Robert Wyatt: Comicopera

Elly Roberts reviews

Robert Wyatt: ComicoperaDistributed by
Domino

• October 2007
• Rating: 2/10

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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 gardefor a long long time, even during his time with Soft Machine. In some circleshe’s considered a national treasure, supposedly making impressionistic andentrancing music. Mhh.

Trying to make art into music and then onto some kind of concept album is atall order. Wyatt fails miserably on this dire and dreadful 16 tracker. Bottomline 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, asweet Just As You Are, duetting with Monica Vasconcecelos, is an aimlessjazzy rambler with spurts of trombone that leads to a miserable brass heavyYou 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’svocals strained to the limit. Things hit a major low on dire instrumentalAnachronist, an almost improvised piece of mashed brass and lighweight drumming.

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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 andItalian on Act Three – Away With The Fairies, which sounds as if he reallyis. As this reviewer has little knowledge of the languages, it’s impossibleto comment on the lyrics.

Of all the tracks on offer, musically, Hasta Siempre Comandante iscomparatively 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,peculiar electrical interference by Wyatt and Jamie Johnson. In true Englishstylings, A Beautiful Peace is probably his best song.

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

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The full list of tracks included are :

Act One: Lost In Noise

1. Stay Tuned
2. Just As You Are
3. You You
4. A.W.O.L
5. Anachronist

Act Two: The Here And Now

6. A Beautiful Peace
7. Be Serious
8. On The Town Square
9. Mob Rule
10. A Beautiful War
11. Out Of The Blue

Act Three: Away With The Fairies

12. Del Dondo
13. Cancion de Julieta
14. Pastafari
15. Fragment
16. Hasta Siempre Comandante

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