Для оформления обложки своего великолепного альбома симфо-проггеры Wally выбрали ориенталистский мотив, но этим не ограничились. Музыка у них тоже с восточным уклоном, весьма оригинальная и очень талантливо скроенная. Группу, к сожалению, мало кто знает. И это обидно, потому что мастерство исполнителей на очень высоком уровне.
Состав команды (весьма внушительный): - Pete Cosker - electric & acoustic guitars, vocals, bass - Paul Gerrett - Fender Rhodes, harmonium, grand piano, harpischord, mellotron, hammond organ, vocals - Paul Middleton - steel guitar, bass - Roger Narraway - percussion - Pete Sage - electric violin, bass, mandolin - Roy Webber - lead vocals, acoustic guitar А продюсерами у них были личности незаурядные - сами господа Bob Harris и Rick Wakeman! Ну, а они-то знают толк в музыке! Внимание, все аранжировки тоже Уэйкмана!
Wally, led by the singer-songwriter Roy Webber, was an English progressive rock band, which originated in Harrogate, Yorkshire, in the early 1970s. In 1973, after playing the northern pub rock circuit that included venues in Manchester,Harrogate, Leeds and Bradford, they entered a New Act competition organised by the music paper Melody Maker making it to the finals at London's Roundhouse. They did not win - that honour went to a Prog Rock band named Druid - but they caught the eye of one of the judges, "Whispering" Bob Harris of The Old Grey Whistle Test fame. Their "runners-up" prize was the chance to record a session for Harris's BBC radio show, "The Monday Program". He took the band under his wing and set-up a recording contract with Atlantic Records. Their debut album, Wally, released in 1974 was co-produced by Harris, along with Rick Wakeman who had seen one of the band's warm up gigs before the Roundhouse final. After its release the band, now managed by Brian Lane, best known as the manager of Yes, embarked on a series of tours taking in most of Britain, Japan and the United States. They supported Yes at a headline London concert at the Alexandra Palace and also made an appearance on The Old Grey Whistle Test. On their second album, Valley Gardens, Nick Glennie-Smith replaced Paul Gerrett on keyboards. However by that time continual touring had taken its toll, and the band eventually split after Atlantic decided to cut their losses and pulled the plug. Webber set up a graphic design company, primarily working for Yorkshire Television but also with the Royal Armouries Museum. Pete Sage went to Germany to work as a sound engineer for the pop group Boney M. Nick Glennie-Smith was proposed as potential replacement for Wakeman in Yes and went on to be a leading session musician and soundtrack composer. Guitarist Pete Cosker died in 1990, as a result of a heroin overdose. Drummer Roger Narraway metamorphosed into a talented lead guitarist, and Paul Middleton retreated to the North Yorkshire Dales, becoming a carpenter and venturing out occasionally to play with Roy Webber in a country rock band, Freddie Alva and the Men from Delmonte. He now gigs on a regular basis with his own band, The Angst Band, featuring fellow bandmember Frank Mizen on pedal steel, guitar and banjo. Paul Gerrett died of a heart attack in 2008. After a thirty year hiatus, the surviving members of the original line-up - augmented by Frank Mizen on pedal steel and Will Jackson on guitar - performed to a sell out crowd in April 2009 in their home town of Harrogate. A DVD of the concert was released later that year. A third album, Montpelier comprising reworkings of demos from the band's earlier incarnation, along with new material by both Webber and Middleton, was released in February 2010, and a second "reunion" concert took place in April. Funds from ticket sales will be used to erect a permanent memorial to Cosker and Gerrett. A recording of the 2010 reunion has been released as a live album entitled, "To the Urban Man" and a third reunion concert is scheduled for 2011, again in the band's home town of Harrogate.
BACK in the days of platform heels and other trappings of Seventies Rock, the world was at the feet of Yorkshire band Wally – who were being groomed for fame by superstar Rick Wakeman and TV presenter Bob Harris.
Before Queen even had an album out, Harrogate based Wally shared a record label with Led Zeppelin, a manager with chart toppers Yes, and were just about to embark on another tour of the US, this time playing to stadium audiences.
Then without warning it all fell apart – their mentor Wakeman split with Yes and because Wally were under his wing their deal with Atlantic Records also collapsed and the US tour was off.
The band, which had become overnight successes after their first gigs in Harrogate and had played in Japan and America, was forced to make ends meet on the university circuit. Then punk came along – and that was that.
Or so everyone thought - until a chance meeting between former Wally members Roy Webber, of Beech Grove, Harrogate, and Nick Glennie-Smith, who now works in the US scoring Hollywood blockbusters.
Mr Glennie-Smith suggested a reunion concert and leaping at the chance Mr Webber started ringing around the rest of the band members – only to find keyboard player Paul Gerrett had died in his sleep in Thailand a few days before.
Believed to be suffering from heart problems, the founder member and keyboard player was the band's second casualty. Lead guitarist Pete Cosker became a drug addict after the break up and died in 1990.
"So now we had a real reason to do a reunion concert – as a tribute to Paul," added Mr Webber, who will turn 60 just before the gig where Wally will be supported by Kneagle, an up and coming Harrogate four piece, three them sons of Wally members.
The question was how the fans would react. It had been 36 years since Rick Wakeman spotted them supporting Cockney Rebel and former Old Grey Whistle Test host "Whispering" Bob invited them on his show.
It had been a long time since appearing on Whistle Test and playing alongside the likes of Lynyrd Skynyrd and Jackson Brown, and being a cutting edge act on Radio One's Sounds of the Seventies, which Harris also compered.
He said: "I first saw Wally play in 1972 at a Melody Maker Battle of the Bands competition at the Roundhouse in London. They did not win but I really liked them.
"They slept on the floor of my London flat, we did big tours together, bought one-legged pedal steel guitars and broke the bar-bill record as half of Harrogate arrived to put a drink on our tab. We didn't care. We were having far too much of a good time.
"After a four year blaze of glory that took in five-star album reviews, American visits and Japanese tours, the Wally juggernaut spectacularly hit the wall...with a call to Roy from someone threatening to break his legs if they didn't get their equipment back."
