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The Return of Rick Wakeman!Interview by John "Bo Bo" Bollenberg
 Camera people almost kill each other in order to make the best shots. An emotional Rick Wakeman invites us to the rear of the gallery.
EMI Classics president, Richard C. Lyttelton, speaks. "Rick Wakeman is a fantastic musician. Not only is he an ace keyboard player, he is also a phenomenal contemporary composer and a talented producer. He is someone I have admired and respected for many years. For EMI Classics he is the ideal person to have on the label. Return To The Centre Of The Earth was an enormous project. Not only does it comprise the work of 150 musicians, but I have luckily resisted the temptation in using a cheaper, eastern-European orchestra. If we were to do this outrageous idea then we should do it to the fullest. The London Symphony Orchestra and English Chamber Choir were magnificent, as were the young gifted musicians Rick had in his band. Also my thanks and admiration have to go to Patrick Stewart. What a voice! For everyone at EMI Classics this was an enormous undertaking. I now invite you to watch some video footage about the making of Return To The Centre Of The Earth.
I talk to an emotional Nina Carter, Rick's wife and friend in need. "I'm glad about the enthusiastic crowd because for us this has been a very difficult decision to make. In the end this might well be Rick's work of his life and the end result really is mind-blowing!" Second son Adam says, "Until now I haven't heard anything at all on the album. I have arranged bits and pieces for the choir and that was very complex. I am very happy about the media attention and the confidence EMI has in my father. I am very proud … and curious to finally hear the album!" Oliver, the eldest son, adds, "My father has worked in secrecy on this album. No one from the family has heard one bit, which is very strange as he takes us to listen to his work all of the time. This time it was 'strictly confidential' all the way. The project was masterminded on the Isle of Man, and because me and my brother Adam live in England, we haven't heard anything."
Another "old" face in the crowd is that of drummer Tony Fernandez. "I still do bits and pieces left and right. I do a lot of gigs with Ruthless Blues and I have been in Adam's band Jeronimo Road for some time. Now that Damian Wilson has left, it looks like the band is no more. Sad really." A distinguished man in his fifties looks in my direction. It's Ramion Remedios, the tenor who did The Gospels and A Suite Of Gods. "I'm glad Rick has finally been able to record with a decent budget in order to record one of his compositions. It's a pity there was no room to include myself, but then again it might well be that the success of Return will see the revival of The Gospels. Who knows? Personally I'll probably be doing the Phantom Of The Opera later this year." I'm getting thirsty and try to find the bar. Of course it's the ideal place to find Ashley Holt. Ashley has been the rough voice Rick has been using for years in his English Rock Ensemble. He sang on the original Journey To The Centre Of The Earth and was the singer with Warhorse, the band formed around ex-Deep Purple bass player Nick Simper. "I'm thrilled Rick is getting so much attention. He's had it difficult for a long time, but I wish him all the best with his new project." Whilst Ashley drinks his 57th beer, I have a chat with Jim Davidson. Jim is a very popular TV-presenter for BBC, having a very important TV programme on Saturday evenings. "I have been friends with Rick for years and I thought it was very sad [that] the media were no longer writing about him. With this new album I'm sure he will get all the attention he really deserves. I'll grab a copy of the album on my way out because I have to hear that album!"
Unfortunately the shy Roger Dean has already left the building and the competition beer drinking continues between Dr. Doom (alias Stuart Sawney) and guitar player Fraser Thorneycroft-Smith. I still haven't been able to say hello to the man of the evening: Rick Wakeman. Someone from yet another TV-channel is preparing his questions whilst Rick gets another layer of make-up on. Spotlights flash on and another interview takes place. Richard C. Lyttelton smiles. I finally shake hands with Rick. An enthusiastic smile and a "hello mate, nice you could make it. See you tomorrow!" conclude a very fatiguing day. The interview time I've been given the next day runs from 13:00 to 13:20 exactly. Just in time, I arrive at the luxurious Kensington Hilton where I am informed that I am expected on the fourth floor in suite 4017-4029. The lovely Natasha from EMI Classics asks me to wait because a Danish journalist has a final question. Wakeman answers that question until it's exactly 13:20, but I don't panic, knowing I'm the last journalist of the day. My 23 year friendship with Rick Wakeman is an advantage because the moment the world's best keyboard player sees me, time suddenly is no longer an issue. The small 20 minutes I was given by the record company suddenly runs well over an hour and a half! In my hurry, all of the prepared questions are still in my printer at home, so I guess it's improvisation time once again.
