The Six Wives of Henry VIII (album)
| The Six Wives of Henry VIII | ||||
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| Studio album by Rick Wakeman | ||||
| Released | 23 January 1973 | |||
| Recorded | February–October 1972 | |||
| Studio |
Morgan and Trident Studios (London, England) |
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| Genre | ||||
| Length | 36:36 | |||
| Label | A&M | |||
| Producer | Rick Wakeman | |||
| Rick Wakeman chronology | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   |
| Sputnikmusic | |
| Rolling Stone | (favourable) |
The Six Wives of Henry VIII is the first studio album by the English keyboardist Rick Wakeman, released in January 1973 on A&M Records. It is an instrumental progressive rock album with its concept based on his interpretations of the musical characteristics of the six wives of Henry VIII. After signing with A&M as a solo artist, Wakeman decided on the album's concept during a tour of the United States as a member of the rock band Yes. As he read a book about the subject on his travels, melodies he had written the previous year came to him and were noted down. Musicians from Yes and from Strawbs, the group Wakeman was in prior to Yes, also play on the album.
The Six Wives of Henry VIII received mostly positive reviews from critics. It reached number 7 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. In 2009, Wakeman performed the album in its entirety for the first time live at Hampton Court Palace as part of the 500th anniversary celebration of Henry's accession to the throne. 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 vinyl. The album was reissued in 2015 with a quadraphonic sound mix and bonus tracks.
In August 1971, Rick Wakeman joined Yes following the departure of their original keyboardist Tony Kaye. Towards the end of the year, he signed a five album deal as a solo artist with A&M Records. In early 1972, while on tour of the United States to promote Fragile (1971), he bought four books at an airport bookstall in Richmond, Virginia, one of them being The Private Life of Henry VIII by Nancy Brysson Morrison. As he read about Anne Boleyn on the subsequent flight to Chicago, a theme he recorded in November 1971 ran through his mind. He often scribbled down pieces of music while travelling, but could not find a theme to put them to. Said Wakeman, "I had been searching for a style to write in and 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." He explains the album's concept in its liner notes: "The album is based around my interpretations of the musical characteristics of the wives of Henry VIII. Although the style may not always be in keeping with their individual history, it is my personal conception of their characters in relation to keyboard instruments."
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