Robert Wyatt: Classic or Dud?

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So, is he the Alan Bennett/Stanley Spencer of pop or just a dodgy old failed jazzer with a Woolworth's Sooty organ and a propensity towards dubious scat-singing and Dave Spart lyrics? To paraphrase the immortal Bill Heine, "but what do YOU think?"

― Marcello Carlin, Sunday, 15 April 2001 00:00 (12 years ago) Permalink

Good lord, Robert Wyatt makes Joni Mitchell and Simon & Garfunkel seem listenable by comparison.

― Otis Wheeler, Sunday, 15 April 2001 00:00 (12 years ago) Permalink

Cripes, who needs a thread? Nobody's going to be able to top Otis, positive or negative.

I know his reputation more than his music -- but based on his two songs with Ultramarine, he's got a definite something.

― Ned Raggett, Sunday, 15 April 2001 00:00 (12 years ago) Permalink

Ruth Is Stranger Than Richard: wheelchair rock, for cats who haven't bought enough records by handicapped people this week. From what I can tell, it set a new standard for wibbling British nonsense. It makes listening to Henry Cow records seem like an enjoyable experience. (Obviously it doesn't, I'm just exaggerating for effect.) You can guess how I feel about Soft Machine.

― Otis Wheeler, Sunday, 15 April 2001 00:00 (12 years ago) Permalink

Like Ned, I've heard very little of Wyatt's music thus far, but I love his recordings of "Kingdom" and "Happy Land", which sound at once ancient and driving into the future, relevant equally at any point in a hundred-year timespan. I also love his version of Chic's "At Last I Am Free". Needless to say I think his embrace of communism was fucked from top to bottom, but I wouldn't hold that against him as a judgement.

― Robin Carmody, Monday, 16 April 2001 00:00 (12 years ago) Permalink

The communism I don't mind. It was the Stalinism I could never figure out. Muslimgauze's political stance in comparison seemed calm and sweetly reasoned.

― Ned Raggett, Monday, 16 April 2001 00:00 (12 years ago) Permalink

"Shleep" is definitely classic, even if it does have Paul bleedin' Weller on it. "Rock Bottom" isn't too far from classic, though it can sometimes feel a bit claustrophobic and muggy (to me, at least). His version of Chic's "At Last I Am Free" is an unmitigated joy.

― Johnathan, Monday, 16 April 2001 00:00 (12 years ago) Permalink

I've been listening to a lot of Wyatt recently and revere the man immensely. (Not to mention having once upon a time put Soft Machine samples high in the Japanese singles charts with Kahimi Karie's 'Good Morning World.) 'Rock Bottom' is a lovely album. Great analogue synths, beautiful through and through. 'Ruth Is Stranger Than Richard' is also strong, more mannered, less melancholic. His voice has to be one of the most beautiful in pop music. Check out Pascal Comelade's version of Weill's September song, with Wyatt guesting. Nobody sings like that! I have less time for the jazzy noodling of Matching Mole, but Wyatt himself sits in my pantheon amongst the toppermost of the poppermost.

― Momus, Monday, 16 April 2001 00:00 (12 years ago) Permalink

I still think that EC sang 'Shipbuilding' better than RW did. Artists always seem to say that cover versions are better than their own (original) versions - I don't know whether that's some kind of appropriate modesty, a pop convention, or whether, um, they actually always believe it, but I do sometimes find these views skewed. Perhaps that song wasn't a cover, cos it was written specially for RW, and EC was borrowing it back? Either way, I'd rather listen to EC.

― the pinefox, Monday, 16 April 2001 00:00 (12 years ago) Permalink

What he said.

― Ally C, Monday, 16 April 2001 00:00 (12 years ago) Permalink

It would figure that Pascal Comelade, possibly the only musician more insufferable than Robert Wyatt, would get mentioned in this thread.

