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VARIOUS ARTISTS – GasTank
RRAW 2016
Rock ‘n’ roll on the floor laughing,
as Rick
Wakeman and Tony Ashton lead their stellar guests into a razzmatazz
extravaganza and bring the house down.
This show didn’t have a long lifespan – its six
episodes aired in the U.K. in 1982-1983 – but, thanks to a few YouTube clips,
“GasTank” became a stuff of legend. Deservedly so: presented by two
keyboardists-cum-comedians who chatted and played with their invitees, the
programme’s main attraction was on-the-spot ensembles that delivered
participants’ pieces with a new flavor. Most of those are gathered here on 3 CDs
and, separated from visuals, they shed a different light even on familiar
material, often thanks to peculiar pairings – Suzi Quatro with Steve Hackett on mean blues
harmonica for “CC Rider” being the best example, while Steve Harley and John
Entwistle hit it off, too, on “Go America” – which work magnificently, yet
there’s more to it all than only a novelty factor
Squeezing rock out of baroque, Wakeman elevates
even the most down-to-earth tracks to celestial heights with his vignettes that,
in a typical “GasTank” way, create quite a hilarious contrast within a single
cut like it is on Harley’s “Mr. Soft” and “In The Midnight Hour” where Kevin
Godley and Lol Creme get their kicks backing Andy Fairweather-Low. When other
unusual suspects chip in on Rick’s own compositions, two of “The Six Wives”
retain their stately stance – as does THE STRAWBS’ “The Hangman And The Papist”
– but dramatic “Gone But Not Forgotten” and elegiac “Elgin Mansions” find the
pianist in solo, very vulnerable mode. In his turn, Ashton peppers a lot numbers
with barrelhouse jive before “Resurrection Shuffle” – with Ian Paice embossing
the groove – would see Tony at the helm, and keeps on coming up with musical
jokes including the “BBC, well, F U” in one of the jams with “Ricardo.”
Together, the hosts’ ivories embroider the boogie once Rick Parfitt has dusted
off “Rain” and Alvin Lee has whipped up “I May Be Wrong” yet stay off reggae of
THE CIMARONS’ “My Soul Wants To Be With Jah” for the spirituality sake, although
there’s no limit to wild merriment in Roy Wood’s “Down To Zero” or Chris Farlowe
and Eric Burdon’s ripping through, respectively, “Lucille” and “Lawdy Miss
Clawdy” as opposed to seriousness of artists who pitch their latest works
here.
Still, the same abandon marks the ex-Animal’s
“Heart Attack” and Phil Lynott’s “Growing Up” – the former spiced up by Alvin
Lee’s licks, the latter by John Sykes’ soaring, both powerfully fleshed out with
organ and piano from Rick and Tony – as well Hackett’s jam with Wakeman on an
instrumental version of “Camino Royale.” Howie Casey and Ronnie Scott’s brass
may bring about a change in the mood, jazz relaxing everyone’s improvisatory
muscle, and Donovan’s straightfaced “Mellow Yellow” may rein in the band’s
larking, whereas Frankie Miller’s “He’ll Have To Go” is a showcase of
everybody’s soft underbelly, but Maggie Bell and Ashton funking it up on
“Blackpool’s First Twist Victim” is an excuse for all players to go unhinged.
That would be the gist of it all, this jolly madness, so the legend of “GasTank”
doesn’t cease to exist after the programme’s official release: it will only loom
larger.
*****
CURRENTLY AVAILABLE FROM GONZO
Richard Christopher 'Rick' Wakeman (born 18 May 1949) is an English keyboard player and songwriter best known for being the former keyboardist in the progressive rock band Yes. He is also known for hi..
Starmus is a festival of music and astronomy on the beautiful island of Tenerife. It is the brain child of Garik Israelian (the astrophysicist who led the team which found the first observational..
On this extraordinary album, legendary keyboard player teams up with an Italian singer named Mario Fasciano. Stavros Moschopoulos writes: 'Recorded on the Isle of Man, the CD contains 8 new..
With special guests Various artists including: Ian Paice, Rick Parfitt, Steve Hackett, Andy Fairweather Low, John Entwistle etc..
Richard Christopher 'Rick' Wakeman (born 18 May 1949) is an English keyboard player and songwriter best known for being the former keyboardist in the progressive rock band Yes. He is also known f..
Musician, producer and former Yes member Billy Sherwood has put together what he’s dubbed “the biggest super group of progressive rock players ever assembled,” to form ..
26 tracks in all, of which 10 are previously unreleased (these including an epic version of Matthew the Man - live in Tokyo 2001 and Beijing - widescreen remix from Iona, and other unreleased tra..
CURRENTLY AVAILABLE FROM GONZO
Richard Christopher 'Rick' Wakeman (born 18 May 1949) is an English keyboard player and songwriter best known for being the former keyboardist in the progressive rock band Yes. He is also known for hi..
Starmus is a festival of music and astronomy on the beautiful island of Tenerife. It is the brain child of Garik Israelian (the astrophysicist who led the team which found the first observational..
On this extraordinary album, legendary keyboard player teams up with an Italian singer named Mario Fasciano. Stavros Moschopoulos writes: 'Recorded on the Isle of Man, the CD contains 8 new..
With special guests Various artists including: Ian Paice, Rick Parfitt, Steve Hackett, Andy Fairweather Low, John Entwistle etc..
Richard Christopher 'Rick' Wakeman (born 18 May 1949) is an English keyboard player and songwriter best known for being the former keyboardist in the progressive rock band Yes. He is also known f..
Musician, producer and former Yes member Billy Sherwood has put together what he’s dubbed “the biggest super group of progressive rock players ever assembled,” to form ..
26 tracks in all, of which 10 are previously unreleased (these including an epic version of Matthew the Man - live in Tokyo 2001 and Beijing - widescreen remix from Iona, and other unreleased tra..
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