Robert Wyatt | ||
| Allmusic Biography : An enduring figure who came to prominence in the early days of the English art rock scene, Robert Wyatt has produced a significant body of work, both as the original drummer for art rockers Soft Machine and as a radical political singer/songwriter. Born in Bristol, England, Wyatt came to Soft Machine during the exciting, slightly post-psychedelic Canterbury Scene of the mid-60s that produced bands like Gong and Pink Floyd. Unlike many of the art rock bands that would come later (Jethro Tull, Yes, King Crimson), Soft Machine eschewed bloated theatrical excess, preferring a standard rock format that interpolated jazz riffing, extended soloing, and some forays into experimental noise. Wyatt, then Soft Machines drummer, left the band during its initial wave of popularity. His solo career was built less around his abilities as a percussionist and more around his frail tenor voice, capable of breaking hearts with its falsetto range. It was not long after his first solo release, End of an Ear, that Wyatt fell from an open window during a party, fracturing his back and permanently paralyzing him from the waist down. After months of painful recuperation, Wyatt reemerged with the harrowing Rock Bottom (1974) and the bizarre Ruth Is Stranger Than Richard (1975), the former dealing explicitly with his post-accident life, the latter a series of surreal fables. And while the music on these records is trance-like and experimental, Wyatt shockingly recorded a straight version of the Monkees "Im a Believer" in 1974 that became a big British hit. Controversy ensued when the BBCs long-running weekly pop music program Top of the Pops refused to allow Wyatt to perform the song in his wheelchair. After a significant protest played out in the music trade papers, Wyatt did perform. Despite his success, Wyatt remained quiet for much of the rest of the decade, breaking his silence during the punk era with a handful of singles recorded for the great English indie label Rough Trade. Again, going against audience expectations, he recorded a beautiful version of Chics "At Last I Am Free." This signaled the start of a full-fledged career renaissance that included numerous albums and artists such as Elvis Costello writing songs for him. His albums were lush, at times almost meditative, and Wyatts voice -- clear, emotionally charged, and always on the verge of breaking -- brought great depth and soul to songs that, if recorded by a lesser artist, would have sounded terse and tired. Always on the political left, Wyatts radicalism increased exponentially during Margaret Thatchers years as prime minister, as he maintained an unwavering support for Communism even as glasnost was nigh. Wyatt has comfortably worked in and out of the music business. He records when he feels like it, paints, writes, devotes time to political work, and continues to show no interest in the machinations of the music industry. He resumed recording with 1997s Shleep, for Thirsty Ear, and resumed his non-music-making activities such as painting, while supervising the remastering and reissue of his 80s catalog. In 2003, Wyatt returned to recording and released Cuckooland, a musically ambitious, loosely conceptual project that saw him collaborating with a large group of players including Annie Whitehead, Brian Eno, Gilad Atzmon, David Gilmour, Tomo Hayakawa, Karen Mantler, Phil Manzanera, and Paul Weller. In 2007, Wyatt signed with the independent Domino imprint and released Comicopera, again with a large group, but whose core group included Anja Garbarek, Orphy Robinson, Yaron Stavi, Mônica Vasconcelos, Atzmon, Chucho Merchán, Maurizio Camardi, and Alfonso Santimone, with Paul Weller once more guesting; songwriting contributions came from Wyatts companion, poet Alfie Benge, Garbarek, and Eno. After a three-year hiatus from recording, he cut ...For the Ghosts Within, also for Domino -- with the Sigamos String Quartet led by Rod Stephens, and Atzmon. It was released in 2010. In 2013, Cuneiform Records issued 68, a four-song set of Wyatt tracks that included two demos that had never been heard before with two other pieces that were later appended to appear on official recordings. Wyatts official biography, Different Every Time, written by Marcus ODair, was published by Serpents Tail in October of 2014. As a companion, Domino issued a double compilation of the same name. The first was a handpicked selection by Wyatt of tracks with Soft Machine, Matching Mole, and from his solo albums, while the second featured his favorite collaborations. It was released in November. | ||
 | Album: 1 of 33 Title: The End of an Ear Released: 1970-12-04 Tracks: 9 Duration: 46:59 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Las Vegas Tango, Part I (08:12) 2 To Mark Everywhere (02:26) 3 To Saintly Bridget (02:21) 4 To Oz Alien Daevid and Gilly (02:08) 5 To Nick Everyone (09:16) 6 To Caravan and Brother Jim (05:21) 7 To the Old World (Thank You for the Use of Your Body, Goodbye) (03:17) 8 To Carla, Marsha and Caroline (For Making Everything Beautifuller) (02:46) 9 Las Vegas Tango, Part I (11:07) |
| The End of an Ear : Allmusic album Review : Of all the projects Robert Wyatt created apart from his tenure with Soft Machine and Matching Mole, The End of an Ear has to be the strangest, and among the most beautiful and misunderstood recordings of his career. Recorded near the end of his membership in Soft Machine, End of an Ear finds Wyatt experimenting far more with jazz and avant-garde material than in the jazz-rock-structured environment of his band. The Wyatt on The End of an Ear (a play on words for the end of the SM era, and another session called "Ear of the Beholder") is still very much the fiery drummer and percussionist who is interested in electronic effects and out jazz and not the composer and interpretive singer of his post-accident years. Influenced by Miles Davis electric bands and the fledgling Weather Report who did their first gigs in the U.K., Wyatt opens and closes the album with two readings of Gil Evans "Las Vegas Tango, Pt. 1." These are the most structured pieces on the recording, and the only ones not dedicated in some way: "To Mark Everywhere," "To Caravan and Brother Jim," "To Nick Everyone," "To the Old World (Thank You for the Use of Your Body, Goodbye)," "To Carla, Marsha, and Caroline (For Making Everything Beautifuller)," and others. The titles reveal how personal the nature of these sound experiments can