Soul Trader
It’s been a long time coming, but Oliver Wakeman is back with a new solo album. With contributions from Nightwish’s Troy Donockley, vocalist Hayley Griffiths, and Pendragon drummer Scott Higham, Anam Cara is a celtic-flavoured melting pot of delight. The keyboardist discusses the good stories and wonderful musicians that make up a record he hopes will capture the listener’s imagination.
Words: Grant Moon Images: Max Clarke
Wakeman is a prog powerhouse.
“My premise behind writing: there’s a song I want to hear and no one else has written it, so I might as well do it.”
Last year Oliver Wakeman’s record label politely pointed out that he hadn’t made an album of his own for a long, long time. He was taken aback; to him it felt like he’d barely stopped releasing music.
There was Collaborations –the 2022 box set featuring expanded reissues of The 3 Ages Of Magick, his record with Steve Howe, and Ravens & Lullabies, with Gordon Giltrap. The year before saw Tales By Gaslight, a three-disc set comprising his albums with Arena’s Clive Nolan –Jabberwocky and The Hound Of The Baskervilles plus a previously unreleased selection, Dark Fables. In 2019 there’d been a high-profile offering –Yes ‘mini-album’ From A Page, predominantly made up of shelved pieces the keyboardist had written for the band during his tenure with them in the late 2000s. Add to that the live work with Strawbs, the occasional charity gig with his old man, Rick Wakeman, and hundreds of other engagements.