Featured Release: Rick Wakeman, The Six Wives of Henry VIII: Live at Hampton Court Palace
Eagle Vision EV302829
Format: DVD-Video

Musical Performance
Sound Quality
Picture Quality
Overall Enjoyment

Rick Wakeman’s musical résumé includes playing with artists as diverse as classical guitarist John Williams, Black Sabbath, and David Bowie, but he’s perhaps best known as the keyboard player of Yes. He made five recordings with the band in the 1970s, including their fourth and breakthrough album, Fragile (1971). While touring in support of Fragile, his first album with Yes, Wakeman was informed that A&M Records wanted him to record a solo album. It turned out that A&M’s contract with Wakeman’s previous band, the Strawbs, included the bandmembers’ solo projects as well. When he played the finished tapes of Six Wives for A&M executives the following year, one of them told him, "It’s unsellable." Within a year of its release in 1973, The Six Wives of Henry VIII had sold 2 million copies, and to date has sold 15 million.

Wakeman had wanted to launch the release of Six Wives at Hampton Court, a palace originally built by Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, an advisor to Henry VIII. The King himself took over Hampton Court in 1528 and lived there with three of his wives. Wakeman’s request was denied -- but since 1973, many British rock musicians have been knighted by Queen Elizabeth II, and finally, in spring 2009, Wakeman played an expanded version of his "keyboard instrumental concept album" at Hampton Court. Accompanying him were Orchestra Europa, the English Chamber Choir, and Wakeman’s band, the English Rock Ensemble. Actor Brian Blessed recited stories of Henry and each of his wives.

For this performance, Wakeman added three compositions that expand on the themes of the original six: "Tudorture," "Defender of the Faith," and "Tudorock." Onstage he is surrounded by a bank of Roland, Moog, and other electronic keyboards, which he plays with a good deal of flourish. At several points he stops to change into a different royal cape, including an impressive gold one he wears to ascend the stairs to play a pipe organ for "Jane Seymour." Wakeman is clearly having a lot of fun playing his best-known work, which he describes in his entertaining liner notes as "six pieces of modern musical modern art, inspired by [the wives’] lives."

Blessed’s narration, too, is highly entertaining, and one of the highlights of the DVD is watching percussionist Ray Cooper -- few musicians enjoy their jobs more. Director Robert Garofalo has filmed the concert with restraint, especially when one considers the excess seemingly inherent in a project on this scale. The sound -- in Dolby stereo, Dolby Surround, and DTS -- is energetic and lively. I found the DTS mix best overall, with more space and a greater re-creation of the scale of the event, but both surround mixes are very enjoyable, and Blessed’s large voice echoes impressively in the rear channels. Wakeman’s keyboards dominate the sound, however, and I did wish for more presence from the orchestra, voice, and particularly the lower-register instruments.

The Six Wives of Henry VIII: Live at Hampton Court Palace is very much a re-creation of a 1970s phenomenon. The music and the keyboard sound feel very much of their time. There’s nothing wrong with that, however, and I found the DVD highly enjoyable.

. . . Joseph Taylor

Note: The Six Wives of Henry VIII: Live at Hampton Court Palace is also available on Blu-ray with multichannel DTS-HD Master Audio and PCM stereo tracks, and on CD (minus the narration).