be. Wyatt, because of his association with many in the Canterbury scene, not the least of which is SM mate Elton Dean who prominently appears here, was learning alternate structures and syntax for harmony, as well as the myriad ways rhythm could play counterpoint to them in their own language. The interplay between Wyatt, bassist Neville Whitehead, cornet player Marc Charig, and alto man Dean on "To Nick Everyone" is astonishing. Wyatt creates time from the horn lines and then alters it according to Whiteheads counterpoint both to the formal line and the improvisations. Toward the end of the track, Wyatts piano is dubbed in and he reveals just how expansive he views this new harmonic approach. The piano becomes a percussion instrument purely, a timekeeper in accordance with the bass, and the drums become counterpoint -- in quadruple time -- to everyone else in the band. When David Sinclairs organ enters the fray and another piano courtesy of Mark Ellidge, as well as assorted percussion by Cyril Ayers, the entire thing becomes a strange kind of rondo in free jazz syntax. Elsewhere, on "To Caravan and Brother Jim," a 2/4 time signature opens the track and the organ plays almost a lounge-jazz-type line with drums rumbling in the back of the mix, almost an afterthought, and Ellidges piano stumbling in with dissonant trills and riffs until he creates a microtonal line against the organs now carnival chords until certain drums fall out, then back in, and the piano plays an augmented chord solidly in glissandi until the piece just sort of falls apart and ends. If you are Robert Wyatt, this is the way you find something new, you "play" at it. And thats what is so beautiful about The End of an Ear -- the entire record, unlike the "seriousness" of Soft Machine Third, is that this is being played with tonalities, harmony, language, and utterance that are all up for grabs in an investigation of freedom both in "music" and "sound." The End of an Ear is the warm and humorous melding of free jazz amplification and musicians playtime. | ||
 | Album: 2 of 33 Title: Rock Bottom Released: 1974 Tracks: 6 Duration: 39:34 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Sea Song (06:31) 2 Last Straw (05:46) 3 Little Red Riding Hood Hit the Road (07:40) 4 Alifib (06:55) 5 Alifie (06:31) 6 Little Red Robin Hood Hit the Road (06:08) |
| Rock Bottom : Allmusic album Review : Rock Bottom, recorded with a star-studded cast of Canterbury musicians, has been deservedly acclaimed as one of the finest art rock albums. Several forces surrounding Wyatts life helped shape its outcome. First, it was recorded after the former Soft Machine drummer and singer fell out of a five-story window and broke his spine. Legend had it that the album was a chronicle of his stay in the hospital. Wyatt dispels this notion in the liner notes of the 1997 Thirsty Ear reissue of the album, as well as the book Wrong Movements: A Robert Wyatt History. Much of the material was composed prior to his accident in anticipation of rehearsals of a new lineup of Matching Mole. The writing was completed in the hospital, where Wyatt realized that he would now need to sing more, since he could no longer be solely the drummer. Many of Rock Bottoms songs are very personal and introspective love songs, since he would soon marry Alfreda Benge. Benge suggested to Wyatt that his music was too cluttered and needed more open spaces. Therefore, Robert Wyatt not only ploughed new ground in songwriting territory, but he presented the songs differently, taking time to allow songs like "Sea Song" and "Alifib" to develop slowly. Previous attempts at love songs, like "O Caroline," while earnest and wistful, were very literal and lyrically clumsy. Rock Bottom was Robert Wyatts most focused and relaxed album up to its time of release. In 1974, it won the French Grand Prix Charles Cros Record of the Year Award. It is also considered an essential record in any comprehensive collection of psychedelic or progressive rock. Concurrently released was the first of his two singles to reach the British Top 40, "Im a Believer." | ||
 | Album: 3 of 33 Title: Nothing Can Stop Us Released: 1982 Tracks: 10 Duration: 39:55 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Born Again Cretin (03:11) 2 At Last I Am Free (04:18) 3 Caimanera (05:22) 4 Grass (02:39) 5 Stalin Wasnt Stallin (03:24) 6 Red Flag (03:10) 7 Strange Fruit (03:38) 8 Arauco (04:35) 9 Trade Union (03:46) 10 Stalingrad (05:48) |
| Nothing Can Stop Us : Allmusic album Review : This compilation of early-80s singles includes some of Wyatts finest work. Aside from "Born Again Cretin" (whose vocals recall the Beach Boys at their most experimental), all of its non-original material that Wyatt makes his own with his sad, haunting vocals. You could hardly ask for a more diverse assortment of covers: Chics "At Last I Am Free" (given an eerie treatment with especially mysterious, spacy keyboards), the a cappella gospel of "Stalin Wasnt Stallin," political commentary with "Trade Union," the Billie Holiday standard "Strange Fruit," Ivor Cutlers "Grass," and a couple of songs in Spanish. The tracks have since been reissued a few times, with bonus tracks such as the "Shipbuilding" single; the best option for U.S. consumers is Compilation, which pairs Nothing Can Stop Us with Old Rottenhat. | ||
 | Album: 4 of 33 Title: Old Playfellows Released: 1982 Tracks: 11 Duration: 29:40 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Walter and John (04:05) 2 Aquamarine (04:09) 3 Slipping Slowly (02:52) 4 Another Conversation With Myself (01:24) 5 A Girl in Winter (03:50) 6 Goodbye Joe (02:27) 7 On My Mind (03:09) 8 The Lure of the Rockpools (01:44) 9 Cant (03:12) 10 Tower of Silence (01:55) 11 Aubade (00:50) |
 | Album: 5 of 33 Title: Summer Into Winter Released: 1982 Tracks: 5 Duration: 07:59 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Walter and John (?) 2 Aquamarine (04:09) 3 Slipping Slowly (?) 4 Another Conversation With Myself (?) 5 A Girl in Winter (03:50) |
 | Album: 6 of 33 Title: 1982-1984 Released: 1984 Tracks: 7 Duration: 00:00 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Shipbuilding (?) 2 Round Midnight (?) 3 (Everything Seems to Bring) Memories of You (?) 4 Amber & Amberines (?) 5 Biko (?) 6 Te Recuerdo Amanda (?) 7 Yolanda (?) |
 | Album: 7 of 33 Title: Work in Progress Released: 1984-08 Tracks: 4 Duration: 16:36 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Biko (04:37) 2 Amber and the Amberines (04:11) 3 Yolanda (04:13) 4 Te recuerdo Amanda (03:33) |
