This is my entry for the Mystical, Magical and Mysterious Write-off hosted by KatM and fionablackwolf. I chose Rick Wakeman’s fourth album, Myths and Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. Why? Because it is based on the world-famous legend of King Arthur of Camelot, a tale that mixed magic, love, courage and death. The cd does a decent job at telling one version of the story (since there are lots of variations), and has a certain charm to it that makes it enjoyable, despite its overwhelming campiness.

Some people say this was the album that gave art rock detractors their arguments. It is pretentious, corny... even absurd at times. It features two terrible singers, an unnecesary orchestra, a choir, and some caped guy surrounded by several keyboards and a clavicord. To make things worse, its original presentation was accompanied with a representation of the songs on-ice. After knowing all that, its easy to imagine how and why English critics in the early 80’s slammed the whole art rock movement using Wakeman as the prime example.

The artist

Rick Wakeman, as some of you may know, is still (forgiving all the terrible things he has recorded), one of the best keyboardists of the history of rock. He has recorded more than 150 solo albums (!) and has collaborated with many artists, including Bonnie Tyler, Ozzy Osbourne, and Ramón Remedios.

He is also well known for his seasonal membership in YES and The Strawbs.

The album

Rick Wakeman reached the peak of his solo career with MLKAKORT (as I’ll be referring to this cd from now on). He had already profited from the relative success of The Six Wives of Henry VII and Journey to the Centre of the Earth, and decided to spent this money on the infamous ice show.

Fortunately for him, this album was well accepted in the United Kingdom as well as in the United States. He didn’t reach the top ten like he did with The Six Wives, but he stil could recover the money he spent on all this bombastic production. Also, this would be the last time he would use an orchestra for a loooong time.

I own both the vynil version and the cd. What I love about my old LP is that it features a sand paper booklet with the lyrics, and great art illustrating them. For some reason, this cd’s liner notes doesn’t include any lyrics, or art... its just a list of the songs and their lenght (something you can see on the back of the case anyways).

Another “bad” thing about the cd is that there’s a little problem with the arrangement of two tracks. Lady of the Lake, the second track ended with a short piano solo that A&M Music accidentally put as the beginning of track #3, Guinevere. Most of the people won’t even notice that, but others, who like to shuffle or program the cd tracks, will hear those songs somewhat cut.

The Songs

As with most Wakeman albums, there are few songs, but they are very long. I’ll make a brief comment about each one.

#1. ARTHUR 7:26

“Whoso pulleth out this sword from the stone and anvil, is the true born king of all Britain” reads narrator Terry Taplin immediately at the beginning of the first track. The magnificient fanfare starts right away, playing the “King theme” (as I like to call it) that repeats in some of the other songs.

The intro is long (2 minutes), and consists of the “King theme” repeating itself accompanied of the clavicord and a powerful bass riff. Then, the horrid voices of Ashley Holt and Gary Pickford-Hopkins start chanting about how Arthur managed to retrieve the sword from the stone. Their singing is very awkward and overacted, but at least its clear, letting the listener picture the story on their mind.

At the end, the choir, the orchestra and Wakeman’s synth unite to make an elegant, majestic end with the “King theme”.

According to Wakeman himself, this song is one of the 3 best moments of the cd. I agree.

#2. LADY OF THE LAKE 0:45

This was a very short song, and A&M made it even shorter cutting the piano ending. It consists of nothing more than a low key choir telling the story of the Lady of the Lake and the Excalibur sword. Its very tough to undestand what they are singing...

#3. GUINEVERE 6:45

This track starts with the “Lake theme” (another melody that will be repeating itself througout the album) that should’ve been in the past track. Then, after ten seconds of awkward silence (evidence that Guinevere hadn’t started yet), Wakeman’s synth starts this ballad.

Holt and Pickford-Hopkins sing a little better here. Its a beautiful ballad, but the lyrics are terrible (”Guinevere, all your treasures shining in the air”?), and don’t say much about Guinevere’s history...

The climax of this song is one of the most awesome parts of the album. Wakeman makes a great piano & synth solo, followed by a great guitar solo by Jeffrey Campton. Also, the choir makes its great performance in this song.

