Thursday, 6 September 2012

LINK: Rick Wakeman - Keys to the kingdom

Legendary keyboardist Rick Wakeman is returning to play his extravagant works. He talks to Scott Kara.

Going solo - Rick Wakeman. Photo / Supplied
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Going solo - Rick Wakeman. Photo / Supplied

It was one day during 1971 - Rick Wakeman can't remember exactly - and David Bowie had invited him round to his house to listen to some new songs he'd written.

The pair knew each other well, and Wakeman had played mellotron on Bowie's 1969 track Space Oddity. So, with his battered old 12-string guitar, Bowie proceeded to play for Wakeman, a young and on-the-rise keyboardist at that time, songs like Life On Mars, Changes, and the rest of the songs from Hunky Dory.

"He played them to me one after the other and said, 'I want them all to be piano-based on the new album, so make some notes and write them as you would play them on the piano and everybody can work around you'.

"I said to him, 'these songs are fantastic but why are you playing them to me on a shitty old 12-string guitar?"'

Read on...
Check out Rick's Gonzo Artist Page

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