 | Album: 8 of 33 Title: Old Rottenhat Released: 1985 Tracks: 10 Duration: 43:51 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify TrackSamples Allmusic Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Alliance (04:24) 2 The United States of Amnesia (05:50) 3 East Timor (02:52) 4 Speechless (03:37) 5 The Age of Self (02:50) 6 Vandalusia (02:44) 7 The British Road (06:47) 8 Mass Medium (04:19) 9 Gharbzadegi (08:19) 10 P.L.A. (02:05) |
| Old Rottenhat : Allmusic album Review : Robert Wyatt has been quoted as declaring that this record was "a conscious attempt to make un-misusable music," i.e., music that couldnt be appropriated by the right or broadcast on Voice of America. VOA doesnt broadcast uncommercial music such as this in any case, but Wyatt did succeed in stating some of his political concerns -- imperialism, the carnage in East Timor, the flaws of rigid political ideology -- in an understated manner. He went back to writing his own material for this album, after having focused on eclectic "covers" in the early 80s, with fair success. Its perhaps an even moodier outing than usual for Wyatt, his melancholia amplified by the foggy, spooky keyboards. It was reissued on CD in 1990 as half of Compilation, which also includes the entirety of Nothing Can Stop Us. Somewhat confusingly, it was also reissued on CD as half of Mid-Eighties, an entirely different Gramavision release that adds eight tracks from assorted EPs, singles, and compilations of the time. | ||
 | Album: 9 of 33 Title: Ruth Is Stranger Than Richard Released: 1989 Tracks: 9 Duration: 39:09 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Soup Song (04:03) 2 Sonia (04:18) 3 Team Spirit (08:33) 4 Song for Ché (03:42) 5 Muddy Mouse (a) (00:48) 6 Solar Flares (05:36) 7 Muddy Mouse (b) (00:50) 8 5 Black Notes and 1 White Note (05:00) 9 Muddy Mouth (c) / Muddy Mouth (06:15) |
| Ruth Is Stranger Than Richard : Allmusic album Review : There was no way that Wyatts follow-up to Rock Bottom could be as personal and searching, but this album that came barely a year later instead collects some earlier material to be revamped for this release. "Soup Song," for instance, is a rewrite of "Slow Walkin Talk," written before the forming of Soft Machine. "Team Spirit," written with Phil Manzanera and Bill MacCormick of Quiet Sun, would turn up the same year as "Frontera" on Manzaneras Diamond Head. While some of the songs tend to plod along, the dirge-like "Five Black Notes and One White Notes," a lethargic cover of Offenbachs "Baccarole," Charlie Hadens "Song for Che," and Fred Friths piano team-up with Wyatt on "Muddy Mouth" are magical. As usual, the assembled band, including the underrated Gary Windo on sax and Mongezi Feza on trumpet, never dissapoint. | ||
 | Album: 10 of 33 Title: Compilation Released: 1990 Tracks: 19 Duration: 1:09:01 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Shipbuilding (02:59) 2 Stalin Wasnt Stallin (03:24) 3 Born Again Cretin (03:08) 4 At Last I Am Free (04:18) 5 Caimanera (05:20) 6 Grass (02:38) 7 Memories of You (02:56) 8 Red Flag (03:10) 9 Strange Fruit (03:38) 10 Arauco (04:35) 11 Round Midnight (04:10) 12 Alliance (04:24) 13 The United States of Amnesia (05:50) 14 East Timor (02:52) 15 Speechless (03:37) 16 The Age of Self (02:50) 17 Vandalusia (02:44) 18 Mass Medium (04:19) 19 P.L.A. (02:05) |
 | Album: 11 of 33 Title: Dondestan Released: 1991 Tracks: 10 Duration: 45:22 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 CP Jeebies (04:04) 2 N.I.O. (New Information Order) (06:37) 3 Dondestan (05:00) 4 Sight of the Wind (04:59) 5 Shrinkrap (03:51) 6 Catholic Architecture (05:02) 7 Worship (05:53) 8 Costa (Memories of Under-Development) (04:09) 9 Left on Man (03:31) 10 Lisp Service (02:14) |
| Dondestan : Allmusic album Review : For half of these songs, Wyatt put music to the poetry of his wife Alfreda Benge; he wrote both words and music for the remainder (with the exception of "Lisp Service," whose music was written by ex-Soft Machine bassist Hugh Hopper). Roughly speaking, the collaborations with Benge are more abstract, and the other compositions more politically oriented, dealing with concerns such as Palestine, privatization, and the Communist Party (the wittily titled "CP Jeebies"). If youre worried that this is agit-prop, dont fret; its all delivered with Wyatts typical understated melancholy, subtle humor, and trademark eerie keyboards. Indeed, the mix of jazz, pop, and progressive rock--owing, as ever, little to contemporary trends--is appealing enough that it may take a while for the subversive lyrical ideas to make themselves apparent. | ||
 | Album: 12 of 33 Title: Mid-Eighties Released: 1993 Tracks: 19 Duration: 1:18:10 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Yolanda (04:11) 2 Te Recuerdo Amanda (03:33) 3 Biko (04:37) 4 Amber and the Amberines (04:11) 5 Memories of You (02:57) 6 Round Midnight (04:10) 7 Pigs (02:39) 8 Chairman Mao (06:16) 9 Alliance (04:23) 10 The United States of Amnesia (05:50) 11 East Timor (02:52) 12 Speechless (03:37) 13 The Age of Self (02:50) 14 Vandalusia (02:44) 15 The British Road (06:48) 16 Mass Medium (04:16) 17 Gharbzadegi (08:20) 18 P.L.A. (02:07) 19 Alfie and Robert Sail Off Into the Sunset (01:40) |
| Mid-Eighties : Allmusic album Review : Basically, this is an expanded version of the 1985 album Old Rottenhat, with the addition of eight extra tracks from the period: the four-song Work in Progress EP, two songs from the B-side of "Shipbuilding," and a couple of cuts from various-artists compilations. These bonus tracks are hardly extraneous, containing as they do some of his strongest work from the time, especially his covers of Peter Gabriels "Biko" and Monks "Round Midnight," which are further evidence of Robert Wyatt as one of contemporary musics most imaginative interpreters. | ||
 | Album: 13 of 33 Title: Going Back a Bit: A Little History of Robert Wyatt Released: 1994 Tracks: 11 Duration: 1:06:23 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Moon in June (12:58) 2 To Caravan and Brother Jim (05:21) 3 O Caroline (05:04) 4 Gloria Gloom (08:06) 5 God Song (02:59) 6 Calyx (03:00) 7 Alifib (06:55) 8 Alife (06:31) 9 Last Straw (05:46) 10 Sea Song (06:31) 11 Soup Song (03:08) |
