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Criminal Record (Rick Wakeman) | Extended Play Lounge (Ep. 41) (Patreon)

Published:
2023-04-03 22:51:43
Edited:
2024-06-04 21:48:12
Imported:
2026-06
Tags:

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As the calendar turns to April, I'm making this episode of the Extended Play Lounge a Doug's Choice. And, I picked Rick Wakeman's 1977 album, Criminal Record. 

I was really drawn to the prospect of hearing his track Judas Iscariot...especially during the days leading up to Good Friday and Easter. So, I listened to the entire album (presented here for you). I'll, then, release the Judas Iscariot portion on YouTube on Good Friday.

I really enjoyed the listen. Given the general topic of criminality, I was surprised by the relative 'lightness' of the music. Nevertheless, the sounds burst forth throughout the album, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Files

Criminal Record (Rick Wakeman) | Extended Play Lounge (Ep. 41)

Comments

Steve MacArthur

As a going concern, you mentioned Rick's previous release, No Earthly Connection - as later imperial era prog goes, is a fine recording. I know it was mocked a far amount back in the day, but it's one of my favorite recordings.

Don K Mal 1

Rick is just awesome.....a beautiful album. Thankx Doug.........dk

Max Eliaser

Nice choice, one of Rick's better solo albums if not his best.

Evan Marshall

Thank you, Doug, for the extended play reaction to my favorite album by my favorite musician. I expected you might do 'Judas Iscariot' at some point, but I never dreamed you'd do the entire album! :)

Stop Propaganda

Unlike Keith, Rick never burned out his hands and is still a fantastic composer and player. He also has a wicked sense of humor which I got to experience first hand when I was a 1st purchaser of his fantastic piece "The Red Planet"! Doug, p[lease think about an extended play on that album ...

Jamie Mellway

There is an excellent cover of Judas Iscariot by Synthnerd11 on YouTube if you would like to see a performance of it. (The hymn is called Horsely.)

Frits van Voorst

I always found Rick much better as a musician / band member than as a composer. But this is the one solo album from Rick I like best.

Philip Briddon

Bill Oddie was a member of the well known UK comedy trio 'The Goodies'. He's also a well known ornithologist. I wonder if the order of track listing is a deliberate joke - another ornithologist ends up in jail?

Michael Brown

Bill Oddie was a member of the Goodies a trio of comedians including Tim Brooke Taylor and Graeme Garden in the 70s they had a few hits at the time

Si

Just wonderful to watch you listen to Criminal Record. Fantastic stuff and Judas Iscariot truly is one of Rick's best compositions. Great video

Brian James

Thanks Doug. I’m a new Patron but a long time YT viewer.

Brian James

A couple of extra points from a Brit to your excellent analysis. In “The Breathalyser” there were a couple of themes which added to the story of going out and getting drunk, ‘Little Brown Jug’ at the beginning and ‘Would you like to fly in my beautiful balloon’, Bill Oddie was a well known comedian in the 70s in the UK who was in a TV series ‘The Goodies’ the hymn in Judas was very apt for Easter if you read the lyrics which I paste here. Once again, wonderful review, thank you. 1 There is a green hill far away, without a city wall, where the dear Lord was crucified, who died to save us all. 2 We may not know, we cannot tell, what pains he had to bear; but we believe it was for us he hung and suffered there. 3 He died that we might be forgiv'n, he died to make us good, that we might go at last to heav'n, saved by his precious blood.

Peter Swarbrick

Great and timely choice Doug. Judas Iscariot is my favourite Wakeman piece; Pipe organ and Minimoog, with a real choir thrown in for good measure- just wonderful. I still find it an emotional listen every time, even after all these years; the descending lines over sustained tones are so powerful. I do hope you can catch Rick if he's touring round your way, I have met him on a couple of the Christmas tours and he remains that joyous combination of absurdly talented musician and ordinary bloke telling dodgy jokes down the pub. BTW he always says Lloyd-Webber 'borrowed' that Phantom of the Opera phrase from this piece....

George Davis-Stewart

Thank you very much, Doug for the musical enlightenment, particularly on-the-fly. Been aware of RW since his time with The Strawbs and generally speaking found him to be a chap with his feet on the ground, and a mischievous smile never far away. His musical gifts are worn lightly but with a thoroughly professional attitude. He turns up on a UK car restoration series (Car SOS) occasionally, dressed in overalls and sat at a keyboard, eager to accompany the mechanics' feverish spanner-wielding - only to be told "Not now, Rick!" [All of which set-up is a parody of an old Morecambe and Wise gag in which a routine would be interrupted by a harmonica player dressed in tails, eager to demonstrate his talent - "Not now, Arthur!"] I used to earn a crust touring plays around regional UK theatres; in one of these the resident sound technician had a roomful of RW's keyboards kept in best order so that their sound and familiarity of operation would be available as and when. I'm enjoying this album much more than I had expected, the showmanship seems to be subservient to the music, rather than a Keith Emerson urge to work in as many tricks as possible (not that that I don't like that in small doses, and preferably with The Nice). There's a real synergy from the supporting musicians, and it's interesting to hear their work free of the often overwrought passages found elsewhere. Bill Oddie was part of 1964 The Cambridge Footlights group which created a sketch and music show that proved popular enough to end up on Broadway. His vocal and lyrics here sound very much like one of the pastiches that he regularly produced for the radio show that the troupe moved onto, "I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I'm_Sorry,_I'll_Read_That_Again

