A Man Who Underappreciated the Holy Grail Despite His Family's Connection to It

 

January 31, 2021

AHG Led Zeppelin IV. The album that started it all for me.

We left our last article with some thoughts about digital recording and how the sound quality is poor. In spite of this, I have a Spotify account where I have quite a playlist consisting of just under 4,000 songs. When I was a kid, in order to obtain that same amount of music, I had an enormous collection of LP (Long Play) vinyl albums numbering in the thousands. Yes, storage was a bit of an issue, and it had the benefit of allowing me to find absolute gems on the album’s “B” side, instead of just the “Top 10 hits” on side “A.”

Everyone enjoys music to whatever degree; my father was a bit odd in that way. His music tastes were very narrow — Fats Domino, Elvis Presley, Sinatra, the folk rock sound of America, and their song “The Horse with No Name.” He dabbled with the hard rock sound of The James Gang, but beyond that, there was only the sound of silence around him. My mother’s tastes were a little broader, consisting of Tom Jones, Charlie Pride, Freddie Fender, Meatloaf, The Eagles, Fleetwood Mac.

You may be wondering what, if anything, all this has to do with the Grail. Be patient — you will understand soon. When I was nine, I was beginning to search for my own musical tastes. I had found that I just did not like what my parents listened to. It was then, on an early Saturday morning, that I had got up early and was poking through my brother’s album collection, where I discovered Led Zeppelin’s unnamed Zeppelin IV.

It was quite literally music to my ears and paved the way for the next 44 years of needing hard classic rock in my life.

In previous articles, I have talked about the violence that was all too common in my parents’ home. I will not reiterate that now, but music provided an escape for me — a coping mechanism. After school or work, I would clamp the headphones over my ears and lose myself in the sound, searching endlessly for meaning in the lyrics of the songs. Indeed, sometimes the song’s lyrics were perfect for whatever the circumstance, or the meaning of the song needed just a little tweaking.

Then there is the experience of actually seeing the band live and feeling thousands of people around you, all sharing their energy in the same place. Every now and again, an artist will comment on that — the energy. Sadly, too often, it feeds nothing but their egos. Here, we are talking about something very different.

Here now, in the Kali Yuga, we have drifted a long way from the spiritual purity of Satya Yuga — or even the more moderate Treta Yuga. During these previous time periods, our focus was on our higher light beings — our sacred selves. Then, as now, we are warned to avoid distractions in our corporeal lives. We are warned in particular about sex, although it is hard to find anything wrong with sex between consenting adults. The problems arise when individuals become addicted to it, and the welfare of anyone involved becomes meaningless.

AHG Music from Adrian Wagner, one of several pieces put together for his work on the Holy Grail.

It is with sadness that we note the passing of British electronic composer, entrepreneur, and inventor Adrian Wagner, who co-created the Wasp synthesizer. The great-great-grandson of German composer Richard Wagner, Adrian wrote and released many musical works of his own, collaborated with the Radiophonic Workshop, and even penned the theme tune to the Trans World Sport television show. However, it was the low-cost yellow and black synthesizer, developed with synth designer Chris Huggett (of Oscar and Novation fame), that really cements his name in the music production hall of fame.

In an age of VCOs, the Wasp’s inventive DCOs kept their tuning remarkably well, and its use of capacitive keyboard strips rather than a regular keyboard was quite unusual. Its key selling point was the price, though. At only £200 upon its release in 1977, it was substantially less than anything from Moog, Oberheim, or Roland. Wagner went on to produce entomologically themed devices such as the Gnat single-voice synth, Spider sequencer, the Caterpillar keyboard, the Wasp Deluxe, and more.

AHG Wasp Synthesizer

 After leaving the world of synth making, Wagner moved to Wales and continued to release music on his Mediaquest label and pursued his other passions of photography and painting.

His contribution to the world of electronic music cannot be underestimated — conceiving of and bringing to market a synthesizer that was truly affordable was no mean feat. Also, the gritty, dirty sounds of which it was capable made it a go-to for those eschewing the prog-rock aesthetic of the late ’70s, gaining notable users over the years such as Vince Clarke, Chris Carter of Throbbing Gristle, 808 State, Will Gregory, and more.

Adrian passed away on June 22, 2018. His wife, Helen, and stepchildren, Stephen and Emma, survive him.