 | Album: 14 of 33 Title: Flotsam Jetsam Released: 1994 Tracks: 18 Duration: 1:17:39 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Slow Walkin Talk (03:02) 2 Moon in June (03:00) 3 Standfast (11:54) 4 No Alf Measures (07:01) 5 God Song / Fol De Rol (07:40) 6 Soprano Derivitavo / Apricot Jam (06:27) 7 A Little Something (03:13) 8 Now Is the Time (06:15) 9 Nowt Doin (01:30) 10 Born Again Cretin (02:36) 11 Billies Bounce (01:32) 12 Locomotive (01:34) 13 War Without Blood (04:23) 14 Obert Tancat 1 (03:09) 15 Tu Traicion (03:09) 16 Obert Tancat 2 (01:03) 17 Turn Things Upside Down (05:29) 18 The Wind of Change (04:34) |
 | Album: 15 of 33 Title: Millennium: A Civilised Word Released: 1995-07 Tracks: 10 Duration: 53:58 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Another Great Victory (07:11) 2 Too Much Heaven (04:35) 3 Prey (05:34) 4 The Cross (05:35) 5 A Thousand Years (03:54) 6 Igor Mortis (04:39) 7 Digest of a Paper Heart (06:37) 8 Erup / Peru (05:01) 9 Everything Will Change (06:40) 10 Kill Me Softly (04:07) |
 | Album: 16 of 33 Title: A Short Break Released: 1996-05-13 Tracks: 5 Duration: 20:26 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover | 1 A Short Break (04:13) 2 Tubab (03:29) 3 Kutcha (03:54) 4 Venti Latir (05:07) 5 Unmasked (03:42) |
 | Album: 17 of 33 Title: The Garden of Love Released: 1997 Tracks: 1 Duration: 21:08 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 The Garden of Love (21:08) |
 | Album: 18 of 33 Title: Shleep Released: 1997-09-29 Tracks: 11 Duration: 53:46 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Heaps of Sheeps (04:57) 2 The Duchess (04:18) 3 Maryan (06:11) 4 Was a Friend (06:11) 5 Free Will and Testament (04:14) 6 September the Ninth (06:40) 7 Alien (06:47) 8 Out of Season (02:31) 9 A Sunday in Madrid (04:41) 10 Blues in Bob Minor (05:46) 11 The Whole Point of No Return (01:25) |
| Shleep : Allmusic album Review : Robert Wyatt continues to follow his singular musical path with the lovely Shleep, delivering another album of considerable quirky charm and understated beauty; a less melancholy affair than much of his recent work, the record is informed by a hazy, dreamlike quality perfectly in keeping with the elements of subconsciousness implicit in the title. | ||
 | Album: 19 of 33 Title: EPs Released: 1999-02-09 Tracks: 19 Duration: 1:38:01 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 I’m a Believer (04:56) 2 Memories (03:08) 3 Yesterday Man (03:12) 4 Sonia (04:03) 5 Calyx (03:04) 1 Shipbuilding (03:04) 2 Memories of You (02:57) 3 ’Round Midnight (04:10) 4 Pigs… (in There) (02:39) 5 Chariman Mao (06:17) 1 Yolanda (04:13) 2 Te recuerdo Amanda (03:33) 3 Biko (04:37) 4 Amber and the Amberines (04:11) 1 The Animals’ Film (19:38) 1 Was a Friend (05:50) 2 Maryan (06:47) 3 A Sunday in Madrid (07:00) 4 Free Will and Testament (04:33) |
 | Album: 20 of 33 Title: Cuckooland Released: 2003-09-29 Tracks: 16 Duration: 1:15:29 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify TrackSamples Allmusic Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Just a Bit (05:09) 2 Old Europe (04:15) 3 Tom Hays Fox (03:33) 4 Forest (07:55) 5 Beware (05:09) 6 Cuckoo Madame (05:20) 7 Raining in My Heart (02:42) 8 Lullaby for Hamza (05:00) 9 Trickle Down (06:47) 10 Insensatez (04:24) 11 Mister E (04:20) 12 Lullaloop (02:59) 13 Life Is Sheep (04:14) 14 Foreign Accents (03:48) 15 Brian the Fox (05:31) 16 La Ahada Yalam (04:16) |
| Cuckooland : Allmusic album Review : Robert Wyatts first full-length of new material since 1997s Shleep is no less mischievous, witty, and poignant. As has become his custom, Wyatt offers a set of 16 new songs seemingly composed for a wide array of musicians including Annie Whitehead, Eno, David Gilmour, Tomo Hayakawa, Karen Mantler, Phil Manzanera, Paul Weller, and others he enlisted to record it. The album is divided into two halves. The first eight selections being neither here... while the last eight are nor there.... What divides the halves are in Wyatts mind and aesthetics alone, as the disc feels like a seamless, unified whole. From the opener, "Just A Bit," a dastardly yet delightful bit of cynicism directed at organized religion and new age phoniness, the listener hears Wyatt in good humor with razor-sharp political sensibilities, and in fantastic musical form. The songs on Cuckooland are, in many ways, the most accessible hes written since Nothing Can Stop Us. Shleep had its moments in terms of this kind of "accessibility," but more often than not saturated itself in Wyatts consummate and wonderfully listenable weirdness. Here, on cuts like "Old European," one of five collaborations with poet Alfreda Benge, Wyatts wife, French salon music, smoky jazz from the cool jazz era, bossa rhythms, and Anglo melodies entwine in a bewitching nocturnal pop song. Others, such as "Beware," one of a pair of writing collaborations with Karen Mantler -- who contributed two more fine songs written for Wyattset -- feature the strident harmonics of post-millennial jazz as it intersects in dialogue with pop forms from the ancient to the future. Mantlers and Wyatts voices sound lovely together in this tale of paranoia and woe, and Wyatts trumpet solo is gorgeous. Wyatts reading of Ms. Benges "Lullaloop" is a gorgeous, wooly bit of swinging New Orleans jazz, shot through with Wellers bluesy, distorted, electric guitar solo and big, wondrous trombones by Whitehead. Wyatt covers, in his own fashion, the Boudleaux Bryants classic "Raining In My Heart," accompanied only by his piano, and does a stellar, deeply emotional take of the Jobim & DeMoraes classic "Insensataez." Wyatts "Trickle Down"" is a knotty bit of loping post bop jazz interspersed with sax samples from "Old Europe," and killer double bass runs from Yaron Stavi. "Lullaby For Hamza," and the instrumental "La Anda Yalam" (the latter written by Nizar Zreik), portrayt two sides of the Gulf Wars, one dovetailing the other, bringing about with unnerving, poetically moving, and damning conviction, the side of these wars not often revealed to Westerners. These are tomes full of melodic and harmonic creativity, offered as deathly serious as words of elegance and grace, and become elegies sending the listener off with more to think about than a pop album would normally dictate. Wyatt has decorated his own booklet with lively, minimal artworks, and has annotated his songs to document certain facts, locations and occurrences, making the entire package indispensable. Most importantly, Wyatt has demonstrated once again that it makes no difference what else is going on in the pop world, he still creates a fiercely independent and wide open notion of song and composition that is always abundantly "musical," topically relevant, as well as entertaining, provocative, and completely, utterly engaging from top to bottom. | ||
