Rock Bottom

4.4 - I was initially turned off by the vocals that struggle to keep in tune with a rather complex melody on "Sea Song." Aptly named, that song floats on a sea of sound that seems to envelope and immerse you in a strange and delightful soundscape reminiscent of "Kid A." In fact, so many sounds seem to directly inform "Kid A" that Thom Yorke could well be accused of ripping it off. There's the riot of woodwinds on "Little Red Riding..." that's reminiscent of "National Anthem" and then there's "Alifib" whose garbled vocals bring to mind "Everything In Its Right Place." Wow, as I'm writing all this, my esteem for this record just keeps rising. Then there are the moments of spoken word, especially on the final track, that add so much atmosphere. And let's not forget the backstory! Yeah, this one's a trip. I'll come back to this.

Dog shite

I don't blame Robert Wyatt for making this album full of noodling nonsense; I blame the listmaker for pretending as though there were anything of merit here.

Obviously this isn't going to be everyone's cup of tea, and honestly I can see why this is hardly anyone's cup of tea, but goddamn I have to stick up for Robert Wyatt. First of all, the fact that he became paralyzed while in the middle of making this record, and that he then carried on to complete it and continue his music career, is nothing short of miraculous. I have always found his music both haunting and comforting, particularly his voice, but if you listen to this album through the lens of what he was going through at the time, this album takes on a whole new depth and dimension. Yes, this album is challenging, but to be the cathartic, soul searching record that it is, it has to be challenging. If you have an immediate negative reaction to this album, I get it, feel free to move on. But if you find yourself not quite sure how to feel about it, give it another spin. I promise you it becomes more rewarding with repeated listens (particularly on a good pair of headphones at night).

I almost turned the album off after the first two tracks, but told myself, “you only have to listen to the album once and never again…” so I kept listening and I’m very glad I did. It’s beauty hit me despite my reluctance and disinterest.

This is simply wonderful - probably my favorite discovery from this list so far. I found this much more accessible than your average prog. The whole thing sounds like a dream, both the instruments and the vocals. I could get lost in this album... Fave track - "Sea Song", but really this album demands to be listened to straight through...

i feel too dumb to enjoy this

Rock Bottom by Robert Wyatt (1974) When Robert Wyatt so self-assertingly identified (then, anyway) as a Communist (not the ‘Eurocommunist’ variety, but the hard core unreconstructed Stalinist ‘Tanky’ type), he invited an assessment of what’s beneath the apparent nonsense on this record. When confronted with innovation, a serious listener will seek to understand. This involves, at minimum, a look into the artist’s cultural context. Now, this is not a political album. It presents itself as experimental, psychedelic ‘rock’. And to be fair, I discerned two moments of beauty in the midst of all the failed experiments on this record. But what kind of over-compartmentalized mind produces these remaining sonic doodles? The listener must set aside the (totally justifiable) pity for the artist’s personal circumstances and assess why is there all this disorder? Why must simple scales be punctuated with seemingly arbitrary and certainly inconsistent atonality? (This ain’t Arnold Schoenberg or Alban Berg.) As an analogy, the same question might be posed upon viewing a Jackson Pollock painting in 1955 or Vincent Van Gogh in 1890. It’s not that it is necessarily bad art. It’s that the ‘why’ of the art is yet to be discerned. A turn to the poetry of Osip Mandelstam is instructive, on the flip side of the Stalin phenomenon. Nonsense can indeed have sublimely potent meaning. But I’m not seeing or hearing it at Rock Bottom. Why, I would ask Mr. Wyatt, is there all this chaos, all this disregard for conventional (at least) conceptions of what is good, true, and beautiful? Surely it’s not merely a Bolshevik revolutionary desire to destroy classic liberal notions of art. Surely it’s not merely Capitalist avarice. Surely it’s not a neo-Gnostic triumph of undefined spirit over matter. Surely it’s not a Socialist grab at the affirmative action brass ring. Critics are at a loss to explain this (I am not alone; and, in the interest of full disclosure, I, too, was a Communist. When I was 11. I grew out of it). One is left scratching one’s head. I really want to know. You got my attention, but briefly. Was that the point all along? 1/5

This is something I could sink into. First listen of Robert Wyatt. No possible way to digest it all in the first listen. My favorite kind of music. Sounds ahead of its time.

