Yay bandwidth/ Random Wakeman

My bandwidth is back and just fine. I had to play it cautiously last month, because I also host comics on tiefgrau.com and didn’t want them to go down.

Back in the heyday of music downloading, I was happily in college and sought out the most random things I could find with the old napster. I’ve always been a bit of an audiophile, thanks to my experience in recording studios, so mp3s always sounded a bit weird. Heck, computer speakers always sounded a bit weird. So I kept buying albums, but I cought out the stuff I couldn’t buy. Like as much Rick Wakeman as I could get my little hands on. I really only had a couple of tapes off of records to go on, but I loved his Criminal Record so very much (but not enough to import it for way too much money). The albums still availible, like the Six Wives of Henry VIII, I didn’t really like. It was simply too electronic and dissonant. When he uses dissonance in moderation, it’s wonderful, if not especially easy listening. If you’re familiar with his work with Yes, you’ll know what I meant. During his tenure with the band, their music got remarkably hard on the ears, if still excellent. It wasn’t the sort of stuff you could listen to in the background, it required your full attention or it gave you a headache. His solo stuff is very similar in that regard for the most part, due to the complexity that he creates just on his own.

Rick Wakeman – Summertime [from Rhapsodies, which I’d buy if I could find anywhere]

Rick Wakeman (with Jon Anderson) – The Hymn [I’d also buy 1984 if I could find it anywhere for less than $45…]