 | Album: 21 of 33 Title: Solar Flares Burn for You Released: 2003-09-29 Tracks: 13 Duration: 52:22 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Alifib (03:17) 2 Soup Song (03:14) 3 Sea Song (08:11) 4 Im a Believer (03:44) 5 Blimey ORiley (04:23) 6 Solar Flares Burn for You (07:46) 7 God Song (05:12) 8 Fol De Rol (01:52) 9 Little Child (03:13) 10 We Got an Arts Council Grant (01:33) 11 Righteous Rhumba (01:17) 12 Twas Brillig (05:06) 13 The Verb (03:29) |
 | Album: 22 of 33 Title: His Greatest Misses Released: 2004-10-25 Tracks: 17 Duration: 1:14:20 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 P.L.A. (02:29) 2 Worship (05:50) 3 Heaps of Sheeps (04:57) 4 Free Will and Testament (04:14) 5 Im a Believer (04:56) 6 Sea Song (06:31) 7 Little Red Robin Hood Hit the Road (06:08) 8 Solar Flares (05:36) 9 At Last I Am Free (04:18) 10 Arauco (04:35) 11 The Age of Self (02:51) 12 Alien (06:47) 13 Shipbuilding (03:04) 14 Memories of You (02:57) 15 Muddy Mouse (b) (00:50) 16 Mister E (04:20) 17 Foreign Accents (03:48) |
| His Greatest Misses : Allmusic album Review : The title of this 17-track Robert Wyatt compilation -- previously released only in Japan -- references his lack of commercial success while taking great care to showcase both his ambitious vision and diversity as an artist. Most of what is here is readily familiar to fans, from his fine if strangely arcane versions of "Im a Believer" and "Shipbuilding" to the utterly, almost heartbreakingly beautiful "At Last I Am Free," "Arauco," and the starkly ingenious composition "Solar Flares" (previously a rarity). Early gems like "Little Red Robin Hood Hit the Road" are showcased along with later ones like "Heaps of Sheeps." Ultimately, there is nothing really new here, but that shouldnt stop anyone who doesnt already have some version of this collection milling about from picking it up and putting it on a few dozen times in a row. Its guaranteed to change your perception of pop. Besides, the Ryko package -- which emulates the Japanese package perfectly -- is a stunner. | ||
 | Album: 23 of 33 Title: Theatre Royal Drury Lane 8.09.1974 Released: 2005 Tracks: 14 Duration: 1:16:05 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Introduction by John Peel (02:19) 2 Dedicated to You but You Werent Listening (01:36) 3 Memories (03:58) 4 Sea Song (09:13) 5 A Last Straw (04:38) 6 Little Red Riding Hood Hit the Road (06:42) 7 Alife (04:28) 8 Alifib (06:24) 9 Mind of a Child (05:26) 10 Instant Pussy (04:22) 11 Signed Curtain (04:42) 12 Calyx (03:19) 13 Little Red Robin Hood Hit the Road (06:12) 14 Im a Believer (12:41) |
 | Album: 24 of 33 Title: Comicopera Released: 2007-10-08 Tracks: 16 Duration: 58:22 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Stay Tuned (03:49) 2 Just as You Are (04:22) 3 You You (04:22) 4 A.W.O.L. (02:58) 5 Anachronist (03:36) 6 A Beautiful Peace (02:28) 7 Be Serious (02:56) 8 On the Town Square (05:26) 9 Mob Rule (02:16) 10 A Beautiful War (02:40) 11 Out of the Blue (03:45) 12 Del Mondo (03:30) 13 Cancion de Julieta (07:33) 14 Pastafari (02:24) 15 Fragment (01:39) 16 Hasta siempre comandante (04:38) |
| Comicopera : Allmusic album Review : More immediately accessible and warm than Cuckooland, more ambitious than Shleep, Comicopera, in three acts, is the end result of Robert Wyatt looking around and examining the craziness and wild unpredictability in real life in 2007. Knowing one mans opinion of things hardly matters, he brings together musicians from Israel, Spain, England, Norway, Cuba, Brazil, and Colombia in songs that originate with him, but also from these places and Italy. Its full of humor, horror, absurdity, shoulder-shrugging "what?"-styled confusion, exasperation, and even nostalgia, though his particular brand of that is with the eyes wide open. The sound of the record is what immediately separates it from its predecessors: it feels more like a recording made in a studio with a live band than one assembled in pieces. And indeed, in many cases, thats what happened. Old friends like Brian Eno, Phil Manzanera, and Annie Whitehead are present, some not so old ones like Paul Weller and Karen Mantler, and other collaborators he has more recently encountered in Anja Garbarek, Orphy Robinson, Yaron Stavi, Mônica Vasconcelos, Gilad Atzmon, Chucho Merchán, Maurizio Camardi, and Alfonso Santimone, just to name a few, with songwriting contributions from his companion Alfie Benge, Garbarek, and Eno, among others. The first five tracks, under the heading "Lost in Noise," are centered on personal observations of love and loss, and at 62, Wyatt has seen his share of friends pass on and ends with a bomb going off. The middle section "The Here and Now," from cuts six through eleven, examine what it actually means to be English under these circumstances -- i.e. in a war -- and the third, "Away with the Fairies," in tracks 12-16, is where Wyatts narrator, utterly fed up with the messiness, violence, conflict, and the real noise of life, completely abandons singing in the English language. The truth of the matter is it sounds far more "high concept" than it is. Wyatt claims that his method of working is that he just collects bits of things and puts them together. The songs in the first section are lovely, tender, bittersweet, airy, and melancholic. On "Stay Tuned," Wyatt sings as a narrator who is nothing more than particles of air: "In between/lost in noise/somewhere/somewhere..." as Garbareks voice soars wordlessly above in between verses, as Enos keyboards and effects, Seaming Tos clarinet and harmony vocal, Whiteheads trombone, and Stavis bass violin create a kind of chamber jazz around those words, hovering in the front. Letting the words assert themselves like a whisper in the ear or a voice in a dream, Vasconcelos takes the lead vocal as the accusing betrayed lover on the jazzy pop ballad "Just as You Are," and Wyatt takes on the mess, about trying to make excuses. The center is punctuated by Paul Wellers guitar, Wyatt playing hand percussion, and Stavis bass violin creating the most taut sort of discomfort between the voices. England becomes a place where there is a beautiful day for walking about -- as Manzaneras guitar strolls along through "A Beautiful Peace" before Wyatt lets the cat out of the bag: "but not here," because a bomb has gone off and war has