''Rock n' Roll Prophet'' is a

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C. ...

album by English musician

Rick Wakeman Richard Christopher Wakeman (born 18 May 1949) is an English keyboardist and composer best known as a member of the progressive rock band Yes across five tenures between 1971 and 2004, and for his prolific solo career. AllMusic describes Wakema ...

. The album was recorded at

Mountain Studios Mountain Studios was a commercial recording studio founded by American singer and composer Anita Kerr and her husband Alex Grob in 1975 within the Montreux Casino in Montreux, Switzerland. The studio was under the ownership of Queen (band), Q ...

Montreux Montreux (, ; ; ) is a Municipalities of Switzerland, Swiss municipality and List of towns in Switzerland, town on the shoreline of Lake Geneva at the foot of the Swiss Alps, Alps. It belongs to the Riviera-Pays-d'Enhaut (district), Riviera-Pays ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

, and was released by Moon Records.

Production

As well as playing keyboards, Wakeman provided lead vocals for three tracks ("I'm So Straight I'm a Weirdo", "Maybe '80" and "Do You Believe in Fairies") – the only album on which his singing appears besides ''Rhapsodies'', which features his singing on the opening song "Pedra De Gavea". Due to his association with

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog) is a broad genre of rock music that primarily developed in the United Kingdom through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early-to-mid-1970s. Initially termed " progressive pop", the ...

(being the antithesis of then-popular

punk rock Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced sh ...

), Wakeman wanted the album to be released under a pseudonym – his suggestion being "KUDOS". It was, however, released under his own name, which he called "a big mistake". The album was re-released in 1991 by President Records as ''Rock 'n' Roll Prophet Plus'', containing four bonus tracks. These tracks were recorded at Wakeman's own Bajanor Studios on the

Isle of Man The Isle of Man ( , also ), or Mann ( ), is a self-governing British Crown Dependency in the Irish Sea, between Great Britain and Ireland. As head of state, Charles III holds the title Lord of Mann and is represented by a Lieutenant Govern ...

, and were mixed by Stuart Sawney. The re-release was

mastered Mastering is a form of audio post production which is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a data storage device called a master recording, the source from which all copies will be ...

Abbey Road Studios Abbey Road Studios (formerly EMI Recording Studios) is a music recording studio at 3 Abbey Road, London, Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of ...

Critical reception

''Rock 'n' Roll Prophet'' has gained largely negative reviews, with comments describing the album as "goofy", "novelty" and "crap". McGlinchey does, however, recognise that the album was largely produced as a tongue-in-cheek project and that "the humour on herelease is intentional".

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

described the album as sounding similar to

the Buggles The Buggles are an English New wave music, new wave band formed in London in 1977 by singer and bassist Trevor Horn and keyboardist Geoff Downes. They are best known for their 1979 debut single "Video Killed the Radio Star", which topped the UK ...

, with Wakeman corroborating their influence by stating that the album was an attempted spoof. Wakeman's vocals are also described as "serviceable but not strong" – with the instrumentals "not up to ishighest standards". ''Ground and Sky'' likened the album to "someone gleefully pressing the self-destruct button on whatever credibility they previously had managed to accrue as a music artist." Wakeman, however, has commented that he likes the analogue sounds and production on the album, and that the album was "little ahead of its time nda little off the wall".

Track listing

All tracks composed by Rick Wakeman

Original LP

# "I'm So Straight I'm a Weirdo" – 3:54 # "The Dragon" – 3:34 # "Dark" – 5:07 # "Maybe '80" – 5:27 # "Early Warning" – 3:34 # "Spy of 55" – 5:07 # "Do You Believe in Fairies?" – 4:29 # "Rock 'n' Roll Prophet" – 4:40

1991 re-release

# "Return of the Prophet" – 6:03 # "I'm So Straight I'm a Weirdo" – 3:54 # "The Dragon" – 3:34 # "Dark" – 5:07 # "Alpha Sleep" – 6:00 # "Maybe '80" – 5:27 # "March of the Child Soldiers" – 6:05 # "Early Warning" – 3:34 # "Spy of 55" – 5:07 # "Stalemate" – 5:55 # "Do You Believe in Fairies?" – 4:29 # "Rock 'n' Roll Prophet" – 4:40

Personnel

* Rick Wakeman – keyboards,

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stat ...

* Lilianne Lauber – backing vocals * Gaston Balmer –

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

;Technical *

Dave Richards Sir David Gerald Richards (born 3 October 1943) is the former chairman of the FA Premier League, member of the Football Association's (FA) Board, chairman of the FA's international committee, president of the European Professional Football Lea ...

–

engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...

* Martin Pursey –

executive producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the production of media. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights or royalties). In film ...

* Stuart Sawney – engineering (CD bonus tracks) *Nina Carter - cover photography

References

{{Authority control Rick Wakeman albums 1982 albums