http://www.dominorecordco.com/site/resources/images/robatt/robatt_pre_6.jpg
On October 8, 2007 Robert Wyatt is to release his new album and first for Domino.
Comicopera, the 16 track album, will be available on both CD and double vinyl formats. It was produced by Robert himself, and recorded at his home in Louth as well as Phil Manzanera's Gallery Studio.
Comicopera is divided into three Acts: 'Lost in Noise,' 'The Here and The Now,' and 'Away with the Fairies' and is initially more diverse and live sounding than its predecessor Cuckooland. Featuring a host of musicians including Brian Eno, Paul Weller and Phil Manzanera, Robert says he was keen for the album to capture the sound of a group of musicians playing in the room together, but more importantly to have friends playing together. "Music isn't just an abstract pleasure, it is a company, when you play a record. Why I like Duke Ellington and Charles Mingus, the Big Bands - is because every character in the band is identifiable as that person - there's this group of humans in a room" he says. It is this that gives Comicopera a sense of spontaneity, despite it's deliberate pacing and construction as something of a three Act 'Opera'.
http://www.dominorecordco.com/site/resources/images/robatt/robatt_pre_1.jpg
my review: I've been waiting for this album since I first found out about it when I was searching through his forum on the internet (I'M A BIG FAN). Naturally, I'm probably the first on ILX to hear it. 62 years old and Robert Wyatt's multi-harmonic recordings makes animal collective look like childish noodling. This is sort of a dreamy jazz pop album. I hesitate to say pop but it is real easy to pick up and enjoy on the first listen. Comicopera isn't adult-alternative in the sense that it isn't bland or coldplayish. His voice sounds like it always did. No complaints there. I give the album an 'A'. Seek it out and tell me what you think.
― CaptainLorax, Friday, 31 August 2007 04:02 (eighteen years ago)
i heard it too it leaked earlier this week. its awesome.
― chaki, Friday, 31 August 2007 04:19 (eighteen years ago)
it's defintiely the best of the past 3. live band sound, terrific melodies and a downbeat aura.
― nonightsweats, Friday, 31 August 2007 07:32 (eighteen years ago)
Better than Cuckooland? I'll have to check this out then. He has such a beautiful voice.
― The Brainwasher, Friday, 31 August 2007 07:39 (eighteen years ago)
Naturally, I'm probably the first on ILX to hear it. Naturally, I'm probably the first on ILX to hear it. Naturally, I'm probably the first on ILX to hear it. Naturally, I'm probably the first on ILX to hear it. Naturally, I'm probably the first on ILX to hear it. Naturally, I'm probably the first on ILX to hear it. Naturally, I'm probably the first on ILX to hear it. Naturally, I'm probably the first on ILX to hear it.
― jaxon, Saturday, 1 September 2007 04:10 (eighteen years ago)
hehe just listen anyways im sorry if I was being an asshole
― CaptainLorax, Saturday, 1 September 2007 09:02 (eighteen years ago)
makes animal collective look like childish noodling
this is like saying 'makes a chair look like something to sit on'
― If Assholes Could Fly This Place Would Be An Airport, Saturday, 1 September 2007 18:56 (eighteen years ago)
Better than Cuckooland? YES
― chaki, Friday, 21 September 2007 22:37 (eighteen years ago)
dag i'm stoaked for this...is this coming out on vinyl?
― M@tt He1ges0n, Friday, 21 September 2007 22:40 (eighteen years ago)
I think this is maybe his best album since Rock Bottom. And that's one of my favourite albums ever.
Yes, it'll be out on vinyl. Domino has a preorder now, LP for £10.99 and CD for £8.99.
― Merdeyeux, Friday, 21 September 2007 22:47 (eighteen years ago)
awesome!
― M@tt He1ges0n, Friday, 21 September 2007 22:51 (eighteen years ago)
xpost -- awesome indeed!
