Rock Bottom
Hannibal - Hannibal
Robert Wyatt
Release date: 2004-06-08
Audio CD
Canterbury Scene, England, Pop, Pop/Rock Music, Prog-Rock/Art Rock, Rock, Rock/Pop
1. Sea Song
2. A Last Straw
3. Little Red Riding Hood Hit the Road
4. Alifib
5. Alife
6. Little Red Robin Hood Hit the Road
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Rock Bottom
Date undefinedI cannot describe how deep and inmost is Rock Bottom. Six songs, six masterpieces. Buy it.
Rock Bottom
Date undefinedIt's my long-standing belief that Robert Wyatt has the most expressive voice I've ever heard. Even when he's singing made-up nonsense syllables (as he frequently does on this album), the effect is like Italian opera. You don't understand the words, but the emotion is clearly conveyed - and it's not difficult to figure out what's going on. Longing, loss, anger, acceptance - Wyatt's quavery vocal timbre captures it all.
My favorite example of this is "Alifib", on which he pleads and remonstrates with his "larder" Alifib (translation: his lover Alfreda). By turns touching and funny as all-get-out, it has to be heard to be believed. The whole record is like that.
Backed by the premier jazz/rock players of the era, every song is a distinctive dreamscape. Nick Mason of Pink Floyd produced wonderfully. The two veteran drummers understand each other, and Wyatt's drumming is typically stunning. As great a musician as he is - still I come back to the voice. It's unusual for one band (Soft Machine) to produce two such unique singers (the other being Kevin Ayers). Neither Robert or Kevin could ever be mistaken for anyone else once you've heard them.
Many avant-atrocities have been released over the years - enough to give experimentalism a bad name. I'd say "Rock Bottom" is by far the most listenable and entertaining of the bunch. Though sad at times, it's also a very trippy and fun aural experience. Yes, I'll say it again - the album is fun! Enjoy.
Rock Bottom
Date undefinedAlthough I would not throw around the word masterpiece like so many others do when describing eccentric progressive rocker Robert Wyatt's transformative and heavily cited solo work Rock Bottom, but to call it anything less then a creative outpouring of musical ideas would be harsh. Eschewing much of the technical proficiency which robs so much progressive music of it's heart, Wyatt instead employed a much darker, organic sound when exploring this brief six-track odyssey. There is not a single track that feels underdone, but the overly weird vocals may turn off fans who are not already familiar with this charming, legendary musical oddball.
