Almost Famous geekery: Rick Wakeman and Wild Turkey

No, this isn’t another article about how Rick Wakeman ate meat while the rest of Yes were vegetarians. That blog is coming in a few weeks and will be called “Good Vibrations: Vegetarian Fish in the Topographic Oceans” (you think I’m joking, but just wait). However, this is definitely some Yes-related trivia. As everyone knows, I'm something of a geek about the film ALMOST FAMOUS (2000). Well today, for completely unrelated reasons, I forced myself to listen to (takes deep breath) Rick Wakeman's Myths and Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table (1975) for the first time in over 40 years. Surprisingly, I liked it a lot more than I would have expected considering the lack of attention all these decades. The last time I remember giving it a thought was at the concert in support of the album at the Arie Crown Theater in Chicago in late 1975 (google ain’t helping me find that exact date, but I’m guessing November, just four months after my first Yes concert on July 4, 1975). Stylistically, it's almost a complete retread of mega-selling Journey to the Center of the Earth without a single attempt to do something new, but for classical-rock buffs a perfectly acceptable album. Yes, for their part, were taking much greater artistic risks at this time with ultra-prog albums like Tales from Topographic Oceans and Relayer. The one critique I can remember from when I was 18 years and old listening to Myths and Legends is the same I have today: the “melodic singer” should have sung lead vocal on “Guinevere.” Who was that singer? I had to check wikipedia to find out. You see, Rick Wakeman had two lead singers on his heyday albums Journey to the Center of the Earth (1974), and Myths and Legends (1975): the more rocking singer was Ashley Holt, and the more pretty, melodic one was Gary Pickford-Hopkins. Together, they made a great duo.

Gary Pickford-Hopkins

As often happens when Google is a click away, I thought “Whatever happened to...?” Voila: Gary Pickford-Hopkins left his body in 2013 at age 65 after a battle with cancer, remembered largely for those two albums with Rick Wakeman. But what’s this-- he was also a member of the band Wild Turkey? Aging brain does file scan and says, “Wasn’t that the band that...?” Google to the rescue again-- correct! It turns out that Wild Turkey was 3rd on the bill to headliner Black Sabbath and warmup act Yes at the San Diego Sports Arena on March 18, 1972. For any Almost Famous geeks, this concert, in support of Sabbath’s Master of Reality (July 1971) and Yes breakthrough prog album FRAGILE (November 1971), is known as the exact concert that is depicted in the film as writer/director Cameron Crowe’s real life entry into the world of rock journalism at the age of... 15! To watch an excerpt from that scene, filmed at the exact spot at the San Diego Sports Arena, click HERE!

Wild Turkey looking all early 70s clone, Gary Pickford-Hopkins is center

Cameron Crowe (with circled backstage pass) sitting next to Jon Anderson at San Diego Sports Arena, March 18, 1972

The only difference, of course, is that Crowe changed the name of Wild Turkey to Stillwater, the fictional band that becomes the repository for all of Crowe’s stories about his travels with pop and rock bands as a teenage reporter for Rolling Stone magazine. (There was also a real band called Stillwater too, but that’s a whole nother story about footnote bands of Southern rock.) Wild Turkey had formed in 1971, the heyday of hard rock, heavy metal, early jam bands, early prog, and incredibly long hair. Their big claim to fame was that their founder and bass player, Glenn Cornick, had been booted from Jethro Tull for drinking too much. They released two albums on Chrysalis records, Battle Hymn (1971) and Turkey (1972). They broke up in 1974 while recording their third album because Gary Pickford-Hopkins began working with Rick Wakeman in June after the astonishing success of the Journey to the Center of the Earth album. The Welsh singer recorded Journey live in concert on January 9, 1974 (just prior to the US wing of the Topographic Oceans tour), and began touring the album shortly after Wakeman quit Yes at the end of the Topographic Oceans tour (which finished in April, 1974) over controversy about the double album and Yes’ plans for the follow up, Relayer, a more jazz fusion influenced work. Journey was released in May 1974 and went to #1 and #3 in the UK and US charts in July of 1974. I’m not sure of the exact period of Wakeman’s Journey to the Center of the Earth US tour, but it rolled into New York on October 14, 1974 and lasted only a month. So literally before the dust had settled on the controversial (and excellent) Topographic Oceans album and tour, Yes were recording Relayer with new keyboardist Patrick Moraz, while Wakeman was touring in support of a worldwide smash hit album and losing money due to playing average sized auditoriums while lugging an orchestra around with him. At the end of 1974 it was clear that both the Wakeman and Yes camps were in the heart of all progressive rock fans. Melody Maker’s Reader’s Poll at the end of the year had both Topographic Oceans and Journey in their top 10, while all the band members scored highly in their individual categories, with Jon Anderson and Steve Howe taking the #1 position for top composers based on their work for Tales from Topographic Oceans. (For complete poll results, check the files section of the Topographic Oceans discussion group on Facebook).

However, the tides of fortune turned fast against Wakeman, as 1975’s Myths and Legends only reached #21 in the US charts and No Earthly Connection (1976) made even less impact in the US, a major market for any international act. He continued to play moderate sized auditoriums, and there was no 1976 tour except in the UK. All the while Yes were playing stadiums and huge outdoor concerts, and preparing for the Going for the One album-- a return to a more pop and rock format, and also the return of Rick Wakeman. The re-union would benefit both: larger record sales for Yes, larger concert venues for Rick. But artistically speaking, the period of complete artistic freedom and experimentation for 1970s progressive rock as a top ten genre was on the wane. Every band was either choosing or being forced by record companies to play it safer with less challenging compositions.

