Rock Bottom

Robert Wyatt-Rock Bottom-1974
Canterbury, progressive, art rock, experimental.

















This is one of my favourite albums of all time. I present to you all Robert Wyatt's debut solo album "Rock Bottom". The album was released in 1974 after Wyatt had left Soft Machine who were heading down a more intentional jazz path, which Wyatt did not want to follow. It was also after Wyatt's fall from a five story high window, which broke his spine. Most of the material was written before the accident however this event adds a lot of poignancy to the album which due to Wyatt's honesty and introspection creates a stunningly emotive effort. The lineup is also immense and features the cream of the Canterbury scene.

The album marks a huge step from Matching Mole; the band between Soft Machine and this solo work. The songs are much better crafted with more emphasis on the song writing to create deeper sounds and lyrics, with many of the songs building up gently to climax and immerse the listener in powerful moments. The heartfelt nature of the album owes to the excellence of expression by Wyatt, it connects with the listener(if there not a stone) far to much for it to be coincidence.

"Sea Song" is a stunning listen, with a quite apparent but not overdone nautical feel "Partly fish, partly porpoise, partly baby sperm whale",it works in the song better than it does written down. Wyatt carries every sentence like a man longing for something, which is what the feel of the song also portrays to me "But I can't understand the different you, in the morning when its time to play at being human for a while". A longing to really feel something apart from nostalgia or pretty words, to feel love in all its madness.

The other stand out song for me is "Little Red Riding Hood Hit the Road" a song I never get tired of listening to and one of my favourite songs. The rather crazed mix of brass, piano, bass and drums creates a haphazard momentum for Wyatt's soft and gentle voice to try and reign in, before losing itself to the music and speaking as far as I can tell backwards. Its the small moments in this song that are wonderful, the trumpet playing a certain phrase or the bass sounding triumphantly resigned to being part of the mess. It is a wonderfully composed mess, summing up the contradictory and apologetic nature of love. The lyrics are beautifully simple when they are ledgeable and convey such raw emotion.

The stand out songs however do not stand out much, on nearly any other album they would be songs to point out, such is the strength of this album. "Alifib" and "Alife" are somewhat ominous sounding, as they play out their quite deranged thoughts. "A Last Straw" is probably the most straight forward sounding song with a lighter sound, and clearest lyrics.
The closer "Little Red Robin Hood Hit the Road" is an epic affair and a great finish, for me it has a royal feel to it, if the royals were tweaking a guitar surrounded by mermaids and fish.....and clams...........before pulling out the viola and singing an absurd rhyme (with all the inbreeding it may not be too far-fetched.)

A classic for sure, art rock at its finest. Its imagery, emotivity, technical craft and history are a rare combination of traits that stem from the events surrounding this album. The album is largely about love, but its not romantic or flowerly and its far from the hippie pyschedelia of the 60s. This is a mature and somewhat ambigous album, melancholic in its sound yet subtly hopeful in its vocals.
One not to be missed whatever you taste in or knowledge of music.
jamscoopa

Please buy at:(or better, at an independent store)
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Or please delete within 24 hours, and buy this excellent album:
Rocky (320kbs)
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