― Otis Wheeler, Monday, 16 April 2001 00:00 (12 years ago) Permalink

I love Robert Wyatt. Hardly listen to "Rock Bottom", never heard "Ruth...", but the late 70s early 80s stuff is the business - some amazing singles and a few brilliant album tracks, and his sad rocking-chair voice I could listen to for hours.

And the brilliant tracks include - yes - some political ones. "Alliance" for instance is reductionist and I don't agree with it (or more to the point I don't care about the actual political situation being described) BUT as a portrait of political disillusionment and betrayal it's superb and like a lot of great political songs it's a disappointed love song too - "It's hard to talk to enemies / And we are enemies / What we had in common / Makes it even worse".

Also m'lud take into account: "At Last I Am Free", "Shipbuilding", "Born Again Cretin", "Arauco", "Kingdom" and a large chunk of "Shleep" too.

― Tom, Tuesday, 17 April 2001 00:00 (12 years ago) Permalink

Speaking a bit against him here now, I think we also have to take into account that he still thinks Paul Weller is a good idea. This operates under the assumption that 'Paul Weller' is a metaconstruct constructed from _The Who Sell Out_, an Italian suit from 1958, _Das Kapital_ and mulch.

― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 18 April 2001 00:00 (12 years ago) Permalink

I think _Rock Bottom_ is a pretty good record, and a life-affirming one despite its seeming darkness. There are some truly bad ideas on it, though (the long bass solo, the dancing-elves bit at the end, ugh) but then there are some pretty unusual textures and melodies to counterbalance that. The first Soft Machine album is damn clever, too, and not in that bad clever way. And it rocks. I didn't really dig much of his other stuff. (and how classic: "Oh, I only like his early stuff")

I would hardly rank him in the same league as Simon and Garfunkel; I haven't heard anything on Soft Machine 3 or greater, but it can't be as staggeringly annoying as "Cecilia". Uff da.

― Jacob Anderson, Wednesday, 18 April 2001 00:00 (12 years ago) Permalink

i think pretty much everything Robt. W. ever sang or played on is GREAT, GREAT, GREAT (& Henry Cow suck but Slapp Happy were awesome 7 FredFrith's solo gtr album is awesome too), but you know who i've been enjoying most out of that Canterbury- scene sorta stuff recently, is Kevin Ayers. I guess he's a comparively minor artist (compared to Wyatt) but man, his 1st 2 albums (3rd one too probably but i still haven't heard it) are the biz.
(& the best Soft Machine stuff is the stuff with him, no q.)

― duane zarakov, Thursday, 19 April 2001 00:00 (12 years ago) Permalink

& hey ned, excellent metadeconstruction ,or whatever one would say, of P. Weller......except his "Who Sell Out" days are way behind him, I'd say by now he's up to about "Who By Numbers"...specifically probaly something like "Squeeze Box". Or maybe more like one of Humble Pie's worst "fake negro mannerisms" period. Beard-era stuff, anyway.
Yeah I know Robt Wyatt has a beard too but I'd consider him one of the elite of rock beardos who actually earned his whiskers.

― duane zarakov, Thursday, 19 April 2001 00:00 (12 years ago) Permalink

I hate to be perverse (he lied), but I LIKE the fact that RW likes Weller: seems a v.succinct yet unmoralistic way of saying, "I have transcended mere trend and am serene in the land I landed up in..." His Stalinism also seems (given its timing) to be, like, siding with losers as a matter of principle.

― mark s, Friday, 20 April 2001 00:00 (12 years ago) Permalink

Stalin, sure, but Paul Weller...

― d.z., Friday, 20 April 2001 00:00 (12 years ago) Permalink

2 years pass...

"rock bottom" = greatest thing ever or, um, greatest thing ever?

see also "dondestan revisited"

― amateurist (amateurist), Saturday, 5 July 2003 06:42 (9 years ago) Permalink

not sure, btw, that he's a "stalinist" anymore as he'd left the cp some years ago.

