Shleep

I am grateful that I found this website, because it has introduced me to a lot of albums and artists I never would have listened to otherwise. I can't believe I've listened to music for 35+ years and had never even heard of Nick Drake until a few months ago. But with the good comes the bad and I curse this website for putting this shit on here. Nobody could possibly like this album. Not on drugs, not not on drugs, not trying to sleep, not trying to stay awake. There is no appropriate state of consciousness for Shleep. Every song is some drawn out, slow paced melody with muted lyrics that I don't even care enough to try to decipher. It just drones on and on until eventually another song starts doing basically the same thing. 1 stupid star.

I think my favourite part of some of these reviews is the reading. I'd not heard the name Robert Wyatt before, but put on the album and then started reading his wiki just to find out he's got a lot of ties to many musicians I already know and like. A founding member of Soft Machine and a major player in the Canterbury Rock scene, I imagine I've heard his influences more than I'd care to actually think about. So, this album specifically. "Experimental / avant-garde" is pretty apt, this album is certainly weird. One of the recent reviews pretty much surmises my thoughts that is album has some nice arrangement. Some of the arrangement however feels almost like it sticks out, almost like it's being strange for the sake of it. I don't think I particularly "disliked" any of this album, per say, but too much of it had me sitting sort of confused. I like the use of horns through the album and at points I really liked the jazz vibe that was pushing through but that is in very limited amounts. Ultimately I think this album is interesting and I can respect all the things it tries, but I don't necessarily like those things. I'd also like to note that, it might be because my general tolerance for it is high, but the singing isn't really that bad, certainly not so bad it takes away from the album for me at least. Best song(s): Shleep, September the Ninth, Blues in Bob Minor Worst Song(s): N/A Rank compared to everything else so far: 69/78 (below S.F Sorrows, above Destroyer)

This was wonderfully weird.

I appreciate the creativity, and some of the arrangements are pleasant, but the vocals can be very grating and other times it seems to have weird instrumentation for the sake of it. Balances out at about average.

Most of this sounds like a bad experience at an open mic night. Drowning cats would sound better.

Can someone tell me why this album is on this list?

I did not like that, Sam-I-Am.

Upon learning that Robert Wyatt was a founding member of Soft Machine, I approached this album with a great deal of caution — his former band’s music was, after all, notoriously convoluted and difficult to digest. However, the opening track suggests that, over the course of thirty years, the old man has mellowed; there’s not a trace left of those frantic leaps between musical intervals and chords. Just as the listener begins to relax, he hits them hard with the second track, where gurgles, clicks, and all manner of cacophony return in full force. Nevertheless, I found myself enjoying the album — it is undeniably complex, yet surprisingly easy to listen to. It features progressive passages and jazz saxophone, alongside simpler ballads and blues-inflected tracks. At times, the listening experience even induces a trance-like state. It is certainly a pretentious record, yet I wouldn’t go so far as to dismiss it as mere "art for art’s sake."

Another weird garbage album that shouldn't be here. It started ok enough, but by the duchess I was very much like wtf, and I couldn't wait for it to end. 1*

Didn't really dig the vocals in this one. Maybe too straining for me

Awful wow

Interesting but not something I’d have on repeat.

Really strange... Sometimes a mess, other times a little too intimate for my taste...

This Experimental Art Rock album feels like sitting in an eccentric artist's living room while he plays a series of strange musical ideas, each one leading somewhere I don't quite understand. Soft keyboards, wandering saxophones, brass, guitars and unusual rhythmic turns keep changing the atmosphere, while Robert Wyatt sings in a fragile, understated voice that often sounds closer to mumbling than conventional singing. The arrangements are unpredictable, but for me their eccentricity makes it difficult to find a musical thread to follow. Just as one passage begins to make sense, another instrument or unexpected shift pulls me somewhere else. Rather than feeling intrigued by the experimentation, I struggle to connect the pieces or settle into a groove. I remain a polite but confused guest, waiting for the music to become something I can actually engage with.

Shleep is exactly the kind of album critics love and I struggle with. Robert Wyatt fills these songs with unusual instruments, textures, and ideas, but for much of the runtime they never seem to develop into anything compelling. The album often feels content to drift, and Wyatt's fragile vocal style doesn't help. His voice frequently sounds strained to my ears, pulling me out of the music rather than drawing me into it. That said, the album isn't without rewards. "Blues in Bob Minor" was the first track that really clicked for me. It has a strong melody, a sense of direction, and an arrangement that works with Wyatt's voice rather than against it. It actually grooves in places, proving that all of the musicianship and experimentation on display can produce genuinely engaging results. The closing track, "The Whole Point of No Return," is even better. The combination of understated trumpet and deep, droning bass creates an atmosphere that feels powerful without being overworked. It's the point where the album's experimental instincts finally pay off emotionally rather than intellectually. In the end, Shleep feels like an album with flashes of brilliance buried inside long stretches that leave me cold. I can appreciate the creativity and musicianship, but I wish more of the record delivered the same payoff as its best moments. When Wyatt focuses his ideas, the results are excellent. I just wish there were more of them. My Rating: 2/5

Um disco de rara inspiração para a época em que foi lançado. Influências de Jazz moderno em canções bonitas e bem produzidas, e executadas por um time de músicos altamente qualificado.