An expansive and unusual album. The beginning is rather dirgelike before taking off into a horn filled modal jazz like middle section. This album is tinged with pastoral British folk passages undergirded by experimental lyrics and instrumentation. It’s honestly rather brilliant.

One of the most beautiful sounding albums ever. It is very typical English art rock, and I always thought of it as The Hounds of Love of the 70s. It has quite a reputation, and for sure, Radiohead fans will like it. In short: a great album, 5 stars easily.

This was the perfect listen at the perfect time. Why wouldn't someone sing backwards during my stay at The Great Northern Hotel from Twin Peaks? Will I ever want to listen again? Who knows. But it will remain a special memory forever.

Wave after wave, Robert Wyatt takes us on an astonishing and marvellous trip to the sea. His frail voice is the auditory equivalent of spindrifts: it has an automatic effect on you, and can even repel you at first given its somewhat flimsy grasp of pitch sometimes, but once you get used to it, it becomes close to a mischievous, evocative friend tickling your senses. Soon, you don't notice Robert's quaver is relatively vulnerable anymore, because you're already under the surface with it, bathing in the middle of strange and poetic sonic landscapes. Everything about this record is liquid--the voice, of course, but also the synth and organ layers, the oozy basslines, and the many jazzy brass flourishes. It would be a mistake to only address the sonic textures, though: repeated listens indeed soon reveal how the tracks are carefully constructed too, their different parts and intricate arrangements phasing in and out of the foreground, weaving their seaweed fabric as their tides ebb and flow all around your ears. Water is enticing, but it's also treacherous. Take the short intro of wonderful opener "Sea Song", for example. You might believe that those relatively by-the-number piano chords announce a somewhat mundane ballad, yet the emotional turmoil right after those first seconds sounds far more intense than what you could have expected at first, and this until the deliverance of the transcendant final part, filled with hope and longing. Wyatt is also unreliable in the ways that he sometimes winks at the audience, especially when he makes goofy non-sequiturs in his lyrics or uses a lower grotesque timbre to create unexpected lighter moments compared to the rest of the tortured proceedings. In that realm, see also the backwards-recorded voice in the middle of "Little Red Riding Hood Hit The Road", rewinding everything that was sung up to that point in the song, a playful move that suggests the sort of tricks a child could play on you. If the key word to "get" this record is catharsis, it's still one taken with a huge grain of salt, in keeping with the oceanic mood. Everything is nicely summed up in the last track, "Little Red *Robin Hood* Hit The Road": yes, its first part does amp up the intense longing to embrace an ocean of experience and emotions already diplayed in the rest of the album, supported by mellifluous electric guitar licks, unmistakably played by Mike Oldfield. Yet as grand as this first part sounds, the song (and album)'s conclusion returns to the quicksands of that surrealistic grotesque mode we talked about earlier, mocking transcendence through Wyatt's voice, here set once more to a gruffy, near-comical mode. This earthy coda suggests we finally returned to the shores of mankind, welcomed by a wrinkled mariner gently admonishing us through his inane and uncomprehensible babble. Our odyssey is over. The end. What a trip. What a strange voyage. Far less groovy and free-formed than Wyatt's original band Soft Machine, but far more poetic and evocative, *Rock Bottom* is a seventies prog-rock masterpiece which could not be further distanced from all the virtuosistic clichés of the genre. As such, it's bound to be discovered again and again by future fans of experimental music, undettered by the nonplussed reactions of shallower minds around them rejecting all this as utter nonsense. The tides, they come and go. Robert Wyatt knew it, and we can all be glad he went with the flow here. Number of albums left to review or just listen to: 838 Number of albums from the list I find relevant enough to be mandatory: 89 (including this one) Albums from the list I *might* include in mine later on: 39 Albums from the list I will certainly *not* include in mine (many others are more important): 33