― amateurist (amateurist), Saturday, 5 July 2003 06:43 (9 years ago) Permalink

i heard there was a new wyatt album due out soon, anyone know anything further?

shleep is a beautiful record and the first I discovered; both rock bottom and ruth hit my cd player regularly. I liked Old Rottenhat as well, which means I like pretty much everything I've heard by him, which I suppose means I'm a fan and therefore think: classic.

― anthony kyle monday (akmonday), Saturday, 5 July 2003 07:39 (9 years ago) Permalink

'rock bottom'. yes perhaps greatest album ever.

'old rottenhat' close behind. prefer the original mix of 'dondestan' over the polished 'revisited' one by ten miles.

― jl, Saturday, 5 July 2003 07:50 (9 years ago) Permalink

So has Ned heard more Robert Wyatt since this thread was started? I'd be happy to copy something for you, Ned, as I suspect you'd love Rock Bottom.

― amateurist (amateurist), Saturday, 5 July 2003 16:09 (9 years ago) Permalink

It was a stroke of genius to end this record with Ivor Cutler's voice, although every time I think of it, it calls to mind The Who's "A Quick One, While He's Away"....

― amateurist (amateurist), Saturday, 5 July 2003 16:21 (9 years ago) Permalink

robert wyatt is my all time favorite artist, ever.

― JasonD (JasonD), Saturday, 5 July 2003 19:07 (9 years ago) Permalink

What a great human being. His voice is like a warm, comforting friend. Rock Bottom and Ruth are wonderful beyond words. I hate Elvis Costello with a passion but I love Wyatt's "Shipbuilding". His animal rights advocacy is admirable. He introduced me to Victor Jara. I paid too much for the EPs box but I missed it the first time around and I had to have it. Some brilliant stuff on there, but the Shleep remixes suck. Actually, I was a bit let down by Shleep; for all the hype and praise it received, it was a tad disappointing. Still, it's great that he's still active and we can only hope for a new record.

The recent live Matching Mole discs on Cuneiform are pretty shit-hot too.

― Mr. Diamond (diamond), Saturday, 5 July 2003 20:35 (9 years ago) Permalink

victor jara introduced me to robert wyatt! (in a sense.)

i like everything he's done, even "a short break" and "the end of an ear" (which i listen to with some difficulty). his voice is indeed the unifying factor and it is so inviting, his wordless vocalizing in particular. apparently he can *sing* entire coltrane solos from memory.

i can't quite get into some of the matching mole stuff but "o caroline" is one of the greatest things he's done. manages to be self-effacing and utterly serious at once.

― amateurist (amateurist), Sunday, 6 July 2003 03:06 (9 years ago) Permalink

mr. diamond it is nice to see someone else liking jara. i grew up listening to him and other political singers like pablo milanes and theodor bikel and paul robeson. robert wyatt doesn't quite fit in that tradition as his political songs are generally more allusive than didactic (although this is true of many jara songs as well).

― amateurist (amateurist), Sunday, 6 July 2003 03:07 (9 years ago) Permalink

Well, I dunno, thinking about V. Jara sort of just makes me want to kill myself.

What a fucking wonderful country, right?

What a disgusting legacy. FUCK the United States of America.

― Mr. Diamond (diamond), Sunday, 6 July 2003 03:14 (9 years ago) Permalink

yes thinking about jara's end does make me despair for so many reasons. would that pinochet would end his life in a prison cell but what's done is done. bloody fucking awful.

jara's songs are lovely b/c they take the road not (often) taken w/r/t political songs, where a story about people living their daily lives, things like love and sex and children and school and so on, connect to politics in these suggestive but nonetheless clear ways. as wonderful as wyatt's reading of "te recuerdo amanda" is, jara's is heartbreaking. i shouldn't even bother to attempt to apply any superlatives to it.

― amateurist (amateurist), Sunday, 6 July 2003 03:40 (9 years ago) Permalink

haha the "United States" = democracy.

