The Six Wives of Henry VIII is the second studio album by English keyboardist Rick Wakeman, released in January 1973 on A&M Records. It is an instrumental progressive rock album with a unifying thematic concept; the six tracks are musical descriptions of the characters of each of the wives of Henry VIII. After signing with A&M as a solo artist, Wakeman decided on the album's unifying idea during a tour of the United States with the progressive rock band Yes. As he read a book about the Henry VIII while travelling, he began to write ideas for the record incorporating melodies he had composed the previous year. The album was recorded throughout 1972 with musicians from Yes and the Strawbs, the group Wakeman was in prior to his work in Yes.
The Six Wives of Henry VIII reached number seven on the UK Albums Chart and number 30 on the Billboard 200 in the United States. It was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America in 1975 for over 500,000 copies sold in the United States, and it has been estimated to have sold 15 million copies worldwide. In 2009, Wakeman performed the album in its entirety for the first time at Hampton Court Palace as part of the 500th anniversary celebration of Henry's accession to the throne, released as The Six Wives of Henry VIII Live at Hampton Court Palace. The tracks were rearranged with sections, including a track dedicated to Henry himself, that were left off the original album due to the limited time available on a single record. The Six Wives of Henry VIII was reissued in 2015 with a quadrophonic sound mix and bonus tracks.
Background and writing
In August 1971, Rick Wakeman joined the progressive rock band Yes as a replacement for their original keyboardist Tony Kaye. His previous group, the Strawbs, were signed to A&M Records and their deal granted each member the option to release an album as a solo artist. While touring the US with Yes to promote Fragile (1971), manager Brian Lane informed Wakeman that A&M co-founder and executive Jerry Moss wished to meet him. During their meeting at A&M Studios in Los Angeles, Wakeman accepted Moss's offer to make a solo album and received an advance of $12,500 (around £4,000) to make it.
thumb|right|The album's concept was decided upon as Wakeman read about [[Anne Boleyn being imprisoned at the Tower of London, depicted here by Édouard Cibot.]]Wakeman had difficulties from the start as he was not a competent singer or lyricist, had no band of his own, or any musical ideas. Starting in November 1971, he assembled some rough ideas onto tape, forming several tracks of 2 to 4 minutes in length, but he recalled that upon playback, "there was really nothing there." When the Yes tour resumed, Wakeman bought four books at an airport bookstall in Richmond, Virginia, including one about Henry VIII and his six wives titled The Private Life of Henry VIII (1964) by Nancy Brysson Morrison. As he read about Anne Boleyn being imprisoned at the Tower of London on the subsequent flight to Chicago, a theme he had put down ran through his mind, which he wrote down on some hand drawn ledger lines and played at a following soundcheck. Said Wakeman: "Suddenly I found it in writing music about these six ladies ... I would concentrate on one of the wives and then music just came into my head and I would write it down. Sometimes I was flying, other times I was on stage, or just in front of the piano at home ... The six wives theme gave me the thread, the link, I needed to give me a reason for putting these pieces of music together." Wakeman was partially influenced musically by Paintings (1972), the first studio album by American keyboardist Michael Quatro. Wakeman informed Quatro that he was his favorite keyboardist during this time, and used some of his Moog synthesiser lines on the album. The album features several guest musicians on drums, percussion, guitar, and bass, including members of Strawbs and Yes and people Wakeman knew during his time as a session musician. Wakeman wanted to avoid using the same musicians for the whole album, and used his demos and a guide in selecting which musician he thought would best suit each track to vary the sound. He was excited to present the album to A&M management at their London office, and played it to the head of the UK division, Tony Burdfield and Terry O'Neill of the promotions department, and an American lawyer who represented the US division. Wakeman "sensed that something was not right in the room. There was pretty much silence as it finished", and recalled the lawyer saying that it was a good work-in-progress and was looking forward to hearing vocals on it. After Wakeman explained that it was an instrumental album, the lawyer left the room. Wakeman looked back at this moment and "was absolutely deflated", and has said that no one from A&M apologised for their incorrect assumptions.
After presenting the album to A&M, management cut back the budget for the production of its cover. Wakeman had difficulty in obtaining portraits of the wives but managed to find some for the sleeve. The front photograph was taken at the Madame Tussauds wax museum, where a wax figure of Richard Nixon can be seen in the background as the curtain was not fully closed. Wakeman is shown wearing a t-shirt, jeans, and trainers. The cover was to be produced in black and white as A&M had refused to pay for a version in full colour, but Michael Doud managed to get the final design printed in a sepia tone, which Wakeman said was a vast improvement. Wakeman has since clarified that the track was always intended to be on the album, and not Fragile. The track features Yes guitarist Steve Howe and bassist Chris Squire with percussionist Ray Cooper. Wakeman contacted Vicki Brown, who organised and brought in the female backing vocalists that are featured on it and "Anne Boleyn".