Not my style.

Apparently, there are some who are huge fans of this. I am not one of them. The vocals sit somewhere in a weird zone of spoken-word, over music and arrangements that are sometimes interesting, but often bland. Not the worst thing I have heard, but I simply don’t understand the worship that it seems to attract.

Not my cup of tea

Quase dormi

You’d think that someone who counts Wyatt project Matching Mole’s “Little Red Record” as one of their favorite albums of all time would have heard this one by now, but what can I say. So of course I enjoyed this - it features a group of musicians I love, with a feeling that wavers between jazz, rock, and experimental on its songs. I can feel Eno’s influence on some of this, but that doesn’t dominate Wyatt’s input, with his usual quirky, delicate singing and interesting, honest lyrics. I will listen to “A Sunday in Madrid” (and the rest of this album) over and over. Absolutely wonderful.

I think Brian Eno saved this from being a trash it record. I enjoy experimental music, but there are some things that just need to left in the demo tapes. There's some interesting pieces in here and some absolute crap. Reading some of the reviews has me chuckling. This is indeed 100% critic bait. And they are it up. I get it I guess. When your job is to listen to album after album of new music, most probably just blends together. Enough of that would wear out your ears and make one a bit numb. An album like this will certainly hit different. Different doesn't equal good though. I didn't dislike it though. I think it deserves a second listen, but it's not ready for 4 stars. Yup. After a second listen, I'm convinced it's a whole lot of wanking to me. None of the tracks actually go anywhere. It just uses complex chord structures on repeat for no reason. And all that topped with vocals that barely carry a tune most of the time. Hell, I'm now thinking it's closer to a 2. Like I said at the beginning, Eno saved it from being unlistenable.

I think I remember your first reaction to Robert Wyatt. You came into school after seeing him performing Shipbuilding on Top of the Pops 2 or some such and were incredulous: this strange dwarf with a pirate accent, mumbling Costello's keen-eyed anti-war screed from a wheelchair. Time may not view the description kindly, but it isn't wrong. Wyatt is a weird fish and a bizarre choice to sing the song Costello wrote for Chet Baker. A weird choice to sing any song. Weird even before his accident, when on Pig, from the Third Soft Machine album, he sings "Knickers and panties We are groping under knickers and pants," like a lunatic. I am completely sympathetic to Wyatt though. Divorced completely from pop sensibility, from consensus taste, or anything that's happening, his work is nothing more nor less than his art - it's the thing he does. There are wonderful moments on Rock Bottom. He does a great version of At Last, I'm Free by Chic and Del Mondo from Comicopera is good, I faintly recall. Thus, I'm not going to jump to any conclusions when Shleep hasn't distinguished itself from the flock or startled me awake on these first two listens. The bubbling miasma of fluttering keyboards isn't unusual for Wyatt and, while it doesn't give much to hold onto, it could as easily hide something substantial underneath. I've nothing much to say about it now, but I am happy to give it the benefit of the doubt. 3 Quite a bit of this album runs on novelty; ‘funny’ brass and fiddle, top lines that don’t quite fit, conspicuous (jarring) high-mindedness in the lyrics, famous friends for collaboration. There is plenty to dislike. Wyatt himself, though there is plenty of novelty in his voice and delivery, is likeable enough. And while the songs may flatter the listener that they are hearing something sophisticated, the truth is that Wyatt consistently defers to the power of repetition even while he refuses choruses. There is no sense of pretension to any kind of structural innovation. So I think on the whole, Robert Wyatt probably wanted me to enjoy this. I didn’t quite. I listened to this twice while painting a ceiling and it made the job feel longer - to be honest even something like punishment. I’ll go back to it sometime, seated comfortably. 2/5

Interesting.

This wasn't a great listen for me. Some parts of some songs were good and smooth. Then either the singer came in singing out of tune or started using instruments that doesn't fit or that they make sound bad on purpose.

Polariser again. Deserving to be here? Hmmm - no. I liked Heaps Of Sheeps, Martian and Free Will And Testament, and will settle on a 3 (despite my intention to never go down the middle).

big 2

Probably my favourite Robert Wyatt album. The jazz elements will split opinion but I enjoy them (even when it gets more dissonant). There is a good balance of conventional and unconventional… and his voice is as tender and delicate as ever. I am surprised at how lowly his albums are reviewed on here. Harsh.

