Let’s say I’ve just landed here from Mars, excitedly clutching a sackful of Mojo magazines and the Trouser Press Record Guide, which I ordered through Amazon’s universal browser. Let’s say I have browsed cool rock blogs and read reports of this artist named Robert Wyatt. Let’s say I have not yet heard his music, but I’m tingling with anticipation over the first notes of Marxist, jazzbo, Canterbury whimsy that’s promised on anything from a classic Soft Machine album through one of a half dozen critically acclaimed Wyatt albums. Then I hear something like this.
Or this.
Or this.
Or this, the original of which I did once hear when intercepting an astronaut’s transistor radio signal.
Frankly, I’m confused. I’d been reading about this underground rock phenomenon, and I didn’t expect it to sound anything like these recordings featuring Robert Wyatt. What’s going on here? Without insulting me (I’m looking at you, The Great 48), your humble Martian, please explain the wonders of Robert Wyatt and how he fits into this broad category known as Critically Acclaimed Underground Rock ‘n Roll?
I look forward to your guidance.
Moddie, count me as a member of Team Good Grief on this one. That Whistle Test footage is just painfully awful.
The audience ‘dancing’ that appears around 1:30 on the Whistle Test clip is priceless. It belongs in the whiteness thread.
I’m with you, Moddie. I feel like I ought to like Wyatt. All the right parts are in place. But I remain unmoved. It’s partly a function of the fact that he’s been around a long time, has made more than a few records, and it would require a considerable effort to ‘get into’ him. What I’ve heard calls into question whether the effort would be worth it.
Interesting voice, but probably one of the least rock, most white ever.
Good stuff so far, Townsmen. This is helpful to my Martian friend. Keep it coming!
Robert Wyatt is a lot like Henry Cow (a band that the Mod likes), except harder to pigeonhole.
I find his voice very expressive and his use of jazz influences really innovative. But I would not be surprised, really, that people don’t get him. Like Randy Newman, he just doesn’t fit into the traditional rock vocalist category. Moreover, his songs, like Nemwan’s, explore a vast emotional range, “Shipbuilding” is a great example.
Except, of course, that this is a bad example since “Shipbuilding” was written by Elvis Costello (lyrics) and Clive Langer (music). The EC version of the song is mentioned in the “songs you hate by artists you love” thread.
Anyway, sorry for the pince nez. I’ve never gotten into The Soft Machine or Wyatt’s solo stuff, but I actually really liked those clips. I can’t be the only one aside from Dr. John, right?
I bought cheap copies of Soft Machine’s Fourth and Wyatt’s Rock Bottom recently (though I haven’t listened to them yet) and these clips make me that much more curious to hear them.
People keep mentioning the voice, and that’s pretty much the key: he has one of those love it or hate it voices, and I can totally see it being a dealbreaker. Add in that I cannot think of a single Robert Wyatt song stretching all the way back to the early days of the Soft Machine (those Giorgio Gomelsky recordings that I once posted a couple of back in mom’s basement) that’s based on a standard pop-song chord progression or verse-chorus-verse structure and that pretty much makes him the epitome of an artist who will never move beyond a cult following.
As for what I do like about him: number one, the voice. I really love his voice. Number two, his keyboard playing, which is in the continuum that goes from Debussy through Satie and Bill Evans to the Orb: I love all those unresolved chords. Number three, his drumming back in the Soft Machine days: Wyatt’s drumming on THIRD has got such a light touch, which is key to why that album is so great. Imagine someone like Carl Palmer or Billy Fucking Cobham playing on a song like “Out-Bloody-Rageous.” They’d be thumping and crashing and paradiddling themselves in front of everybody. And it would suck.
What can I say, I genuinely love the guy’s music, so much so that I, no kidding, have a framed photo of him above my desk.
Thank you, Berlyant, for saving a few keystrokes regarding “his” song, “Shipbuilding”. I own Rock Bottom and like it well enough for a weird change of pace, but I see no connection (other than higher education and the mysterious “Marxist” streak in Henry Cow’s primarily instrumental works) and even less connection to Randy Newman, who’s songs evoke very strong narratives.