Listening to the album for the very first time makes you aware of the confident sound of the Moog synthesizer. Especially since the way Wakeman plays this instrument is unique, a sound associated with the vintage Wakeman. It's as if Wakeman has come "full circle." "You're absolutely right. What I have learned from my children is the following. In the eighties, and even in the beginning of the nineties, everything sounded dated. That sound refers to that period, that way of producing is typical for that period, that singer has to be seen in that period, everything's got a date and a label. What I see in the world of fashion, music, literature, art, film, is that there is only one rule: if it's good, it gets put on the shelves; if not, no one will stock it. So you no longer have to write material in a certain pattern; what you do has to be good and not just be en vogue. In particular, my daughter Jemma listens to a lot of pop music that nowadays contains a lot of covers from the sixties. Sometimes I ask her: 'do you know how old that song is?' and then she answers: 'daddy, I don't care. If a song is good, then it's good. Period!
How is it that someone "big" like Rick Wakeman, who has been obliged to release one low budget album after the other for years, suddenly sees a budget of £2 million being invested in a new project? "Record companies have lost all feeling for music itself for many years now. People in charge mainly are businesspeople who want to make profit. The strange thing is that, in nearly two months time, I had four interested companies all trying to sign me up. In February last year EMI joined them. The big difference between EMI and the other companies was that EMI wanted me for the right reasons. Apparently the seventies are back in fashion and most companies thought it would be a good move to give this project a chance because of the sudden interest in the period and the analogue sounds. I told them I wasn't interested in delivering a 'seventies' album. What I wanted to do was to make an album in 1999 that was ready for the new millennium. I told them I would need at least three months to do the orchestrations alone. They told me that wasn't necessary. The orchestra would only be added as a visual gimmick! Suddenly Richard Lyttelton from EMI came waltzing in. It's not as if because the man is president of the classical department at EMI that he doesn't know anything about pop music. The man was responsible for signing Queen to EMI! He knows a great deal about all sorts of music. When I had dinner with him, he asked me how I would feel if my album would be released on EMI Classics. I told him that wasn't important for me as long as the album was taken care of with the right attitude. I have had plenty of dinners with record company executives in the past, and what I have learned is that they all use the same tactics. If you ask them to give you £100 they find a way to finally give you £75. If you ask for ten musicians, in the end you get six. They all are alike!
'I have studied it well', he said, 'but I can't figure it out. You know that EMI would love to do this project, however with these figures I can't work it out. Let's start with the orchestra.' I interrupted his conversation, saying to him that I compared the best prices I could get and had to settle for this orchestra in Belgrade. He said: 'if we do this project it has to be done well, the best.' He asked me what the best orchestra in Europe is? I answered: 'the London Symphony Orchestra'. 'Correct', he said, 'and did you base your budget on the LSO?' I told him this wasn't necessary, that these people would probably cost ten times as much. 'I know these prices', he said, 'they are under [an] EMI contract, so I know the prices. Well, that's OK then, I can put the LSO down as the orchestra shall I?' Of course he could, but if we took on the LSO, there was no more budget left! 'Ah, the choir', smiled Lyttelton. 'What about the English Chamber Choir? They were once founded by the LSO and their leader is Guy Protheroe. An excellent choice.' I said to him: 'you have just added £100,000 to the budget!' He said: 'Well, £122,000 to be precise! Now, let's talk about your band. You have an excellent band, very skilled musicians. Yet I would like you to use a complete new line-up. I want you to use musicians you have never before played with in your life. I want those boys to push you to new limits, limits you never thought were possible. In your own way you will push these youngsters to limits they didn't think were possible.'
'Have you thought about the sleeve?' Lyttelton continued. 'Personally I'd love to have a Roger Dean cover. He's a friend of yours isn't he? Why not make an appointment with him and talk things over?' The next day I was with Roger Dean talking about the idea. One thing that was very important was what Lyttelton told me afterwards. He said: 'There's only one way to do this project and that's the perfect way. You have to decide who the singers will be. I won't put pressure on you asking you to use people who have just had a major hit. The choice is yours yet I would like you to choose the right singer for the right song.' I left the office with mixed feelings. One was of relief and happiness that they would finally give me the chance to do this project on a big scale. The other was one of responsibility. Without having heard one single note of music they provided me with the best musicians and a huge budget which was brought together by the shareholders in the first place. I didn't know whether at all I should be glad or sad. It might sound unbelievable but financially I have it harder now than before. I put heart and soul into this project thus not taking on any other commitments. They asked me to do two soundtracks, which I have declined, as right now I have to be available to do promotion for the new album. I am also preparing the live shows we are planning to do with this project. Believe it or not but we are taking this extravaganza on the road. Roger Dean is already working on the stage set!"
