24th December Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all our visitors from all of us at the Oliver Wakeman Website.
Thanks for visiting the site over the last few years and we hope to see you all next year!
22nd December Note to all webmasters who link to this site.
Our site host has now changed, and any direct links with 'soft.net/whitecottage' in are now going to be invalid - all links via www.oliverwakeman.co.uk have been moved to a new host, so service in this manner should not be affected. Any queries about any existing links you may have set up - please email us.
16th December What a night!!
The gig in Rotherham for the Classic Rock Society on Saturday was a great success! Thanks to all who came along and supported Oliver & Rachel and the band. They all played superbly and an extremely enjoyable evening was had by all!! Martin had invited two very special guests to hand out the awards. They were Rod Argent and Colin Blunstone, both very well respected musicians who have had a long and successful careers in bands such as 'Argent', 'The Zombies' and 'The Alan Parsons Project'.
A bit of a surprise happened before the awards when Damian Wilson and Oliver got up on stage to perform two of Damian's songs,'When I Leave this Land' and'Homegrown' from Damian's'Cosmas' album. The duo were extremely well received and it helped settle Oliver before the evenings main entertainment! A more in depth review of the evening will appear here very shortly!
Rachel was on great form and David Mark Pearce, Tim Buchanan and Dave Wagstaffe all played fantastically well. Oliver was as proud as could be as everyone seemed to be enjoying his songs and his playing!
Guests on the night included, Karnataka, Mostly Autumn, Damian Wilson, Rick Wakeman and most importantly for Oliver - his wife Lisa!
12th December Well we are now just a couple of days away from the gig and the band sound great. We look forward to seeing you there!
The 4 track single has been mixed and mastered and will definitely be available on the night! The single now has a fourth track - a Celtic version of 'The View from Here'.
We are also able to take orders by mail order - simply send a cheque for £5.50 (this includes p&p in the UK - £6 all other countries) payable to 'Watermark Records' to PO Box 109, Truro, Cornwall. TR1 1WN. For alternative payment options including 'Paypal' (www.paypal.com) and 'Nochex' (www.nochex.co.uk), email us!"
This single is only a limited release and is not currently available anywhere else. Order yours whilst you can!
Below is the review of the 3 track promo from 'Rock Society' magazine.
Anam Cara Promotional CD (now "The View from Here" Single)
This is Oliver Wakeman's latest project giving us a chance to have an early look at three tracks from the forthcoming album. Oliver draws on the beautiful voice of Rachel of Rachel & Common Ground fame, Landmarq's drum ace Dave Wagstaffe, bass man Tim Buchanan and David Mark Pearce on guitar.
The CD starts out with 'The View from Here'; a steady paced ballad where Rachel sounds stunning, Oliver's keyboard style is reminiscent of his famous father and the injection of a guitar solo perfect. Classic rock fans that want to associate Oliver with the rockier face of music ought to get off the boat right here because his music has nothing less than beauty and a classical appeal that he has been building on for several years. His work with Clive Nolan (Jabberwocky and Hounds of the Baskerville) has obviously been a stepping-stone towards this and other work for the future. What does shine through is Oliver's obvious ability to write music for concepts and even for a West End show, a place where he must aim for.
His use of pure piano and the more electronic side slots in to place perfectly and with Rachel's easy on the ear voice and the clean nature of the music it will appeal to a wider audience. He is, in essence, a totally different style of keyboard player to younger brother Adam and where a juicy guitar solo bursts in to a song like 'Instead of my Fear' you could be forgiven in thinking that Oliver is trying hard to appease progressive rock fans as well as those with leanings towards the classical concepts.
"1000 Autumn's" is the third track and again the pace of the song is gentle and totally right for Rachel's voice. It all melts together so well this could be a partnership made in Devon!
20th November Some of you may be aware that a 3 track promo of the 'Anam Cara' album has been favourably reviewed by a few magazines.
Oliver & Rachel have decided to release these three tracks as a CD single called 'The View from Here'. The CD has been mixed and mastered and will be available at the CRS Awards concert on the 14th December. Copies will also be available through the website soon. Keep checking the site for more information!
Peter Pracownik (the artist who painted the 'Hound of the Baskervilles' cover) has supplied the artwork for the single and as per usual it is a stunning piece of work!
