The Six Wives of Henry VIII (album) He loosely compared the music to that of progressive rock band Emerson, Lake & Palmer, and mentioned Wakeman's "lyrical" and "deep, vast sound". In a retrospective review, Mike DeGange of AllMusic described Wakeman's use of his synthesizers as "masterful" and "instrumentally stunning", and rated the album 4.5 out of 5. Excerpts from the album were first performed during Wakeman's solo spots on Yes's Fragile Tour from 1971–1972. A recording of his solo was included on the band's first live album "Yessongs" (1973) titled "Excerpts from 'The Six Wives of Henry VIII'", as well as their same-titled concert film (1975) and
The Six Wives of Henry VIII (album) dedicated for Henry himself, but Wakeman had recorded the tracks on the wives first and used up the available space on a vinyl record. He decided to leave the Henry track and rename the album accordingly. When the album was finished, its final production cost had reached around £25,000. Wakeman described working on it as "difficult and cumbersome", but said the project was eventually a rewarding one. He was excited when it came to presenting the album to A&M management at their London office, which included a lawyer who represented the label's US division. After the album was played in