Wakeman described "Anne of Cleves" as a free-form track, "almost having no form at all, there was a contradiction in what everyone was playing. The guys in the band thought I was completely barking, but it had to be like that." Wakeman later considered the church organ was the wrong instrument to portray Seymour's feeling towards Henry, and said it changed the overall mood of the track to what he originally intended.
At one point during the recording of "Anne Boleyn", Tregurtha produced a tape with a rough mix to which Wakeman listened on his drive home and felt the ending needed further work. That night he had a vivid dream where he was in attendance at her execution, when the crowd started to sing the hymn "St. Clement", the tune to the hymn "The Day Thou Gavest, Lord, is Ended". Upon waking he realised it was the right ending for the track, despite being written some years later, and recorded a wordless version with piano and female vocals. Though E. J. Hopkins is credited on the album, the piece is generally attributed to Reverend Clement Scholefield. Wakeman plays a portative organ made in the 1700s with reeds and wooden pipes, giving it a sound that he compared to someone's breath.
Wakeman wanted "Catherine Parr" to have "a really strong feel on drums, nothing subtle at all", and thought Yes drummer Alan White was best for the track. A short passage that Wakeman wrote for Henry was put in "Catherine of Aragon", "Catherine Howard", and the beginning of "Anne Boleyn", as an attempt to "inject the feeling that the wives had for him" in the way that he played the theme. Show producer Colin Strong and director Mike Appleton contacted A&M who got staffer Tony Burdfield to send them a copy, and liked the album which led to Wakeman being invited on the show. Wakeman brought along Cronk and Cousins to play the additional parts. Prior to recording they got drunk in the studio bar. An audience of around 10 million planned to watch David Bailey's controversial documentary about American pop figure Andy Warhol on ITV, but critics Mary Whitehouse and Ross McWhirter condemned it for its pornographic imagery and bad language, causing the government to ban it at short notice. Wakeman recalled: "It seems most of them, rather than watch repeats, switched over to Whistle Test and saw my preview of 'Henry'...and suddenly it seemed as if the whole country had discovered my music...it was a tremendous break". Burdfield also produced advertorials in several music magazines, featuring excerpts from an interview about the album that Wakeman had with radio DJ Johnnie Walker.
Following the album's release on 23 January 1973, The album reappeared on the chart for seven non-consecutive weeks in 1973 alone, and twice more in 1975. In the United States, the album reached a peak of number 30 on the Billboard 200 chart for the week of 30 March 1973, during a 45-week stay on the chart.
By July 1973, the album had sold 300,000 copies. On 20 October 1975, the album was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America for 500,000 copies sold in the United States. Wakeman said the sales figure grew to six million five years after its release.
Reception
According to Wakeman, the album initially received a negative reaction. He recalled: "We had just one decent review, and that was from an angling magazine up in Grimsby. Even Melody Maker said that the album wasn't fit to be played in a lift [...] The best reviews that it got said simply, 'This is an interesting album,' but nobody really got it. And the press absolutely hated it." The album was seen by some as one of the worst examples of progressive rock excess. Rolling Stone reviewer Steve Apple noted Wakeman had "made his bid for Keith Emerson's place as the master of keyboard electronics" but thought his playing suffered a little in technique. Apple noticed "a brilliant feel for tasteful impressionistic composition", having made "an exceptionally interesting instrumental album with superb production". He also praised the mixing. Time named it one of the best pop albums of the year, describing it as "an astonishing classic-rock hybrid". Henry Mendoza reviewed the album for The San Bernardino County Sun and noted that despite the album's "interesting format" and its "excellent showcase" for Wakeman's keyboard skills, Mendoza thought the music sounded too much the same and was "monotonous and boring". San Mateo County Times printed a very positive review from Peter J. Barsocchini, who thought the album is "something just short of amazing" and "a supremely textured work which transcends most of the finest keyboard work being done in pop music today". He loosely compared the music to that of progressive rock band Emerson, Lake & Palmer, and mentioned Wakeman's "lyrical" and "deep, vast sound".
In a retrospective review, Mike DeGagne of AllMusic described Wakeman's use of his synthesizers as "masterful" and "instrumentally stunning". Wakeman performed with a six-piece arrangement of his band The English Rock Ensemble, the English Chamber Choir, and the Orchestra Europa, on 1 and 2 May 2009. The album will be performed once more in a forthcoming UK tour in October 2025.
Track listing
All tracks written by Rick Wakeman. "Anne Boleyn" incorporates "The Day Thou Gavest Lord Hath Ended" written by Rev. Clement Cotteril Scholefield and arranged by Wakeman.
Personnel
Credits are adapted from the album's sleeve notes.
Lead musician
- Rick Wakeman – 2 Minimoog synthesisers, 2 400-D Mellotrons (one for vocals, sound effects and vibraphone; the other for brass, strings and flutes), frequency counter, custom mixer, Steinway 9' grand piano, custom-built Hammond C-3 organ, RMI electric piano and harpsichord, ARP synthesiser, Thomas Goff harpsichord, church organ at St Giles-without-Cripplegate, portative organ
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Certifications
References
Sources