In summary: the intersection of Rick Wakeman and Gary Pickford-Hopkins goes like this:
1. 1971: Wild Turkey, with Gary Pickford-Hopkins on vocals, releases Battle Hymn. Black Sabbath releases Master of Reality. Yes releases Fragile with new member Rick Wakeman on keyboards
2. Early 1972: Wild Turkey appears as third billed act with Black Sabbath and Yes, March 18, 1972, in San Diego, California.
3. Late 1972: Wild Turkey releases TURKEY, Yes releases Close to the Edge
4. December 1973: Yes releases Tales from Topographic Oceans which creates a schism between Rick and the band over the artistic approach, while Rick Wakeman releases Six Wives of Henry Vlll. Yes tours UK with Tales from Topographic Oceans
5. 1974: January 8, 1974, Rick Wakeman records, live in concert, Journey to the Center of the Earth with Gary Pickford-Hopkins on vocals. Yes tours US and Europe with Topographic Oceans from February to April 1974. Rick Wakeman leaves band and prepares for tour in support of Journey to the Center of the Earth. Gary Pickford-Hopkins leaves Wild Turkey to work on the Journey tour. Rick Wakeman begins recording Myths and Legends of of King Arthur and Knights of the Round Table with Gary Pickford-Hopkins on vocals. Yes records Relayer with Patrick Moraz on keyboards. In late 1974, both Yes and Rick Wakeman score highly for their respective albums (Topographic Oceans and Journey) in Melody Maker’s Readers Poll.
6. 1975: Rick Wakeman finishes recording and tours Myths and Legends of King Arthur and Knights of the Round Table. Rick Wakeman records soundtrack for Litzomania (both the film and soundtrack flop). Yes does world tour and works on five solo albums.
7. 1976: Rick Wakeman records No Earthly Connection and tours UK (first tour without Gary Pickford-Hopkins). Yes does tour after recording and releasing five solo albums in 75/76, playing to their biggest audiences ever.
8. December 1976, Rick Wakeman rejoins Yes. The epic period of pogressive rock begins to wane.

Obviously there is a lot more to this story of Wakeman and Pickford-Hopkins, and maybe some of the Wakeman fans reading this blog who have read books about him can tell me more about how they met and what lead them to part ways for the No Earthly Connection album.

Rick's Journey to the Center of the Earth tour, New York, 1974

To read Cameron Crowe’s 1972 interview with Wild Turkey, click HERE & NOW.

To see Gary Pickford-Hopkins performing Journey to the Center of the Earth, click HERE & NOW!

To watch Gary Pickford-Hopkins in action on Myths and Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, click HERE & NOW!

Rick Wakeman and Gary Pickford-Hopkins perform “The Battle” from Journey to the Center of the Earth. click HERE & NOW !

To hear a bit of progressive pop, “To the Stars,” by Wild Turkey, listen HERE & NOW! Not bad, actually.

To hear a bit of good rockin’, “Butterfly,” by Wild Turkey (with cowbell! and riffs! and wah-wah pedal!), listen HERE & NOW!

To see the trailer for Almost Famous, click HERE & NOW! (“And hey, I met you-- you are not cool.”)

Here’s a link to Forgotten Yesterdays’ page on the March 18, 1972 YES concert with Wild Turkey and Black Sabbath at the San Diego Sports Arena. Lots of related reading available in the comments section! Click HERE & NOW!

To see my photo album about ALMOST FAMOUS, click HERE & NOW!

Rick with his "Myths and Legends" band. Gary Pickford-Hopkins is lower right

To listen to the MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF KING ARTHUR album, click HERE & NOW!

Mother Theresa

 




I recently came across one of those articles that purports to tell us how “evil” Mother Teresa was, called “Mother Teresa is no saint”. The article was written by an Indian-American (I presume) woman, Krithika Varagur, who has recently graduated from Harvard. But in the comments section below I found this great reply written by an Indian woman who had volunteered in Mother Theresa’s Missionaries of Charity.

“I am not Catholic, nor will I ever be. And I am not well versed in American, but an English dictionary gives more than one meaning for the word saint and for me the meaning that applies to Mother Teresa is 'one of the blessed dead'. Simply because she really is a human being that I would remember as worthy of being blessed. I don’t believe she had supernatural powers, I don’t believe she did any of the miracles that the Catholic Church is ascribing to her right now. But that doesn't mean I'm going to trash her life's work like you are doing right now, Krithika. How dare you? The miracle of Mother Teresa is that she got up every morning and persisted in a difficult, thankless task to the best of her ability, despite times when she even doubted herself. I live in a country that was many times worse off when Mother came here before we got independence. When Christopher Hitchen’s ancestors were starving us of our grain so that they could feed troops protecting territories stolen by the British all around the world. When people in West Bengal were literally dying on the streets. You're quoting Hitchens to us? What on earth did he ever do that benefitted anyone but himself? I have volunteered in one of Mother's homes. I have seen how well the children there were looked after. Food, clothing and yes, MEDICINE and most importantly, love. The enormity of the situation that order took on may not be apparent to you, but believe me it is a difficult task and they do it to the best of their ability. 'Forced conversion?' Were you there, Krithika? An Indian on average is a religious person and I doubt very much that any Indian that is homeless, ill and dying would object to someone saying a prayer for them in whatever religion. Or are you not aware that many Indians will visit temples as well as churches and dargahs and gurudwaras. If you haven’t already, I would strongly suggest you volunteer at one of the Missionaries of Charity (MOC) homes run in India and get a first hand view, instead of trashing a woman's hard work based on other people's opinions. You won't be able to volunteer in Yemen because terrorists just killed all the nuns there and blew the place up. So you see, sometimes 'hobnobbing' with dangerous people to do good doesn't always work out. But unlike you and me, The MOC will keep trying.”