Robert Wyatt: Classic or Dud?

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

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.

"Heaps Of Sheeps" really hitting the spot

one of his very best

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

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

The wordless vocal bit is juuuuust heavenly

haha history repeating

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.

nah, it's way better than that :D

"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

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!

love RW's happy beardy face

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

!!!

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

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?

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

"mmmwow mmmwow mmmwow mmmwow mmmwow
mmmwow dbdbdbdbdeblelebelelelle Deep!"

―
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.

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

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

:)

<3 RW

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.

that otis is being a big meanie upthread >:(

<3 RW

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsLAY1OdZrA

wyatt, lydon, idk

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.

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?

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

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

Oh, I see. I just misunderstood.

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

That BBC bit is indeed a lovely listen.

I recently put this proposed box set together and loved the hell out of it. He sure deserves something like it!

Nice collection, Gerald, and a very well-done compilation for people who've never heard him. But I think it relies far too heavily on album tracks and misses many fine moments not on LP (like my favorite, Wyatt's vocal on the Epic Soundtracks single "Jelly, Babies," which was a Rough Trade 7" a-side and not released on CD until last year.) And those Dondestan tracks - Dondestan or Dondestan (Revisted)? Those are small gripes, but Wyatt fans tend not to be "casual" fans and are likely to own the entire oeuvre (at least the main albums) and would probably buy a box set only if it had a fair number of obscurities on it.

That's said, I'm burning a copy tonight. Thanks!

You're absolutely right, I noticed those issues as well, but it's an interesting attempt. I find his albums a bit inconsistent and appreciated the guide.

I just discovered "Jelly Babies" last year and it is indeed magnificent!

Actually, why don't you suggest a best of Wyatt rarities comp?

well, there already is a wyatt rarities comp! it's called "flotsam jetsam" and it's fabulous.

that said, he has done a lot of guest work. here's some stuff he sings on i love. a lot of times it's just backing vocals but that's enough dammit! i'd suggest:
henry cow and robert wyatt- living in the heart of the beast (it's on "the road" but there's an FM broadcast, unlike the aud on the Road, that's even better.. if you can find it, ha ha...)
phil manzanera- frontera
robert wyatt- love (john lennon tribute "instant karma")
slapp happy- a little something (peel session version)
fish out of water- cry from the city (dub)
ben watt- walter and john
the last nightingale- moments of delight/in the dark year
working week- venceremos/we will win
ryuchi sakamoto- we love you
the shiny men- dream pussy
robert wyatt- rangers in the nightst ("miniatures" compilation)
ultramarine- kingdom
millennium- another great victory
michael mantler- a l'abbatoir
fat mattress- the clown
robert wyatt- violin concerto no. 2 in b minor, 1st movement (from a radio show he curated called "radio popolare"... he went from playing "lay lady lay" to singing over the beginning of the bartok piece and talking about how wonderful it is... everybody should hear this)
robert wyatt- radio popolare theme (he also sang a theme song for this series)
robert wyatt- catholic architecture (live performance 1991... not sure the context but it's on youtube somewhere... there was also a bbc documentary on him in '03 or somesuch that had him singing a few numbers live)
john greaves- the song (wonderful, wonderful!)
ricky gianco- hasta siempre comandante (not the same as the comicopera version!)
robert wyatt and the john peel singers- good king wenceslas (the famous john peel carols session with wyatt, sandy denny, i think t.rex, and others, late 1969... i think this was rebroadcast on bbc6 recently)
hatfield and the north- calyx
daevid allen- memories (the hugh hopper song oft-recorded by wyatt, i think this version is my favorite)
kevin ayers- whatevershebringswesing
brian eno- the true wheel
robert wyatt- locomotive
news from babel- heart of stone
john cage- experience
robert wyatt- september in the rain (japanese-only bonus track to "shleep")
pascal comelade- september song
robert wyatt- instant pussy (soft machine bbc session, 1969)
robert wyatt- dedicated to you but you weren't listening (soft machine bbc session, 1971)
robert wyatt live with hatfield and the north, december 1972 (broadcast on french television, the complete performance circulates as slightly wobbly audio)

well there's more but that should get you started.

Spotify's got this Wildeflowers comp, mostly diligent, advanced-placement kid demos (versions of Hopper's "Memories" get better and better)---but Wyatt, singing and drumming, is unmistakably himself, at all tymes. A couple of his ballads give me chills.

The 1972 French TV broadcast with Hatfield and the north is just breathtaking...kinda justifies the existence of the Internet

the song "i'm a mineralist" on the fictitious sports album is hilarious

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pqsm3C8nvFU
what a crazy great band (and what a crazy great drummer wyatt was)

Read that (up two) as "I'm a miserablist" from the fictitious "Sports" album.

Thanks for that list. I'm listening to his 3 tracks with Millennium - fantastic classical/dance mix with Robert the cherry on top! What's the story with this band?