6th November Oliver and Clive have been in discussion concerning their latest album together and the concept has been chosen!! As per usual with the pairs albums, they take a while to develop and record so don't expect a quick release.
We'll let you have more details as we get them.
24th October Photo Album updated with a few wedding shots - more to come!!
To view the Photo Album just click on the link in the navigator above.
23rd October Oliver has completed the incidental music for two further poetry CD's, one of which features the voice of actor, Derek Jacobi. He has appeared in many films and television shows, one of the more recent being Gladiator, in which he played the part of Senator Gracchus.
The release date is unknown at the moment, but our understanding is that the new CD's will be included with the previous four in a box set.
17th October 'Chakras', Oliver's New Age/Relaxation release, is now being stocked by Jungle.com.
15th October The quiz CD's entitled "Name That Tune" (for which Oliver wrote the jingle) are now available to purchase through various outlets as a box set. One that we have found is CDzone which has the box set for £7.90. The quickest way to find the CD is by searching for it using the catalogue number : CB793802.
As before, Oliver is very pleased with the jingle he wrote but unless you are really into music quizzes, this album might be for 'completists' only!
14th October Rehearsals are now well under way for the show in December and the planned shows in 2003. First impressions are that it is going to sound great and also be a lot of fun!
8th October We have now updated the links page and the more observant of you will have noticed that the 'Opus Music' link is now up and running. The page still needs a few tweeks but the information about 'Purification by Sound' is currently up to date.
Opus Music are currently in discussions with a distributor to hopefully get the album released in the near future and we will keep you informed with any news relating to 'Opus Music' when it becomes available.
3rd October This months Classic Rock Society magazine features an article and a double page spread of photos from the wedding. Very nice it looks too!
It also features a great review of the promo 3 track 'Oliver Wakeman & Rachel' CD. We will soon be putting together a section on this site dedicated to this new project.
If you want to get hold of a copy of the magazine - contact Martin Hudson on 01709 702575 or email him at MHudsonrok@aol.com
1st October Oliver & Rachel will be performing as the headline act at this years Awards Night for the Classic Rock Society.
The set will include material from the new album 'Anam Cara' along with material from 'The Hound of the Baskervilles', 'Jabberwocky' and 'The 3 Ages of Magick'.
The Band will be
Oliver - Keyboards
Rachel - Vocals
David Mark Pearce - Guitars
Tim Buchanan - Bass
Dave Wagstaffe - Drums
It should be a great evening as the awards nights are usually something very special. The gig will be at the Oakwood Theatre on the 14th December. for more information or tickets contact Martin Hudson on 01709 826777. This will be the band's only 2002 outing but more shows are planned for the new year. We look forward to seeing you there!
5th September Well it happened and went superbly! We are talking of course about Oliver's marriage to Lisa Dennison.
The Wedding was held at a Manor House close to Dartmoor, one of the buildings that 'Baskerville Hall' is allegedly based on. The Manor even has the portrait hanging on the wall of the member of the family who nearly ruined the family!
The Ceremony was wonderful and included a beautiful reading by their friend Diane along with Rick performing Pachabel's 'Canon in D' for the bride's entrance and Handel's 'Where'er You Roam' for the signing of the register.
Following the meal and speeches, which were extremely entertaining, the evening guests arrived and the entertainment started! 'Smokestack', the blues band Oliver used to play with were the basis of the band and they were augmented by various musicians through out the evening.
The evening started with Damian Wilson leading the band through 'Fly Me to The Moon' for Mr & Mrs Wakeman's first dance.
The musicians throughout the evening included,
Damian Wilson - Vocals
Rachel (from Anam Cara) - Vocals
Bob Catley - Vocals
Oliver & Adam Wakeman (at the same time for the first time ever!!) on Keyboards
Steve Howe - Guitar
David Mark Pearce (Anam Cara) - Guitar
Dave Wagstaffe (Landmarq & Anam Cara) - Drums
Also present were, Peter Pracownik (the artist for Hound) and Mick Pointer (ex-Marillion & Arena).
The festivities drew to a close in the early hours of the morning and a wonderful time was had by all and Mr & Mrs Wakeman both said that it was the greatest day of their lives. They would like to thank all the visitors to the site who passed on their good wishes for the happy couple.
