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Thread: Black Sabbath/Rick Wakeman

  1. #1
    Member Yanks2014's Avatar
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    Black Sabbath/Rick Wakeman

    Some comments and a couple of questions:

    Over the weekend I was watching a VH-1 special, guess froma couple years ago, and it was on the early history of heavy metal. They were focussing on British bands, especially Deep Purple and Black Sabbath. They talked a bit how both bands seemed to go in experimental directions and away from their core sounds, and of course mentioned "Sabbath, Bloody Sabbath". And I was surprised how much they talked about Rick Wakeman's involvement, even showing photos of him working with them. And they played a bit too, with some cool synth work from Wakeman, with Geezer Butler saying some kind things about Rick's involvement. I've known of this for a long time, but honestly have never heard his keyboard contributions. I'm only familiar with the title track, which I really love, but don't hear any keys on it. I used to have a vinyl copy of "We Sold Our Souls" comp. How much music does Rick play here, and which songs? I never got around to buying this album, as I've always been put off by the cover art. Yeah, I know what the back cover looks like too, and I know they were not stanists. Still don't like the cover. I also noticed its not easy to get Sabbath mp3's for the Ozzy era. Is this due to a legal fight? Any idea when this era will be more readily available? It bummed me out, because I was all set to buy a bunch of MP3's, music glaringly absent from my collection. Plus I'd love to hear what Wakeman did with them, even if just a couple tunes.

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    Insect Overlord Progatron's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Yanks2009 View Post
    How much music does Rick play here, and which songs?
    He definitely plays on "Who Are You", "A National Acrobat" and I think "Spiral Architect" (or is that just orchestra? I can't remember now). He's really just adding some colour here and there, there are no crazy moog solos or anything.

    Those answers are just off the top of my head while I don't have the album handy.
    Interviewer of reprobate ne'er-do-well musicians of the long-haired rock n' roll persuasion at: www.velvetthunder.co.uk and former scribe at Classic Rock Society. Only vaguely aware of anything other than music.

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  3. #3
    FWIW, Sabbath was recording SBS at the same time and in the same studio that Yes was recording Tales. Considering Wakeman's dislike towards Tales, his drinking at the time, and camaraderie with the folks from Sabbath, it was not that hard for him to end up playing on SBS.

    Both Iommi and Butler are credited on the album on synthetizers, so it its hard to know exactly on which tracks Wakeman played, but I believe that on the album Wakeman is only credited for Sabbra Cadabra.

  4. #4
    I'm here for the moosic NogbadTheBad's Avatar
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    Thomas, I know you said you you're looking for MP3's but the CD's are dirty cheap and you can always throw the cover art away.
    Ian

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    Insect Overlord Progatron's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by enpdllp View Post
    Both Iommi and Butler are credited on the album on synthetizers, so it its hard to know exactly on which tracks Wakeman played, but I believe that on the album Wakeman is only credited for Sabbra Cadabra.
    I could see "Who Are You" being one of the other guys, but "A National Acrobat" sure sounds like Wakeman to me.
    Interviewer of reprobate ne'er-do-well musicians of the long-haired rock n' roll persuasion at: www.velvetthunder.co.uk and former scribe at Classic Rock Society. Only vaguely aware of anything other than music.

    *** Join me in the Garden of Delights for 3 hours of tune-spinning... every Saturday at 5pm EST on Deep Nuggets radio! www.deepnuggets.com ***

  6. #6
    I'll try to help although I don't follow some of your personal issues regarding "artwork." The cover is simply astonishing and ties in very well with the lyrics, which I'd argue to be some of the most brilliant in rock's history. They would indeed need to be the subject of their own thread.

    Wakeman plays on "Sabbra Cadabra." A very unusual Sabbath tune in that it is more "straight ahead" but it is uniquely "Sabs" in flavor and Wakeman's moog and piano work are sensational. The closing section is easily one of the period's greatest "jams," with the band locking into a groove as Wakeman throws in rock piano licks that match the mood perfectly.

    Several other tracks on the album feature mellotron, synths, piano, etc., but these are handled by Iommi, Butler and Osbourne. Iommi, in particular, is a more than capable pianist and contributes some really beautiful piano during the middle section of "Who Are You," a song whose simple yet effective riff was penned on synth by Osbourne but juxtaposes a positively haunting and complex middle section with Iommi's piano providing the backdrop for his cosmic-fuzz guitar which doubles Osbourne's moog melody as Butler's mellotron breathes in the background.

    "Spiral Architect" is especially worthy of note, where Will Malone conducts a string ensemble to perfection. This is easily one of the most brilliant songs of their career.

    The general album credits are as follows, but any recent CD version will include the info from the original vinyl's insert sheet, which breaks down who plays what on each song:

    Ozzy Osbourne – vocals, synthesiser
    Tony Iommi – all guitars, piano, synthesiser, organ, flute
    Geezer Butler – bass guitar, synthesiser, mellotron
    Bill Ward – drums, timpani, bongos in "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath"
    Rick Wakeman – keyboards, synthesiser, piano on "Sabbra Cadabra"
    Will Malone – conductor, arranger
    Last edited by JeffCarney; 02-18-2013 at 04:08 PM.

  7. #7
    Below is a video clip from Wakeman's talk show interviewing Iommi. This is Part 4 out of 6. The whole interview is pretty good. They talk a little bit of their time touring together around the 8:15 mark:

    Last edited by enpdllp; 02-18-2013 at 03:59 PM.

  8. #8
    Member Yanks2014's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by NogbadTheBad View Post
    Thomas, I know you said you you're looking for MP3's but the CD's are dirty cheap and you can always throw the cover art away.
    True. Its not just the cover though, I didn't intend on buying any complete albums of theirs, just a few tracks here and there. I like their sound on a lot of classics, but don't think I need more than a dozen or so tunes from their catalog. I'm like that with the Who. I own a bunch of downloads, but other than "Live At Leeds" don't own a complete album, and don't really want to. Leeds is pretty awesome though, and I have the complete concert, which does have all of "Tommy" from that show.

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    Who Are You,regardless who plays it has imho,my favorite synth patch of all time. It sounds so damn cool.

  10. #10
    I'm here for the moosic NogbadTheBad's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Yanks2009 View Post
    True. Its not just the cover though, I didn't intend on buying any complete albums of theirs, just a few tracks here and there. I like their sound on a lot of classics, but don't think I need more than a dozen or so tunes from their catalog. I'm like that with the Who. I own a bunch of downloads, but other than "Live At Leeds" don't own a complete album, and don't really want to. Leeds is pretty awesome though, and I have the complete concert, which does have all of "Tommy" from that show.
    You should rebuy the compilation "Sold Our Soul For Rock n Roll" that you previously had.
    Ian

    Host of the Post-Avant Jazzcore Happy Hour on progrock.com
    https://podcasts.progrock.com/post-a...re-happy-hour/

    Gordon Haskell - "You've got to keep the groove in your head and play a load of bollocks instead"
    I blame Wynton, what was the question?
    There are only 10 types of people in the World, those who understand binary and those that don't.

  11. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by Rand Kelly View Post
    Who Are You,regardless who plays it has imho,my favorite synth patch of all time. It sounds so damn cool.
    That's Ozzy playing it. He also wrote it. I think the band were trying to encourage him by using the idea and making something out of it. I would imagine that Iommi wrote the entire middle section to go with it and really take it to another level.

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