I had never heard of Robert Wyatt but as I listened to “Sea Song” I was very intrigued and engaged at this truly unique and very odd love song. I stared at the cover of the album as I listened and felt myself drifting into its world. Do I love this song…? I think I do… “A Last Straw” meandered about and I felt myself drifting like a krill in a giant ocean as the music pushed me this way and that through its currents. It was strangely wonderful. I could live here. Midway through “Little Red Riding Hood Hits the Road” I realized the singing was backwards. I had to reference the lyrics to realize he was unsinging the lyrics from the first half of the song. I would have thought it was some musical joke but I found it strangely satisfying. The horns in this song are wonderful and there is an excitement with really lovely piano and a driving beat. “Alifib” has more of that drifting-along-in-the-sea vibe that I really am loving. The inscrutable lyrics sound almost like a prayer amidst the shifting currents of the song. Wonderful. “Alife” continues in a similar way, but becomes more frenetic as it advances until the kind of wild saxophone bellowing away at the end. The chant at the end is really odd and I am not sure what it all means, but I really liked the drama. “Little Red Robin Hood Hits the Road” then closes the album in a really perfect way. It is dramatic and cacophonous through its first have, then settles down with some quietly droning strings and a strange monotonal chant. A somewhat maniacal laugh closes the album. Wow! This is really surprising to me that it was created in 1974… it sounds more in line with Radiohead or Thom Yorke’s solo stuff. I had no idea that something like this existed 40 years ago to serve as such a unique source of inspiration. I love hitting ROCK BOTTOM with Robert Wyatt. The swirling sounds took me into a watery world in a way that was a true surprise. I connected to the stark and solitary world it creates and will happily return there again soon.

Going in totally blind on this one... "Your lunacy fits nicely with my own." That's a funny lyric. And that's a seriously strange outro (Sea Song). "Hey Robert, we're not going to be able to afford a trumpet player for 'A Last Straw.'" "No problem. I'll just sing the part. 'wah wah wah wah wah.' How was that?" "Fuckin' NAILED it!" "We're going to need a guitar solo." "No problem. Just record me tuning up." "Fuckin' BRILLIANT!" "I just binged 'Tomorrow Never Knows.' Hit record and let's play this song backwards." There is something strangely compelling about this. Can't exactly say I enjoyed it, it sounded like it were being composed as it was being recorded, but it seems like a peek into the very cluttered mind of a mad genius. This dude must be a trip to converse with. "Mr. Wyatt. Are you off your meds?" "I'm fighting for the crumbs from the little brown loaf. I want it. I want it. I want it. I want it." "So that's a 'yes'..." This is the first artist from this venture for whom I immediately listened to another album just to hear what the hell else this guy recorded. Pretty much a continuation of this album. I feel a little bad now knowing his story about the accident and his loss of the use of his legs just before recording this, but it seems to me that this artist would have recorded a similarly bizarre album regardless. I give it a tuna fish sandwich. A star rating just doesn't apply.

Probably the most enjoyable jazzy/proggy album we have had on this list, although that's a very low bar. I can definitely hear some echos of this in Radiohead and God Speed! You Black Emperor.

I usually like to play devil’s advocate for the lower-rated LPs on the project, but this one won’t be getting my support. Had a bad morning and this album only made it worse, going from an okay dreamy ambling to a misguided attempt at harmonic noise music. The incessant horns and nonsensical vocals grated on my patience, and I am struggling to see any artistic meaning in such truly awful composition (or simple juxtaposition) of noise here.

Another experimental one. Nothing here that I like at all

WTF. this is one of the more unlistenable things we've come across. the jabberwocky lyrical content (i can't tell if they are lyrics or backward masked sounds most of the time), and the whole thing is psychedulic, dissonant mumbo jumbo.

Wow so this album is quite a journey. I'll admit during the opening strains of Sea Song I wasn't expecting to give this a very high rating but at some point it clicked what was going on. This strange proggy, folky beautiful mess of an album unfolds in front of you, constantly surprising but never sounding out of place in context of the rest of the record. Robert is a brilliant songwriter and incredibly cryptic lyricist and his delicate warbling, meandering delivery takes a while to get used to but seems to reflect exactly what he was trying to achieve. Not to mention he has recruited a hell of a team to play with him. This is the sound of a group of musicians who have got wild experimentation down to a fine art. I can see myself revisiting this many times in the future.