I'm like, at a loss for words whenever discourse centers on the ridiculousness of this place.

Anyway, yes Amateurist you are your normal smart, sensible self. Still, frankly, I can't dismiss people who have politics opposite to my own. Gosh, I'd like to think we all do.

Darnit, this world is fucked, but for Christ's sake some of us pine for the alternatives...

― Mr. Diamond (diamond), Sunday, 6 July 2003 04:35 (9 years ago) Permalink

actually, frankly, I'm drunk and not even sure what I'm talking about.

Wyatt rules.

― Mr. Diamond (diamond), Sunday, 6 July 2003 04:37 (9 years ago) Permalink

sorry who is jara?

this is a nice thread. there was a doc on robert wyatt abt a couple of months back on BBC4 and he came across as a wonderful person. I've heard some soft machine and i sort of struggle with it for some reason but I like his voice so i should check solo stuff.

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Sunday, 6 July 2003 08:06 (9 years ago) Permalink

start with rock bottom julio. and yeah, ned, have you heard it yet?

― gaz (gaz), Sunday, 6 July 2003 08:46 (9 years ago) Permalink

julio, you'd really appreciate his first solo record 'the end of an ear'. it's pre-accident and is pretty out. mixes free jazz and his voice. unlike anything he's ever made (actually, unlike anything anyone's ever made).

and soft machine doesn't even compare to his solo stuff. it's slow, moody, post-prog political love songs. and his keyboard tones are so warm and thick.

― JasonD (JasonD), Sunday, 6 July 2003 08:50 (9 years ago) Permalink

diamond, how much did you get his ep box for? i picked it up sometime this year for 30$ off ebay. i already had most of the stuff - from either owning the singles and eps or from the mid eighties cd (which collects old rotten hat and a bunch of ep stuff). but the animal farm disc is killer. the shleep remixes do kinda blow.

i keep passing up this one single of his. it's him and a bunch of south african musicians. anyone know anything about it?

― JasonD (JasonD), Sunday, 6 July 2003 08:53 (9 years ago) Permalink

Julio: Victor Jara was a Chilean singer and songwriter, who often wrote lyrics telling intimate stories with a political cast (he also wrote some athems), and was a major part of the pan-American movement called "Nueva Cancion" ("new song") which drew a lot of musical inspiration from Latin American folk music but also contemporaneous American politicized folk music à la Bob Dylan.

He was closely identified with the Popular Unity movement of Salvador Allende. After Pinochet's coup which toppled Allende, Jara was arrested, tortured, and later killed (along with 1000s of other Chileans).

His stuff probably shouldn't be too hard to find in any Hispanic music store (I'm not sure where you're at, but there's a million such places in Chicago), and on eBay you can sometimes find the remastered CDs from his catalog that came out in Chile last year.

Anyway we're talking about him because Wyatt recorded one of his most famous (and beautiful) songs, "Te Recuerdo Amanda" ("I remember Amanada").

― amateurist (amateurist), Sunday, 6 July 2003 16:22 (9 years ago) Permalink

thanks for recommnedations and amt thanks for info on jara.

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Sunday, 6 July 2003 17:15 (9 years ago) Permalink

Egads, looks like I turned into a drunken ranting fule last night. I think I became possessed by the spirit of Jello Biafra or something. Oh well. One of my cats died yesterday so I needed to put a good raging drunk on.

Anyway, Jason - yeah I believe I paid something like $30 or $35 for EPs as well. Too much, but as I say I had to have it (maybe it isn't too much, i dunno; I don't know what it went for new, but it seemed like a lot to me). It's just a really beautiful package, a nice thing to have on the shelf, you know? Yeah that Animals soundtrack is unsettling, and I've never even seen the film.

― Mr. Diamond (diamond), Monday, 7 July 2003 03:30 (9 years ago) Permalink

don't (see the film)--it's the most disturbing thing i've experienced. i had to avert my eyes much of the time.