Before we were to record the orchestra nothing was ready. I had done recordings in Los Angeles, in New York, in London, on the Isle of Man. We had used several formats of tape; recordings were being flown from one side of the planet to the other. I never had any material available to let the investors hear what I was working on. It was as if I had this huge jigsaw puzzle and was throwing all of the pieces on the table. As long as these pieces made a huge pile it didn't mean anything. The first sessions with the orchestra were cancelled because I was in hospital so they were postponed until December. In my thirty year long career this has been the most nerve-wracking experience I have ever witnessed. We are all sitting in studio 1 in CTS, one of the most expensive studios in London. Before me sits the entire London Symphony Orchestra, it is a couple of seconds before ten o'clock. Conductor David Snell raises his baton. 96 digital channels are waiting to be recorded. Behind me is the president and the board of directors of EMI Classics. I am thinking about the quarter million pounds which is going to be spent over the coming two days just to record the orchestra alone! In twenty seconds time I will hear for the very first time whether at all the arrangements I have done will work, will sound perfect or whether it'll sound terrible, as if the LSO was a third rate brass band. I asked myself what these EMI directors would've done if it had sounded terrible. Would they run outside in panic and throw themselves under a bus? Those final twenty seconds have been the most silent twenty seconds of my life. As if in slow motion I saw the baton going up and even when I only heard a rough mix in the control room it was as if thick clouds were making way for the sun to emerge. That moment all stress left my body as I turned around and only saw laughing faces. If I still had doubts, they all left that same instance. Only then was I sure that it would work 100%. Everyone involved in the project has given himself to the fullest as if their lives depended on it! Personally I heard the entire piece for the very first time on December 17th. Halfway [through] January I got a CD-R, followed by a copy of the actual album on 2nd February. The copy was still hot!" Maybe Return To The Center Of The Earth can be seen as the locomotive to pull the revival of progressive rock. Maybe the 'old' Rick Wakeman can inspire a new breed of upcoming young prog-minded souls? 'You might have a point there. Everyone has worked so hard. It's as if they all wanted to be part of it, as if they want to tell their grandchildren that they have collaborated on this project. Patrick Stewart we had booked for two hours but he stayed all day without asking any extra money. He even cancelled a couple of other engagements. He also has shown a great interest to be involved during the forthcoming live concerts of the project. Even if the actual recordings in the CTS studios started at 10 in the morning, certain technicians would already be at work when I arrived at 8:30. I warned them: 'boys, we really can't afford to go over the budget. Every hour in this expensive studio is costing us heaps of money.' But they told me they had discussed it with the studio's manager and they could do all they wanted without any additional cost. The hours they put in before ten o'clock they did out of free will, without being paid, simply because they wanted things to be perfect. During the recording of a huge orchestra you always have someone making some noise. Those technicians would look up those 'noises' and digitally remove each and every one of them. They saw this collaboration not as a job. All of the singers stayed much longer than asked for. The result can maybe be evaluated by other record companies, and maybe they can think: 'Hey, those guys at EMI believed in this kind of music and look what the result has been. Maybe we should give this sort of music a chance as well?' It might well be there will be an interest in this genre of music again and hopefully Return To The Center Of The Earth will be an inspiration not only to the many wonderful musicians out there but also to the industry. I honestly hope it'll mean something!"
With the new approach around the old Jules Verne novel, maybe there's a possibility for Wakeman's Myths and Legends And The Knights Of The Round Table to be re-worked for the digital format? "I don't think so [laughs]. What I would like to do is to release a new concept album every three to four years, something with a large orchestra, but then I need some good subjects. I would also love to do the soundtrack for a major film not limited to just synthesizers but a soundtrack with full orchestra."  © Simon Fowler On May 18th, 1999, Rick Wakeman turned 50. The man who put the immortal mellotron into Bowie's "Space Oddity," the heavenly piano in Cat Stevens' "Morning Has Broken" and who was the figure-head of Yes is finally back and you, you should already have bought the new album and played it to smithereens! Discography
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 © Copyright 1999, 2000 Progressive World |
In the video we are shown several aspects of the recording process for the album, and one by one the guest singers are presented. After this short film, next to Rick himself, director David Snell, choir leader Guy Protheroe, Bonnie Tyler, Katrina Leskanich, Tony Mitchell and even Roger Dean climb on stage. Approved by family and friends the applause goes on and on before drinks and snacks introduce the start of a hectic attack of media interest.
