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
― clemenza, Friday, 5 May 2017 23:47 (seven years ago) link
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.
― Punnet of the Grapes (Tom D.), Saturday, 6 May 2017 00:36 (seven years ago) link
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/84/f6/34/84f6343375d4a44ae31c4c0d4be72d82.jpg
― Milton Parker, Saturday, 6 May 2017 01:11 (seven years ago) link
Wyatt with Hatfield and the Matching Police Floyd Cow
― Milton Parker, Saturday, 6 May 2017 01:16 (seven years ago) link
Looks like Nick Mason on drums in that Wyatt clip too
― Bernie Lugg (Ward Fowler), Saturday, 6 May 2017 03:44 (seven years ago) link
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
― Alex in Spree-Athen (alex in mainhattan), Saturday, 6 May 2017 17:14 (seven years ago) link
Robert Wyatt's is the original recording, Costello's version was released later.
― Punnet of the Grapes (Tom D.), Saturday, 6 May 2017 17:33 (seven years ago) link
But it was written by Costello, so it is his song.
― Alex in Spree-Athen (alex in mainhattan), Saturday, 6 May 2017 17:36 (seven years ago) link
To be accurate it was written by Clive Langer, he asked Costello to write lyrics for it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shipbuilding_(song)
― Punnet of the Grapes (Tom D.), Saturday, 6 May 2017 17:38 (seven years ago) link
He signed me up to CND in the mid-80s. He was often on Twickenham High St canvassing membership on Saturdays iat that time.
― Dr Drudge (Bob Six), Saturday, 6 May 2017 19:09 (seven years ago) link
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).
― clemenza, Sunday, 7 May 2017 01:08 (seven years ago) link
Ruth is a little thornier/difficult imo, I'd also recommend Nothing Can Stop Us, Shleep, Dondestan, and Comicopera
― HONOR THE FYRE (sleeve), Sunday, 7 May 2017 03:34 (seven years ago) link
ahhh you are in for a treat with 'rock bottom'
― just another (diamonddave85), Sunday, 7 May 2017 04:52 (seven years ago) link
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
― just another (diamonddave85), Sunday, 7 May 2017 05:01 (seven years ago) link
I walked past him in Lincolnshire market town Louth (he lives there).
― djh, Sunday, 7 May 2017 08:30 (seven years ago) link
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.
― Pheeel, Sunday, 7 May 2017 11:53 (seven years ago) link
the good old days before ilx was mean
― in a soylent whey (wins), Sunday, 7 May 2017 11:54 (seven years ago) link
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
― Dan Worsley, Sunday, 7 May 2017 14:59 (seven years ago) link
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
― AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Sunday, 7 May 2017 18:12 (seven years ago) link
No love here for his (flop) follow up single?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhEeM5rBxJI
― Punnet of the Grapes (Tom D.), Sunday, 7 May 2017 18:16 (seven years ago) link
the two Matching Mole albums are also solid
― AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Sunday, 7 May 2017 18:17 (seven years ago) link
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.
― Stevolende, Sunday, 7 May 2017 18:52 (seven years ago) link
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/
― X-Prince Protégé (sonnyboy), Sunday, 7 May 2017 20:11 (seven years ago) link
The Concert for Corbyn w/Paul Weller last December was widely heralded but I don't remember seeing a single review. There are one or two clips on YouTube, but little else.
― mahb, Wednesday, 10 May 2017 08:50 (seven years ago) link
i suspect it being about jeremy corbyn had something to do with its burial
― increasingly bonkers (rushomancy), Wednesday, 10 May 2017 13:48 (seven years ago) link
Mojo reviewed it.
― Mark G, Wednesday, 10 May 2017 14:37 (seven years ago) link
Mostly Daevid Allen...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wswhUGb1k6c
― Poisoned by Johan's pea soup. (Tom D.), Sunday, 20 May 2018 19:37 (six years ago) link
from Rolling Jazz---I mostly listened to these because of Wyatt (and Coyne):
Michael Mantler:The Hapless ChildWatt/4words by Edward Gorey(from 'Amphigorey')
Robert Wyatt (voice)Terje Rypdal (guitar)Carla Bley (piano, clavinet, synthesizer)Steve Swallow (bass)Jack DeJohnette (drums)
recorded July 1975 through January 1976Willow, NY, and EnglandA whirlwind right out of the gate, and I knew from later all-instrumental versions how strong some of these frameworks would be---did not expect the excellent and unusual studio effects on some of Wyatt's vocal turns---but eventually, when the words are more upfront, can seem overly emphatic---Gorey's dank little narratives work better with his spare, black white & grey drawings or etchings or whatever they be. Also, c'mon, it's Gorey---think I'll go on to the settings of Beckett and Pinter.