4th September The Anam Cara project is now building up steam! The first three tracks have been mixed and are now in the offices of various record companies so if you could all keep your fingers crossed it would be much appreciated!!
We'll try and get some MP3's of some of the new material on the 'Soundbites' page very soon.
1st September Oliver has completed work on a new instrumental album due for release at the end of the year. Again commisioned for release on the Balance & Harmony label (as was Chakras).
It is one CD of a three CD set due for release under the subject of Angels. Oliver had a lot of fun recording the album and is best described as a cross between '3 Ages' and 'Heaven's Isle'. The album is due for release in January 2003.
25th July As some of you are aware, Oliver has designed the new RWCC (Rick Wakeman Communication Centre) logo for his father's newsletter - it can be seen on the new (!) Spring newsletter.
14th July The July issue of the 'Devon Life' magazine is now out and features a great two page spread about Oliver and his work so far. The magazine is available in all good newsagents in the South West of England or in Sainsburys, Safeway, Tescos etc... Alternatively, you could contact Devon Life direct at info@devonlife.co.uk.
13th July The 60's, 70's & 80's Quiz CD that Oliver supplied some music for (we mentioned it here some time ago) has now been pressed with in 3CD box set and is due for release on Friday 20th July. The quiz CD's are entitled "Name That Tune". The concept is a quiz game based on the TV show using snippets of music and the players have to... we're pretty sure you can guess! Oliver is very pleased with the jingle he wrote but unless you are really into music quizzes, this album might be for 'completists' only!
12th July This has been posted on the Verglas website:
From Robert van Ling: I just want to congratulate and thank Clive and Oliver for their beautiful album "The Hound of the Baskervilles". I love the album, especially musically, and look forward to any new albums of this collaboration.
From Verglas: Both Clive and Oliver (and indeed, Verglas Music!) are overwhelmed with the positive response this album has had. It has already surpassed "Jabberwocky" in terms of sales and has encouraged the team to consider a follow-up. Very exciting!
11th July Well, it's been a busy few weeks for Oliver!
Due to unforeseen circumstances, the original deal for the 'Anam Cara' album (billed as Oliver Wakeman & Rachel) is now not going to happen. Part of the original deal was for a laid back Celtic feel album featuring keyboards, vocals and harp. Now that Oliver and Rachel have more control over the project the decision was reached to expand the possibilities of the project somewhat.
So in to the fold have come Dave Wagstaffe (Drums) and Tim Buchanan (Bass), the rhythm section from the 3 Ages album, to add some dynamics and colour to the album. The drums were recorded back at Goodmerry Farm studios which the credit readers amongst you will notice that that is where 3 Ages was recorded.
Also adding some colour to the proceedings is a new name to this set-up, David Mark Pearce, an excellent guitarist who has previously added acoustic guitar to a couple of the tracks. He has now been given a little more freedom and we are looking forward to hearing the results! Dave also mixed the original album and will be carrying out the duties again when this recording is finished.
The mix is due in early August and we will keep you well up to date on what is happening with the album!
23rd May The four spoken poetry CDs mentioned below featuring Oliver's incidental music are now appearing in listings. For example CDzone has them for £5.70 each. Many thanks to Graham Johnson for letting us know.
22nd May Last year we mentioned that Oliver had been commissioned to write the incidental music to four spoken work poetry CDs. These have now been printed and pressed and are due for release at the end of May/early June. The four CDs are being released by Disky and the titles are as follows:
The Great Love Poets - Shakespeare, Browning, Clare, Hardy & Keats - DC793322 - read by Sian Phillips, Samuel West & Steven Crossley
The Great War Poets - Brooke, Owen, Thomas, DH Lawrence & Rosenberg - DC793302 - read by Christopher Farries, Anthony Davies & Pat Nelson
The Great Epic Poems - Tennyson, Scott, Gray, Coleridge & Fitzgerald - DC793312 - read by Anthony Davies, John Green & Christopher Farries
Poems of Natural Beauty - Wordsworth, Clare, Arnold, Keats, Burns & Hardy - DC793332 - read by Sian Phillips, Samuel West & Steven Crossley
Although his name does not appear on the front cover of the album, Oliver is fully credited with the composition and performance on the inside cover of the booklet. The music for these albums was written around the time of the launch of the "3 Ages of Magick". The War poetry album features Jo Greenland on Violin on a couple of pieces and the Epic poetry album features Tony Dixon on whistle.