One of the more confusing listens on the list so far, I had to give it another listen the next morning, to fully digest it. That said this is a borderline masterpiece, just from the music alone you can tell there's a lot of pain behind the songwriting, and as it turns out Robert Wyatt got permanently paralysed. I can see why people don't like this, it feels amateurish at times, and a bit too avant-garde at others, but when it comes together (Sea Song, Alifib suite) its perfect, and unlike anything else.

I was sceptical of this at first, monologues over sine waves, you're not getting me to scratch my chin, mate. But it opens up, and by the third song I was comparing it to This Heat and late Talk Talk, both of which I adore. It's introspective, maddened, instrumentally expansive, but feels very personal. Ran out of time for the second listen again. A cagey 4.

I had to listen to this album a few more times after being highly intrigued at first listen. The surrealist but dark jazzy atmosphere of this 70's prog album really kept drawing me back in. Some of the soundscapes reminded me of Gabriel-era Genesis. I can understand this isn't for everyone, but I've really grown very fond of this album.

an insane and mournful fever dream. like a David Bowie-Radiohead AI-generated salad

It is albums like this that keep me doing this list. Having only know of Robert Wyatt through his song Shipbuilding I was expecting an album of folk ballads. That would have been OK but an album of wild sounding jazz fusion mixed with psychedelia was a 100 times better. I had to check I was still listening to the right album at one stage as some of the noises wouldn't have been out of place on some bands I like that came 10-20 years after this release. I had no idea about Robert Wyatt's accident and the struggle he had gone through in the lead up to this album. It makes what I heard on Rock Bottom even more meaningful. I need to explore more of his work now

This is so weird and artsy I love it. The instrumentation is prog-y and orchestral, it sounds amazing.

Really enjoyed this. It has a rhythmic bouncy folky feel for a prog rock album. So much better than angry shredding rock nonsense.

I only listened to it once, and to be honest I’ve no idea what was going on. He’s to listen to in parts but some really enjoyable aspects to it to. I didn’t hate it, and I’m going to go back and give it a bit more time so I guess that’s a (generous/benefit of the doubt) 3/5 in my book.

The interpretive dance equivalent of music

Rock Bottom is the second solo album by former Soft Machine drummer Robert Wyatt, originally released in 1974. June 1, 1973 would be a date that changed Robert Wyatt's life forever. During a late night party, an inebriated Wyatt would fall out of a 4 story window. The accident left him paralyzed from the waist down. Spending time in the hospital allowed Wyatt to explore musical ideas for a solo album. Pink Floyd were very involved throughout Wyatt's recovery, even throwing a benefit concert while he was still in the hospital. This record would be produced by Pink Floyd's Nick Mason. The record is characterized by spacious soundscapes and introspective lyrics. It's really a glimpse into Wyatt's mind at the time, which was undoubtedly filled with dark thoughts. I mean he was truly at "rock bottom" trying to recover from a life changing injury. The songs are synth-heavy but in a psychedelic way, which I dig. There's even some free jazz influence at times. The perfect amount of weirdness. This album fascinates me and I truly believe it is one of my best discoveries from working through this list.

This is a peculiar album and I really don’t know what to make of it. Is it terrible? Is it genius? It’s definitely growing on me the more I listen to it. This album defies review. It can only be a 1 or a 5. I vote genius.

Really liking this Robert Wyatt guy! It’s a right mix of eclectic and interesting but sincere and fun. I’m feeling like I even underrated Shleep. It’s up there with that Todd Rundgren’s Wizard. I think a 4.5. Especially love that droning outro to he album.

What a beautiful piece of art.

Contemplative, patient, tortured, and vulnerable. You can really feel the tragedy of his accident here, and him overcoming it in a headlong dive.

I am always bittersweet seeing Wyatt's name attached to a record. On one hand, I know it will be great, on the other, I am reminded of his paralysis. And nowhere does it feel more present than in this album.

I always appreciate it when someone English sings with an English accent rather than the faux-American accent which most singers tend to emulate. Musically, this is superb, kaleidoscopic keyboards interweave to create a chilling, spooky atmosphere. Wyatt sings the poetic lyrics (sometimes wordless) and rich melodies in a lovely falsetto, and like a lot of "weird" music, at times it's almost childlike. Genuinely fascinating from start to finish.