― amateurist (amateurist), Monday, 7 July 2003 03:32 (9 years ago) Permalink

Yeah, Amateurist, I sort of really don't want to see it.

I think it would give me nightmares.

― Mr. Diamond (diamond), Monday, 7 July 2003 04:16 (9 years ago) Permalink

OH i love him, mostly classic (atleast the solostuff i´ve heard)
Rock Bottom and the At last i´m free / STRANGE FRUIT 7" is my favourite solo. And his best song is on the first Matching MOle record, it´s called O CAROLINE it´s on my top ten ever list.

Also he was on one of the best singles ever, Vivien Goldmans Launderette / private armies record

― Jens (brighter), Monday, 7 July 2003 07:02 (9 years ago) Permalink

he's also on some raincoats records!

― amateurist (amateurist), Monday, 7 July 2003 13:00 (9 years ago) Permalink

i believe robert wyatt is CLASSIC without any argument. he is like a patron saint to me in some way.
what single with south african musicians? that's probably people from chris mcgregor's brotherhood of breath, whom wyatt was tight with. mongezi feza plays trumpet on "ruth" and the first brotherhood of breath record kicks it in an amazing way.
has anyone seen the film about robert wyatt? recommended was selling an NTSC copy not too long ago - is it worth splurging for?
wyatt rules so much. and he turns up in the damndest places (like on michael mantler's "The hapless child," where he sings the edward gorey-penned lyrics.

― j fail (cenotaph), Monday, 7 July 2003 18:25 (9 years ago) Permalink

The communism I don't mind. It was the Stalinism I could never figure out. Muslimgauze's political stance in comparison seemed calm and sweetly reasoned.

Since when was Robert Wyatt ever a "Stalinist"? What, because he sang "Stalin Wasn't Stallin'"? Do some research before accusing people of being Stalinists.

― Dadaismus (Dada), Wednesday, 9 July 2003 13:57 (9 years ago) Permalink

Two years down the line and there's this! Okay, share the details then -- I have always understood that Wyatt had a belief in some interpretation of hardcore communism along Stalinist lines, so what's the real story?

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 9 July 2003 14:08 (9 years ago) Permalink

hardcore communism along Stalinist lines

Errrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, what exactly does that mean? Wyatt was a member of the British Communist Party, he was a Marxist, he was not a Stalinist.

― Dadaismus (Dada), Wednesday, 9 July 2003 14:12 (9 years ago) Permalink

I dunno. A number of people, including Ted Grant, split from the British CP in the fifties over Hungary and other issues. Not sure if the CP ever officially repudiated Stalin a la Krushchev.

― amateurist (amateurist), Wednesday, 9 July 2003 14:17 (9 years ago) Permalink

there's an interview somewhere where green gartside says he and wyatt grew apart in the mid-80s because wyatt was "becoming more stalinist" (GG = grew up in the Young Communist League, so presumably knows what *he* means by the term — ie is using it technically and precisely, rather than just a vague or dismissive synonym for "marxist" or "communist")

― mark s (mark s), Wednesday, 9 July 2003 14:30 (9 years ago) Permalink

There was also an NME interview I remember with Steven Wells in which Wells says something like "Well, although we argue, he being a Stalinist and I being a Trotskyite etc., he's basically a good sort". Don't know how accurately Swells was characterising his politics, but anyway.

― N. (nickdastoor), Wednesday, 9 July 2003 14:40 (9 years ago) Permalink

Skipping 130 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

Can't listen to that

― Tom D., Tuesday, 25 September 2007 10:38 (5 years ago) Permalink

2 weeks pass...

The new album's pretty good!

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Thursday, 11 October 2007 00:10 (5 years ago) Permalink

I only listened once but I was quite taken with it. Two things I like about a new Robert Wyatt album: 1, there's always hot solos, and 2, there's always a song or two that's killer on a mixtape

― people explosion, Thursday, 11 October 2007 00:41 (5 years ago) Permalink

I just listened to the new Robert Wyatt - Comicopera

― chaki, Thursday, 11 October 2007 00:43 (5 years ago) Permalink

2 months pass...

i like the music on rock bottom a lot but his voice is going to take some getting used to.