Much to Oliver's amusement, he is included in the running order of the CD under authors' credits and so is placed between such illustrious persons as Shakespeare, John Keats & Thomas Gray!
18th May Apologies for the lack of activity at the website during the last month or so but there has been good reason! Oliver has now completed his latest album, called 'Anam Cara' and is a joint project with a very talented singer/harpist called Rachel. Some may know of her work with the band 'Rachel & Common Ground' or may have seen her as a support artist on the recent Midge Ure tour. The album features a couple of arrangements of traditional pieces, along with a lot of new original material. As soon as we have a release date we shall keep you informed. Oliver is extremely pleased with the result and is looking forward to their next collaboration!
15th May Oliver's brother Adam is due to release his new album in the near future - it is called 'Neurasthenia' and Oliver is responsible for the sleeve design and layout. Although not many people know of Oliver's other work, he has been involved with the design and layout of a lot of his album covers having qualified as a graphic designer!
For more details about Adam's CD and to see examples of the CD sleeve, visit www.adamwakeman.com.
9th May News from the Hybrid website, regarding the forthcoming album, 'Regeneration':
"Speaking of which, we are incredibly happy to announce that John Jowitt [who also featured on 'Hound'] will be man of the moment on bass this time. John has been our first choice for every project, but this is the first time that our schedules have coincided. Needless to say we are very excited. Just as exciting, of course, is the prospect of working with Oliver Wakeman again. Several songs have been arranged with Oliver specifically in mind as we agree that he is one of the most talented (and underrated) keyboard players around at the moment."
7th May Work is continuing in the studios on the latest projects and Oliver and Clive have been in contact to start the discussions and preliminary meetings for their next project together. Don't hold your breath for news about a release just yet as they haven't decided what to do yet!
6th May The Oliver Wakeman Website now has a new domain name - http://www.oliverwakeman.co.uk. All of the existing links to the website will still work though - the actual location of the website has not changed, so service will be maintained as usual!
1st May The Classic Rock Society Magazine (formerly Wondrous Stories) printed a list of the top 10 selling albums through their mail order department for the first 4 months of the year and 'Hound of the Baskervilles' was the best seller. A great achievement when the album wasn't released until February!
28th April Oliver was recently interviewed for the Westcountry publication "Devon Life", a glossy magazine that appears in all the major supermarkets and newsagents in Oliver's home county. We don't know when the interview is likely to go print but we will keep you informed.
Even though the website has been quiet for a while there has been no lack of activity behinds the scenes. Oliver has continued with the promotion for 'Hound' as well as writing a new album - details to follow later!!!
Mother's Ruin - We know that this album has been mentioned for quite a while now and the production schedule of it keeps being put further and further back. This may be a bit unfortunate for those of you waiting to hear it, but certainly it is extremely frustrating for Oliver who really wants this album released. The reason behind the constant delays is that Oliver wants to make sure this album gets the proper promotion and support that this album needs to make sure it gets the best chance possible. It is a rock album with a band that Oliver has put together for it. The songs are all written and the performers chosen (quite a line up too!), although we are waiting for more concrete interest from record companies before going into the studio with the material. So please, bear with us on this one!
Oliver is currently working extremely hard on a new project. We cannot disclose too many details at the moment but if you liked the track 'Standing Stones' on 3 Ages then this one shouldn't disappoint.
Oliver is hoping to mix his latest New Age album 'Purification by Sound' in the near future. This will hopefully be getting a release through the Opus Music label towards the middle of the year. If you have a copy of the original Heaven's Isle, you will see that Opus Music was the company that originally released it. More news on this as we get it.
Wedding plans are also going well as the big day approaches!!!!
1st April The track, 'Standing Stones' from 'the 3 Ages of Magick' is to appear on the North Devon Hospice charity CD. The CD is being produced to raise funds for this worthwhile cause. The CD will also feature, amongst others, Elkie Brooks and Joss Ackland. More details can be found by visiting the website at www.oneheart.org.uk.
