“Tales from Topographic Oceans” by Yes is long. 83 minutes of long. And, after the first thirty minutes or so, light on keyboard parts.
At the Manchester Free Trade Hall in 1973, Rick Wakeman’s curry turned up early.
So his roadie started passing up little tin foil trays which Wakeman put on top of his keyboards. “I still didn’t have a lot to do,” he wrote, “so I thought I might as well tuck in.”
He has as good a CV as anyone. Get It On by T. Rex, Morning Has Broken by Cat Stevens, Madman Across The Water by Elton John.
He was in the Strawbs and Yes.
He wrote the historical performance piece “King Arthur”, booked Wembley Arena in 1975 to play it, discovered it was set up as an ice rink, so turned it into an ice dance extravaganza and sold out three nights.
But the songs he played on for Hunky Dory were, he says, “the finest selection of songs I have ever heard in one sitting in my entire life”.