― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 09:31 (nineteen years ago) link
Why the Stanley Spencer of pop?
― bham, Wednesday, 13 July 2005 10:46 (nineteen years ago) link
m.
― msp (mspa), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 14:00 (nineteen years ago) link
― b b, Wednesday, 13 July 2005 15:06 (nineteen years ago) link
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!
Rock Bottom: still ruling the school.
― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 15:17 (nineteen years ago) link
― Ian Riese-Moraine: the crown prince of understatement. (Eastern Mantra), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 15:21 (nineteen years ago) link
― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 16:16 (nineteen years ago) link
ha ha...Scottish, dude.
― Masked Gazza, Wednesday, 13 July 2005 16:49 (nineteen years ago) link
I'm totally banned from the Commonwealth....
― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 16:55 (nineteen years ago) link
definitely worked better as a two sided record -- I like every track okay, but they don't work as well all in a row, though "Muddy Mouth" at the very end is way up there with the best of his stuff
I love "Yesterday Man" so much. No idea why that wasn't a single.
― milton parker (Jon L), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 17:26 (nineteen years ago) link
Handy cided to leaveHe'd come apart at the seam - endangered life and lawn order beforeThe more since he lies (even under oaf handy lies) when he feels caughtBetween righthand wrong. I think he just might have been wrong this timeWhich in turn left him with few alternatives to relieving himself by handAlone in the dark, wanking in the bog?
http://www.strongcomet.com/wyatt/lyrics/lyrics1.htm
― milton parker (Jon L), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 17:27 (nineteen years ago) link
― Taste the Blood of Scrovula (noodle vague), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 17:30 (nineteen years ago) link
"I'd meant to do a Neil Sedaka song but, typically, got the wrong Neil."
― Taste the Blood of Scrovula (noodle vague), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 17:31 (nineteen years ago) link
― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Thursday, 14 July 2005 05:21 (nineteen years ago) link
― SoHoLa (SoHoLa), Thursday, 14 July 2005 05:33 (nineteen years ago) link
― Dadaismus (Dada), Thursday, 14 July 2005 08:18 (nineteen years ago) link
― mike t-diva (mike t-diva), Thursday, 14 July 2005 08:26 (nineteen years ago) link
Check his entry on the C81 cassette booklet (that you had to cut out/staple from a page of the NME). I still don't know what precent serious he was...
― mark grout (mark grout), Thursday, 14 July 2005 09:04 (nineteen years ago) link
― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Thursday, 14 July 2005 09:31 (nineteen years ago) link
― mike t-diva (mike t-diva), Thursday, 14 July 2005 09:52 (nineteen years ago) link
And thank god I did, because cripes -- what a brilliant fucking collection. Of course, the Chic is time-stoppingly beautiful -- oddly, its secret is actually something in the way the tamborine is mixed. But the other chestnuts reveal themselves quickly. "Age of Self" -- I've had the (now out of print) Mid-Eighties comp for ages that includes the entirety of Old Rottenhat but never so much as noticed it. Casio beat cum subtle throwdown funk bassline cum wondrous lyric cum perfectly elegant melody.
The songs from Cukooland, particularly the Beach Boys/Water Canticle-esque vocal multitracks of "Foreign Accents", inspired me to go seek that record out -- and, of course, it's offhandedly brilliant how his cornet playing has adopted the phrasing and tone of Miles Davis -- as if that were simply the one sound he absolutely NEEDED in his arsenal. Combined with Shleep ("Free Will and Testament") the guy's been on a serious roll this last decade.
But in spite of his successful return to lush productions, in the process of digging through all of his records, I've found myself particularly drawn to his mid-80's minimalist stuff -- which extended to Dondestan which I hocked in college in a fit of immaturity, and of course that version's now unavaiable. There's a certain dignity to his use of so few materials in this material, particularly in light of its directly political nature. Works In Progress seems its perfect distillation, really, with "Yolanda", "Te Recuerdo Amanda", the exquisite reading of hitherto insufferable "Biko" and his collab. w/ Hopper "Amber and the Amberines" -- has any pop artist ever made doomed political causes sound so hopeful and infused with life? Admittedly, Old Rottenhat is significantly more funereal, but still...
― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Friday, 19 August 2005 01:21 (nineteen years ago) link
― M. V. (M.V.), Friday, 19 August 2005 02:08 (nineteen years ago) link
― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Friday, 19 August 2005 02:56 (nineteen years ago) link
― alex in mainhattan (alex63), Friday, 19 August 2005 04:17 (nineteen years ago) link
― Paunchy Stratego (kenan), Friday, 19 August 2005 04:20 (nineteen years ago) link
― gear (gear), Monday, 10 April 2006 00:01 (eighteen years ago) link
― Jaxon von Jaxon (jaxon), Monday, 10 April 2006 00:24 (eighteen years ago) link
― a.b. (alanbanana), Monday, 10 April 2006 00:29 (eighteen years ago) link
― artsake, Monday, 10 April 2006 00:48 (eighteen years ago) link
― pixel farmer (Rock Hardy), Monday, 10 April 2006 02:00 (eighteen years ago) link
― a.b. (alanbanana), Monday, 10 April 2006 02:16 (eighteen years ago) link
Message from RW.....Body: After starting this little profile in honor of Robert's life & work, and after VERY quickly seeing for myself the love & devotion his fanbase feels for him, I soon decided to make the extra effort in bringing that love & devotion to Robert personally.
A few weeks ago I wrote to Robert, explaining the Myspace craze (in a roundabout way) and giving him the web URL in case he chose to check it out himself.
