Dick Wagner

Dick Wagner

by Dick WagnerDick Wagner

Overview

Dick Wagner was a real-deal guitar hero, a Michigan-born rock & roller who first made a name for himself with Grande Ballroom regulars the Frost, and later went on to play with Lou Reed, Alice Cooper, Peter Gabriel, Lita Ford, Hall & Oates, and many more. Given that Wagner was an impressive talent on the six-string and a sideman of choice with a handful of rock legends, Wagner's first solo album, 1978's Richard Wagner, is something of a surprise -- there are few out and out rock & roll tunes on the album, with the set list dominated by a wealth of heart-on-the-sleeve power ballads like "Don't Stop the Music," "Oceans," and "Hand Me Down Heartache," and bluesy numbers like "Nightwork." And even the livelier numbers don't sound like the work of an A-list guitar picker, such as the Caribbean-flavored "Small Town Boy" and the grandiose "Motor City Showdown," which recalls something Jim Steinman might have cooked up for Meat Loaf. If Wagner's goal was to show off his abilities as a songwriter and vocalist, then Richard Wagner certainly proves he was more than just a red hot soloist; Wagner is a fine singer with a keen sense of drama on these nine songs, and the tunes cover much more stylistic ground than one might imagine, but if you bought this on the basis of Wagner's epic-scale guitar soloing on Frost Music, Rock N' Roll Animal, or Welcome to My Nightmare, you might wonder if this is the work of the same guy. (A different sort of confusion greeted the album on its original release; it was credited to Richard Wagner rather than his usual handle of Dick Wagner, and some stores filed it in the classical section, imaging it was a collection of pieces by the noted German composer of the 19th century. When the album was reissued in 2014, the title was changed to Dick Wagner to avoid such misunderstanding.) Adjust your expectations properly and Wagner's solo debut is a glossy set of well-constructed, grand-scale rock anthems, though a little more soloing certainly wouldn't have put off any of his fans.

Product Details

Release Date: 11/04/2014
Label: Real Gone Music
UPC: 0848064003137
catalogNumber: 400313
Rank: 106011

Tracks

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Dick Wagner   Primary Artist,Guitar,Vocals,Background Vocals,Soloist
Steve Hunter   Guitar
Tony Kosinec   Background Vocals
Jimmy Maelen   Percussion
Modern Folk Quartet   Background Vocals
Philip Aaberg   Keyboards
Bob Babbitt   Bass
Bob Ezrin   Keyboards
Paul Griffin   Keyboards
Brooks Hunnicutt   Background Vocals
Fred Mandel   Keyboards
Lisa Roberts   Background Vocals
Allan Schwartzberg   Drums
Ernie Watts   Saxophone,Soloist
Whitey Glan   Drums
David Tyson   Keyboards
Prakash John   Bass
Laurel Masseé   Background Vocals
Karen Akhotnikoff   Background Vocals
Domenic Trioano   Guitar

Technical Credits

Andy Pratt   Composer
Rick Hart   Engineer
Brian Christian   Producer,Engineer
Bob Ezrin   Producer,Engineer,Orchestration,Remixing
Jim Frank   Engineer
Allan MacMillan   Orchestration
Corky Stasiak   Engineer
Dick Wagner   Composer
Gene Sculatti   Liner Notes
David Gertz   Engineer
John Sellards   Reissue Design
John Bojicic   Engineer
Tim Green   Engineer
Ringo Hrycnya   Engineer

Customer Reviews