Rick Wakeman’s return to classic prog was long overdue, but this year finally saw the release of his first prog album since Out There (2003). Wakeman has always been a prolific releaser of music, but contrary to popular belief far from everything he does under his own name is progressive rock.
When Wakeman announced a new prog project on his website in January 2020, it was also revealed to be an instrumental prog rock release very much in the style of his debut The Six Wives of Henry VIII (1973) and follow-ups Journey To the Centre of the Earth (1974) and The Myths And Legends of King Arthur And the Knights of the Round Table (1975). These are his most revered and classic releases, and landmark releases in progressive rock.
Just like the mentioned titles, the new album was also to be a concept album. It sounded like Wakeman wanted to get back to his roots and make an album very much in the classic mould and style. This is exactly what he has delivered.
The Red Planet is, as the title indicates, a concept album about the planet Mars. Space has inspired several of his previous releases as well. No Earthly Connection (1976), 2000 A.D. Into the Future (1993), and Out There (2003) are all about that vast area beyond our planet. The Red Planet is however the first album dedicated to one specific planet.
David Bowie’s death may have had something to do with the choice of subject – at least on some small level. His passing prompted Wakeman to record a new version of Life On Mars for charity (Wakeman played on the original recording). This also coincided with the impending 50th anniversary of the first landing on Mars. There was definitely a lot of rumination going on about ‘the red planet.’
Wakeman said “I always like to find a subject matter to inspire me rather than sitting down and saying ‘Come on inspiration, come from somewhere!’ And space is a fascination for me. I have close connections with friends at NASA and other astronauts. On a clear night I can lie on the ground in my garden, just look up at the stars and be in heaven.”
Although a lot of Wakeman’s prog albums are instrumental, he is known for being able to create moods that suit the specific song topics perfectly. He has always sought to prove that you are fully able to convey something about a given topic even without the use of words. For The Red Planet, each of the eight songs on the album are titled after Martian landmarks, mountains or areas. This means that the album is made up of song titles such as Ascraeus Mons, Tharsis Tholus, Olympus Mons, The North Plain, and South Pole. We have observed Mars from afar for quite a few years by now and know a lot about the planet. Wakeman seeks to evoke musical landscapes that would remind us of the real ones if we floated above them and took them in.
There is a huge chance that devoted listeners will learn a thing or ten about Mars in the process. Certainly if you buy a physical product of the album, you get very informative and interesting booklets which contains not just the expected info and bio on the musicians plus liner notes on the origins of the album, but also a brief history of all of the Mars trips to date (even shown diagrammatically), images and text showing all surveying equipment and vehicles used on Mars, an overview of every Mars mission to date with facts and images, etc. This may seem like more than what a mere music lover would be interested in signing up for, but it’s very neatly presented, easy to digest and very interesting. A perfect accompaniment to the music for those who have the desire to dip into it.
Wakeman initially formed his own prog rock band back in the 1970s, called The English Rock Ensemble, to perform on his albums. The current version of the band features two long-time members: bassist Lee Pomeroy, who also recently toured with Wakeman in the ARW (Anderson Rabin Wakeman) version of Yes, and guitarist Dave Colquhon. New boy Ash Soan has joined them on drums.
The genesis for some of the music on The Red Planet comes from ideas Wakeman submitted for a potential ARW studio album. A lot of fans intensely hoped that this new constellation of Yes musicians would release new material after their initial bout of touring, but for several reasons that did not happen. Wakeman was perhaps the most keen to make it happen, as he started writing and submitting material to the others early on – specifically, the organ lines in The North Plain and the rhythm and main themes for final track Valles Marineris (then under the working title The Bolero) would surely have ended up on an ARW album if it had been made.
For Wakeman, the lack of ARW output did at least mean that he was free to use his own ideas himself. He would turn this into a positive, as he later said, “Selfishly I will admit that I was actually pleased when the ARW album collapsed. In particular I knew exactly how I wanted Valles Marineris to end up and that can’t happen in a band project, as any idea offered is open to ideas and rehashing. So I decided to carry on as I intended to do originally because I really liked the music and I didn’t want it to be wasted. And I’m really happy I did.”
This takes us to the actual album. So, what do we have?
To start with my conclusion: this is a legitimately good album. Wakeman has pulled out all the stops this time. As a musician, he is one of the best on his instrument in his genre that the world has ever seen. No question. As a composer, he is sometimes able to match his levels as a player, but not always, and the inconsistent quality of his solo material is the biggest issue when evaluating his career as a whole. As such, there was an element of holding one’s breath and hoping for the best this time around as well. Not to worry though. The Red Planet does not just live up to his 1970s peaks. It may even have surpassed them.
You read that right. I think The Red Planet may be the best album Rick Wakeman has ever put out under his own name.
Listening to a full instrumental album may not be everybody’s fortè. I get that. Certainly it requires the music to be interesting, well played, and find other ways of delivering the emotional heft that vocals usually provide. It’s like having an album with all the best instrumental breaks that you adore from an album you like, but instead of going back to the vocals after that break you get another instrumental break instead.
