LEGENDARY KEYSMAN RICK WAKEMAN RETURNS WITH HIS NEW PIANO OPUS MELANCHOLIA, OUT NOW
COMPLETES A REMARKABLE TRILOGY OF SOLO PIANO WORKS THAT BEGAN WITH PIANO PORTRAITS (2017) AND CONTINUED WITH PIANO ODYSSEY (2018)
“one of the most meaningful suites of piano music I have ever done”
– Rick Wakeman
Mojo – “Wakeman at his most introspective… a reminder that gentle rumination is as much a part of the Wakeman playbook as prog bangers”
Prog – “curative music from a true master baring his soul”
Rocks Magazine – “carries something powerful and noble”
WATCH THE NEW VIDEO FOR THE FIRST SINGLE ‘MELANCHOLIA’, OUT NOW
Melancholia is out now on the following formats:
- CD
- Special Edition 2- disc CD+DVD set – hi-res stereo + ‘Inside Melancholia’ short film
- Silver vinyl LP
- Black vinyl LP
- Digital
Rick Wakeman – Melancholia
Sitting at the Window [03:24] Reflection [03:41] Pathos [04:13] Dance of the Ghosts [03:57] Alone [04:46] The Morning Light [03:28] Garo [03:50] All in the Mind [05:01] Sea of Tranquility [02:59] Missing [03:39] Watching Life [03:50] Melancholia [03:39]
The new album from legendary Yes keyboardist and composer Rick Wakeman is out now. Melancholia takes its place as the crowning jewel in a remarkable piano trilogy that began with 2017’s Piano Portraits and continued in 2018 with Piano Odyssey – both landmark albums that found Rick reaching new heights of popularity and critical esteem as a solo artist.
But while those records looked outward, reinterpreting beloved melodies and exploring sweeping themes, Melancholia turns inward, inviting us into the most personal, introspective, and perhaps profound music of Wakeman’s storied career.
The album began, as so much of Wakeman’s finest work has, with a quiet moment at the piano. One afternoon, his wife Rachel overheard him playing a contemplative piece – what would later become “Garo” – and was struck by its quiet emotional power. And because she knew well that he often turned to the piano in times of sadness or inner turbulence, using music as a kind of emotional compass, she encouraged him to share it.
What followed was not a conceptual record in the traditional sense, but a deeply cohesive suite, written intuitively at first and later shaped in collaboration with long-time producer and engineer Erik Jordan at The Granary Studio in Norfolk and recorded on a beautiful Steinway Model D.
For any enquiries please contact sarah.l@snappermusic.co.uk
Keyboard Legend Rick Wakeman & The English Rock Ensemble
To Release New Concept Album
‘A Gallery Of The Imagination’
Keyboard legend Rick Wakeman’s new concept album ‘A Gallery Of The Imagination’ is out now!
The initial idea for ‘A Gallery of the Imagination’ stems from Rick’ first piano teacher, Mrs Symes, with whom he studied from the age five until his time at the Royal College of Music. She taught him that music was like painting pictures: that when you play, you are painting pictures through music, an important lesson that Rick never forgot.
Having written a vast array of new music recently, all of different styles, Rick recalled the advice of his beloved teacher and decided to present the tracks for the new album as if they were pictures in a gallery. Just as there are many different styles in an art gallery, so there are many different musical styles on ‘A Gallery of the Imagination’. It contains many clear prog influences, especially in the Moog solos and there are also two solo piano numbers, which reflect Rick’s classical roots and show influences from the Romantic period. As equally as important is the strong song and melodic influence on ‘A Gallery of the Imagination’ with eight unconventional vocal tracks, with Rick’s distinctive descriptive music carefully arranged around the lyrics.
