Robert Wyatt: Classic or Dud?

Well, he has earned it, but I love(d) "Comicopera", hoped there might be another record coming down the line at some point.

aw man, hope he enjoys his retirement

yeah, bummer. he's left us with tons of great music but every few weeks i wonder "when is the next robert wyatt album coming out, anyway?"

at least he's not stopping b/c he has to for health reasons -- i didn't get that impression from that admittedly brief summary of a longer article. if anyone finds the full article online don't hesitate to post it here. :)

this is probably my cue to check out all the various live albums, boots etc. from his time with soft machine. so far i mostly just know the proper studio records.

Saw him make a guest appearance with Charlie Haden and Carla Bley in 2009, singing and playing pocket trumpet, and his voice was already quite weak and ragged then, so that kind of diminishing may have played some part in this decision, along with the reasons stated in that article.

you can hear his voice weakening on the studio albums. it can't be a coincidence that they increasingly rely on guest vocalists. surely his last two albums aren't among his more original or ambitious but i still enjoyed them a great deal.

Oh. Was just listening the other day to his version of Chic's "At Last I am Free"

xp wtf Comicopera is as original and ambitious as anything else by him I can think of

Yeah, listening to Comicopera now and its lovely. He's "stopped" before though right? Am I wrong in thinking he was so angry another tory government got voted in, that he decided no-one deserved to hear his music? Something like that?

Just listened to Disc 1 of Different Every Time, listening companion to bio of the same name. "Signed Curtain" aside (vocal is definition of twee), the sequence of tracks just keeps building, so resourceful and assertive and dramatic and lucid and fluid and well you know. Wonder if he chose 'em?
Disc 2 offers new as well as old, according to the npr guy's mostly non-essential text ("wondrously elfin," yeeesh).
Streaming here for the moment:
http://www.npr.org/2014/11/09/361384516/first-listen-robert-wyatt-different-every-time

Buried lede is the very last song on that set. His version of John Cage's Experiences #2. I am so happy that's seeing an extended release finally.

Just finished the equally epic (maybe more, in terms of range and sweep) Disc 2, "Benign Dictatorships." Yeah, the Cage track is a strong finish to the astute sequence.

wait, i thought this hadn't come out yet. i'm tempted to get this, but i have all but one song on the first disc and probably 1/3 of those on the 2nd disc. but i don't mind sending some royalties robert's way, i suppose.

he really comes up with some corny album/song titles doesn't he?

He's a frustrated jazz musician.

i said corny, not horny.

Comes out Nov. 18, according to xpost npr

Good piece on Wyatt, reflecting on new bio, listening too. Don't agree w all of it--and discussing political songs, how could he leave out "Biko," "Shipbuilding," "At Last I Am Free," for that matter? Oh well, word limit, and he packs a lot into a small space, without murking up a knotty subject:http://www.lrb.co.uk/v36/n22/jeremy-harding/short-cuts

Good point that teen R. Ellidge was already unmistakably Robert Wyatt on the Wildeflowers tapes.

I think I'll read this book

It's very good - much more thoughtful than the usual rock bio, with a ton of new research.

@amateurist: pls give some examples of not-corny titles you actually like.

most of 'em!

i even like the corny ones! they're just corny is all!

Good interview: looking at the world now, US in 60s while touring, the strength of pop music, other matters (got the idea at the end that his wife's health was more of a concern than his own, to him anyway)
http://pitchfork.com/features/interviews/9544-robert-wyatt/

I love his honesty:

I'm spending a lot of time with Alfie, and I hope we have a long time, but this is kind of the end run. And I haven't been a particularly good husband, not very attentive. I'm trying to make that right. I really like her company. She makes me laugh. We watch things together, a lot of DVD box sets of shows like “The Good Wife” and “Mad Men”.

Wyatt has been an exemplar of honesty for so long, just by many accounts an absolute sweetheart with a knack for measured empathy. I wonder if he was always like this or, like his politics, if this is just the wisdom of age manifesting itself? Or maybe it's just my reading of him as a sort of sage-like monk genius who understands the perfect is impossible and always strives to improve himself.

