‘What do Postman Pat, Tommy Cooper, Norman Wisdom and George Best have in common with being abandoned in a Costa Rican jungle after a severe bout of flatulence? Indeed how are they connected to trying to buy an Australian brewery just to get a beer, owning twenty-two cars, an American soccer team and Swiss mail-order pornography?’
Clever, I thought, reading the back of Further Adventures of a Grumpy Old Rock Star. The common denominator is Rick Wakeman, and that ingenious little paragraph, with just the right mix of suggestion, innuendo and intrigue, makes you want to read more; and read more I did, as the man himself was coming to Windsor to talk about his book.
If you buy this book expecting a conventional biography, then you’ll be disappointed. Rick’s autobiography Say Yes! was published back in 1985 but so far hasn’t been updated. Further Adventures takes a less conventional approach, following the same format as his previous book, Grumpy Old Rock Star, re-telling various incidents and episodes from Rick’s sixty odd years of colourful and eventful living. Originally a trained classical musician, Rick is now one of the legends of British Progressive Rock, as well as a world famous composer and solo artist. He has toured the world many times over and, as he would be the first to admit, tired to drink it dry in the process, so he has a vast catalogue of mishaps and misdemeanours to draw from.
Seemingly random and disjointed, following no time line, they do have a coherence of their own, collected in chapters with fascinating titles such as ‘Postman Pat, OAPS, Hells Angels and a Dog’ and ‘Do You Still Own XXXX Mate?’ Imagine meeting up with an old friend after many years and being regaled with stories of what they’ve been up to all this time. Reading Rick’s reminiscences is like sitting in the pub with a mate who tells a great yarn exceptionally well.
I’m not going to give away the ‘punch lines’ to the stories, that would spoil the enjoyment in reading them for yourselves. But from shows being delayed by Postman Pat and Fireman Sam, reducing a Japanese audience to total silence and causing one girl to faint, to being thrown off a bus because of farting; from an ego deflating signing in High Wycombe, why Rick considers himself a successful marriage guidance counsellor, to playing for an audience of one, I was convulsed with laughter. Yet there are poignant moments too, such as why Rick has problems with Hammersmith Hospital and East Acton Station.
Written in an easy, relaxed style, these hilarious reminiscences about life on the road as a working musician, will make the grumpiest grump smile. Rick told me recently that he’s pleased with the book, “I think it’s funnier than the first.”
Believe me….. it is.
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