ROBERT WYATT

Track 1 - Sea Song

A moderately slow tempo with wind instruments and piano ushers in Wyatt's vocals. There are polyrhythms in the piano part following the first verse. A bit of dissonance in the backing synth part. While an interesting listen, the song never seems to "take off."

Track 2 - A Last Straw

This one seems to have a bit more rhythm to it. There is a subtle drum part. I like the "scat singing" section. Wyatt has a pretty impressive vocal range. Apparently, Wyatt is playing the slide guitar parts on this song. I like how the piano and guitar seem to be chasing each other on the fade out.

Track 3 - Little Red Riding Hood Hit the Road

We begin with a horn section and percussion & piano providing rhythm underneath. The piano and bass provide the chord changes over the cacophony of horns. Wyatt's vocals start with "aahhhhs" then he begins singing lyrics. The vocals are then a reverse recording. This seems to be a very "experimental" album. The vocal part seems to be alternating between reverse and normal. Then there seems to be a conversation, but I can't quite make it out. I like the bass line that takes shape near the end. The cacophony of horns seems to continue throughout.

Track 4 - Alfib

A gentle rhythm is played on the bass with sustained keyboards over top. A melody is played over everything on what sounds like a jazzy guitar. Vocals join a bit over halfway along. He is singing about "Alfib my lover".

Track 5 - Alife

(AKA Alifie, which is what the song is copyrighted as. The title was misprinted as the other spelling. Different editions of the album have it one way, while others have it the second way).

It begins as a continuation of track 4, however, then drums join in and chords change. More backward recorded vocals. This album keeps getting more and more "out there". Random saxophone squawks along with the bizarre vocals. This is chaotic. Some dialog samples include "What's a Bologna?" and other random *phrases".

Track 6 - Little Red Robin Hood Hit the Road

We have an actual melody, and a marching snare beat with a sustained mellotron behind it. This one actually gives me slight Moody Blues meets King Crimson vibes. Mike Oldfield provides guitar lines here. At around 2:50 the sounds that were playing fade out and a viola, played by Fred Frith, takes over. Lower register vocals enter. Not sure what they are on about though. Something about eating lunch and a hedgehog. A crazy laugh closes things out.

OVERALL IMPRESSIONS:

WTF did i just listen to? I am very disappointed. The backstory of the album is indeed inspiring, but the "music" did NOTHING for me. How is this album even on this countdown, let alone ranked above some over the absolutely brilliant albums we have already had? I really was optimistic going into this that I'd really enjoy it, but I really didn't. 1 out of 5 stars.

A strange record from a strange man, but Wyatt has this odd ability to be totally compelling with his strangeness, even when writing about sleep. I hear a lot of Richard Dawson in this, and I have no doubts that a lot of his idiosyncrasies are influenced by Mr Wyatt, particularly in the incorporation of atonal avant-folk in to otherwise straightforward songs. There's nothing here that stands out to me as being exceptional, but it flows by without making much noise and occasionally will bring out a section that really sounds unlike anything else, particularly in the scene of prog rock greats making albums in the 90s. You could even call parts of this post-rock, with its minimalist intricacies calling to mind Bark Psychosis and Talk Talk far more than the 70s prog greats. I don't think I'll ever totally love a Wyatt album, but I'm glad he exists, because he's strange, and we need more strange.

6.5 (5th listen)

Part of my listening diary from my facebook music blog - www.facebook.com/TheExoskeletalJunction

Robert Wyatt was always fond of the ep format, and this 20 minute curio would fit nicely into an updated version of his eps box set. The 5 tracks were recorded at on a 4 track at home in 1992 and were released in the gap between Dondestan and Shleep. The 5 pieces are built around piano and mostly wordless vocals, with cymbals, keyboards and rudimentary percussion giving some added texture. Musically it has more in common with Old Rottenhat and Dondestan than the albums from Shleep onwards, but it's also of a piece with the 1981 Radio Experiment and End of an Ear. For the most part it feels like demos that are waiting for some lyrics and further instrumental contributions (apart from the closing track, Unmasked) but Robert Wyatt is an artist whose musical sketches are still worth a listen.

It's pleasant background for a cup of tea on a wet Wednesday afternoon, but distinctly non essential. If you're a Robert Wyatt aficionado it's worth picking up (the CD has some childhood photos and a short essay by the man himself); if you're new to the wheelchairman, start with Rock Bottom or Shleep.

