søndag 17. august 2008

The original Spinal Tap

Rick Wakeman is another who never has been known to hold back on his barrels.

And he is genuinly funny, as proven by this excerpt from his new book.

As Rick always has been a bit better at composing words than music, this is a threat. Finally it is also official who was the real Spinal Tap (at least stageways). Hopefully the truth will never get out.

So it may be a clever strategy that the editor of the mag so far has not changed the text on picture above from Wakefield to Wakeman.

With stories as below, I had no choice but to go to Amazon.
Of course, back in the Seventies, audiences assumed that whatever happened on the stage was intentional.

In my previous band, the Strawbs, I'd had a Ham-mond organ on wheels. When we were playing the last number of the night I would push this thing across the stage and race after it while playing it.

One evening I pushed a bit too hard and the Hammond went hurtling towards the edge of the stage. I dived on top of it to try to slow it down but organ and organist crashed over the edge. The Hammond was smashed to smithereens and I was cut to ribbons.

I was mopping the blood from my face when a journalist came over. 'Great show, Rick,' he said, 'but how can you afford to wreck a Hammond every night?'
Even if Rick for once didn't provide any retort, it is quite simple: Ask Keith Emerson.

5 kommentarer:

Skink_123 sa...

Hahaha, moro å lese om hvordan det var å turnere med Yes!

Lord Bassington-Bassington sa...

Survival Unit opererer vel i en annen genre, men det hindrer dem ikke i å dytte samplere av scenen:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XflcNySfco

Bemerk at det skjer akkurat når en av dem gir publikum to fingre. Ja, det kan straffe seg å være ufin!

Bjørn Are sa...

Det kan det. Og så får vi se om det straffer seg at vi bruker norsk på min engelske blog.

Men det er vel mest norske lesere, uansett...

TRANSLATION: Sorry for the Norwegian - back to the regular program.

Anonym sa...

As far as I know, Spinal Tap is largely based upon a late incarnation of Black Sabbath, featuring ex-Purple Ian Gillan and known for its megalomanical Stonehenge deco and tendency to screw up. Like Gillan having the lyrics written out but not being able to read them because of all the dry ice smoke...

Bjørn Are sa...

I second that, having seen some videos.

Still, the stage shows of Yes in the mid 70's were a hoot. They had fortunately improved miles when I saw them in 1977, even if some of us would have enjoyed to see them a few years earlier as well.

Though the 35 years anniversary tour in 2003 gave some hints of former days, not the least Alan's drum set.