I was kind of aware of Robert Wyatt because of his version of Shipbuilding, but I think I assumed he was just another folkie la-dee-dah troubadour. I really enjoyed this album though, and exploring his catalogue. I was in the sweet spot for listening to chilled soothing melodies and innovative choices of instrumentation. The story behind the able was so captivating and made me want to listen more carefully. Plus: Ivor Cutler! Anything featuring Ivor Cutler ticks my box. Robert seems to have moved in all the right circles in my mind. Ivor Cutler's children's books (yes please), born in Bristol (me too), his accident happened whilst he was in Venice with his wife who was editing Don't Look Now, which I keep meaning to watch (I think, maybe, Edgar Wright mentioned it as a great film to watch), staunch leftie during the Thatcher years (go on, my son!), working with Bjork, Brian Eno, John Peel, David Gilmour (what good taste).

I did not know what to expect from this. It was weird, yet wonderful... being taken on a dreamlike magical journey, atmospheric and beautiful. The explanation of "Wyatting" on Wikipedia made me laugh, (both the gag itself and his wife's opinion).

I suppose it only even comes down to taste and to be honest I find this more interesting and oddly engaging than many albums that are thrust my way for me to listen to. It's distant and whimsical and otherworldly. Art-rock yes but I find his voice really magnetic and fragile. This is a good find.

Intense

This shouldn't work - Wyatt's voice is warbly, the music is crazed, and the weird Scottish poet is...well, weird. But somehow I find this album captivating. Sea Song is simply beautiful (I heard Tears for Fears' cover version before I heard the original). A Last Straw sounds like a lost early Pink Floyd song. The first Little Red Riding Hood track is insane (those trumpets, the drum beat, fantastic bass line, bizarre backwards singing). Alifib is transfixing and Alifie has an air of mystery (and man that crazy sax solo). Then the second Little Red Riding Hood - the guitars are amazing, the "can't you see them" part just blows me away - the music is so intense - and I even find the weird Ivor Cutler recitation sounds fascinating with the droning underneath. This album shouldn't work, but it does.

I listened to this back to back with “Graceland,” which was my album before this one. I found this album much more refreshing, endlessly delightful, calming, and also invigorating. I’ve listened to this album once before but the conditions under which I listened to it this time around — crafting in a sunlit room — were much more agreeable at illuminating the best of what Wyatt had to offer. Surprisingly for a psychedelic record, this one gets a 5.

Rarely has solace been found when hitting rock bottom. It typically means one has approached the lowest ebb of life imaginable; a point where the point of no return has come upon them and seeks to immerse itself. That may have been the case for Robert Wyatt had he not seen the light that got him through the other side. Rock Bottom, for him, is the turning of a new leaf; a declaration of a new creative life that allows him to wander as freely as possible regardless of the physical limitations that defined his life, for better or worse. It could have been full of self-pitying misery, chock full of ruminations of a life left unrealized; instead it marked the beginning of a quest altogether new, exhilarating and thrilling.

I'm sorry Radiohead who??? This is one of the most moving, gorgeously crafted albums I've heard-- can't praise it enough! To think I might have never even heard it without this list!

Very lovely. Never heard this. Amusingly had a later Elvis Costello album yesterday so it's a before and after Shipbuilding here, which is fun. Absolutely love Little Red Riding Hood the first, and Alife. I'm obviously going to love this with my NEU! predilections. Drink it in. Also this has Ivor Cutler on it at the end. 5 big stars.

Strange but soothing, intoxicating, expansive, a waking dream. Like swimming underwater through an ocean of prog, free jazz, rock and Middle Eastern/Byzantine drone and melody. An incredibly beautiful album.

very good sound, quirky and interesting!

Perfect melancholy.