― mr x, Monday, 17 December 2007 18:54 (5 years ago) Permalink

So has Ned heard more Robert Wyatt since this thread was started? -- amateurist (amateurist), Saturday, 5 July 2003

This's a good question indeed, hah.

On a somewhat (un)related track I'd also like to kno' - so has the verbose'ssimist Otis Wheeler chewed off his own poisonauseous tongue yet?

― t**t, Monday, 17 December 2007 19:35 (5 years ago) Permalink

I bought Phil Manzanera's Diamond Head last weekend and was intrigued by the voice on the first track. Turned out it's Wyatt, on a cover/version of one of his own songs. I also liked the interview in Wire earlier this year. Where's a good place to start in his own discography? Straight to Rock Bottom?

― willem, Monday, 17 December 2007 19:36 (5 years ago) Permalink

yeah sure, it's great. As I recall the other ones most recommended above are Shleep and Cuckooland, I am also really digging the new one a lot.

― sleeve, Monday, 17 December 2007 19:42 (5 years ago) Permalink

(expost)

Willem -- Yup, you could as well go through this entire thread again, to make up your mind! :)
Well why not start with the new one, Comicopera, even?
Or with Old Rottenhat?

As per Manzanera-Wyatt links, Wyatt plays and sings on quite a few Manzanera solo platters. I have 50 Minutes Later and 6pm, which are from 2005 & 2004, and he sure's on there too.

― t**t, Monday, 17 December 2007 19:43 (5 years ago) Permalink

thx sleeve & t**t, read the thread - what a wealth of info and feelings about the man and his music. have started downloading.

― willem, Monday, 17 December 2007 21:00 (5 years ago) Permalink

Comicopera may be my album of the year. It's the first thing I've heard by him too.

― filthy dylan, Tuesday, 18 December 2007 04:12 (5 years ago) Permalink

It's the album of 2007 in The Wire magazine.

― krakow, Tuesday, 18 December 2007 10:10 (5 years ago) Permalink

10 months pass...

Since this thread is dominated by a fight over Wyatt's politics and Tom mentioned "Alliance" long ago, it's interesting to have come across this interesting point about the song courtesy of Marcello's CoM (excellent) entry on Cuckooland:

(Although Wyatt doesn’t mention it on the sleeve, his 1985 album Old Rottenhat begins with a deceptively bitter song called “Alliance,” essentially an attack on his former Matching Mole colleague and former fellow CP member, bassist Bill McCormick, for crossing over to the SDP. “It’s hard to talk to enemies/And we are enemies/What we had in common/Makes it even worse.” One wonders if this still rankles with him. McCormick is also, incidentally, the brother of the late Ian MacDonald)

Said lyrics:

There is a kind of compromise you are master of
Your endless gentle nudging left us polarised
It's hard to talk to enemies, we are enemies
What we had in common makes it even worse
You're proud of being middle class (meaning upper class)
You say you're self sufficient (but you don't dig your own coal)
I think that what you're frightened of more than anything
is knowing you need workers more than they need you
"A herd of independent minds" Chomsky got it right
Jogging into battle waving old school ties

These are some of the most bitter lyrics I've ever read -- and Marcello's right when he says "deceptively" so, b/c the melody is so languid and airy I'd just assumed that this was about some public figure, not a friend. My impression of Bill MacCormick was that he'd given up music to fight the good fight running for elected office. My my.

― The One, The Only... (Naive Teen Idol), Sunday, 16 November 2008 19:02 (4 years ago) Permalink

2 months pass...