Howaard Hughes

Old man here but new follower of the Daily Doug. So interesting to watch your initial listen to Criminal Record which I heard after purchasing the new release new at the innocent age of 22. Totally focused on the new keyboard technology and sounds of the time (Switched On Bach was barely a decade old) my reaction was entirely emotional, not having the musical training to even imagine analyzing the music from that point of view. 46 years later I am still hurtled through the time machine of my brain to that general period and my experiences that formed my frame of reference for this music. I am curious whether another listen a few years from now might change some of your conclusions. Especially the idea that Judas Iscariot should contain actual English text. Like Six Wives of Henry VIII, this is just supposed to be Wakeman’s musical interpretation, enhanced I think, by the absence of any one particular language and therefore more primally absorbed by anyone in the world regardless of their native language or religious indoctrination. I laughed, I cried, keep it up!

Les Mable

This was wonderful! Thank you, Doug, for the reaction and analysis. I need to go and watch / listen again! In the YT comments for your 200K subscriber event, I wrote... Easter... I always go back to Rick Wakeman - Judas Iscariot from Rick Wakeman's Criminal Record. One of his best works IMHO. But I know that many others have asked for it too at different times. So from me and those many others, thank you for listening, Doug. For me, this album is Rick Wakeman at his very best. My vinyl copy is a bit worn out, but I have the CD as well, probably among my top 10 all time favourite albums. As for the hymn, for me the lyrics were not needed, and could even have been a little excessive. I was brought up in the UK in the Anglican tradition, sung the hymn at church and at school assemblies in the 1960s, so the melody from the choir gave it all the meaning that it needed. In the UK at the time that the album was released, I suspect that very many would have known the hymn. That would not be the case today I feel.

Tom (the soggy one)

The organ on Judas Iscariot is the same one from Awaken and Parallels (both Yes) and was recorded in the same session. He wanted to use the choir on Awaken, as well, but they ran out of time so a synth choir was used instead.

Tom (the soggy one)

My interpretation was the use of There Is A Green Hill on Judas Iscariot was the actual hanging, being from a tree on a green hill. Singing the lyrics would have been too on the nose. Besides, all Wakeman's English fans (and many American ones, too) would know the hymn and would catch the reference. And played only once, solemnly, as Judas takes his own life. FYI, Wakeman borrows from other composers a lot, but never uses the lyrics (see Little Brown Jug used in The Breathalyser).

Tom (the soggy one)

And in case you hadn't guessed, it's me, Soggytom from the Sunday YouTube sessions.

Les Mable
>>105674300

Unless I'm mistaken, there's also a Gilbert and Sullivan reference, the police in The Breathalyser are represented by an interpretation of the policemen's song from The Pirates of Penzance - A policeman's lot is not a happy one....

Steeleye 2112

Purely for selfish reasons I am waiting patiently for someone knowledgeable like yourself to do King Arthur, No Earthly Connection, Journey and Red Planet. For me they are the peak of where his composition/structure/melody/originality lie. One day...

Si
>>105720215

Journey to the Centre of the Earth is on the master list. Though the YouTube link to that is of a higher and incorrect pitch. Hopefully someone corrects it to a proper version

Si
>>105673841

No, a real choir was used on Awaken too. The same Ars Laeta.

Ray Sincere

I do think that it's important to call it Rick Wakeman's Criminal Record. If you just call it Criminal Record, you completely lose the joke.

Tom (the soggy one)
>>105673841

D'oh! You're absolutely right. I was thinking the little bit of the Richard Williams Singers, and not the rest. Brain fart on my part. Too wrapped up with 'Chamber Of Horrors', probably.

Si
>>105832132

Have you heard Rick and his band play Chamber of Horrors live in 1981? They were on fire then, despite internal issues in the group.

Tom (the soggy one)
>>105673841

I have never been a fan of live recordings. I'd rather actually go to the live performance. Yes, I know- Frampton Comes Alive and Journey To The Center Of The Earth are both awesome. When he did that studio recording of JTTCOTE a few years ago, I was actually disappointed in it. Go figure?

Gerard Dion

Thank you, Doug for that review. I love Wakeman's work with Yes. While he is a maestro on keyboards technically, and has dozens of tools in his toolbox, I'm usually unimpressed by his compositions as a solo artist which are regrettably and ultimately, forgettable. As far as your comparison to this three piece ensemble to ELP, in my opinion, there is no comparison. Only Chris Squire has the compositional chops that is up to the level of ELP. In my mind, Emerson is the greatest keyboardist that popular music has ever seen or heard!

Daniel Miller

If you liked criminal record then you would like rick's album called white rock. It is based on the winter olympics of 1976.