I have two problems with Old Rottenhat, and the first is that I just don't think the lyrics on it are very good. This has nothing to do with the political beliefs expressed in them, most of which I actually find agreeable, but rather with the fact that they read like dry manifestos rather than song lyrics. There's not much poetic flair to them and sometimes a mere glance at the song title suffices to get the gist of it. I mean, I get it: when you want your message to reach as many people as possible, you don't want to muddy the meaning of your words with metaphors, symbolisms and other things that'll only confuse it, but nothing on the album feels particularly rousing either, especially when combined with the music, which consistently sounds like a moody dirge, but in a child-like and overall very shy manner; not something that conveys urgency.

Worse, the songs are forgettable (with the possible exception of Gharbzadegi, which at least has a riff) and the album as a whole is dreadfully monotonous: Wyatt uses the same organ tone on every song (again except for Gharbzadegi, which is piano-based), along with either a drum machine or some light percussion, usually in a slow waltz-like tempo. It all just gets very predictable after a while.

I suppose that this might be of value if you're as convinced a leftist as Mr. Wyatt, but even then I can't imagine someone like that gaining any real insight through this; at best it might bolster beliefs they already have. I don't want to give it too low a rating because I personally have found some slight use in it as pleasant background music: Wyatt's voice soothes my head and I can't deny that there's a cuteness in the particular organ tone he overuses here, but as anything more than that, I can't but see this album as a failure. I mean really, isn't "pleasant background music" the worst possible label you could attach to a revolutionary political statement?

The flaw is the at every songs instrumentation is the same. Organ drone + hi hats. This makes the songs sound the same and the album quite dull. Additionally, the songs do not contain instrumental sections, averaging out to around 4~ minutes of singing.

The positive is that Wyatts vocals are great. He sounds inoffensive, clear and the melodies never head towards awful.

Overall the album is pretty average in Roberts discography and marks a change towards more vocal based songs that would dominate the mans careers later years. If you like Robert Wyatt/The Canterbury Scene then definitely check this album out, after others first though.

Sea Song kicks things off in an utterly perfect way with its short but perfect intro. Layers of keyboards come in, blanketing everything in this sense of melancholy, yet with some serious beauty to it as well. What makes this work so well is how quickly these layered chords fall into an uncanny sense of dissonance, seemingly revealing the true nature of the emotions behind the song. Every other aspect of the song follows this pattern as well, with the vocal melody phasing in and out, sometimes being quite sad and charming, but not often for long before it almost diverts into a sense of semi-mindless rambling. As the end of the song approaches, I feel like its outro best encapsulates everything the song stands for, with its breathtaking atmosphere as Wyatt meekly sings, at first seeming like a hint of underlying optimism showing itself, but before long, it all sounds strained, as if it's all a facade that's slowly falling apart by the time it reaches the end. A Last Straw is the one moment in the album that I'd potentially consider a weak link in this album, though with that said, it's still a great song. It is quite interesting listening to the way all the instrumentation seems to mimic the ebb and flow of the sea, and while it feels a bit aimless at points, the aquatic atmosphere feels undeniably cool and ends up culminating in an interesting listening experience regardless of it not quite living up to the tremendously incredible nature of the rest of this.

It's once Little Red Riding Hood Hit the Road comes on that things get really interesting here however, not really because of any individual song, but the entire last two thirds of the album and how it works as a whole. This aforementioned track definitely sets the stage well however, with a much faster pace behind it that sounds rather frantic, as if some sort of awful event occurred and there's an immediate and overwhelming sense of panic and regret that just washes over. While in the lyrics it seems to be talking about hitting a hedgehog with a car, the emotions conveyed here could easily be interpreted as relating to Wyatt's serious injury and the world of change it brought forth for him. It almost feels as if the song as a whole just represents this state of shock, with the sound of remorse running through, the way the audio plays backwards at one point, and especially that end monologue. This part both feels crazed and desperate, as if someone is trying to helplessly convince themselves that everything is fine and will continue being final even when deep down they believe otherwise. This sense of sadness continues strongly into the next song, Alifib, which yet again has its own intriguing appeal to it. After a few minutes of quiet, atmospheric instrumental material, the real song kicks off, and immediately bowls you over with a profoundly melancholic tune. What truly makes this song stand out is the way it manages to sound so moving and sombre while having lyrics that are blatantly nonsensical. Nothing explicitly says anything in this song, and yet, it still ends up being so emotionally powerful. This one's probably my favourite on the album, so much is said with so little, the emotions ring so true despite from just the delivery alone.

