Archive for November, 2004
Rick Wakeman
Rick Wakeman is arguably the most gifted keyboardist to ever grace rock. His breakthrough came in 1973 with The Six Wives of Henry VIII. However, in 1969 he was still pretty much unknown, not having joined Yes for the first time. Somehow he teamed up with Bowie to do a couple of songs, one of which being Space Oddity. Rick then teamed up with Bowie again to do most of the songs on Hunky Dory. This album particularly showcased Wakeman’s talent. Changes and Life on Mars being two particularly good piano pieces. As far as I know, this ended the Bowie/Wakeman colaborations, much to the loss of both. Although Wakeman enjoyed some success for a few years, especially teaming up with Elton John for Madman Accross the Waters, the piano riffs of Changes remain probably the most memorable effort he ever made. With Bowie’s creativity and Wakeman’s talent, there could have been some really good stuff there. And, given Wakeman’s tendency to go way over the top in total absurdity ( see this description of the live performance of King Arthur ), I can’t help but wonder why it is whenever Bowie records with someone, they either die or go temporarily nuts?
Here’s my versions of a few Bowie/Wakeman tunes.
And here’s the originals:
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Stevie Ray Vaughn
Stevie Ray Vaughn had been sort of lurking in the shadows of rock stardom. Everyone knew he was great, but he hadn’t had that breakthrough song to put him over the top. In 1982 or so, David saw Stevie doing a show and invited him to work on his newest album. Let’s Dance is not my favorite Bowie album, but it did provide a distribution mechanism for one of my favorite songs, Cat People. However, this post is about Stevie. Stevie took an otherwise droll pop song Bowie did and turned into a classic hit that is still played today. The hook to Let’s Dance is all Stevie Ray Vaughn. Stevie got the mass audience he deserved when Let’s Dance became Bowie’s first #1 hit in 1983. In 1986 Stevie would find his own claim to fame when Pride and Joy was released. Four years later, Stevie died in airplane crash. The original Let’s Dance sounds like a studio recording. There’s several very similar versions floating around on radio. What you won’t ever hear on the radio is the Serious Moonlight dress rehearsals. Stevie just does his thing all the way through the songs. On the Let’s Dance rehearsal, he plays both the hooks that make the song fun, but he also fills in the vocal track as well. It’s more fun to listen to than the studio recording. Someone did a midi that I think is supposed to be the dress rehearsal of Let’s Dance. I prettied it up some, but not much. It gives a good feeling for what the live Stevie sounded like on the Let’s Dance dress rehearsal tape. Hope you enjoy it.
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