DONDESTAN

Robert Wyatt followed up the Casio-tastic Old Rottenhat with one of his strangest albums, which emerged first in 1991 in a somewhat rushed mix due to running out of time and recording budget. Later, thanks in part to the success of Shleep, a new remix of the album would emerge entitled Dondestan Revisited, which teases out the subtleties of the compositions. Like Old Rottenhat, it's a multi-instrumentalist effort with strongly politicised lyrics and more than a touch of free jazz influence here and there, and I certainly wouldn't recommend it to anyone new to Wyatt's discography (especially when the gorgeous Rock Bottom is such a brilliant starting point). At the same time, it builds on the quirky foundations of its predecessor admirably and is an intriguing experiment in its own right.