Alife is where the really unique and clever stuff comes in, definitely the point where things truly start to feel outright genius as it ties a lot of stuff together in a satisfying manner. This song essentially recontextualises the previous one while retaining a lot of the same elements. Despite keeping the same general lyricism, with many of the same lines being repeated word for word, rather than using them to create a sense of quiet sadness, this ends up sounding insanely eerie and even a bit menacing. The dissonant instrumentation is undeniably a big part in this, with the steady percussion remaining constant as everything surrounding it goes all over the place while still sounding tied to that nonstop beat. The vocal delivery yet again goes a long way in setting the tone as well, with the repeated short phrases without even an ettempt of creating a melody sounding almost broken, just repeating things over and over. It also feels as if the lyricism here further contributes to this sense of uncanny strangeness, with the Spike Milligan-esque vocabulary being that final aspect that adds to the surreal, twisted genius of this song. Little Red Robin Hood Hit the Road closes things off perfectly, taking similar themes from its similarly named counterpart, but yet again putting a completely different spin on it. The track sounds confrontational, repeating "can't you see them" as if it's forcing someone to come to terms with some sort of awful event, to finally stare it right in the face and accept. Given the amount of sombre material throughout everything here, I think ending it on this sort of note is a great move, gives things a cautiously optimistic note to end things on rather than everything feeling like an exercise in wallowing. That last monologue especially brings forth a strong sense of finality, with the beautiful and droning instrumentation complementing it, together making for a nice playout for the entire album.

Overall, I really do consider this to be the finest progressive rock albums I've heard at this point. So much emotion is brought forward in every moment, with a lot of complexity coming from these emotions as well. While the instrumentation itself often has some really impressive individual moments, it's the atmosphere it conjured that's the true star of the show. Along with the way it works with the vocals to provide a range of modes and tones, it's those moments where the feel of a song is ever so slightly shifted from moment to moment to create a world of difference in everything it conveys that form the strong backbone of Rock Bottom. Robert Wyatt really did make a masterpiece here, not only a masterpiece, but one that manages to feel quite unlike anything I've heard in the genre, and I consider that to be insanely impressive as well.

Best tracks: Sea Song, Alifib, Alife

Weakest tracks: A Last Straw

I learned only now by googling that 'At Last I Am Free' was originally recorded in 1978 by the pop group called Chic. Truth to be told, I always imagined the song to be Wyatt's own, since his version is so heartfelt and charming. Without a doubt Chic's version is radically different, but Wyatt really translated the song into his own unique style. The tempo is very relaxed and the spacey sound has jazzy elegance. Piano is played by Frank Roberts and double bass by Mogotsi Mothle (never heard of them). It's a very nice and dreamy song to my ears, but if you're not that much into slow and calm vocal music, you may get bored by it.

'Strange Fruit' is an older and notably more famous song. The shocking, metaphorical lyrics originated as a poem ('Bitter Fruit') published in January 1937 in "The New York Teacher" union magazine, written by Jewish-American writer, teacher and songwriter Abel Meeropol under his pseudonym Lewis Allan. The poem was a protest against lynchings of black people. Sometime later Meeropool wrote the music to his poem, and the song was at first performed by his wife. Someone introduced 'Strange Fruit' to the legendary jazz vocalist Billie Holiday who performed the song for the first time at Café Society in 1939. The song soon became one of Lady Day's best known numbers. It's indeed a song to give shivers down the spine, mainly due to the strong lyrics. Robert Wyatt cannot compete with Billie Holiday as a performer of this song, but he does a decent job with a ripped down arrangement.

On 1 June 1973 Robert Wyatt fell out from a window at a birthday party and was paralyzed from the waist down. It was the end of the Matching Mole band project, but a beginning of a new phase. The much praised album Rock Bottom (released in June 1974) shows that Wyatt re-invented himself as a musician and songwriter. Two months later he released this single. Electric guitar and violin on both songs are played by Fred Frith (Henry Cow). Wyatt plays keyboards, and on bass is Richard Sinclair (Caravan, Hatfield and the North).