5th March In the March issue of Wondrous Stories in an interview with Bob Catley, Bob had this to say about the new Hound of the Baskervilles album:
"I play Sir Henry Baskerville on that. I've done about four songs for them. It's a really good album I like doing session work, as long as it is good stuff. It has got to be a great song. I'm not going to sing shit! But I've been lucky so for I've been presented with great songs. I love conceptual albums. They never really went away, but they're not fashionable. It doesn't make them crap, just unfashionable. It's good music that deserves good publicity."
High praise indeed!!
1st March Apologies for the late inclusion, but February's issue of Wondrous Stories features an interview with Oliver & Clive focusing on their latest release. This issue also features a full colour advert for 'Hound' and a smaller one for '3 Ages'. So if you'd like an A4 printed copy of the sleeve, contact Martin Hudson (MHudsonrok@aol.com) to purchase a copy!
The Total Rock channel interview mentioned previously is scheduled to take place during Malcolm Dome's show at or shortly after 19:00 GMT on Saturday 2nd of March.
19th February The satellite radio channel Total Rock have asked to conduct an on-air interview with Oliver on Saturday 2nd March on Malcolm Dome's show. We'll try and get more details for you about this nearer the time. For those of you able to receive Sky Digital, Total Rock broadcasts on channel 885. They also broadcast via the internet. More information on this and Total Rock in general is available from their website at http://www.totalrock.com. This channel played "Run for Your Life" from the new 'Hound of the Baskervilles' album last Saturday evening.
3rd February 'Chakras' has now been released - as part of the 'Spiritual Vitamins' series by New Age label 'Balance&Harmony'. Although his name does not appear on the front cover of the album, Oliver is fully credited with the composition and performance on the inside rear cover of the booklet. The release appears to be somewhat limited, however, with only certain stockists carrying the title, or even able to access it via its catalogue number. One source however is http://www.cdzone.co.uk, where it can be located by searching for 'Spiritual Vitamins' as the artist name, 'Chakras' as the title or 'BH790062' as the catalogue number.
Tower Records are listing it under Oliver's name: http://uk.towerrecords.com/product.asp?pfid=2628550. Other sources are Skivhugget (http://www.skivhugget.se) in Sweden and in the UK, Tesco! It appears that changes to the release date as detailed elsewhere on this page have influenced suppliers' databases accordingly.
Thanks to Graham Johnson and Bruce Treadwell for the information!
If anyone has difficulty locating this disc, please let us know, and we will endeavour to find it for you.
19th January 'The Hound of the Baskervilles' is now available to order from the Verglas store at www.verglas.com. Get ahead of the game and get your copy in advance of the official release!!!
11th January Oliver has played his last gig with the North Devon Band Smokestack. The album work is now taking up most of his time (along with wedding preparations!!) and Oliver would like to concentrate on promoting his own music through live shows. Does this mean a tour? Well, not immediately, but keep your eyes peeled for the odd live show!
10th January Further delays to the Chakra's release, unfortunately. This is something we wanted to avoid with this direct information approach, as we all know how annoying it is to anticipate something and then be told it is delayed. Sadly though, this is out of our hands. Here is the latest from the publisher:
"Chakras is now scheduled to be released at the end of January as part of a 12 Cd release." They also lead us to believe that the bulk of anticipated sales will be in Europe, with copies available in the UK in mid-February.
We can only apologise for being unable to get you any more detailed information, but as soon as we know more, we will be sure to let you know.
1st January 2002 Well, it's this time of the year that the best-of-year lists come out and we are very pleased to see that Simon from the New Horizons Website had this to say...
Top 5 Albums: This year has seen a lot of really good, quality releases and choosing only five has been a very hard job. In the end those chosen have tended to be those that have wound up being played the most, since at the end of the day this is what counts. For justification of my choices please check out the reviews! So in no particular order:
Glacier - Monument
Jump - On Impulse
Pendragon - Not of This World
Damian Wilson - Disciple
Nice to see a couple of familiar faces in this top five- Nick Barrett of Pendragon who came to the 3 Ages Launch party in the Summer and Damian Wilson who has been a good friend of Oliver's for several years.