Like a folk David Bowie. Awesome

I've been watching through all the Twilight Zone episodes over the last six months or so, and I noticed that Rod Serling loves using the word "oddball" to describe the stories and characters. This is an oddball album. It's listed as "alternative," and I guess it's closest to psych rock or something, but it's weird. Strange vocal passages, long songs, gibberish track titles. I really dig it. It seems a little lost in time - I think I thought it was from the '60s, but somehow seems ahead of its time, released in the '60s. I don't know anything about Robert Wyatt or this album, but it was a nice, welcome trip into the twilight zone for me. Favorite tracks: Alifib, Alife, Little Red Robin Hood Hit the Road (the second one), A Last Straw. Album art: Really hard to tell what I'm looking at. A pencil sketch of what, some flora abutting a beach? Is that a person in the water conjuring some celestial orbs? It's all so faint that imagination has to fill in the gaps. Not bad, definitely fitting. 4/5

I wasn't in the mood the first time I listened but I enjoyed my second and third listen. It is weirdly beautiful with some very strange lyrics.

The very few pages of Finnegan's Wake I've read come to mind, I'm sure because of the water.

Trippy, good background though

Well, what is this? - "Experimental jazz meets psychedelic pop" with a strong emphasis on "psychedelic". "Alife" even resembles Jean Michel Jarres Ethnicolor from the Zoolook album, even though it's and entierely different genre. I found it strangely difficult to fast forward or skip tracks. The whole album is very trippy, in a good way. This is far from my usual tastes, but I'll give this 3.5/5.

This got pretty adventurous. Kind of like a folky/prog sound. Interesting.

I don't usually listen to art rock, so I was not sure I would enjoy this album. But actually, most of it is very solid, though it gets a bit boring in the middle.

Well this was wild. Really cool experience. I should check this out again at some point.

Solid. Solid Vocals and instrumentation. Liked it a lot.

So I always listen to the albums without reading anything about them, in order to form my own opinions about them – and then afterwards, I read the Wiki highlights et al… Listened to this on the drive into work today, and had 2 distinct – and exact opposite thoughts while listening… #1 – If this was made AFTER Radiohead had hit the scene, then this D+ knock-off is definitely not worth your time… #2 – If however, this was made BEFORE Radiohead had hit the scene, then this album deserves a special place in the prog rock canon… After I found out that Robert Wyatt – after writing most of the material, fell from a balcony and was paralyzed from the waist down, that added a whole new layer of intrigue… Given the originality found on this album, combined with the vision and grit to get it recorded after his recovery, really puts this album in a different light… Definitely feels like layered sampling throughout the album, combined with sections of tracks that sounded like they were recorded normally – and then played back in reverse and embedded in several tracks – all with additional layers of instrumentation mixed in… The result sounds like a raw DNA precursor that forms an evolutionary line directly to the seasoned Radiohead of the late 90’s and 2000’s… Sections of “Little Red Riding Hood Hit The Road” definitely has hints of Radiohead’s “The National Anthem” from their “Kid A” album released in 2000… Not saying there are any direct corollaries, but the style, layering, and overall sound are along the same lines… Given all of the unique aspects of this album – which is not easy to listen to the first time through (i.e. neither was Radiohead’s “Kid A” or John Coltrane’s “A Love Supreme” – good company for sure…), this deserves more than a 2 – so surprisingly for me even, this clocks in as a solid 3…

Had it on as background music but there was some freaky shit going on. It's AHRT ROCK man. Pretty amazing in the context of him becoming a paraplegic before writing/ recording.

Intriguing. Art rock ain’t my thing, but this guy’s story is amazing.

Quite interesting.

Pretty sick. Sort of King Crimson-y. Super psychadelic, a little jazzy, very progressive, but more chill/ambient than heavy rock and also a healthy dash of creepiness.

Nr. 109/1001 Sea Song 1/5 A Last Straw 2/5 Little Red Riding Hood Hit The Road 2/5 Alifib 2/5 Alife 1/5 Little Red Robin Hood Hit The Road 1/5 Average: 1,5 Only slightly better than unlistenable.

This album is a bit of a euphoric hot mess. So many minor chords and weird noise. Not really my thing, but sort of harmless and interesting. It seems like something composed by someone who spent too much time alone.

People have described this as experimental. I'm more in the obnoxious camp, his voice never seems to sync up with the music and is all over the place

Unlistenable! British art house nonsense for the sake of itself.

Another toothy danger

I deserve something for listening to that. Wish I could vote lower.