― dow, Thursday, May 17, 2018 9:18 PM (three days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
That is, the *overall* effect, the ensemble onslaught, not primarily Wyatt's vocals, can seem overly emphatic here.
― dow, Thursday, May 17, 2018 9:21 PM (three days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
Mantler again: Silence(1976)---the overemphasis here is confined to some of MM's heavier handling of Pinter's words, and Chris Spedding's often repeated use of sustain etc., drawing a note out and curving it around 'til it's a needle in my earphones ---but it can hurt so good, and the voices are strong and distinctive, Carla Bley holding her on with Kevin Coyne and Robert Wyatt---and sometimes everybody follows Wyatt's dustdevil percussion, without ever missing their cues (it's a play with a small cast/combo, compressed, maybe condensed, into a single LP's worth of songs).
― dow, Friday, May 18, 2018 6:10 PM (two days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
The text itself may grow on me, but so far doesn't seem up to several Pinter plays I'm more familiar with, though Mantler can highlight the weak spots in his literary sources, maybe by blurring some of the plot points.
― dow, Friday, May 18, 2018
― dow, Sunday, 20 May 2018 21:14 (six years ago) link
Pretty sure I would have bought these in the 70s if had come across them (was mailorderphobic, opp extreme in 80s), and as a Wyatt fan would have been fairly satisfied.
― dow, Sunday, 20 May 2018 21:18 (six years ago) link
never even heard of these, thanks.
― akm, Sunday, 20 May 2018 21:58 (six years ago) link
wowowow this rules!!
― kurt schwitterz, Monday, 21 May 2018 20:11 (six years ago) link
That "Playa de Formentor" clip; wow, just wow! Thanks so much for that.
― stirmonster, Monday, 21 May 2018 21:34 (six years ago) link
Some atrocious acting from young Robert there, he looks at the camera, the last thing you should do as an extra. Daevid is good though.
― Poisoned by Johan's pea soup. (Tom D.), Monday, 21 May 2018 23:25 (six years ago) link
Yup, Daevid is good. Incredible seeing him so young with it all ahead of him.
― stirmonster, Monday, 21 May 2018 23:29 (six years ago) link
Talking of which, this is pretty nutty, though it would belong on a Daevid Allen thread, if such a thing existed...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpPfn2Dmcrw
― Poisoned by Johan's pea soup. (Tom D.), Monday, 21 May 2018 23:33 (six years ago) link
I hadn't seen that one either. Going by that and myriad other Daevid Allen TV appearances, French TV in the late 60s / early 70s was tres out there.
And yes, a scandal that there is no Daevid Allen thread.
― stirmonster, Tuesday, 22 May 2018 00:10 (six years ago) link
DIY
― dow, Tuesday, 22 May 2018 00:16 (six years ago) link
There are Gong threads.
― nickn, Tuesday, 22 May 2018 00:23 (six years ago) link
Another Mantler: MANY HAVE NO SPEECH WATT/19
words by Samuel Beckett Ernst Meister Philippe Soupault
Jack Bruce (voice) Marianne Faithfull (voice) Robert Wyatt (voice)
Michael Mantler (trumpet) Rick Fenn (guitar)
The Danish Radio Concert Orchestra conducted by Peder Kragerup
recorded May through December 1987 Copenhagen, London, Boston, Willow, NY 27 songs in 34 minutes: no sense of fragmentation, maybe in because I'm not following the words very closely, but on his site Mantler says they were chosen to fit together in several ways, and sonically they ripple back and forth (while somehow pushing on), between three languages and at least five voices, if you count the trumpet and guitar (singing behind/around the humans, never in the way), sixth is the orchestra far as I'm concerned, though it's never breathing too heavy.
Thread police may get me, because humans are heard pretty much in the order of their billing, I think, though some of these songs are just a few seconds long, and all three sound more flexible than expected.
