Robert Wyatt – Rough Trade Records – 1984

Biko / Amber And The Amberines

Yolanda / Te Recuerdo Amanda

I have had several artists that have inspired me through various times of my youth and young adult hood. Some examples would be Joe Strummer, Jerry Dammers, Mark Mob and Penny Rimbaud, but eclipsing all these movers and shakers by far would be Robert Wyatt. A man of such integrity and intelligence, and a man that is still actively involved in his peaceful struggle through his poetry, paintings and music.

This 12″ record release from Rough Trade Records, is one of my favorite records. Mixed by Adrian Sherwood for ONU Sound (yes, you read that correctly), Robert’s respectful cover version of Peter Gabriel’s ‘Biko’ will bring a tear to your eye, a song based on the death of young Steve Biko specifically but commenting further on the frequent deaths in South African police cells during the apartheid years in general.

The track ‘Yolanda’ I have heard being performed by small acoustic bands in the seedy bars of Havana, Cuba, to an audience of boys and girls, if not living on the street, then very near to living there…Again even though I do not understand Spainish, Robert’s version of this traditional song is very moving indeed if not through the language (in my case) then by the feeling of the vocals.

The other two tracks are also superb, and certainly not fillers!

All Robert Wyatt material is worth the effort to collect whether it be the first four Soft Machine LP’s (titled 1,2,3,4) which are all immense works. His first couple of solo LP’s ‘End Of An Ear’ on C.B.S. and ‘Rock Bottom’ released on Virgin Records as well as Matching Mole material are all classics.

In the 1980’s Rough Trade released several records by Robert Wyatt including the sublime ‘Ship Building’.

Here is a short biography:

An enduring figure who came to prominence in the early days of the English art rock scene, Robert Wyatt has produced a significant body of work, both as the original drummer for art rockers Soft Machine and as a radical political singer/songwriter. Born in Bristol, England, Wyatt came to Soft Machine during the exciting, slightly post-psychedelic Canterbury Scene of the mid-’60s that produced bands like Gong and Pink Floyd. Unlike many of the art rock bands that would come later (Jethro Tull, Yes, King Crimson), Soft Machine eschewed bloated theatrical excess, preferring a standard rock format that interpolated jazz riffing, extended soloing, and some forays into experimental noise. Wyatt, then Soft Machine’s drummer, left the band during its initial wave of popularity. His solo career was built less around his abilities as a percussionist and more around his frail tenor voice, capable of breaking hearts with its falsetto range.

It was not long after his first solo release, End of an Ear, that Wyatt fell from an open window during a party, fracturing his back and permanently paralyzing him from the waist down. After months of painful recuperation, Wyatt reemerged with the harrowing Rock Bottom (1974) and the bizarre Ruth Is Stranger Than Richard (1975), the former dealing explicitly with his post-accident life, the latter a series of surreal fables. And while the music on these records is trance-like and experimental, Wyatt shockingly recorded a straight version of the Monkees’ “I’m a Believer” in 1974 that became a big British hit. Controversy ensued when the BBC’s long-running weekly pop music program Top of the Pops refused to allow Wyatt to perform the song in his wheelchair. After a significant protest played out in the music trade papers, Wyatt did perform.

Despite his success, Wyatt remained quiet for much of the rest of the decade, breaking his silence during the punk era with a handful of singles recorded for the great English indie label Rough Trade. Again, going against audience expectations, he recorded a beautiful version of Chic’s “At Last I Am Free.” This signaled the start of a full-fledged career renaissance that included numerous albums and artists such as Elvis Costello writing songs for him. His albums were lush, at times almost meditative, and Wyatt’s voice — clear, emotionally charged, and always on the verge of breaking — brought great depth and soul to songs that, if recorded by a lesser artist, would have sounded terse and tired.

Always on the political left, Wyatt’s radicalism increased exponentially during Margaret Thatcher’s years as Prime Minister, as he maintained an unwavering support for Communism even as glasnost was nigh. The resulting music he recorded during this period reflects his strong, bordering on strident, political beliefs. As of the mid-2000s, Wyatt has comfortably worked in and out of the music business. He records when he feels like it, paints, writes, devotes time to political work, and continues to show no interest in the machinations of the music industry. But, despite his occasionally strident political posture, he has recorded some stunning music, full of wonder, possibility, and pure emotion, that remains undiscovered by many.

John Dougan, All Music Guide