When I saw this was prog that all the cool kids said was unlistenable garbage, I got real excited. Turns out it's just unlistenable garbage. Too bad.

The notion that this is somehow enjoyable completely escapes me. I've read the Radiohead comps and that's perfect cause kid a and ok comp were also aimless pieces of shit

OMG, what is this garbage?! Is this a joke?! Why is this on the list?! What does this even EXIST?!?! Utter trash. Doesn't even deserve one star.

Is this the rock bottom of the generator? Lets find out… The album opens with sea song the instrumentals are unique and interesting a true special delight worthy of an award for a top track but the vocals are horrible worse than John martyn and the guy from violet femmes combined. Still he’s very instrumentally appeasing though to be honest even if the noises he makes are migraine inducing. The last straw is a great slow piano track tainted by this man’s voice, he’s not even like Bob Dylan where it’s the lyrics that count as a good lot if the song is this guy singing “ wa wa wa wa” and the rest is this decent but not amazing verse. Little red riding hood hit the road has these great trumpet effects making an enjoyable and entertaining musical experience ( much better than instrumental only albums like tubular bells and the tortoise albums) there’s around 2:30 of bliss until this man tries to make ah sounds bringing in the fatal entrance of his villainous voice the thing is with a different vocalist all of these songs would be praised probably in the same level that bands like the Beatles and Radiohead get. Starting off the albums second half is Alifib it’s not the most interesting instrumentally ( being a bit more drab and slow) but it’s still cool the lyrics this time are to note too being hilariously dreadful but in a funny way and it’s funny though as he sounds so serious when trying to sing these words. Alfie is the part two of the song having more interesting natural sounding drums haunted synths. The lyrics are of the same quality but the singing is louder slower and deeper making him sound stupid, there’s no other nice way to say it. The chant at the end is so bad it’s hilarious. The album ends with little red robin hood hit the road it’s a shame the vocals are there from the start as a purely instrumental track could’ve saved this from a 1. It’s not exactly the worst on the generator but there’s no other possible score to give than a one. I would recommend to give it a listen but nothing else in an odd way it screams 1001 album’s you must hear before you die as it’s not necessary 1001 album’s you’ll like before you die.

OMG. That voice. Perfectly named album: "Rock Bottom". Horrible album in every way. Rather listen to Yoko screaming. F

Wanker music. Example of some of the egregiously self-indulgent pap produced during that time.

God awful noise

Possibly the worst yet. Deserves a 0/5.

this album sucks holy shit

Absolute rock bottom

Horrendous. Experimental hippie jazz.

It was shit

I had another Robert Wyatt album a few days ago and hated it, but with this one it suddenly just clicked, and reading his backstory (he's been wheelchair-bound following an accident in the 70s) made his music all the more interesting. This album works on another level. The music is incredible, one of the few prog rock albums that actually worked, but his voice, which I found jarring at first, is what really sets it off; a child throwing a ball at a wall of sound.

loved it, ethereal and dreamy

Masterpiece!

Very ambient, very rare and unique, honestly it’s quite good except for some of the songs that I did not like as much, I couldn’t listen to them. But overall some of the songs are really atmospheric and nice to listen to.

A masterpiece from former Soft Machine drummer/singer. The opening song is worth the price of admission alone.

I really like “Rock Bottom” for its avant-garde and experimental approach. I can easily find myself listening to music all day that fits those styles. I’m just learning about the Canterbury scene, but this album is a great introduction, especially since I’m a fan of the avant-garde side of progressive rock. I really appreciate the album for its instrumental experimentation, but also for the studio production side of the experimental elements.

Hard to express my feelings on this album, but I truly adore it. So mysterious, otherworldly, unnerving, disturbing, enchanting, transcendental. It treads ground that no mortal man was meant to explore. Somehow I feel that what's great about this album is similar to what makes Moby Dick so great. A fascination with and reverence for the unknowable depths of both the sea and of the soul. I'm not very eloquent so I'll just leave this quote from the novel that is just one of the most fantastic passages I've ever read: "The sea had leeringly kept his finite body up, but drowned the infinite of his soul. Not drowned entirely, though. Rather carried down alive to wondrous depths, where strange shapes of the unwarped primal world glided to and fro before his passive eyes; and the miser-merman, Wisdom, revealed his hoarded heaps; and among the joyous, heartless, ever-juvenile eternities, Pip saw the multitudinous, God-omnipresent, coral insects, that out of the firmament of waters heaved the colossal orbs. He saw God’s foot upon the treadle of the loom, and spoke it; and therefore his shipmates called him mad. So man’s insanity is heaven’s sense; and wandering from all mortal reason, man comes at last to that celestial thought, which, to reason, is absurd and frantic; and weal or woe, feels then uncompromised, indifferent as his God."