The music is constantly imaginative, building specific moods and soundscapes, with instrumental elements that build masterfully on each other. It connects with its subject matter on an ambient, emotional and atmospheric level. On a more basic level, it also contains numerous earworms. I have had melody lines and parts of songs playing over and over in my head many times since getting the album, which is an excellent sign.
The album’s first track, Ascraeus Mons, opens to the ominous tones of a gothic-sounding church organ, the drums and bass adding to the pounding rhythm that the music is establishing. A few quick keyboard flourishes lets us know that this is indeed a Wakeman piece, before the song expands. This is a bit of a reversal, as normally in prog rock the church organ is used for the ‘final kitchen sink’ – when people think things are built up as big as they possible can and that there can’t be anything more, you throw in the church organ. This time it is done the other way around, starting with the church organ and putting other things around it. It works really well.
Opening the album with a dark and rich organ sound immediately gives us that feeling of vastness of space, with an isolating feel to it. The song also establishes the Mars Theme which comes up a few times over the course of the album. It reminds us that as we move on to other areas/songs, which may have a lot more happening in them, the naked and empty vastness always lies there as a backdrop. It works so well!
Other songs have more room for smaller moments, and it takes a little time to dive into the more intimate sense and reflection that comes from being isolated in specific areas, representing the smaller moments. Different synths provide different styles and different atmospheres.
Tharsis Tholus is one of the volcanos on Mars – considered ‘young’ enough that future eruptions could even be possible. The song dedicated to this dome-shaped mountain is very dynamic. Sometimes a volcano can be very peaceful and lovely, just like the song which starts off with a sweet keyboard theme amid passages based on softer sounds. Then it fires up and contains a whirlwind of virtuoso moments of action.
This brings us to what probably is the catchiest moment of the album. You will not believe how often I have had the main keyboard theme of Arsia Mons stuck in my head. The mountain that named this piece is also born out of volcanic activity. The song immediately bounce along with some drive and energy. The middle section builds a quiet ambience before it all kicks in and bring that infectious keyboard theme back.
Olympus Mons is the highest mountain on Mars – also having housed a volcano – and it surprises no one that it got its own song. This song contains a more direct approach with many ‘in your face’ moments. The drums are prominent as far as driving the music onward, with the keyboard building a huge theme. Tasty guitar in the background provide spice. The band is really on fire as far as technical interplay and building the song into a huge piece. Definitely the closest thing we get to being the ‘rock’ moment on the album – still very much talking prog rock, of course.
The North Plain is a huge, empty wasteland, mostly consisting of utterly desolate areas. The song starts ominously, as there is something genuinely uneasy about these cold, dead, vast landscapes that seem to go on forever. After a minute, the band comes in with a huge-sounding keyboard riff leading the charge, and the band keeps grooving along. The song keeps changing between the desolate and the groovy. There can be something majestic about such large areas, but it can also overwhelm you. The song is of two minds about this, as most of us would be if we had to take such a landscape in.
What we see at this point in the album is that each of these different tracks manage to showcase different facets of the planet, while creating a very unifying overall landscape. Sixth track Pavonis Mons is another volcanic mountain, which is almost brought to life in this song due to the crunchy bass line ending up symbolising a heartbeat. Or is it the lone heartbeat of an astronaut standing on its summit? In any case, this is very effective. The band delivers a solid performance here, with many musical themes and perhaps one of the more straightforward songs on the album.
South Pole is another song about one of the large regions on the planet – the South Plain, which is significantly smaller than its northern counterpart. Perhaps for that reason is may seem less scary, and the music is consequently more wonderous. It does a tremendous job of sounding huge and atmospheric while containing clear themes and a good pace. The moment in the middle where the piano takes over brings the thoughts to starlight and observing the heavenly bodies from another planet. No matter what surface you stand on, you can look up and see the same stars as we see from our own planet. The song represents one of the softer moments on the album, and is a tremendous track in every sense.
This takes us to the final track on the album. Valles Marineris refers to a distinctive system of canyons found on the Martian surface. This song tries to do some of the same that the first song did, as far as underlining the vastness and the emptiness, while incorporating a lot of the elements that have appeared over the course of the album. The Mars Theme returns, as well as other themes, almost as a backdrop to the music that is presented in the forefront. This means that the album is bookended by two big, bombastic songs which both have a grand, large scale.
Finishing with a song that sums up a lot of what has gone on before it is no small task, and consequently the song is the only one on the album to push past the ten-minute mark (albeit only barely).
Wakeman has every right to feel confident and proud about this material, and feedback from fans has been almost unanimously positive. “This is far and away the best thing I’ve done for as far back as I can remember,” he said upon the album’s release. “It’s as refreshing to me as when I did Six Wives. The Red Planet is a real statement of the path I’m on at the moment.”
That sounds very, very good indeed! Saturn or Venus next?
Facebook Comments