#4. SIR LANCELOT AND THE BLACK KNIGHT 5:20

Um... well... this is one of the most absurd songs in this cd. It starts with some orchestral rock that tries too hard to sound “violent”, and the choir shouting ”FIGHT! FIGHT!” (I wonder if they managed to keep a straight face when doing this).

The strongest point of this song comes at the second minute, when some weird samba featuring Wakeman’s moog-synth, go at a very fast pace, representing the fight. Then the song repeats itself from the beginning... including the ”FIGHT!” silliness.

Again, the lyrics are kind of hollow until the end, when they narrate how Lancelot beheaded the Black Knight.
#5. MERLIN THE MAGICIAN 8:51

This instrumental is by far, the best song of this album, and of Wakeman’s career (the compilations never miss this one). It has a very barroque beginning, with the same choir from Lady of the Lake and a clavicord version of the “Lake theme”.

Then, the song properly starts. It starts slow, with the violins and Wakeman’s synth making some sort of “nebula” effect. Suddenly, Wakeman switches to a much heavier and rougher synth, and the song gets into its rock part. The synth and the piano complement each other very well, and it represents (in my interpretation), the magic of Merlin.

After calming down, the song its back to the nebula lapsus... but its quickly interrupted by some wacky melody from the percussionists. After that, the song repeats itself and ends with the same wacky tune but now performed by the strings segment of the orchestra.

Overall a nice showcase of Wakeman’s talent.

#6. SIR GALAHAD 5:51

The best song is immediately followed by the worst. I can’t believe why Wakeman put a filler like this in an otherwise excellent album.

It kicks off with the choir and the “Lake theme” performed with piano and the violins in the background, that gets interrupted (in an ugly way) by a weird amorphous song so silly and absurd that you won’t want to be caught listening to it. Then Holt’s voice is back (without Pickford) to torture our ears trying to reach really high notes...

As you can see, I don’t enjoy this song very much. I must say, thought, that it has one of the best lyrics of the album. Its about Galahad, the bastard son of Lancelot...

#7. THE LAST BATTLE 9:41

... and its linked to the gloomy end of the cd. It has a great starts, with some bells (very Oldfield-esque), and some sounds of birds that give this song a very dark feeling.

Unfortunately, it is not an instrumental and you’ll have to listen again to Holt and Pickford. They don’t sing as much as they do on the other tracks, fortunately.

One of the greatest things about this song is how it is so easy to figure what is representing each part of it. The “King theme” makes its apparition, picturing Arthur’s arrival to the almost destroyed Camelot, followed by a battle theme (his final battle with Mordred). After Arthur dies (right after the battle theme), we get to hear the “King theme” again.

In fact, you’ll hear the “King theme” a lot in this song... in many different forms. Terry Taplin (did anyone miss him?) is back at the sixth minute of music to narrate the epilogue of this story, accompanied by the choir and the orchestra. The Last Battle revives again at the eight minute with Wakeman’s piano and Holt’s voice (again...), that close the album followed by a magnificient fanfare that makes up for a grand finale.
Just Adding...

MLKAKORT is the last album in Wakeman’s trilogy of epic themed albums. In my opinion, it comes second after the awesome Six Wives..., and its much better than the obnoxious Journey to the Centre of the Earth. It shows that Wakeman was already highly experienced in working with choirs and orchestras, and he used them to make majestic, intimidating songs that otherwise would have sounded simple.

I like this album, but I know that it is far from perfect, and it may not appeal everyone. If you don’t know Wakeman, I recommend you to try the Six Wives first. If you do know Wakeman, you probably had listened to this album so you may know what to expect.

Artists comparable to Wakeman: Chick Corea (especially his Romantic Warrior record.

Other recommendable works by Wakeman: The Six Wives of Henry VIII, White Rock (never released on cd), and Return to the Centre of the Earth (its not the original Journey).

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Be sure to check out other entries from the Mysterious, Mystical and Magical write-off. Other participants are: amyk49, arathi, ariel10575, arielssong, badkittyM, dedemw, fionablackwolf, freelancer1, fyvel, goldmoon, KatM, kurt_messick, LEDOMAINE, littlelotte, marytara, mattygroves, mnehr, mridula, murasaki, rianleeann, robynkoz, schmoo321, shadow8, shadow_dream, skbreese, sneil_iv, snpmurray, susanwhipple, vince006 and yogore.


Recommended: Yes

Great Music to Play While: Reading or Studying