Yes and Fender Rhodes

[Bob L]

I've seen pictures of Wakeman with a Fender Rhodes in his rig, but perhaps only for his solo projects. Other than Patrick Moraz using a Rhodes for "Sound Chaser", was Fender Rhodes ever used for any Yes songs? I know Wakeman used RMI Electra Piano a fair amount, but can't point to much electric piano in Yes' music. Just curious as it was such an important sound for other genres, but seems Fender Rhodes wasn't much of a thing in prog.

[AnotherScott]

Yeah, not much Rhodes in the major prog acts. Like you, I don't remember hearing it from Yes except from Moraz. ELP used it a bit on Love Beach (at least Letters from the Front, which I think is the best song on the album). Tull used it around the time of Too Old to Rock and Roll and Songs From the Wood (Hunting Girl at least.) In lesser known bands, Greenslade used it a bunch. And speaking of Wakeman, his pre-Yes alma mater Strawbs used it some, during John Hawken's time (Hero and Heroine, Ghosts albums).

[timwat]

Well, in the big three, not much.

 

Mahavishnu (Jan Hammer), Camel, Gentle Giant, David Greenslade (as AnotherScott mentioned), Pink Floyd, Supertramp (a lot of Wurlie on the hits, but IIRC they used Rhodes as well), Alan Parsons Project, and of course a lot of presence in fusion, although you might say that's a related but distinct different genre.

[Shamanczarek]

Moraz also played Rhodes on the Refugee album prior to joining Yes. A few Prog bands such as Genesis, Curved Air, Rare Bird, Iron Butterfly(?), and a few lesser-knowns used Hohner Pianet. Genesis and Iron Butterfly also used RMI. If Zappa can be considered Prog he used RMI in the early 70s.

[AnotherScott]

Yeah, between Wakeman and Banks, you hear more RMI than Rhodes. My guess is that RMI was cheaper and/or more prevalent in England compared to Rhodes. But I don't know...

 

Gentle Giant? Definitely wurli and clav. I don't remember rhodes off-hand.

 

Clav is another that was everywhere. Wakeman, Emerson, and Banks played that as well. Unlike Rhodes/Wurli/RMI, they were made in Germany instead of the U.S., so maybe that was a factor in price/availability too.

[Doerfler]

If Zappa can be considered Prog he used RMI in the early 70s.

 

wish he were around to answer that.

Once George Duke re joined Zappa in 1973 it was Rhodes a plenty.

 

back to Yes.

[16251]

Yes missed their chance to have Fender Rhodes with stereo vibrato playing intro to Roundabout instead of guitar.

[JFN]

I believe there is a Rhodes on the Yes cover of America. I think I"ve seen pictures of Rick using a Rhodes on the Fragile tour too.

[Al Coda]

 

wish he were around to answer that.

Once George Duke re joined Zappa in 1973 it was Rhodes a plenty.

 

Peter Wolf too !

 

 

A.C.

[GRollins]

...and of course a lot of presence in fusion, although you might say that's a related but distinct different genre.

 

I confess that I've never understood the distinction between fusion jazz and prog. I hear more similarities between Return To Forever and Weather Report vis a vis Yes or ELP (particularly when Emerson was in jazz mode) than, say, Jethro Tull vs. Yes/ELP. For that matter, I hear the piano intro to Locomotive Breath as jazz improv, not rock, per se.

 

But then again, I'm the guy who keeps says that "prog" is the bin that they throw bands into when they don't fit into any other category. I'm surprised no one has thought to toss Santana into the prog pool. I mean, really, how is Europa not prog but Locomotive Breath is?

 

I swear I remember Wakeman having a Rhodes in his arsenal when I saw Yes back in the glory days, but I'll be damned if I remember what he used it for. Maybe I'm just assuming that he had one because he had (at least) one of every other keyboard known to man.

 

Grey

[mate stubb]

[video:youtube]

[AnotherScott]

I confess that I've never understood the distinction between fusion jazz and prog. I hear more similarities between Return To Forever and Weather Report vis a vis Yes or ELP (particularly when Emerson was in jazz mode) than, say, Jethro Tull vs. Yes/ELP. For that matter, I hear the piano intro to Locomotive Breath as jazz improv, not rock, per se.

Tull touches a lot of categories... I guess in a way, that range is part of what makes them proggy. But no, Locomotive Breath itself is not a proggy song, and even that whole album (Aqualung) is arguably not prog. But starting with the album after that, they had a long string with a lot more proggishness from 1972 to 1984... chronologically: Thick as a Brick, A Passion Play, War Child, Minstrel In the Gallery, (pass Too Old to Rock and Roll here), Songs From the Wood, Heavy Horses, Stormwatch, A, Broad Sword and the Beast, Walk Into Light (Ian Anderson solo), and even the more techno Under Wraps. Then they kind of moved away from prog, though it still pops up, like on Roots To Branches some years later. So I guess I'd say maybe about half their albums are proggy, but they put out so many albums that they still have more prog albums than the sum of all ELP albums..