begun. Religion gets skewered too -- albeit with his characteristic subtle and dry wit despite the very real anger and emotion -- and the jazz just keeps coming. Wyatts narrator switches places amid the finger popping subtle jazz and lilting rock tunes and he becomes the bomber (he makes no distinction as to which one is officially military or terrorist because all the man wants is peace, not bombs of any kind) as well as the bombed, who have either no idea what the hell is going on or who have done their own part to participate by their blind and numb assent. There is a hint of whats to come in part three with the instrumental "On the Town Square," with Wyatt on cornet, Del Bartle on electric guitar, and Gilad Atzmons tenor saxophone, all playing around a killer rhythm by Robinson on steel pans. ("A Beautiful War" is a scathing indictment of the wars we watch on TV without wondering about the consequences of them.) His and Mantlers voices here are almost like nursery rhymes: "Its a beautiful day/For a daring raid/I can see my prey from afar/So I open the hatch/And drop the first batch/Its a shame Ill miss the blaze/But Ill see the film within Days/And Ill get to see the replay/Of my beautiful day..." On the next cut, "Out of the Blue," the aftermath of such actions becomes clear: he and Eno wrap their voices in something akin to true strangeness and horror: "For Reasons beyond all understanding/Youve blown my house apart/Youve set me free/To let you know/youve planted/everlasting hatred in my heart/Youve planted your everlasting hatred in my heart." Jazz is a not so subtle subtext here, as a social force as well as an aesthetic one, and while these songs of Wyatts and his collaborators may not be rooted in what Blue Note releases these days as acceptable, they are far more interesting. These tunes are also quite literally almost as accessible in their way as anything on the mighty Domino imprint (Franz Ferdinands home) that this set has been issued on, even without screaming guitars and popping snare drums. In the third section, Wyatts protagonist just goes off to find out what else is in the world, singing in Spanish and Italian. Poems by Lorca are set to music (and Wyatt plays a mean pocket trumpet as well as keyboards, and handles percussion). Abandonment of the conflict seems like the only proper thing for a world citizen to do. Here is where players like Robinson playing steel pan drums and vibes, subdued Latin and Caribbean rhythms, and jazz all get mixed up together in a seamless and quite lovely brew. (Check the instrumental by Robinson called "Pastafari.") The final cut may be a bit troubling in that it is a reading of Carlos Pueblas homage to Che Guevara, "Hasta Siempre Comandante." But its nostalgic, not defiant; not blind assent, but a reverie, that if anything seems to wonder what happened to get from idealism to this place the protagonist finds himself in. And, if idealism is to come from anywhere, it must come from outside the English-speaking world. Its one of the hippest tracks here, played by a killer Italian band (with help from the voices of Wyatt, Mantler, and Vasconcelos), playing a wonderful meld of rhumba and jazz. Comicopera may not be all comic, and indeed inverts the entire comic opera notion of beginning with a catastrophe and ending with redemption, but Wyatts never been so simple. What he has been, however, is close to brilliant, and this delightfully engaging little set will, if heard, more likely than not bring more people sniffing round his large body of work than anything hes done since the early 90s. | ||
 | Album: 25 of 33 Title: Hot Chip with Robert Wyatt and Geese Released: 2008-12-22 Tracks: 4 Duration: 15:27 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Made in the Dark (02:59) 2 Whistle for Will (02:33) 3 We’re Looking for a Lot of Love (05:24) 4 One Pure Thought (remixed by Geese) (04:29) |
 | Album: 26 of 33 Title: Radio Experiment, Rome February 1981 Released: 2009 Tracks: 8 Duration: 44:14 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Opium War (07:16) 2 Heathens Have No Souls (07:12) 3 Lalbero dogli zoccolli (08:28) 4 Holy War (03:36) 5 Revolution Without R (03:24) 6 Billies Bounce (01:30) 7 Born Again Cretin (02:36) 8 Prove sparse (10:12) |
 | Album: 27 of 33 Title: Robert Wyatt Box Set Released: 2009 Tracks: 122 Duration: 9:26:26 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Sea Song (06:31) 2 Last Straw (05:46) 3 Little Red Riding Hood Hit the Road (07:40) 4 Alifib (06:55) 5 Alife (06:31) 6 Little Red Robin Hood Hit the Road (06:08) 1 Muddy Mouse (a) (00:49) 2 Solar Flares (05:36) 3 Muddy Mouse (b) (00:50) 4 5 Black Notes and 1 White Note (05:00) 5 Muddy Mouse (C) Which in Turn Leads to Muddy Mouth (06:11) 6 Soup Song (05:00) 7 Sonia (04:12) 8 Team Spirit (08:26) 9 Song for Che (03:36) 1 Born Again Cretin (03:11) 2 At Last I Am Free (04:18) 3 Caimanera (05:22) 4 Grass (02:39) 5 Stalin Wasnt Stallin (03:24) 6 Red Flag (03:09) 7 Strange Fruit (03:38) 8 Arauco (04:34) 9 Trade Union (03:46) 10 Stalingrad (05:48) 1 Alliance (04:24) 2 The United States of Amnesia (05:50) 3 East Timor (02:52) 4 Speechless (03:37) 5 The Age of Self (02:50) 6 Vandalusia (02:44) 7 The British Road (06:22) 8 Mass Medium (04:43) 9 Gharbzadegi (07:53) 10 P.L.A. (02:31) 1 CP Jeebies (04:04) 2 N.I.O. (New Information Order) (06:37) 3 Dondestan (05:00) 4 Sight of the Wind (04:59) 5 Shrinkrap (03:51) 6 Catholic Architecture (05:02) 7 Worship (05:53) 8 Costa (Memories of Under-Development) (04:09) 9 Left on Man (03:31) 10 Lisp Service (02:13) 1 Heaps of Sheeps (04:56) 2 The Duchess (04:48) 3 Maryan (06:11) 4 Was a Friend (06:11) 5 Free Will and Testament (04:13) 6 September the Ninth (06:40) 7 Alien (06:47) 8 Out of Season (02:31) 9 A Sunday in Madrid (04:41) 10 Blues in Bob Minor (05:46) 11 The Whole Point of No Return (01:25) 1 Im a Believer (Previously Unreleased extended version) (04:58) 2 Memories (03:08) 3 Yesterday Man (03:12) 4 Sonia (alternate version) (04:03) 5 Calyx (Recorded live at Drury Lane) (03:03) 1 Shipbuilding (Remastered version) (03:06) 2 Memories of You (02:57) 3 Round Midnight (04:10) 4 Pigs... (In There) (02:38) 5 Chairman Mao (06:14) 1 Yolanda (04:13) 2 Te Recuerdo Amanda (03:33) 3 Biko (04:37) 4 Amber and the Amberines (04:11) 1 The Animals Film (19:37) 1 Was a Friend (05:49) 2 Maryan (06:47) 3 A Sunday in Madrid (07:00) 4 Free Will and Testament (04:32) 1 Just a Bit (05:07) 2 Old Europe (04:16) 3 Tom Hays Fox (03:32) 4 Forest (07:55) 5 