Robert Wyatt

July 25, 1974 at PDT

Rock Bottom

Robert Wyatt had been an integral member of the Soft Machine, Canterbury, England’s greatest art-rock band. Where other art-rockers looked to wild theatrics and grandiose concepts, the Soft Machine plunged ahead into their uncompromising music. This brilliant solo album was being written before Wyatt fell from a five-story window and broke his spine. He finished it in the hospital, realizing that the album would have much less of his drumming and far more of his gentle, emotionally compelling voice. The arrangements are delicate and often sparse. His bride-to-be Alfreda Benge helped inspire him to new levels of personal introspection that still play out as complex puzzles. “Sea Song” is a perfect opener, settling into a melody that slips around the modest keyboards. “A Last Straw” begins as an atmospheric piece before breaking into cherubic vocals. “Little Red Riding Hood Hit the Road” is psychedelic with a tough, acid edge. “Alifib” is a soothing match of instrumental weirdness and mild, heart-melting vocals.  Wyatt remains a relative obscurity in the U.S., despite his massive talents.

6 Tracks

October 31, 1997 at PST

Shleep

Robert Wyatt knows how to make wonderful albums all by his lonesome — Old Rottenhat and Dondestan are proof of that — but on Shleep, he invited a motley crew of collaborators to contribute. The varied and stellar cast includes avant-pop wizard Brian Eno, British free-jazz legend Evan Parker, Belgian guitarist Philip Catherine, ex-Jam frontman Paul Weller, Roxy Music guitar-slinger Phil Manzanera, and others. Shleep kicks off with the sprightly “Heaps of Sheeps,” which Wyatt co-wrote with Eno, and the track betrays a Before and After Science vibe as well as Wyatt’s unmistakable touch. “The Duchess” is the sort of psychedelic jazz Wyatt has been recording since his days as a member of the ‘60s British jazz-rock group the Soft Machine. The track displays his flair for dada nursery rhyme-type wordplay: “She never lies, but then again / she lies down all day long.” On “Blues in Bob Minor,” a word-jammed homage to Dylan, Wyatt lets loose a torrent of fractured lines that echo the American singer’s vocal phrasing. The song is a nice nod from one unique artist to another.

11 Tracks

December 31, 1984 at PST

Old Rottenhat

Robert Wyatt had often planted his tongue in cheek with the Soft Machine and his group Matching Mole, but as his solo work went into the ‘80s, his interests turned intensely political and serious. Not many singer-songwriters name-check Noam Chomsky in song, but Wyatt manages it in the opening cut, “Alliance,” of this 1986 solo album. Concerned with the exploitation of the poor and the death toll in “East Timor,” Wyatt uses his own dark keyboard chords and ominous synth lines to call out for greater justice. Musically, there are many quirks. “The United States of Amnesia” features a whistling solo amongst it high-tech songs (for the ‘80s, that is). “Speechless” is an instrumental that nearly plunges off the road in certain spots. “The Age of Self” adds a gravity-filled attempt at funk, complete with backing vocals. A delightfully weird album, Old Rottenhat stands on its own as a singularly strange musical piece tied together with Wyatt’s stunning voice.

10 Tracks

February 8, 1999 at PST

EPs

These nineteen tracks come from five EPs that cover various periods in Robert Wyatt’s long and creatively unpredictable career. They’re singles, B-sides, live cuts, alternate takes and remixes. In some ways, it makes for Wyatt’s most accessible album. His pop instincts are close to the surface. His take on the Monkees hit, here as an unreleased, extended version of “I’m a Believer,” the luminous beauty of Peter Gabriel’s “Biko” and his impressive cover of Elvis Costello’s “Shipbuilding” are remarkably listener-friendly for a man who often prided his work for its unusual approaches and emphasis on jazz-rock stylings. Chris Andrews’ “Yesterday Man,” Thelonious Monk’s “Round Midnight” and Eubie Blake’s “Memories of You” show Wyatt’s further talents as a grand interpreter. “The Animals’ Farm” is a twenty-minute piece of music that served as the soundtrack to Victor Schonfeld’s 1982 film. The final four tracks are remixes from Wyatt’s album Shleep, worked out by Nigel Butler and Angie Dial from unfinished tapes. This is a great mop-up of rare and alternate tracks, as essential as any Robert Wyatt album.

19 Tracks

May 29, 1975 at PDT

Ruth Is Stranger Than Richard

The Soft Machine’s Robert Wyatt was determined to create a solo career as abstract and fanciful as his experimental days in the group. His unconventional melodic sense combined with his desire to work with unorthodox musicians such as Fred Frith and Gary Windo practically guaranteed that he would create compositions that swung far from pop music into the no-man’s-land of art song and jazz-rock. Ruth Is Stranger Than Richard is the follow-up to Rock Bottom, an album that suggested great personal struggle as Wyatt adapted to life in a wheelchair after a multiple-story fall that broke his spine. Many of the tracks here are earlier tunes that Wyatt polished off for popular consumption. “Solar Flares” adds a keyboard choir that meshes with the voices that sound as if they were coming from inside Wyatt’s head. “5 Black Notes and 1 White Note” wanders like a somber march through the barren winter woods. Charlie Haden’s “Song For Che” ends things on an elegiac note.