"Heaps Of Sheeps" really hitting the spot

― Robin van Injury (country matters), Friday, 13 February 2009 03:18 (4 years ago) Permalink

one of his very best

― sleeve, Friday, 13 February 2009 03:20 (4 years ago) Permalink

That album's pretty agreeable as a whole, but HOS and "Alien" are the ones for me. Also "Was A Friend".

― Robin van Injury (country matters), Friday, 13 February 2009 03:22 (4 years ago) Permalink

"heaps of sheeps" always reminds me of cities blanketed by snow

― 69, Friday, 13 February 2009 15:19 (4 years ago) Permalink

The wordless vocal bit is juuuuust heavenly

― Robin van Injury (country matters), Friday, 13 February 2009 15:19 (4 years ago) Permalink

7 months pass...

haha history repeating

― alien vs the smiths (country matters), Thursday, 17 September 2009 15:19 (3 years ago) Permalink

i really need to get more wyatt in my life. that one album with 'little red riding hood' on it is Kid A 20-or-so years before the fact.

― dog latin, Thursday, 17 September 2009 15:22 (3 years ago) Permalink

nah, it's way better than that :D

― alien vs the smiths (country matters), Thursday, 17 September 2009 15:22 (3 years ago) Permalink

3 months pass...

"beer as in braindeer" from the first matching mole album sounds a whole lot like damo-era can. never much considered a canterbury-kraut synergy before, but even robert's drumming's really similar to jaki liebezeit's tribal thump thump

― kamerad, Thursday, 31 December 2009 18:01 (3 years ago) Permalink

8 months pass...

new album with strings, violin, and sax....standards + originals...

http://www.dominorecordco.com/uk/news/07-07-10/album-for-the-ghosts-within-out-11th-october/

! didn't know about this!

― rawkan the chief (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 17 September 2010 20:27 (2 years ago) Permalink

love RW's happy beardy face

― Hymie in Galveston (admrl), Friday, 17 September 2010 20:28 (2 years ago) Permalink

me too! this songs is real pretty...making me happy

― rawkan the chief (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 17 September 2010 20:29 (2 years ago) Permalink

!!!

― Hadrian VIII, Friday, 17 September 2010 21:33 (2 years ago) Permalink

Sounds very interesting - but I can't imagine him bettering his original cover of "At last I am Free"

― Deluxe Merseybeat Wig (Jack Battery-Pack), Saturday, 18 September 2010 15:54 (2 years ago) Permalink

5 months pass...

The Chic version is better. Why some old communist would bore us to death with a useless cover of Chic is beyond me. Wouldn't the suffering masses prefer a box set?

― Funye West! (u s steel), Monday, 7 March 2011 15:38 (2 years ago) Permalink

His version is not that different really. The song was tailor made for him imo.

― Tom D (Tom D.), Tuesday, 8 March 2011 12:30 (2 years ago) Permalink

"mmmwow mmmwow mmmwow mmmwow mmmwow
mmmwow dbdbdbdbdeblelebelelelle Deep!"

― Mark G, Tuesday, 8 March 2011 12:32 (2 years ago) Permalink

―
Sorry to Ivor Cutler! Sorry to the Welsh people...but somehow welsh sounds like an English dude doing a bad Carribean accident to me at first listen!

there are actually 2 Cork accents 1 of which sounds a lot like this welsh/Jamaican thing. Would assume the Jamaican accent actually derived from an accent like this in a form from a couple of centuries back.

Wish I'd been walking around London with lists at Xmas, they had loads of Wyatt cds in for 5quid a pop in fopp. I think they sold from the display pretty rapidly & I forgot about them. Did pick up a couple though Ruth Is Stranger Than Richard and Old Rottenhat.

Was just thinking of going back to bed for a while and trying to find my Rock Bottom since I haven't listened to it in ages. Not sure where it is though. Must institute some kind of order in my cd storage.

― Stevolende, Tuesday, 8 March 2011 14:31 (2 years ago) Permalink

Pretty sure Ivor Cutler is putting on a Caribbean (or possibly) accent on that track, by the way!