Some lovely moments are peppered throughout this, the fingerpicked guitar and jazzy trumped are a lovely foil for one another, it just goes a little too far on the weirdness at times and makes it a little too difficult to follow the musical journey it is taking you on. I don’t normally mind that, but there were times when there was very little to keep it grounded (particularly Wyatt’s vocal and lack of clarity on the lyricism) which meant I want quite as keen in this as I thought I might have been.

Hopes weren't too bad after the first track, that didn't blow me away but had plenty of positives. Hopes were dashed as soon as track 2 began. What followed was a collection of boring, lullaby style rock songs that bounced from meandering to downright weird. The vocals are odd, the music is painfully slow, and it's just quite pretentious. It's hard not to give it a 3/10, but it at least has some semi interesting elements to push it to a 4/10.

didn't care for this at all

I was actually surprised to see Robert Wyatt show up on this list again. I guess he was significant enough to earn two spots. A few months ago, I got his 1974 album Rock Bottom, which I gave three stars. I didn’t love the music, but there were some genuinely interesting moments, especially considering how strange and experimental it sounded for 1974. So jumping ahead 23 years to Sleep, I was expecting Wyatt to take that sound somewhere new. Instead, I was surprised by how familiar a lot of this felt. There are sounds and ideas here that reminded me quite a bit of Rock Bottom, just with better recording equipment. And by this point, the novelty had worn off for me. If anything, Sleep actually feels less experimental than the album he made 23 years earlier. That was probably my biggest disappointment. This came out in 1997, when there were so many more possibilities for where Wyatt could take this kind of music, but I never felt like he really pushed it anywhere particularly interesting. The vocals still don’t do much for me either, and overall, it just didn’t click. Maybe Robert Wyatt needs to hit Rock Bottom to really get the weird stuff flowing. I don’t know. Either way, Sleep is a two-star album for me.

Lots of great ideas, many very well executed. There are spots where his vocals are weak, but I understand he faced significant health issues, so that is understandable. I am left wondering just how great this could have been if John Wetton and some of the prog stalwarts in the Fripp circle had been brought in by Eno to beef up some parts. In particular I feel like A Sunday in Madrid could have really benefitted from a muscular vocal performance. I love the cover illustration by Wyatt's wife. 3 stars.

This is not fair….

Weird but fun, has a trumpet

No standouts

It’s astounding to me the hate Robert Wyatt gets on this site. I’m so consistently charmed and moved by him.

Prog-Neo-Jazz. No thank you. 1.5/5.0

Strides on the wrong side of the balance between dissonant and not Some cool instrumentation and harmonies, but goes too far for my liking

Not for me Sporadically, some pleasant instrumental moments I might enjoy some of his other works

Le fou du bus

Il faut quand même être complétement allumé du cigare pour aimer ça. J'en suis à "September the Ninth", il reste 30 min. ça va être long. J'ai l'impression que le type vole au dessus de moi, tout à fait nu, et viens me sussurer des mots doux, un coup dans l'oreille droite, un coup dans l'oreille gauche, et c'est désagréable car d'une part j'essaie de travailler, d'autre part j'ai pas envie d'imaginer Robert Wyatt me sussurer des mots doux tout nu.

Pretentious of course but enjoyable too. Some nice jazzy tunes. A generous 4.

relisten

This is in the top 1089 albums you must listen to? I mean the bar is on the floor then.

I could get on board with some of this and I'd probably warm to it with further listens but that's unlikely to happen. 2.5/5

Experiment som ej funkade på mig

Något att ha på i bakgrunden, som inte väckte så starka känslor åt något håll.

Ganska trevligt.

Review: Dreamlike, whimsical, sleepy. Equally amused and content. Favorite Track(s): [Heaps Of Sheeps] [Out Of Season] [The Whole Point Of No Return] Least Favorite Track: [The Duchess] Bad Track(s)? NO Will Listen Again? YES Final Score: 4.0/GREAT

Like most people here, I didn't care for Soft Machine; unlike most people here, I thought Rock Bottom was pretty cool. This one's definitely more in the direction of Rock Bottom, with the playful continuation of what Syd was doing with Pink Floyd, but a bit of an improvement over that even! Even the substandard parody of "Subterranean Homesick Blues" can't dim my enthusiasm!

Yet another britslop

I disliked every minute of this and never want to hear it ever again.

Favorite: Free will and testament

Pretty boring and lame.

I noped the fuck out at 'The Duchess'. Jesus Christ, life is too short for this shit.

Very pink floyd- style, but that doesn't mean it's good

Había arrancado muy bien, la primera canción me había gustado. Después empezó a ser todo muy random ya no me gustó tanto. Fue raro.