But, for instance, "A L'Abattoir" will def make my personal travelling mix of RW, ditto "Prisonniers," which is either Wyatt and Bruce or Wyatt and Faithfull, or (more likely) Wyatt and Wyatt in different registers, maybe singing to each other through the wall (not too loud).
Pretty sure I would have liked all of this on first listen with no idea who did it.
― dow, Tuesday, 22 May 2018 04:31 (six years ago) link
"ILM Threads that need a NO CAUSE FOR ALARM warning when they are revived"
― mahb, Tuesday, 22 May 2018 08:33 (six years ago) link
The Hapless Child is pretty awesome and sui generis though i have kind of sited it in my head next to Art Bears
― cheese is the teacher, ham is the preacher (Jon not Jon), Tuesday, 22 May 2018 14:59 (six years ago) link
xp yes, seriously
most of my love for Hapless Child is cuz of Gorey, it's a bit too fussy and prog for me but it's a very cool record regardless and essential for even semi-completists
― sleeve, Tuesday, 22 May 2018 15:10 (six years ago) link
― mahb, Tuesday, 22 May 2018 08:33 (six hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
Arr, but then again, I think our Rob would go straight to a dedicated RWRIP thread if there ever was one.
― Mark G, Tuesday, 22 May 2018 15:27 (six years ago) link
Really feeling The Hapless Child. Carla is a superstar on this.
― kurt schwitterz, Tuesday, 22 May 2018 16:33 (six years ago) link
Mantler's The School of Understanding (recorded in 1996) mainly features Wyatt on "Understanding," where he's the Guest Observer, riding into a language school on what might be a baby elephant or lofty llama, but is listed as Don Preston's syndrums, which I'd thought only made little pooty sounds, so even more education. Too baToo bad Wyatt and the syndrums only come in once, but the whole thing's pretty listenable; I especially like when other voices address the refugee student. Woman: "You are a victim, you have suffered so much---you must go." A guy: "What you have suffered is inconceivable." Meanwhile, Alien Girl remembers: "Don't think about it, go to work..it's a long walk through the war, bits and pieces." (Mantler wrote all the words for once, so far turning out at least as well as settings for his literary heroes.)
Digital drums appear once on Mantler's 2000 settings of Paul Auster's words,Hide and Seek (though tuned percussion brings constant and welcome companionship to co-stars RW and Susi Hyldgaard, compatible with Wyatt's own turns on xpost Silence---come to think of it, Preston's syndrums fit the feel of Wyatt's real kit of yore. This anomalous sound may be what's alarming the couple---he: "Have you, no-oh-ticed---?" she: "Yes! Yes! Yes!" "Have you any ideas?" "Yes, I'm going to scream." "When are you going to do it?" "Right Now!"That's when the whole thing bumps up the word interest, which had previously been mostly Deep Thought mulch for granular melody and rhythm, vocal and instrumental. The final stretch develops circular and spiraling conversations (briefly) from repeated phrases---he: "I don't denyyy..." she: "What?" "Anything." "That's very clever of you." "I'm glad we agree." together/overlapping "I'm glad you're glad." Ho-ho well it sounds good, and yeah several more keepers for the deep fan mix.
― dow, Wednesday, 23 May 2018 19:03 (six years ago) link
So this popped up as a new release today.
https://open.spotify.com/album/1coZVDci03VoLGBtWzwjxS?si=8u8iWq8xSpaSnY6BZ7shaA
― sctttnnnt (pgwp), Saturday, 23 March 2019 01:28 (five years ago) link
Audience Recording of the North Sea Radio Orchestra show with John Greaves and Annie Barbazza and Fred Frith as special guests At Cafe Oto 27 June 2019, presenting the Dark Companion album FOLLY BOLOLEY - Songs from Robert Wyatt's Rock Bottom. (plus other songs)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tt18LIAGNys&fbclid=IwAR22tc5DlrxwIqCRao9Ewkcb0zvCTk-hrEuK6UD4UMSkW66dPokmT7kizig
― nickn, Friday, 5 July 2019 22:10 (five years ago) link
Oh well, search for Folly Bololey At Cafe Oto 27 June 2019
― nickn, Friday, 5 July 2019 22:11 (five years ago) link
i'm not usually into these kinda things but this is really good https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CS1SPrwOv4
― diamonddave85 (diamonddave85), Monday, 8 July 2019 19:53 (five years ago) link
live recording is great too. thanks for sharing