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With the Rhodes Mark VII piano recently having been abuzz in the electric piano news over the last five years or so, I cannot help but wonder if a group of execs who'd worked for Wurlitzer in the past will regroup and reform Wurlitzer and put out a successor to the 200A series electric piano? Or reissue the original 200A?

Even the Korg MicroKorg XL synthesizer has Rhodes and Wurlitzer electric piano sounds on-board and sound almost dead-on, but nothing will ever beat the real thing.

As pretty as the Rhodes piano sounds, it lacks the hard-edged growl the Wurli 200A has. I understand that to properly play a 200A it would need to be pushed hard. That has to be done to get the kind of sound you hear on stuff like Supertramp's Crime of the Century and Breakfast in America.

~Ben

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JB6XpWUCHcE

For those of you who'd watched every episode of the Sally Jessy Raphael talk show between 1989 and 1993, for those of you who studied the song well ("Sally... She Opens Your Eyes"), my question is this: Is it true that the electric piano sound I'm hearing in this theme song is either a "DX7 Rhodes" (a name given to the infamous Yamaha DX7 "E. Piano 1" patch) or the same instrument plus an acoustic grand piano mixed in, or if it might even be a real Rhodes EP with the "Dyno My Piano" modifier (as heard on a few early Whitney Houston ballads like "Saving All My Love for You" and "Greatest Love of All")?

The music was composed by Dan Radlauer, so I can hope my question will be directed to him if he's still alive.

~Ben

Is it true that the Wurlitzer 200 series electric pianos were introduced March 1, 1968?

~Ben

The Wurlitzer EP200A - to buy or not to buy?

To buy: love the sound of this piano when played by Supertramp members Rick Davies and Roger Hodgson. Noted hits featuring it include "Bloody Well Right," "Dreamer," "Lady," "The Logical Song" and "Goodbye Stranger."

Not to buy: To actually get that kind of sound, the keys will have to be hit hard. There was a company-approved modification to adjust the key bed to withstand this heavy hitting. Was also rendered obsolete by 1983 (along with its main competitor, the (Fender) Rhodes), when the Yamaha DX7 FM synthesizer changed the way synthesizers could do sounds.

Verdict: While the new Rhodes company does have a modern version of its fabled electric piano, the Mark VII, one can only wonder if dedicated Wurlitzer EP200 fans could reform the (Wurlitzer) company to put out a new line of this particular species of electric piano. Must I think the Rhodes pianos were more popular than Wurlitzers in their heyday?

~Ben

Does anyone here know of any songs by any British goth-rock bands of the 1980s that incorporated either the Fender-Rhodes or Wurlitzer electric piano into their sound? This is in regards to such groups as The Cure and Siouxsie & the Banshees.

Would love to know of any goth-rock songs out there with an electric piano in it.

~Ben

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSTBEapjhlI
(Lorimar Productions Logo 1971)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMtJ4u30Oso
(The 1978 Lorimar logo retained the original 1971 music)

How about this TV closing logo's music?

~Ben

And you folks all have to wonder what the never-released Mark IV electric piano could've been, what instead evolved into the Mark V released in late 1984.

~Ben

What are some of your favorite Rhodes riffs?

I could reply to this topic ...
http://ep-forum.com/smf/index.php?topic=3390.30
... but it is more than 90 days old for me to do so, which led me to start this link. If only there were a Sticky topic ... then we could go on and on about our favorite Rhodes licks.

Take, for instance, this riff from the 1974-88 Worldvision Enterprises "Radar Globe II" TV ident:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98TBXlptJhA
(This logo was seen only on the 1977-78 TV series Grizzly Adams and related specials, including 1982's The Capture of Grizzly Adams, as on most stuff that had been syndicated by Worldvision, now CBS TV Distribution, the logo had no music)

Also, the 1978 film adaptation (not a very good one as many critics of the period thought of it - the film was a horrible box-office flop) of the Beatles' 1967 Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band has certain songs in its soundtrack featuring Rhodes licks here and there, including "Here Comes the Sun" and "I Want You (She's So Heavy)."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyIycBn65ko (watch for "Here Comes the Sun")
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqaEbi8NmRM (watch for "I Want You (She's So Heavy)")

Natalie Merchant's second solo single, 1995's "Wonder."

~Ben

Was there anything about the very infamous and poorly-designed Rhodes Mark III EK-10 electric piano that could've been done to make it sound more like the synthesizer that it tried to be?

Furthermore, what are your thoughts on this and how much would an NOS Mark III go for these days? This model was to Rhodes what the Polymoog synth was to Moog ... not a good design.

~Ben

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gC_1sRIgOM

For the poster who wants to hear the song from start to end, wanting to know how hard it is to play by ear...

~Ben

Hi,

A curious question: are there any current music artists who use a Yamaha DX7 and/or a Roland D50? The DX7 represented the mid-late '80s while the D50 represented the late '80s-early '90s. Think Ke$ha and Lady Gaga, amongst others.

Also: what songs of the 21st century feature that "cheesy '80s electric piano" sound that is strongly identified with both the DX7 and the D50?

Thank you,



Ben Edge (RhodesMkII81)

Were there any grunge bands (you know, the sound that came out of such Seattle, Washington-bred bands such as Soundgarden, Nirvana and Pearl Jam, among others such as Hole and Hammerbox - this was the era of rock music spanning the mid 1980s through the early 1990s) that used a vintage electric piano (Rhodes, Wurlitzer, et al.) or other keyboard (Moog, ARP, Vox, Clavioline, et al.) in their music?

I know the electric piano at times does sound like a guitar, especially when you play it through a distortion box.

What I would like to know is what specific songs off of which specific albums would contain an electric piano or other keyboard in the sound?

~Ben

What do you want to do with it? What kind of music do you play?

For on-stage use it seems like a real burden. For studio I can't imagine you'd get enough use out of it to justify paying a lot for one.

This article has some really choice quotes:
http://www.keyboardmag.com/article/yamaha-cs-80/sep-05/12980

The kind of music I'd play on it once I have it or any other keyboard, is progressive rock as defined by bands such as Genesis, Yes, Rush and Kansas.

~Ben

Is there anyone here on this board that can recommend the Yamaha CS-80 or not?

To buy:
1 - Its powerhouse brass sounds.
2 - Built-in (?) pitch ribbon

Not to buy:
1 - Weight (220+ lbs.)
2 - Tuning instability (before extensive modifications which help extend its service life)
3 - Price (of course)

~Ben

How many of you Rhodes fans know of Elton John's usage of the Mark I (obviously from the "Fender/Rhodes" era, his may be a 1971 or '72 model) electric piano on his various songs?

Namely, these would be such tunes like "Daniel" (#2, June 1973), "Grey Seal" (the 1973 remake of a 1970 single side), the experimental "This Song Has No Title" (these next two songs featured the Rhodes being used with a wah-wah pedal, both are available on the album "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road"), "Someone Saved My Life Tonight" (#4, July 1975),  "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" (#1, September 1976), "Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word" (#6, December 1976) and "Little Jeannie" (#3, July 1980) (these last three songs listed had James Newton Howard playing the instrument).

~Ben (RhodesMkII81)