― Naive Teen Idol, Friday, 21 September 2007 23:05 (eighteen years ago)
Heh. I got a promo for this and really liked it, but my current employers had absolutely no interest in running a review.
― I eat cannibals, Friday, 21 September 2007 23:39 (eighteen years ago)
opening track is a cover of my 2nd favorite Anja Garbarek song
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_im_mDCtO8
― Milton Parker, Friday, 21 September 2007 23:56 (eighteen years ago)
hmm wish I had watched that video before posting it. not a terrible video but song is much more interesting without it
― Milton Parker, Friday, 21 September 2007 23:57 (eighteen years ago)
Where's the album posted?
― dow, Saturday, 22 September 2007 01:07 (eighteen years ago)
excited about vinyl
― sleeve, Saturday, 22 September 2007 01:08 (eighteen years ago)
it really is great. way better than the last one, but i wouldn't say it's the next best besides rock bottom. that's skipping tons of great albums. old rottenhat and schleep are near perfect for me (might be because they were the first 2 of his i heard)
― jaxon, Saturday, 22 September 2007 19:46 (eighteen years ago)
cuckooland was pretty great as well
― CaptainLorax, Saturday, 22 September 2007 20:02 (eighteen years ago)
just in case anyone was wondering:
ROBERT WYATT - Comicopera
ACT ONE Lost in Noise
1 Stay Tuned (Anja Garbarek) 3.49 Robert Wyatt voice, piano, percussion, trumpet Brian Eno keyboard, effects Seaming To voice, clarinet Annie Whitehead trombone Yaron Stavi bass violin (Copyright Control)
2 Just as You Are (Benge, Wyatt) 4.21 Robert Wyatt voice, piano, percussion, cornet Monica Vasconcelos voice Paul Weller guitar Yaron Stavi bass violin (Domino)
3 You You (Benge ,Wyatt) 4.22 Robert Wyatt voice, keyboard, cornet Gilad Atzmon saxophones, clarinet Annie Whitehead trombone Jamie Johnson bass guitar (Domino)
4 A.W.O.L (Benge, Wyatt) 2.56 Robert Wyatt voice, old metronome, trumpet David Sinclair piano Annie Whitehead baritone horn Yaron Stavi bass violin (Domino)
5 Anachronist (Wyatt) 3.28 Robert Wyatt voice, keyboard, cornet, percussion Gilad Atzmon saxophones Annie Whitehead trombone Yaron Stavi bass violin (Domino)
ACT TWO The Here and The Now
'6 A Beautiful Peace (Wyatt, Eno) 2.27 Robert Wyatt voice, guitar Phil Manzanera guitar Yaron Stavi bass violin (Domino/Opal)
7 Be Serious (Wyatt) 2.56 Robert Wyatt voice, percussion Paul Weller guitar Yaron Stavi bass violin (Domino)
8 On the Town Square (Wyatt) 5.26 Robert Wyatt keyboard, percussion, cornet Del Bartle guitar Gilad Atzmon tenor saxophone Orphy Robinson steel pan (Domino)
9 Mob Rule (Wyatt) 2.16 Robert Wyatt voice, keyboard Yaron Stavi bass violin (Domino)
10 A Beautiful War (Wyatt, Eno) 2.40 Robert Wyatt voice, piano, percussion, karenotron (i.e voice of Karen Mantler) (Domino/Opal)
11 Out of the Blue (Benge, Wyatt) 3.41 Robert Wyatt voice, keyboard, enotron (i.e voice of Brian Eno) Alfie Benge voice Brian Eno keyboard bass. Beverley Chadwick baritone saxophone Annie Whitehead trombone Yaron Stavi bass violin (Domino)
ACT THREE Away with the Fairies
12 Del Mondo (Ferretti, Zamboni, Maroccolo, Magnelli, Canali) 3.29 Robert Wyatt voice, keyboard Yaron Stavi bass violin (Polygram Italia SRL)
13 Cancion de Julieta (Garcia Lorca, Wyatt) 7.32 Robert Wyatt voice, keyboard, pocket trumpet, percussion Chucho Merchan bass violin (Herederos de Federico Garcia Lorca/ Domino)
