Comicopera - Robert Wyatt Album Review

Robert Wyatt

Album Review

There's art. There's music. There's art and music. This is art and...well, art. The crossover from one t'other is not often successsful. The combination of both, successfully, is rare.Then there's music and muzak. Oh, and there's weird and wonderful. This is not the latter.

So we recognise that Wyatt has been making a living out of being avante garde for a long long time, even during his time with Soft Machine. In some circles he's considered a national treasure, supposedly making impressionistic and entrancing music.Mhh. Trying to make art into music and then onto some kind of concept album is a tall order. Wyatt fails miserably on this dire and dreadful 16 tracker. Bottom line is, it's the sort of thing you want to end, quickly, very quickly in fact.

Redeeming qualities are hard to find. After the ridiculous Stay Tuned, a sweet Just As You Are, duetting with Monica Vasconcecelos, is an aimless jazzy rambler with spurts of trombone that leads to a miserable brass heavy You You, showcasing Wyatt's lack of vocal credibility. Weak A.W.O.L is a tale of a strange woman who sees her world fading away, with Wyatt's vocals strained to the limit. Things hit a major low on dire instrumental Anachronist, an almost improvised piece of mashed brass and lighweight drumming.Further in, things don't get much brighter either on child-like a Beautiful War. Wyatt considers himself an internationalist so he elects to sing in Spanish and Italian on Act Three - Away With The Fairies, which sounds as if he really is. As this reviewer has little knowledge of the languages, it's impossible to comment on the lyrics. Of all the tracks on offer, musically, Hasta Siempre Comandante is comparatively good possessing some tasty Spanish touches in the Santana school, though it's not without the odd bit of eccentricity. For Orphy Robinson's instrumental Pastafari we get clunking vibraphone, and as you'd expect, perculiar electrical interference by Wyatt and Jamie Johnson. In true English stylings, A Beautiful Peace is probably his best song.

In 1974, he released his second solo album called Rock Bottom. This CD can't get any more rock bottom.

Elly Roberts