 

GG and Rhodes... good one, Moe.

[The Real MC]

Most prog bands have a guitar player whose tone will mask the Rhodes too easily. In my early gigging years I sold my Rhodes because it would not cut through the guitar sound. This was years before internet before I knew of pumping a Rhodes through a tube amp or other processor to add some grunge to the sound.

 

Heck ELP has no guitar player and Emerson was never a big proponent of the Rhodes except for a few years after Love Beach.

[dje31]

There's Rhodes on New Language, from the The Ladder, an underrated and often overlooked album, IMHO. Igor Khoroshev on keys.

 

EDIT: Can't verify, confirm, or refute, but suspect it probably wasn't an actual Rhodes, but a sample / patch on a ROMpler or digital stage piano.

[AnotherScott]

Yeah, I think The Ladder and Magnification are the best of the "new" (i.e. post-Rabin) Yes albums.

[Shamanczarek]

Geoff Downes had a Rhodes in his early 80s rig with Asia. He may have had it when he played in Yes.

[dje31]

Yeah, I think The Ladder and Magnification are the best of the "new" (i.e. post-Rabin) Yes albums.

 

Agreed...I even like about half of Open Your Eyes, though it didn't do much for me when it came out.

[analogman1]

I think that in general, the Prog Guys liked keyboards that were very articulate.

While the Rhodes can be that way, I think its best when playing smooth, complex jazz chords.

For the Prog stuff, I feel the other keyboards cut through better...

[rod76]

Rick Wakeman probably never needed a Fender Rhodes since he always had a grand piano onstage.

 

Other keyboard players had to settle for Wurlitzers, Fenders and Pianets.

[AnotherScott]

The rationale of use being based on not having a real piano available depends whether you viewed a Rhodes as a substitute for a grand piano, or as an instrument in its own right. As with the RMI which Wakeman certainly used, despite access to a real piano...

[Moonglow]

Clav is another that was everywhere. Wakeman, Emerson, and Banks played that as well.

Man, I thought I knowed me my Emerson. Was this with ELP or solo stuff?

[moj]

Colosseum II - with Gary Moore and Don Airey solo on Rhodes. More prog than fusion, imo.

 

[video:youtube]

 

Live audio with better sound from another performance.

[video:youtube]

 

Studio version

[video:youtube]

 

[edit - apology for the distasteful, somewhat "racist" album cover]

[AnotherScott]

Clav is another that was everywhere. Wakeman, Emerson, and Banks played that as well.

Man, I thought I knowed me my Emerson. Was this with ELP or solo stuff?

[video:youtube]

 

and here's the specific model...

 

[video:youtube]

 

...which also demonstrates why I've mentioned the value of Nord's low release point to make it play more snappily. (It's also been implemented on the Mojo61, though I haven't had a chance to play that.)

[mate stubb]

Let's not forget Tank!

 

[video:youtube]

[Moonglow]

Thanks guys, totally forgot about those entries.

[GRollins]

Re: Rhodes and guitar not working well together. Hog feathers. Note that Chick Corea and Al DiMeola made rather a fetish of doing precisely that. Fusion jazz, yes (see my above comments about blurry lines between fusion and prog), but they proved that it can work brilliantly. It's all in the mix.

 

Grey

[AnotherScott]

Here's some Wakeman Rhodes, starting at about 4:40...

 

[video:youtube]

 

The funny thing is, when the camera finally gets around to showing him in this miming video, he's playing the Hammond while you hear the Rhodes... but there's a Rhodes right next to him! He's actually kinda goofing through the whole thing... at around 3:34 he starts flailing madly and then tilts the organ a la Emerson...

[16251]

Here's some Wakeman Rhodes, starting at about 4:40...

 

The funny thing is, when the camera finally gets around to showing him in this miming video, he's playing the Hammond while you hear the Rhodes... but there's a Rhodes right next to him! He's actually kinda goofing through the whole thing... at around 3:34 he starts flailing madly and then tilts the organ a la Emerson...

 

Hearing this for this first time, I'm thinking it sounds like Jeff Beck, which also comes to mind as the creative use of Rhodes and guitar.

[Jackson Allen]

to anyone reading this, Patrick did use Rhodes in YES and moody blues. he toured mainly with mk1 88's. im lucky enough to own one with his cigarette burns, YES/moody blues/Patrick Moraz logo'ed flight case, and whacky internals. I posted visuals in a facebook chat, and a former friend of his saw the post and was in shock it still worked and was loved. for date reference, its a second week 73', toured between 74'-76'. (I created a profile just to chirp up in this thread)

[Mark Schmieder]

As Tim and others have said, Gentle Giant may be the most prominent example of Fender Rhodes in prog rock. Some awesome stuff there!