Examples of the variety contained within the album are the fun yet wistful elements in ‘A Day Spent on the Pier’, a track describing time spent at the seaside, written in Southwold and evoked by Rick’s own memories of happy childhood days spent on the helter skelters in Brighton and Clacton and on the pier in Southsea. Rick wrote ‘The Eyes of a Child’ with his thirteen grandchildren in mind, aware of the responsibility of trying to fix the world for following generations whereas ‘Cuban Carnival’ celebrates the light-hearted fun times Rick spent in Cuba with his band, the English Rock Ensemble. As listeners take a musical walk-through Rick’s ‘Gallery’, they will find more than enough to fire the imagination and come up with their own mind paintings whilst listening to his new album.
Says Rick: “One of my great loves is going to museums and art galleries and seeing all the different types of art, so I thought, why not a music gallery… the Gallery of the Imagination? People can paint their own mind pictures to the different types of music that are on the album. It is very diverse and for me it works very well because the concept holds it all together”.
One of the ideas Rick would like to pursue around album release is for listeners to draw or paint their own pictures or even create sculptures to the music which, in turn, could be displayed. “It is a very tactile album” Rick explains. “I’d like to feel that people can actually touch the music.”
The line-up on ‘A Gallery Of The Imagination’, as with Rick’s previous album ‘The Red Planet’ – features The English Rock Ensemble: bassist Lee Pomeroy, guitarist Dave Colquhoun, drummer Ash Soan and on vocals Hayley Sanderson, famous for her work as a vocalist on ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ with each artist recording their individual parts in their own studios. Join Rick for a stroll around ‘A Gallery of the Imagination’ – as he says: “a gallery that belongs to everyone”.
ORDER /SAVE ALBUM
‘A Gallery Of The Imagination’
Track List
01 Hidden Depths
02 The Man In The Moon
03 A Mirage in the Clouds
04 The Creek
05 My Moonlight Dream
06 Only When I Cry
07 Cuban Carnival
08 Just A Memory
09 The Dinner Party
10 A Day Spent On The Pier
11 The Visitation
12 The Eyes of a Child
‘A Gallery Of The Imagination’ will be released on the following formats and is available to order here
Madfish have released keyboard Legend Rick Wakeman & The English Rock Ensemble’s new album “The Red Planet”
NEW 2 DISC – CD + DVD VERSION OF THE CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED UK TOP 40 SOLO STUDIO ALBUM FROM KEYBOARD LEGEND RICK WAKEMAN
May 2021 saw Madfish release a new 2 disc version of the album as a CD + DVD format which will feature the original album on CD and the DVD will showcase the album in glorious 5.1 surround Sound and Hi-res stereo audio (PCM Stereo @ 24-bit 96kHz / Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround @ 24-bit 48kHz / DTS 5.1 Digital Surround @ 24-bit 96kHz) plus 3 mini promo films and a 70 minute documentary of “The Making Of The Red Planet”, presented in a digipak with a 16 page colour booklet.
Madfish have welcomed the keyboard maestro, the legend that is Rick Wakeman into the Madfish family for his new album The Red Planet.
The Red Planet features 8 newly composed pieces, especially for this project, and harks back to Wakeman’s critically acclaimed debut album “The Six Wives of Henry VIII” where there were 6 heavy keyboard pieces based around a central subject matter. It is a serious return to “Wakeman Prog”…
“This is far and away the best thing I’ve done for as far back as I can remember”
– Rick Wakeman
Rick has blown the dust off his favourite analogue keyboards and along with his with the latest keyboards, has used the same formula he devised when making his legendary albums “The Six Wive’s of Henry VIII” and “Criminal Record.”
Upon being asked about the expectations of his Prog Fans, that they are hoping he will have shoved the “Prog Fader” up to 11, he replied, “That could be a problem…. as it’s already at 14!!!”
Madfish have released the standard versions worldwide on CD, gatefold double LP (black vinyl) & download.
Rick Wakeman …The Biography
After studying piano privately for 12 years, Rick gained a scholarship to the Royal College of Music where he studied piano, clarinet and orchestration. In March 2012 Prince Charles presented him with his Fellowship of the RCM. He was also made a Professor at the London College of Music.