― Tom D (Tom D.), Tuesday, 8 March 2011 14:37 (2 years ago) Permalink

11 months pass...

http://pitchfork.com/features/5-10-15-20/8776-robert-wyatt/

― bidfurd, Monday, 27 February 2012 22:41 (1 year ago) Permalink

<3 RW

― dollar eye twinkling (admrl), Monday, 27 February 2012 22:43 (1 year ago) Permalink

yes that was a lovely read. i'll be missing the salon thing with him at cafe oto (when songkick sent me its email announcing "new concert for robert wyatt" i almost had a heart attack) because i'm a dumbass who always forgets to buy advance tickets these days, but i'm sure it'll be great.

― shart practice (Merdeyeux), Monday, 27 February 2012 22:45 (1 year ago) Permalink

that otis is being a big meanie upthread >:(

― the wild eyed boy from soundcloud (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Monday, 27 February 2012 22:48 (1 year ago) Permalink

<3 RW

― dollar eye twinkling (admrl), Monday, February 27, 2012 4:43 PM (13 minutes ago)

― Steamtable Willie (WmC), Monday, 27 February 2012 22:57 (1 year ago) Permalink

7 months pass...

There was a great little programme about RW on Radio 4 this week. "The Voices of Robert Wyatt", mid-morning, Tuesday. Listen to it this weekend before it drops of the i-Player.

― bham, Friday, 5 October 2012 09:26 (7 months ago) Permalink

Wyatt interviewed by Richie Unterberger, Richard Cook, Ian MacDonald ('74), and Ben Thompson, who also reviews Shleep--all currently in the Free section of Rock's Back Pages (click on a link and they send you a password)
http://www.rocksbackpages.com/free.html#W

― dow, Tuesday, 9 October 2012 17:45 (7 months ago) Permalink

There was a great little programme about RW on Radio 4 this week. "The Voices of Robert Wyatt", mid-morning, Tuesday. Listen to it this weekend before it drops of the i-Player.

this was very nice alright. seems a lovely guy.

― Know how Roo feel (LocalGarda), Tuesday, 9 October 2012 19:41 (7 months ago) Permalink

Thanks for the heads up, this is a lovely documentary.

― Poor.Old.Tired.Horse. (Stew), Tuesday, 9 October 2012 23:38 (7 months ago) Permalink

been listening to this one a lot the past few days for w/e reason

― puff puff post (uh oh I'm having a fantasy), Wednesday, 10 October 2012 02:53 (7 months ago) Permalink

wyatt, lydon, idk

― puff puff post (uh oh I'm having a fantasy), Wednesday, 10 October 2012 02:53 (7 months ago) Permalink

This guy seems like such an incredible human. I seem to recall reading that he and his wife go to AA meetings not because they are alcoholics, but out of sympathy and unity with those afflicted. Or something like that.

― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 10 October 2012 03:42 (7 months ago) Permalink

Nothing to do with the fact that he hadn't been pissed out of his head one night he wouldn't have ended up in a wheelchair?

― Hello, Good Evening and Expenses (Tom D.), Wednesday, 10 October 2012 10:07 (7 months ago) Permalink

No, Wyatt's an alcoholic and makes no secret of it. IN recovery for the last 5 years or so.

― Three Word Username, Wednesday, 10 October 2012 11:17 (7 months ago) Permalink

No, there was something more to it. Let me find it....

― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 10 October 2012 13:05 (7 months ago) Permalink

Oh, I see. I just misunderstood.

― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 10 October 2012 13:09 (7 months ago) Permalink

guy's a hero and a gentleman, despite his often inflexible and reflexive politics.

― flesh, the devil, and a wolf (wolf) (amateurist), Wednesday, 10 October 2012 17:31 (7 months ago) Permalink

That BBC bit is indeed a lovely listen.

― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 10 October 2012 17:53 (7 months ago) Permalink

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