadly is gt
less tructhesedays [remember the
0s, when the
Prophet Skeyboard appeared everyone freaked out j
because it hod eight presets. ight! Lean, tis was
stoishing! Now fora couple of hundred quid you
can buy something that's gt afew hasan presets
Helets outa sigh.“Oh, get ot of people sending
mestuffo lite, and ofcourse’ very keyboard
‘orientated and try to sen toas rach oitas Lean,
Bottoo often fm siting dere with my headin my
ands, inking Crikey, there's the Kory Prophee
preset... Ob, ther’ preset 2. And there's Roland
Fantom preset 1. And oni goes. Fantastic sounds,
them, Theresa music shop in
synths thar had came in for eps
bbuteveryonesusing
London that an
‘orexchange snd 99 percent ofthe sil contained the
factory sounds. They never even been touched
He cites his approach to recreating sounds forthe
new version of urn as te way things ought tbe
might start with a decent preset Clavinet sound or
Rhodes piano sound, but would always change tout
‘ofall ecogniton. The technology should exist o do
‘what you want ido, artistically. What isnt there to
doiscome up with the artsicbit for you:
jes he ascribe this lack of imagination tothe rise
‘of hard-tofathom synths like the Yamaha DX7 in
the 1980s, which eschewed clear ows of knobs and
sliders fr oblique posh buttons and diss?
‘No hesays ily, “because the DX-7 and, ater,
the Korg MI were revolutionary machines. It was |
tore that the 8s were horible period when most
bands were only using bout two or three percent of.
what these machines wer capable of It was find hadpince the Os, Some ofthe would be worth a mint
———_now. eas to have hindsight about these things, but
don ike tolookbick and dell on what could ave
‘ben did a probably just bursting ears”
Ricklso cheery admits tha e's notin the
leastbic technical, and his one tempt at building
his own synthesise inthe mid-70s =the notorious
Birotron apparently came to an abrupt end when
helatchedit across thes
tate frustration, However, this doesnt stop many
ina moment oF
eyboard enthusiasts regarding him, erroneous asit
tums out, as some sor of electronic gure
“getthese guys coming uptome,"hebegis, wearily
usully aie shows and they start giving, Rick have
19 capacitor though the TRE.
universal drive orsome such nonsense, and just stp
ast player, mate. Tve 0
ies howe any ft happens, Lust play.
Yet, forall his protests, heiscredited with many
youtried hen
them anu say, Hold on
innovation. stich as being the frst artis to stack his
keyboards on top of each other, “Well it wos really
a practical thing” headmits, modesty. tha afew
keyboards with alt top, ikea piano and a orgs,
and you could put another keyboard ontop of them
But needed alos more than that
"Again, at the time there was no such thing as
‘keyboard stand remember trying to explain 6 One
‘ofthe manfacurers what | ws looking for an they
thought was having a laugh, So had to do mys
wont out and bought an ol chest of drawers and
[polled he drawers out and fired these sort of
runner boards on them and put my heyboards on
‘those. mean, you were pioneering everything
thoseday
re
Trell you something though he tts
ly." wish Fd patented the idea,
11970, Maly Maker describ
apes, tere yas plenty of
compettonto be he leaing
AAS virwoxo oth day, ost nab front
“AS ELPsKeih Emerson. So wis thee any
Rick, then,
f the Stabs, as tomorrow's
board
"8
truth to rumours ofa rivalry?
Ricklets out hearty guffw. “Nab there was none
‘ofthat, akhough the press iked to make out there
was. Keith, on Lord and thad three very different
sys. would be ike the goalkeeperhaving go
av being a centre forward. We alloseupied our own,
space, Someone once asked me how you would create
the perfect keyboard player, and [reckon i you got
Kei’ left hand —he's gota phenomenal efthand =
and my right hand, youd probably do alright”
In 2012, Rick spoke atthe funeral ofis good.
friend Jon Lord's clea he still misses Lord, and
is forthright in his praise of is playing,
"Jon hada Hammond style that otshone
everyone,” he enthuses. "The three of us were alway
talking sbout doing something. Even now, whenever
ie
ay? URN
Keith comes overfo the UK we talk about, but so
farithasnt happened. The sad things, we nearly did
itat the Sam Buxton Sunlower Jan Healing Teast gg
atthe Albert Hall in 2005, but Keith took illand had
topull out, soit was justJon and me. And, of course,
thacturned out tobe the ls time Jon and
I performed together:
Today, Rik Wakeman is preparing forthe fist
live performance ofthe new, extended ourey To The
Conte Of TheEarthin Buenos Aires, on November
29,2012.South Americaisa region he's visited
‘on numerous occasions, one he ceslyhas great
flection for when Yes fist toured thee, in 1974
icwasnt cxaely renowned for being
nos technically advanced par ofthe world,
‘Wedid our first gigin Ri,” Rick recalls, “where
the power supply was something else Ie wasnt
safest nor