Didn't think it was nearly as bad as some people made it out to be. 3/5

One of the best opening tracks I have ever heard. Slaps to the nth. Slowed down a little after that, but can still really respect the album, especially learning about it's and his story. Great stuff. Great intro to him.

Proto-hipster detected! Removing half of the songs would make this album so much better.

Never heard of Robert Wyatt, but this is awesome. "Heaps of Sheep" is an awesome track!

I feel like every music theory professor in every mid tier community college has this album on them.. proficient? Yes. Technically interesting? Yes. Good? No. Unique? Again no.

It feels like this guy really liked the random sounds the Beatles would throw into their songs, but instead of it being a nice weird moment in a good song, it becomes so jarring that you want to turn it off. Combined with his annoying way of singing makes it a very shitty package. The best song was the blues one, it resembled a song at least. Too long, too jarring and too badly sung. I hope to never encounter an album from this man again

I like the name

This felt like sitting through an artsy, experimental play you only went to see because one of the actors was a new friend you’d made—and slowly realizing, as the play dragged on, that you might have seriously overestimated how cool and deep that friend actually was.

Second Wyatt album, this one was more enjoyable for me on a musical level. There are rhythms I can follow on some songs and it has a much more approachable tone. Certain tracks carry on the heavy experimental and art rock thing he seems to be into a bit to far and becomes far to above my head as something I would ever want to listen to as music. Discord and off tune can be interesting, maybe he is blending genres, maybe he's inventing things but I don't have much interest in engaging with that at this point in my life. Enjoyed the first track quite a bit, followed up with a few more later on but ultimately had to leave this one accepting its not my bag.

wanneer je een groep 3 muziekles inloopt dan hoor je dit

Another singer whose voice I HATE! Damn this list is heavy on the Soft Machine too. I dig the music, just not his voice.

music is love

can't decide if this was comforting or unnerving. leaning towards rather disturbing actually. too many dissonant *instrumental blast* too call it comforting. his voice is unusual but nice. the instrumentation...

Naff.

Interesting. Previously I heard Robert Wyatt's album Rock Bottom through this list. I had middling-to-negative feelings on that album, and I went into this album with low expectations. Maybe because of that, I was pleasantly surprised by this one. At the very least I enjoyed a couple tracks, including the opener track Heaps of Sheeps. The album has a jazzy and psychedelic feel to it which I think comes together better. That said, I don't love it. It's another bit of art that I don't really "get," so even being better than the previous album of his, I can't really give it higher than a 3.

menuda puta mierda por favor

It's OK. I liked a few songs.

I like the Eno stuff the most.

Nicht so mein Fall

Hún leynir rækilega á ser þessi. Töff opnunarlag og svo mjög lítið spennandi í kjölfarið. En svo fattar maður allt í einu jazzinn í þessu og situr eiginlega forviða eftir. Röddin er of veikburða og brothætt til þess að ég fimmi plötuna, en hún er alveg solid fjarki þegar þið kynnist henni.

Challenging album for sure... Had its moments, can't fully get behind it.

no me gusto. creo que por ahi si me adentro en el concepto puede estar bueno, pero pase cada minuto esperando que termine.

Mi-a plăcut! Foarte chill

Like Heeps of Sheeps, trippy.

Holy shit. This followed Clapton!? Equally annoying, yet more tolerable than that Clapton shit. Just one more dig at that POS clapton guy, I'll rate a little higher at 2.5

Subiu e desceu, mas ainda não percebi se gostei?

Até podia ser daqueles que se ouvires 20x vai passar a ser o melhor álbum de sempre, mas para já não percebi

Honest question: why are there 2 albums from this guy here. And I had the other one quite recently too. Well, at least Shleep is a bit listenable compared to the other album. Still, it's just not interesting 2/5

I’m 3/4 of the way though and I feel I’m waiting for it to end. The first track is ok but not my vibe

Pretty dull stuff overall, there are moments where it feels like the songs are building up to something interesting but unfortunately there is always either not enough progression or just starts sounding too weird for the purpose of being weird. I don't think Robert is a great vocalist either, sounds too grating. Very much not my cup of tea, but I'm not denying the creativity.

Pelo menos é experimental, eu gosto disso, mas é meio podree

I aggressively don't fuck with this. Some of the instrumental jazz isn't bad but my god.

Never heard of Robert Wyatt before. This album missed the mark for me in general though, so I’d much prefer to not hear anything else from him.

Hated first song but got progressively better

Ehhhhh got lost in the sauce

Haters gonna hate

Really bad

Robert Wyatt is the most overhated artist on this list. Yes, this gets a little weird for weirdness’ sake, but this is also true artistry. Excellent album that gets way too much hate.

really nice

WHY?!

where do i know this guy from? am i confusing him with Robert Glasper?

Odd, not for me, but not not for me?