Albums like this is what I come here for. Never heard of the artist or the album and at first I found it simply strange, but intriguing. And with every run this keeps getting better and more clear and beautiful. I love music like this, because it can grow on me and I will definitely revisit this.

It took me a few listens until I started to get it. This isn't a pop album. You couldn't dance or rock out to this album. Instead, we have a listening experience that requires you to relax, close your eyes, and wonder in the musical landscape that is compared best to ambient pieces of the period like Brian Eno and Mike Oldfield (from Tubular Bells, who plays guitar here). Robert Wyatt is a former member of Soft Machine, the biggest band (alongside Gong) from the Canterbury scene which consisted of a form of prog rock that heavily incorporated avant-garde jazz, psychedelia, and long drawn out jam improv. I previously reviewed Soft Machine's Third and found it grating and shit quality. I also reviewed Wyatt's 90s solo Shleep and found it to be a very fine record. Compared to Shleep, this is less accessible but also more coherent and constructed. The pieces work better collectively, feeling more satisfying, emotional, and thought-out. This is one I'm sure we'll grow with time. Every track has its purpose and warrants its length and track position. I like the reoccurring themes with how certain tracks mesh together. Nothing ever felt too excessive like with his Soft Machine work. This feels very mature and careful to do what it does well. I may not fall in love with it, but I see no reason not to give this a perfect score.

"Partly fish, Partly porpoise, Partly baby sperm whale, Am I yours?" Wonderfully weird and dreamlike. Amusingly bizarre but heartfelt lyrics, backwards vocals, cool instrumentation. I love it and will have to check out more Robert Wyatt. Rating: 4.5/5 Playlist track: Sea Song Date listened: 25/03/24

I'm exactly high enough for this

What a beautiful album. The baby talk love songs to his wife are wonderful. They’re so tender and reassuring. The music is noodling, but everyone involved is pulling in the same direction. Ivor Cutler is doing the spoken word parts at the end of each side. (Ivor Cutler was a comedy/folk singer who doesn’t have an album on the list, but he recorded 20 Peel sessions, more than any other artist except The Fall).

art rock of this caliber is an automatic 10/10 for me

This isn't your average progressive album, as instead of powerful hooks, entrancing guitar solos, and storylines to give Hollywood a run for its money, you instead get a skittish British man seemingly rambling over jazz-y rock, with this weirdly beautiful dread consuming the air as you listen to it. However, this change of pace is completely welcome, in my opinion. The haunting atmosphere that is formed from the manic piano, and alien synths give it this otherworldly feeling, but whenever Robert Wyatt starts singing, in which you can assuredly tell he is looking at his shoes whilst seeing, too nervous to look you in the eye, it all becomes too close to home. You feel nervous, anxious even, but the songs always relieve you of this feeling with these transcendent key changes that are always gorgeous and breath-taking, and the off-tone pianos become angels in a choir, and the space-age synths feel Heaven sent, and I can feel put together again, and truly say this is one of the greatest albums I've ever listened to.

Wow. I'm stunned. 250 albums in and I've finally found something that's completely blown away from a genre I was no expecting. Everything just seemed to click and I've no idea why. The opener was earnest and heartwarming. Little Red Riding Hood seemed to be foreshadowing mid 2000's Radiohead three decades early. The Alfib tracks were strange at first but cute after a couple listens. And the album outro is so out of place but also perfectly in place. Binged a few times now and I still hear something new and exciting with every listen. Congratulations 1001 albums, you've finally done what I expected from the start.

Bit strange

PREFS : TOUT MOINS PREF : RIEN

*Little Red Riding Hood Hit the Road

beautiful