I also enclosed printouts of the entire RW profile, including the comments section and dozens of messages (addressed to him) which I'd received via the private message feature. If memory serves, I mailed the package a little under two weeks ago.
Today I received a reply, and there is no longer ANY doubt in my mind..... Robert Wyatt is the coolest man alive. Bar none.
How cool? Well..... first of all, he gave me back my stamps!!!
(The letter came inside a recycled version of my original envelope, with portions snipped away & taped together, the original return address now used as the regular one. Anyways, when I opened the letter, the stamped portion of the original envelope plopped out first, along with a friendly note: "thought you might be able to use these again?".... too cool, I tell you. Just too cool. I'll scan that little note as soon as I can.)
The reply itself was handwritten on a lovely origami design, again composed of recycled scrap paper. I'm assuming (and hoping) that Robert won't mind if I share some selected portions with his loving fanbase......
Hallo Alex -
what can I say xept thank you so much for your very kind thought, and actions
Not doing gigs of course, I don't actually meet or even know on the whole who's out there keeping an ear out for what I've been doing, so it's a relief to get such amiable feedback.
I dare not get too distracted, though: I'm still struggling to get the next things done, etc.
Besides, I'm vain enough already, in my little way! You ask Alfie!
RW
PS. I hope people'll understand that if I don't respond it's just that my communication methods are still stuck in the deep recesses of the Twentieth century!
Robert, if you're reading this...... thank you again for being who you are, and doing what you do.
PS. Robert also wrote a little message on the outside of the envelope.....
"thanks again - it's all a lovely surprise........"
― jäxøñ (jaxon), Friday, 19 May 2006 02:42 (eighteen years ago) link
― TRG (TRG), Friday, 19 May 2006 02:52 (eighteen years ago) link
― PARTYMAN (dubplatestyle), Tuesday, 8 August 2006 01:33 (eighteen years ago) link
― PARTYMAN (dubplatestyle), Tuesday, 8 August 2006 01:35 (eighteen years ago) link
― Leave Brintey Alone (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 8 August 2006 01:49 (eighteen years ago) link
― PARTYMAN (dubplatestyle), Tuesday, 8 August 2006 01:53 (eighteen years ago) link
― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Tuesday, 8 August 2006 07:54 (eighteen years ago) link
― jaxon (jaxon), Tuesday, 8 August 2006 16:56 (eighteen years ago) link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrcOEoFttWU
The energy of Wyatt's drumming is incredible. He is awesome.
― Pashmina (Pashmina), Tuesday, 8 August 2006 17:02 (eighteen years ago) link
― Louis Jagger (Haberdager), Tuesday, 8 August 2006 17:07 (eighteen years ago) link
― bb (bbrz), Tuesday, 8 August 2006 17:46 (eighteen years ago) link
― sleeve (sleeve), Wednesday, 9 August 2006 05:50 (eighteen years ago) link
http://www.inandout.at/images/product/moreextended_wyatt.jpg
The More Extended Version/Cpt. Kirk - Round About Wyatt
can this really be dance remixes of wyatt tunes? the only websites i see of it are in german.
― jaxon (jaxon), Friday, 18 August 2006 22:18 (eighteen years ago) link
― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Friday, 18 August 2006 22:33 (eighteen years ago) link
Well, I'll weigh in. I thought his cover of "Shipbuilding" incredibly moving... he swam into the song's core and found a very vulnerable kernel that for me makes the protesty lyrics even more poignant. (i love that about covers, when the artist finds some buried or hinted-at aspect of the original -- it could be anything from a bassline to a subtext to a half-suppressed emotion -- and delivers it to/rescues it for the listener).
Then I think of the record 'Shleep', the 3rd track, Maryan, with its eastern mode and meandering, searching melody -- what a gorgeous cut. That trumpet. And when the strings tremolo in around 1:50.
What moves me about him is the beauty of his vulnerability... and also the production details in his best songs, the sumptuous instrumentation. Though I find him middling to boring on peppier numbers; he just doesn't muster any urgency and strength.
Rock Bottom, however, bored the fuck out of me.
― vic isthmus (isthmus), Saturday, 19 August 2006 01:20 (eighteen years ago) link
Really cool droney, crazy ol' man EZ listening prog or something....it's DEFINITELY something...that's for sure....Sea Song is just a heartbreaking love song...."Your madness fits in nicely with my own" is such a sweet like....I love the big droney songs called Little Red Robin Hood....
Great organ sounds....bewitching record.
-- M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 02:01 (2 years ago) Bookmark Link
^^^^^^^^I agree with this.
I like how he sings "Joking apart when you're drunk, You're terrific when you're drunk" but then I don't like the next lyric "I like you mostly late at night, you're quite all right"
He had it right there...but then he lost it. ya kno?
― Drooone, Tuesday, 7 August 2007 05:36 (seventeen years ago) link
Night/alright isn't the best, but then it goes into that little falsetto (I'm doing this from memory here): "But I can't understand the different you in the morning, when it's time to play at being human for a while."
Heartbreaking (to me) little observation of a couple who have drink and sex in common and not much else. I've been there.
― Dan Peterson, Tuesday, 7 August 2007 20:01 (seventeen years ago) link
Bear in mind that "when you're drunk" the singer is probly drunk too. And that he's already spoken about his own madness. I don't think the couple have little in common, I think the singer is talking about a distance forced between them by negotiating the mundanities of the day. But they're both only "playing" at being human.
― Noodle Vague, Tuesday, 7 August 2007 20:14 (seventeen years ago) link