Put it this way: What’s the fulcrum upon which Wyatt’s critical acclaim rests? What makes Robert Wyatt’s critical acclaim any higher than, I don’t know, Wrestless Eric’s?
Great One, I’m just reading your comments now, after having posted my follow-up to the Good Doctor’s post. This is helpful.
Is this the prelude to one of your rants against backstory? Because obviously the myth about ROCK BOTTOM in relation to the fall and the paralysis is a huge part of why Robert Wyatt gets more attention paid to him than, say, Carla Bley does to her.
To answer your question, the fulcrum for Wyatt’s critical acclaim is his musical, lyrical, and emotional complexity.
I’ll leave the pince nez aside and assume that Wrestless Eric was some kind of pun.
Speaking of spelling, why is it not Mr. Dyingly Sad? Dieingly is just wrong. I like that song, but I always think it’s the Beau Brummels.
Dr. John wrote:
Oh, come now, my Martian alter-ego deserves a better explanation than that! This answer reeks of this!
Great One, no backstory puns, OK?
Seriously, no, it would be too easy to go there, and that is not my intention. I know that a large part of the Wyatt legacy is tied up in his personal story and his grace, humor, and so forth. My Martian friend isn’t tuned into these human emotions, though. He’s all about the music.
But your Martian friend keeps using the phrase “underground rock.” is his understanding of the forms of rock detailed enough to understand that there exists a grey area between any two musical forms in which elements from both are so thoroughly screwed with that it becomes impossible to define the music as either? Robert Wyatt’s entire career, literally from the days of the Wilde Flowers back in the early to mid-’60s, has existed in suspension between jazz and rock.
But I would argue that if your Martian friend was a jazzbo approaching Robert Wyatt from the other side, he would be equally confused, because the music wouldn’t be what he thought of as jazz any more than it is what he thinks of as rock.
The photo you linked to is the image of a real 7″ by a hardcore band called (you guessed it) Copout. I know very little about them, but I can tell you that they were from Memphis, only released that 7″ and a split 7″ with another band, at least as far as I know. I can also tell you that when I saw them play in a shed in New Brunswick in the summer of 1994, it was one of the most intense things I’ve ever seen in my life. They only played for 10-15 minutes or so, but they must’ve played 20 songs in that time. The intensity level was unbelievable. People were dancing naked (hey it was hot in there). I’d stupidly had some not-so-hot looking Indian food that the people in the house had provided and was feeling not so great that day, but I swear that after they played, they made it go away.
Anyway, I bought their 7″ at that show, but it didn’t do that much for me (it was nowhere near as good as their live show), so eventually I sold it.
Apparently some of the members formed the band His Hero is Gone.
http://static-party.blogspot.com/2006/02/copout-st.html
Anyway I never thought I’d be mentioning this band on RTH, but you never know. Now if only the link I posted had the actual 7″ since I wanna hear it now!
The Great 48, perhaps the Martian does not understand these grey areas. Remember, he’s equipped with little more than dog-earred copies of Mojo and the Trouser Press Record Guide.
Along with anthing else, Wyatt does have one of the all time great album titles – “Ruth Is Stranger Than Richard”.
Who’s that dancing along to “I’m a Believer”, the patients from One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest?
I thought I gave an answer perfectly suited to your rather vague question.
Seriously though, go back and listen to “Sea Song.” There are several musical modulations, including the key change at the end, the lyrics make interesting and insightful comparisons between animal and human behavior, and the music/lyrics together plumb the mysteries of love (I’m amazed at the honesty of the lyrics, “Your madness fits in well with mine.”)
To return to your Martian friend, I’m sure he/she/it would get the honesty behind everything that Wyatt basically does, and recognize his empathy for the human condition.
Thanks, Dr. I’ll get my friend back on that job later tonight! I’ve got to pull out my copy of Rock Bottom while I’m at it.