Beware (05:09) 6 Cuckoo Madame (05:08) 7 Raining in My Heart (02:42) 8 Lullaby for Hamza (04:28) 9 [silence] (00:30) 10 Trickle Down (06:47) 11 Insensatez (04:20) 12 Mister E (04:20) 13 Lullaloop (02:58) 14 Life Is Sheep (04:14) 15 Foreign Accents (03:48) 16 Brian the Fox (05:28) 17 La Ahada Yalam (04:12) 1 Introduction by John Peel (02:19) 2 Dedicated to You but You Werent Listening (01:36) 3 Memories (03:58) 4 Sea Song (09:13) 5 A Last Straw (04:38) 6 Little Red Riding Hood Hit the Road (06:42) 7 Alife (04:28) 8 Alifib (06:24) 9 Mind of a Child (05:26) 10 Instant Pussy (04:22) 11 Signed Curtain (04:42) 12 Calyx (03:19) 13 Little Red Robin Hood Hit the Road (06:12) 14 Im a Believer (07:36) 1 Stay Tuned (03:49) 2 Just as You Are (04:21) 3 You You (04:22) 4 A.W.O.L. (02:56) 5 Anachronist (03:28) 6 A Beautiful Peace (02:27) 7 Be Serious (02:56) 8 On the Town Square (05:26) 9 Mob Rule (02:16) 10 A Beautiful War (02:40) 11 Out of the Blue (03:41) 12 Del Mondo (03:29) 13 Cancion de Julieta (07:32) 14 Pastafari (04:37) 15 Fragment (01:38) 16 Hasta Siempre Comandante (04:37) |
 | Album: 28 of 33 Title: For the Ghosts Within Released: 2010-10-11 Tracks: 11 Duration: 56:11 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Laura (04:42) 2 Lullaby for Irena (05:52) 3 The Ghosts Within (07:48) 4 Where They Are Now (03:11) 5 Maryan (05:20) 6 Round Midnight (05:46) 7 Lush Life (06:46) 8 Whats New? (03:06) 9 In a Sentimental Mood (05:47) 10 At Last I Am Free (02:57) 11 What a Wonderful World (04:51) |
| For the Ghosts Within : Allmusic album Review : For the Ghosts Within, Robert Wyatts collaboration with Gilad Atzmon and Ros Stephen, is a set of seven standards from jazz, theater, pop, and film, balanced by four provocative originals. Stephen recorded strings, double bass, and a scratch vocal first; Wyatt added proper ones later; and this was handed off to Atzmon, who added reeds, winds, electronics, and accordion, and produced the finished product. The process sounds cold and disembodied; the recording, anything but. It opens with Johnny Mercers haunting "Laura," with Wyatt providing one of the most vulnerable vocals of his career over Stephens Sigamos String Quartet, Richard Pryces upright bass, and Atzmons alto saxophone. Its riveting for its nocturnal nakedness despite the warmth of the strings. "Lullaby for Irena," by Stephen and Alfreda Benge, begins with murky electronics and Atzmon playing an Eastern modal theme on clarinet. The strings introduce Western classical harmony before Pryce and Wyatt enter, haltingly, allowing the musical spaces between his words their full measure. It is a love song so full of gratitude it is nearly heartbreaking. The title track, by Atzmon and Benge, features Tali Atzmon on lead vocals with various reeds winds, accordion, and even a Palestinian shepherds flute by Gilad Atzmon. The exotic, sampled percussive effects create a sense of haunted drama as Stephen and Wyatt underscore them with a backing chorus that transports the listener to an aural terrain between jazz and Middle Eastern folk styles. These three tracks provide a blueprint for most of what follows: Wyatts vocal interpretations of Thelonious Monks "Round Midnight," Billy Strayhorns "Lush Life," and Duke Ellingtons "In a Sentimental Mood" stand outside the jazz repertoire, but, because of Wyatts extraordinary, uncategorizable voice, offer a fresh, expansive, and elegant reading of standards that dont lose their connecting threads. That said, the version of "What a Wonderful World" bears all the traces of Wyatts wickedly political sense of irony and humor, without sacrificing the simple beauty in the melody that betrays -- due to Stephens string arrangement -- a deceptively complex harmonic system.Two songs are questionable. "Where Are They Now" is an original which begins as complex New Orleans jazz-cum-theater music before getting a stomping hip-hop treatment from rapper Aboud Hashem (Stormtrapp of Ramallah Underground); along with Wyatts vocal, it feels out of place. The other is a re-recorded, very abstract version of Chics "At Last I Am Free." Wyatts single version is so striking and expertly delivered that this one, with lush strings, bandoneon, and clarinets, feels overdone and disconnected. These two minor complaints aside, For the Ghosts Within succeeds as both collaboration and an aural portrait of what a complete standards recording by Wyatt could offer. | ||
 | Album: 29 of 33 Title: Rock Bottom / Comicopera Released: 2010-11-29 Tracks: 22 Duration: 1:37:36 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Sea Song (06:31) 2 Last Straw (05:46) 3 Little Red Riding Hood Hit the Road (07:40) 4 Alifib (06:55) 5 Alife (06:31) 6 Little Red Robin Hood Hit the Road (06:08) 1 Stay Tuned (03:49) 2 Just as You Are (04:21) 3 You You (04:22) 4 A.W.O.L. (02:56) 5 Anachronist (03:28) 6 A Beautiful Peace (02:27) 7 Be Serious (02:56) 8 On the Town Square (05:26) 9 Mob Rule (02:16) 10 A Beautiful War (02:40) 11 Out of the Blue (03:41) 12 Del Mondo (03:29) 13 Cancion de Julieta (07:32) 14 Pastafari (02:24) 15 Fragment (01:38) 16 Hasta siempre comandante (04:37) |
 | Album: 30 of 33 Title: 68 Released: 2013-10-08 Tracks: 4 Duration: 34:06 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Chelsa (05:00) 2 Rivmic Melodies (05:33) 3 Slow Walkin Talk (03:00) 4 Moon in June (20:33) |
| '68 : Allmusic album Review : Cuneiform has delivered a Holy Grail with Robert Wyatts 68. Of its four recordings, half were thought lost or not to have existed. After their second whirlwind tour of the U.S.A. with the Jimi Hendrix Experience, the exhausted members of Soft Machine went their separate ways. Wyatt remained in California, then went to New York in the fall as a guest of the Experience. He was granted access to the TTG and Record Plant studios in off hours. Wyatt sang and played drums, piano, organ, and even bass, save for on "Slow Walkin Talk" -- more on that below. There are two long suites here. First is the fragmental, nearly 20-minute loose collection of songs "Rivmic Melodies," which ended up becoming the blueprint for the first side of Soft Machines second album (with Hugh Hopper replacing Kevin Ayers). It would obviously be tightened and rearranged somewhat, but included here are some wonderful extended elaborations in the "Alphabet" section, and to a lesser degree in the "Dada Was Here" portion. There are lovely vocal overdubs as Wyatt twins his voice, then interacts with it while singing in Spanish amid his inventive