More than 25 years after the vinyl release of the original Journey To The Centre Of The Earth we now get Return To The Center Of The Earth on CD. From 36 minutes analogue we go to 76 minutes digital. Was Wakeman unhappy about his first offering? "Not at all. The technical side of things has changed so much over the years that I can do things in a completely different way now. For this album I started to write a completely new story as if I was Jules Verne myself. I am still very happy about the first Journey album because it was the best you could do at the time. I also worked with an orchestra, a choir, a narrator, and a band. However the concept was done in a way where you had a part for the orchestra, then a part for the band, etc… You didn't have the possibilities you have now. Just take a look at the multitude of software that is available now! Today it is possible to record every single detail separately and then add it later on without any loss of quality. I can tell you that the new album, as it sounds today, couldn't have been done three years ago. With the length of the CD I also have more possibilities. On the original Journey I had to bear in mind that I had to record the material over two sides. This time I didn't have to take this in consideration. Initially I had 126 minutes of music but I needed to have it on one single CD so I had to remove a lot of material. The result was much more direct. I was asked to make the total duration under 78 minutes in order to guarantee the quality. Meanwhile, it also has something to do with the CD-R which has a maximum capacity of 74 minutes. There are however CD-Rs which last longer, yet they cost more than a pre-recorded CD!"
If you see what the 'kids' wear nowadays you will see a mixture from the thirties right down to the current day. There no longer is one fashion. The same applies to films, books. No writer starts writing a 'certain type' of book. He or she has to put his or her entire soul into the book in order to put everything as original as possible onto paper. Only then do you get recognition and will people buy your product. Of course marketing-wise it's not an easy task to promote something. I haven't thought one minute about who would buy my album. From the day I knew I could spend time on this project, I have started to work without asking myself any further questions as to who would buy it. What strikes me is the attention from the media. They have called me, telling me what a refreshing idea it is and what a nice change it all makes! The reviews we got so far are all very promising. Even a magazine like Metal Hammer is very positive. They even asked us if they could do a review because they like the album so much. Metal Hammer? These guys think Metallica is a folk band! Of course there's the song with Ozzy but people won't go through an entire album just to hear the one song with Ozzy! Then there's the Classic CD magazine that likes the album a lot as well. What my music can be is, like you say, be the key to go from classical to pop and from pop to classical."
Yesterday, when Richard Lyttelton spoke about a certain 'someone' suggesting we use an eastern-European orchestra in order to cut the budget, that was very gentleman-like of him because that 'someone' was none other than yours truly! I was so keen to make that album that I was willing to settle for lesser-known orchestras as long as it would cut the budget. I proposed an eastern-European orchestra, an eastern-European choir, and a tiny budget for a good yet unknown narrator. Then suddenly I was having dinner with the big authority, Mister Lyttelton and he said: 'I've looked at your budget …' and I thought 'here we go again!' 
Apart from a lot of press coverage and many TV-documentaries, the best promotion for this kind of music remains radio. If you hear something you like chances are you might go out there and buy it … "'That's why we have done 'radio edits' from most of the songs in order to keep those songs under the four minute barrier. Radio stations in England work along a certain 'format' yet they tend to get more freedom as time goes by. The guy who's doing the breakfast show on Radio One loves the album very much and even if his programme has some very strict rules he will play certain tracks off the album. Breakfast radio means many millions of listeners! Classical radio will probably love tunes like 'The Return Overture' and 'The Dance Of A Thousand Lights.' You see, a lot of people have spoken to me and told me: 'Either this album is going to do well, or it'll do very well. In the end EMI will get their investment back because they are doing massive promotion. The album Journey To The Centre Of The Earth sold 12 million copies worldwide, although I think we have to be very realistic here. Times have changed drastically, yet EMI think they can sell 3 million units. We have high hopes because several sponsors have knocked on our door willing to invest. We have a major company who wants to film our live shows and broadcast it on TV. There are no limits. Take Tubular Bells. In the beginning the album didn't do a thing, then someone used a couple of minutes of the music for The Exorcist and before you know it there's Tubular Bells II, III and who knows, IV. You don't know what you can get out of such an idea."