14 Pastafari (Orphy Robinson) 4.37 Robert Wyatt, Jamie Johnson electrical interference Orphy Robinson vibraphone (Oraphica)
15 Fragment (Benge, Wyatt) 1.38 Robert Wyatt keyboard, percussion Monica Vasconcelos voice (Domino)
16 Hasta Siempre Comandante (Carlos Puebla) 4.37 Robert Wyatt voice, monicatron, karenontron, (i.e voices of Karen Mantler and Monica Vasconcelos) Maurizio Camardi saxophones Alfonso Santimone piano, keyboards Alessandro Fedrigo bass guitar Paolo Vidaich percussion Gianni Bertoncini drums (Editora Musical de Cuba)) Recorded at home in Louth and Phil Manzanera's Gallery Studio (except Track 16, instruments recorded at Movin'Studio, Padua) Engineered by Jamie Johnson with help from Mark McCarthy (except tracks 13, vocals on Track 16 by Charles Rees, and instruments on Track 16 by Piero Bolzan)
Mixed by Jamie Johnson Produced by Robert Wyatt
― chaki, Tuesday, 25 September 2007 16:12 (eighteen years ago)
Nice interview with Wyatt in which I learned that he'd played on Another Green World as well as improvising the piano lines on Music for Airports
― Brakhage, Tuesday, 25 September 2007 18:04 (eighteen years ago)
the David Toop-conducted interview in the new Wire is excellent too.
― Merdeyeux, Tuesday, 25 September 2007 20:44 (eighteen years ago)
the wire interview was very good.
picked up the vinyl yesterday, what a gorgeous record. i love wyatt so much.
― M@tt He1ges0n, Thursday, 15 November 2007 17:05 (eighteen years ago)
Yeah, I love it. It'll surely make my top ten.
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Thursday, 15 November 2007 17:06 (eighteen years ago)
he's so special to me. all his records sound like their own little worlds to me, they seem out of time no matter what year they are from.
― M@tt He1ges0n, Thursday, 15 November 2007 17:12 (eighteen years ago)
Just as You Are and Beautiful Place are incredible, incredible.
Early on the lyrics seemed sort of cliched but the music transcended them. Through the album the lyrics get better and better. The music is beautiful throughout. It's like nothing I've ever heard.
― filthy dylan, Thursday, 15 November 2007 21:28 (eighteen years ago)
that Eno song ("Out of the Blue," is it?) is buildings collapsing, air thick with dust and the aroma of charred bones, and a thistle growing through the wreckage.
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Thursday, 15 November 2007 21:30 (eighteen years ago)
Love this album!
― Tim F, Friday, 16 November 2007 01:50 (eighteen years ago)
I ENDORSE!
― W4LTER, Friday, 16 November 2007 01:54 (eighteen years ago)
I am totally buying this on vinyl this weekend. Thanks for reminding me, ILM!
― sleeve, Friday, 16 November 2007 02:51 (eighteen years ago)
Sounds like I need to go pick this one up tomorrow.
― three handclaps, Friday, 16 November 2007 03:08 (eighteen years ago)
album of the year?
"A Beautiful War" is really the highlight for me right now, but all the other ones mentioned are right up there as well. Maybe six listens in and I'm totally hooked. All of the little backing vocal flourishes everywhere give glorious depth to the sound.
― sleeve, Saturday, 15 December 2007 19:22 (eighteen years ago)
im sorta obsessed with "On the Town Square"---i keep searching for that vibe and particular array of instruments!
― ryan, Friday, 2 January 2009 07:58 (seventeen years ago)
new record out this week (month?) with hot chip, how do we feel about this
― thomp, Friday, 2 January 2009 09:47 (seventeen years ago)