Produced by Ken Fuller, Wayne Hall and Jeffrey Crecelius

This week we decided to postpone the second part of our Buggles episode because we had the chance to interview James Gardner about Rick Wakeman’s use of the harpsichord. It was a wide-ranging and fascinating discussion and we learned a lot about both the instrument and some of the characters involved with creating the actual instruments Rick used on recordings with Yes.

James has an encyclopedic knowledge of the use of harpsichords in popular music and he mentions a large number of songs which have featured the instrument over the years. I’ve added YouTube videos of each song James refers to in the show notes for this episode. You might want to refer to those while you listen to the interview or come back to them at the end. I found they helped me a great deal.

* What kind of harpsichord did Rick use?* Who made it?* Where else can we hear harpsichords in popular music?

Take a listen to the episode and then let us know what you think below!

Mark Lang's setlist:

Our guest, James Gardner:

Radio NZ Thomas Goff - The Fall and Rise of Harpsichord 6

James' article about the origin of the VCS3 synth

A James Gardner playlist (music mentioned in the episode)

https://youtu.be/HOS86MCi29c

https://youtu.be/E5tWBBcRYdM

https://youtu.be/XqyQKdN6JtI

https://youtu.be/3j4rUqgCeI4

Probably the first person to record on the harpsichord

https://youtu.be/RhY1x8CpWeI

https://youtu.be/z-GUjA67mdc

https://youtu.be/IqlmGLr74dc

https://youtu.be/4u6jYfJgj-o

https://youtu.be/4B_M1KTMMIo

https://youtu.be/bCTECXngCX0

https://youtu.be/sOI7P2UCArM

https://youtu.be/JLcNRKAc2rQ

https://youtu.be/iRFGgr4XIos

https://youtu.be/saIhPu4fOR0

https://youtu.be/hWnrh40_2m4

https://youtu.be/XHOMoa8_yao

https://youtu.be/aWl--jvU5A8

https://youtu.be/0GS5YUUkTi4

Facebook has just changed how pages work which means that I’ve had to establish a new place for us to post and discuss Yes-related happenings.