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Robert Wyatt This 1972-2003 collection of rare and unreleased material by Britain’s elder statesman of art-rock unfolds with a dramatic arc of a classic album. Former Soft Machine drummer Robert Wyatt’s career was suddenly derailed by a 1972 fourth-floor fall that paralyzed him from the waist |
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down. But Wyatt’s post-accident masterpiece, Rock Bottom, proved him a phenomenal songwriter, gifted with a voice overflowing with emotion. While Rock Bottom’s aqueous lyricism would appear a poetic response to personal trauma, this anthology’s pre-accident BBC broadcasts of Rock Bottom’s “Sea Song” and “Alife” puncture conventional wisdom. With only piano accompaniment, these renditions of “God Song” and Neil Diamond’s “I’m a Believer” radiate a sincerity and vulnerability buried in the bustling studio versions. A new song, “The Verb,” testifies to a personal spirituality that transcends Wyatt’s Marxism. Recent drone pieces recorded via correspondence with Soft Machine bassist Hugh Hopper flow seamlessly into the soundtrack for the 1973 short, “Solar Flares Burn for You.” The film is included as a QuickTime video. – Michael Draine |
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