chordal piano constructions. Though it does feel like a work in the process of discovery, it holds few rough edges. A demo of half of the iconic "Moon in June," which accounted for Wyatts side of Third, was recorded during this period; the latter half was cut in England in 1969, with Hopper and Mike Ratledge entering near the halfway mark, exploding the demo with careening improvisation. The demo of "Moon in June" -- which appeared with inferior fidelity on Cuneiforms 2002 Soft Machine archival set Backwards and is sonically improved here -- balances long-form rock dynamics against Wyatts jazz leanings, incorporating them in carefree exploration. As such, songwriting, arrangement, and improvisation form an equilateral triangle that fully reveals the bands massive potential. Opener "Chelsa," a recently discovered acetate, commences as a midtempo organ-driven rocker with a basic drum track. The lyrics, composed by Daevid Allen, adorn Wyatts lovely baroque psych-pop melody. In 1975, it would be rearranged, get new words, and end up as "Signed Curtain" on Matching Moles debut album. "Slow Walkin Talk," by Brian Hopper, is a jazzed-up, Mose Allison-inspired bumping piano blues from Wyatts early Wilde Flowers days. While recording, Hendrix stepped into the studio to inquire as to whether Wyatt might like him to record a bass part that he neednt feel obligated to use. Jimi nailed it in one take, changing the tracks dynamic almost entirely. The sound on 68 is excellent; it was painstakingly cleaned up and remastered from original sources, making this a must for any Wyatt, SM, or prog head. The booklet also contains a lengthy interview with Wyatt by Aymeric Leroy with comments from Hopper. All killer, no filler. | ||
 | Album: 31 of 33 Title: Different Every Time Released: 2014 Tracks: 30 Duration: 2:29:59 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Moon in June (19:07) 2 Signed Curtain (03:07) 3 God Song (02:59) 4 A Last Straw (04:56) 5 Yesterday Man (03:10) 6 Team Spirit (08:32) 7 At Last I Am Free (04:17) 8 The Age of Self (02:48) 9 Worship (05:48) 10 Free Will and Testament (04:12) 11 Cuckoo Madame (05:09) 12 Beware (05:09) 13 Just as You Are (04:22) 1 The River (04:40) 2 The Diver (04:00) 3 We’re Looking for a Lot of Love (05:21) 4 Jellybabies (03:01) 5 Shipbuilding (03:04) 6 Richardson Road (03:47) 7 Turn Things Upside Down (05:27) 8 Still in the Dark (05:48) 9 Venceremos (08:49) 10 Frontera (04:02) 11 La plus jolie langue (03:30) 12 Goccia (04:11) 13 Siam (04:46) 14 A l’abbatoire (02:43) 15 Sinking Spell (05:08) 16 Submarine (03:09) 17 Experiences No. 2 (04:45) |
| Different Every Time : Allmusic album Review : Since leaving Soft Machine, Robert Wyatt has pursued a restless, delightfully confounding, occasionally maddening exploratory path as solo artist and collaborator. There are no complete compilations of his work. Even his nine-disc box set omitted End of an Ear and both Matching Mole albums. Different Every Time was assembled to accompany Marcus ODairs fantastic Wyatt biography of the same title. It was curated by Wyatt, his collaborator, wife, and artist Alfreda Benge, Andy Childs, and the author. The first disc, subtitled "Ex Machina," is chronologically compiled from tracks by Soft Machine (a nearly 20-minute "Moon in June"), two with Matching Mole, and his Rough Trade, Gramavision, and Domino catalogs. Its "ruthlessly selective." There are no tracks from End of an Ear or Rock Bottom, save for a live version of the latters "A Last Straw." Even his cover of "Im a Believer" has been omitted--though it does contain his wonderful version of Chris Andrews "Yesterday Man" with John Greaves, Mongezi Feza, and Gary Windo. "Team Spirit" from Ruth Is Stranger Than Richard is here, with Brian Eno on "direct inject jazz ray gun," as is his killer reinvention of Chics "At Last I Am Free," from the Rough Trade years. The rest of the material on disc one includes "Cuckoo Madame" and "Free Will and Testament." Its a bit provocative in its choices, but excellent. Disc two is the real ear opener. Subtitled "Benign Dictatorships," it contains only one of his own recordings, "Shipbuilding," which was written specially for him by Elvis Costello and Clive Langer. Essentially, though, Different Every Time focuses on Wyatts contributions to the recordings of others. Sequenced aesthetically rather than chronologically, these 17 tunes are reason enough to purchase this set. There are no highlights: everything here is essential. Contents include vocals on Swedish jazz artist Jeanette Lindströms "River" (from Attitude & Orbit Control), Anja Garbareks "The Diver" from her Smiling & Waving (produced by Mark Hollis), and "Were Looking for a Lot of Love," with Hot Chip. There are two selections from jazz trumpeter/composer Michael Mantler: "A LAbbatoire" from 1987s Many Have No Speech (which also featured Jack Bruce), and "Sinking Spell" from The Hapless Child (based on the stories of Edward Gorey). "Siam," from Nick Masons Fictitious Sports, is here, as is the 12" jazz dance mix of Working Weeks "Venceremos (We Will Win)" -- the other two vocalists are Claudia Figueroa and Tracey Thorn. Also included is "Frontera" from Phil Manzaneras Diamond Head, and tracks with Steve Nieve, Cristina Donà, Epic Soundtracks, and Björk. The closer is John Cages "Experiences No. 2" from a split release with Jan Steele on Enos Obscure label in 1975, and in it Wyatt sings an e.e. cummings poem. Despite inevitable fan discussion about what might have been included ("Kingdoms" from Ultramarine maybe? ), Different Every Time goes much further than previous comps in communicating the vast range of Wyatts musical persona and is a brilliant introduction for newcomers. | ||
 | Album: 32 of 33 Title: KiTsuNe (Ring Version) Released: 2015-07-20 Tracks: 8 Duration: 39:19 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 KiTsuNe (Ring Version) 04.01 (07:55) 2 KiTsuNe (Ring Version) 04.02 (00:39) 3 KiTsuNe (Ring Version) 04.03 (08:27) 4 KiTsuNe (Ring Version) 04.04 (01:12) 5 KiTsuNe (Ring Version) 04.05 (07:32) 6 KiTsuNe (Ring Version) 04.06 (03:35) 7 KiTsuNe (Ring Version) 04.07 (07:06) 8 KiTsuNe (Ring Version) 04.08 (02:49) |
 | Album: 33 of 33 Title: KiTsuNe / Brian The Fox Released: 2019-03-22 Tracks: 12 Duration: 02:49 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover | 1 01.01 (?) 2 02.01 (?) 3 02.03 (?) 4 03.01 (?) 5 04.01 (?) 6 04.02 (?) 7 04.03 (?) 8 04.04 (?) 9 04.05 (?) 10 04.06 (?) 11 04.07 (?) 12 04.08 (02:49) |