'I'm a Believer' is a song written by Neil Diamond and it was a No. 1 hit for The Monkees in 1966. Wyatt's version, produced by drummer Nick Mason of Pink Floyd, reached No. 29 in the UK chart. The lively version is both faithful enough in the spirit to the original and truly Wyatt's and his backing band's own interpretetation. It also features Dave MacRae (Nucleus) on piano.

'Memories' was written by bassist Hugh Hopper in the mid-60's for The Wilde Flowers, the proto band of the whole Canterbury scene; Soft Machine and Caravan were founded on its ashes. I'm not familiar with other versions (including one by Soft Machine) of this song, but Wyatt's slow version is beautiful. Frith's violin is a wonderful additional element in it. Happily I now realize that I've heard a fairly good live version of 'Memories' in a private prog mini festival with my friends a few years ago (and I also have the gig taped and burnt on a cd-r).

This is an excellent individual single. Both songs were ten years later contained on a 4-track ep, and therfore are included also in Wyatt's 2-disc compilation album Eps (1999).

By this time WYATT's vocal oriented musical ideas were becoming increasing rejected as Mike Ratledge, Hugh Hopper and Elton Dean were making a beeline to the world of instrumental extremism with no time for the cute, cuddly melodies of the psychedelic pop past. This obviously caused great friction in the band and although WYATT's inevitable exit from the Softs would occur in only a year's time, in 1970 when 'Third' was released WYATT decided to use some of the rejected ideas and craft his own bizarre amalgamation of avant-garde jazz rock which surprisingly were unlike anything he would release in later years. The album made the perfect counterpart to what the Softs released the same. year.

THE END OF AN EAR is WYATT's debut as a solo artist and the only one in his canon before his horrible accident that ended his drumming career and left him a paraplegic. This album therefore is unlike anything that came after and in reality is the bridge between the avant-skronk proggy jazz-rock of 'Third' and WYATT's soon-to-be band Matching Mole which would find the lyric based vocal aspect in his writing again. Being somewhat of anomaly, THE END OF AN EAR is an exercise in free jazz mixed with heavy psychedelic organ sounds, hi-jazz piano techniques and progressive rock heft along with a wide variety of electronic accoutrements, sound techniques and freaked out esoterica. Vocals do occur but when they do they are wordless and provide bizarre rhythmic counterpoints to the incessant flow of avant-garde freakery.

While the music itself is calibrated to some weird parallel universe where customary conventions are far from the norm, the Canterbury whimsy shines through in the playful antics as well as the interesting track titles that refer to various Canterbury stalwarts such as Daevid Allen, Gilli Smyth, Nick Evans, Caravan, Jimmy Hastings, Kevin Ayers as well as others like Carla Bley, Marsha Hunt, Caroline Coon and WYATT's own half brother Mark Ellidge. Considered on his strangest solo offerings, THE END OF AN EAR takes on many familiar styles of music but finds them collaborating them in strange ways. Jazzy McCoy Tyner piano runs that spastically turn into demented Cecil Taylor bizarreness are accompanied by eerily hypnotic bass grooves, ethereal female vocals, atonal squawks from the cornet, saxophone and saxello along with various percussive noises dish up a strange interesting procession of sounds that take the most psychedelic features of the 60s and marry them with the demanding jazz techniques of the avant-garde free jazz crowd.

Despite the jazz and rock experiments, THE END OF AN EAR ultimately comes off a very transcendental hypnotic album takes all the rules of the prog and jazz playbooks and throw them out the window in lieu of a more uniform flow of sound that slowly unfolds with more sounds slowly accruing onto a glob of musical counterpoints. This one will come as a true surprise for anyone who has only experienced ROBERT WYATT's works from 'Rock Bottom' on but the unique delivery of different styles all mixed up in the most deliciously avant-garde methodologies is what makes this one so utterly addicting as it literally sounds like nothing else ever created.

While this one may come off as too weird for many, this is the kind of music avant-garde dreams are made of. The music is simultaneously mellow and soothing while offering some of the most unexpected hairpin turns of weirdness in all of Canterbury. This one may be the odd album out of the WYATT discography but is by no means one that should be missed. It really comes off as an early free form organic version of downtempo as the beats are steady and deliberate while the accompanying contrapuntal elements of piano, horns and percussion literally exist on separate plains of reality but somehow collude to craft a bizarre amalgamation that works quite well. Devoid of the emotional heart-wrenching subject matter of the future, THE END OF AN EAR is nevertheless a really brilliant album simply to get lost within its magnificent charm.