As a much sought after session musician in the late sixties and early seventies , he played on more than 2000 records including such hits as Cat Steven’s “Morning Has Broken”, David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” and “Life on Mars” and worked with a real eclectic mixture of other notable artistes such as Donovan, Cilla Black, Marc Bolan, Black Sabbath, Lou Reed, Mary Hopkin, Dana, Al Stewart , Elton John and John Williams.
In March 1970 he joined Strawbs and his first album with them , Just a Collection of Antiques and Curios , paved the way for “Folk-Rock” and reviews from their concert at The Queen Elizabeth Hall on July 11th of that year , did much to take Rick’s career to a new level.
He joined YES in August of 1971 and has been in and out of that band on quite a few occasions! (One journalist likened the relationship to that of Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, in as much as they can’t live with each other but in the same breath, can’t live without each other! Rick told the journalist he didn’t disagree as long as it was accepted that he was “Richard Burton”)!
For the last five years he has been touring the world with ARW to great acclaim, alongside his great friends, guitarist Trevor Rabin and vocalist Jon Anderson.
Both as a solo artist and with YES he has sold more than 50,000,000 albums, although he says that only a clairvoyant would be able to tell you where the royalties went!
He has written 2 film scores for Ken Russell , (Lisztomania and Crimes of Passion), 2 scores for Harry Palmer films starring Michael Caine, (Bullet to Beijing and Midnight in St. Petersburg), and the award winning 1976 Winter Olympics film White Rock as well as Gole, Hero, A Day After The Fair and 2 horror films, Creepshow 2 and The Burning.
He has also carved out quite a television career in the UK , appearing on every single programme of the Grumpy Old Men series , just under 100 appearances on Countdown plus numerous invites onto Never Mind The Buzzcocks, Have I got News For You , Pointless, The Chase , and had 6 years as a regular presenter on Watchdog. On BBC Radio 4 he can be regularly heard on The News Quiz, Just a Minute and It’s Your Round. He also hosted the stand up show Live at Jongleurs on television for five years which was shown around the world.
He has two current books available …Grumpy Old Rockstar and Further Adventures of a Grumpy Old Rockstar, both of which made the best sellers list. The third in the series is due for release in 2020.
He still finds time each year to perform concerts around the world which can range from his extremely popular one man show to extravaganzas with symphony orchestras and choirs.
In 2013 he performed 12 consecutive sell out one man shows at the Edinburgh Festival,
In 2014 he toured his highly acclaimed Journey to the Centre of the Earth with a symphony orchestra, choir and band to more than 30,000 people in the UK and was also two further concerts were performed in 2019 at The Royal Festival Hall to celebrate Rick’s 70th birthday.
In 2018 and 2019 he has had two albums, Piano Portraits and Piano Odyssey reaching the Top 10 in the UK and recorded a piano album especially for Xmas entitled Christmas Portraits.
In 2020 he recorded a highly acclaimed prog rock album, his first for many years, entitled The Red Planet and it will be featured live throughout 2021 including a performance in Armenia at the Starmus Festival.
The 2020 pandemic hit the music industry extremely hard, especially when it came to performances and subsequently all Rick’s concerts and tours were put on hold. These included tours and concerts of all kinds in America, Canada, Hungary, Italy , Switzerland , Brazil , Argentina , Russia and the UK to name but a few.
Many are being rescheduled for 2021 in the hope that the pandemic will have ended and a vaccine found, plus all countries being able to return to some semblance of normality when it comes to live performances.
In the meantime, Rick continues to do many radio appearances via the internet and also writing new music and working on his third Grumpy Old Rockstar book.
He has many projects on the go, all of which will come to fruition over the next three years.
Life is rarely dull for Rick or those around him!
The English Rock Ensemble (ERE) features:
Rick Wakeman – Keyboards
Dave Colquhoun- Guitars
Lee Pomeroy – Bass
Ash Soan – Drums
The Red Planet was produced by Rick Wakeman and Erik Jordan