I dunno. Anyway, Wyatt is special.

I've recently become obsessed with another Wyatt performance, the single Jelly Babies by Epic Soundtracks. I think it was on some sort of Epic Soundtracks comp recently and may or may not appear on an upcoming CD release you'll hear a lot about in the future. Wyatt and Soundtracks singing harmonies, a beautiful, melancholy song.

Know nothing by him except the Chic cover on Wanna Buy a Bridge (nothing by Soft Machine, either). Someone posted the Top of the Pops "I'm a Believer" clip on Facebook yesterday, and I don't remember being so moved by a cover version in a long time. I would have loved it in any event, but the context--first public performance after his accident--deepens everything significantly. (Details of said accident I didn't know either until I read some background yesterday--I'd probably always assumed there was a car accident behind his paralysis.) Wyatt's vocal and the fiddle-like affect around two minutes are beautiful.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5hPENM6h78

Andy Summers on acoustic guitar and Fred Frith on electric guitar - only one of whom would make a few more appearances on Top of the Pops I believe.

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/84/f6/34/84f6343375d4a44ae31c4c0d4be72d82.jpg

Wyatt with Hatfield and the Matching Police Floyd Cow

Looks like Nick Mason on drums in that Wyatt clip too

You don't know "Shipbuilding", clemenza? That's his most famous cover I'd guess. His version rules. Much better than Elvis Costello's original. And somehow I have the feeling with the Brexit Great Britain is going for another folly which is at least as irrational and nutty as the Falkland war.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Res3-YX4X8g

Robert Wyatt's is the original recording, Costello's version was released later.

But it was written by Costello, so it is his song.

To be accurate it was written by Clive Langer, he asked Costello to write lyrics for it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shipbuilding_(song)

He signed me up to CND in the mid-80s. He was often on Twickenham High St canvassing membership on Saturdays iat that time.

You don't know "Shipbuilding"?

I don't (even though I know it's just a click away). I did order both Rock Bottom and Ruth Is Stranger Than Richard because of "I'm a Believer" (and after a little reading).

Ruth is a little thornier/difficult imo, I'd also recommend Nothing Can Stop Us, Shleep, Dondestan, and Comicopera

ahhh you are in for a treat with 'rock bottom'

for whatever reason, 'reminds me of your rocky bottom' is the lyric from that album that sticks with me. the contrast between ones rough edges and the concept of hitting rock bottom are especially poignant to me i suppose

I walked past him in Lincolnshire market town Louth (he lives there).

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, April 15, 2001 1:00 AM (sixteen years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I'm sometimes taken aback by the shitheadery of old school ILX, but this takes the fucking biscuit. How insulting to Wyatt and his work to suggest people only buy his albums because he's disabled. Ridiculous.

the good old days before ilx was mean

That TOTP clip is fairly infamous for the shitty way they treated Wyatt.

WYATT: The producer said, "l'm embarrassed by that wheelchair, it's not entertaining, can you go and sit in this wicker-work thing?" I told him to fuck off, and he said, "You will never work on this programme again" - but as I just told you, I am too posh to care, frankly. I mean, I can't wheel a wicker chair, and I need to be able to get out quick in case the cops are coming, for fuck's sake!

http://www.disco-robertwyatt.com/images/Robert/interviews/Uncut_feb_2014/index.htm

I did order both Rock Bottom and Ruth Is Stranger Than Richard because of "I'm a Believer"

you are in for a treat! Rock Bottom is amazing.

Robert Wyatt obviously classic as fuck

No love here for his (flop) follow up single?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhEeM5rBxJI

the two Matching Mole albums are also solid

I really like the Drury lane set too. Though it does drop in sound quality towards the end.

Also really like the stuff he did in 1975 with Henry Cow which I think is mainly live.

Matching Mole is pretty essential definitely. Especially the 2cd versions that came out about 5 years ago.

Don't know if anybody knows this but it's glorious...I could listen to it all day

https://www.reddit.com/r/progrockmusic/comments/4b7zkg/hatfield_and_the_north_rockenstock_french_tv_1973/