9 Tracks

December 7, 2014 at PST

Different Every Time

29 Tracks

October 4, 2004 at PDT

His Greatest Misses

17 Tracks

December 31, 1997 at PST

Dondestan (Revisited)

Released in a rush the first time out, Dondestan was given second life with a leisurely remix, hence “Revisited,” where Wyatt could point out the sights and punch up the highlights in this ethereal nightmare. Where most music that centers around lush keyboards usually results in a soothing exercise, Wyatt is too alive with counterpoint and political and surrealist concerns to lets things flow so easily. His wife, Alfreda Benge, has her poetry put to Wyatt’s music and the result is even more abstract than usual. Calling this rock, pop, jazz or progressive music misses the mark. It’s simply Robert Wyatt’s music. “CP Jeebies” comments on the Communist Party. “N.I.O. (New Information Order)” floats towards the disconnect of modern life. The title track is a manic piano number that manifests that disconnect. “Sight of the Wind” emerges as an elusive poetry number with backwards textures creating a remote time-space continuum. “Shrinkrap” is further rhythmic confusion. “Catholic Architecture” rolls the waves back. It’s a pure re-invention of the original album, proof that Wyatt can be heard from many different angles without losing his vision or appeal.

10 Tracks

December 31, 2002 at PST

Cuckooland

Robert Wyatt’s music has always existed in its own time and place. But over the years, that distance has become ever more pronounced. He records with an impressive A-list of musicians — Brian Eno, David Gilmour, Phil Manzanera, Paul Weller — that he can beckon simply by asking. The music answers to its own rhythms, its own sense of irony and its own belief in melody. To describe a tune such as “Old Europe,” in collaboration with his wife, the poet Alfreda Benge, as jazz is admitting that it features horns. There’s much more going on here on each level. Boudleaux Bryant’s “Raining In My Heart” (an instrumental) makes an odd sense among the oddly harmonic piano tunes (“Tom Hay’s Fox”) and the peculiar syntax and orchestration of “Lullaby for Hamza.” “Insensatez” slides towards nightclub pop for the introverted set.  “Brian the Fox” throws together an extra synthetic bite with electronic washes that give the entire sound a sense of stationary movement. “La Ahada Yalam” is an instrumental of startling grace and wonder.

16 Tracks

April 12, 2015 at PDT

Stella Maris - Single

1 Trackfalse

September 29, 2007 at PDT

Comicopera

17 Tracks

December 31, 2004 at PST

Drury Lane (Live)

Recorded on September 8, 1974 by the BBC, this concert features Robert Wyatt and a grand assortment of friends: Ivor Cutler, Julie Tippetts, Dave Stewart, Hugh Hopper, Fred Frith, Mike Oldfield, Gary Windo, Nick Mason and Laurie Allan. The playing is spirited, experimental, soulful and loose and free. Hopper’s “Dedicated to You But You Weren’t Listening” is a whimsical opening that prepares no one for the tumult that follows. “Memories” has never sounded more energized. Rock Bottom’s “Sea Song” turns darker and more chaotic with fantastic instrumental work. “A Last Straw” is a piece of jazz-rock that slides all over the stage until “Little Red Riding Hood Hit the Road” takes the improvisation into agitated waters. Tippetts’ “Mind of a Child” is sweet British folk. “Instant Pussy” is a catcall from a band experiencing an out-of-body experience. Neil Diamond’s hit for the Monkees, “I’m a Believer,” is a perfect final jam. This ranks among Wyatt’s most essential.

14 Tracks

May 29, 1988 at PDT

Many Have No Speech

27 Tracks

December 31, 1985 at PST

Letters Home

9 Tracks

September 8, 2013 at PDT

The Garden of Love - EP

1 Trackfalse

December 31, 1991 at PST

A Short Break - EP

5 Tracks

December 21, 2008 at PST

Hot Chip with Robert Wyatt and Geese - EP

4 Tracks

March 21, 2019 at PDT

KiTsuNe / Brian the Fox

12 Tracks

February 27, 2011 at PST

A Remark Hugh Made (feat. Robert Wyatt & Gary Windo)

13 Tracks

February 7, 2008 at PST

Clear Frame

8 Tracks

May 2, 2019 at PDT

Tutti Shruti (feat. Robert Wyatt) - Single

1 Trackfalse

December 31, 2001 at PST

Postcards From Italy - Single

3 Tracks