Rock Bottom

Genres: Art rock, canterbury scene, progressive rock, psychedelic rock Formed: (Solo) 1974 Run time: 6 songs, 39 min, 33 sec There is only six songs, but they are all over 5minutes in length. Track 1 “Sea Song” is about a mermaid. The lyrics are ‘out there’! “Partly fish, partly porpoise”, and “Your madness fits in nicely with my own”. There is at least 2 minutes of nonsense noises at the end of the track. Track 2 “A Last Straw” talks about seaweed and “Your rocky bottom”. Another ‘out there’ song with lyrics like “We’ll not grow fat inside The mammary gland”. There’s a minute of nonsense in the middle. Track 3 “Little Red Riding Hood Hit The Road” starts with almost 3 minutes of instrumental and then continues with lyrics that are utter nonsensical drivel. Track 4 “Alifib”. The lyrics can only be described as utter rubbish. “Burleybunch the water mole”, “Hellyplop and fingerhole”. Track 5 “Alife” follows the previous track with no gap. More of the same… “Nit nit folly bololy” and so on. Much of the lyrical content is almost inaudible. Probably for the best. Track 6 “Little Red Riding Hood Hit The Road”. Same title as track 3 but a different song. I can’t imagine how strong the marijuana and mushrooms must have been to create this album. I don’t normally give negative reviews, instead I opt to say nothing, but this was forty minutes of my life wasted! Thank God there are no more tracks. My Rating: *

What?! No. Absolutely not. Next!

i felt bad about giving this one star, i wanted to save that for the truly egregious, and this record has a story of artistic integrity associated with it. however there is not one good moment in this album - even ivor cutlor couldnt save the day. this record reminded me that actually im quite a happy person. im fucking r a d i a n t cheer. im 400x more happy listening to loveless in the pissing rain than listening to this tedious jibberish anyway this record sucks and blows

Vietnam war album

Quite annoying

Just really not my jam. Interesting for sure, and unlike anything I've listened to, but not my jam.

Hopes were up because of Nick Mason. Then they plummeted to Rock Bottom. When you consider Dark Side of the Moon was the same year, this, for "prog" was awful.

I don’t think a lot of those words were even real

Rock bottom seems about right. What absolute garbage. Half a point given for being brief. The "wah-wah-wahs" in A Last Straw were a moment for sure but unfortunately NOT the last straw in terms of pap. This was painful.

Borderline unlistenable

Didn't think this album would ever end.

Boo

Granted, it's interesting but not really my taste...

Shite Awful vocals, dismay tune Only the 2nd album I couldn't even listen to the end

This sucks.

mmmmmm

Unlistenable. Not a melody to be heard. Just, noise?

What the actual fuck did I just listen to? Robert Wyatt was the drummer of the band Soft Machine before branching off on his own. This is his second studio album, and this one was produced by Pink Floyd's drummer, Nick Mason. Need I say more? This album is super out there. Psychadelic folk maybe? I don't know what to call it. An unfortunate accident befell Wyatt in the middle of recording this record, leaving him paralyzed, which sucks, but my fuck this album still blows. Most of the album has no discernable beat to it at all. Someone just sat behind a piano and played random notes shittily while the bass player fell asleep and waves of God awful theramin screeching and synth garbage are layered overtop. Wyatt couldn't carry a tune in a bucket, and the lyrics are mostly nonsensical (especially in the song Alifib and Alife which isn't English, or any discernable language. It seems like he is singing backwards while brass instruments are abused in the background). The flute playing on Little Red Riding Hood Hit The Road was terrible. The violin in Little Red Robin Hood Hits the Road sounds like something an unskilled 6 year old would play if given free range to wail on the instrument with no instruction. This album was garbage from start to finish. Painful to listen to really. Why the fuck is this on this list? Favourite song: Sea Song (if I had to pick one. In reality the whole album is trash) Least favourite songs: Alifib, Alife, A Last Straw, Little Red Riding Hood Hits The Road, Little Red Robin Hood Hits The Road 1/5

Ooops, it was awhile ago since I listened to this. However, I think I remember it being pretty bad. Maybe I'm mistaken, but I think this wasn't great

Started at a 2 for me and went downhill. Produced by Nick Mason and the psychedelic influence is definitely seen. Not a fan of this one as a whole.

It was hot garbage and not for me. One songs lyrics are wa wa wa wa over and over and over.

WTAF is this? WHY is this? Who was this made for, other than the artist himself? The answers to these questions are irrelevant. This album is genuinely unlistenable, and the only list it truly belongs on is "1001 Albums That Make You Wish You Were Dead." I couldn't even make it through an entire song; the best I could manage was a skim of the album. It is my fervent hope that I can purge this abomination from my memory banks and never waste another millisecond thinking about it. Life's too short to waste on terrible music.

The guy can't sing

Not my bag.

un peu horrible

Holy shit this was bad. I feel like I am at rock bottom after listening to this.

Absolutely awful.

Weird. I’m learning from this project that I really hate art rock. The scratchy and out of tune vocals make it even worse. I feel bad because the guy had just had a bad accident that left him paralyzed but maybe he should’ve done a bit more reflecting and recovering before penning this atrocity. Just because he was paralyzed doesn’t mean he’s excused for inflicting this album upon the world. Couldn’t finish.

drab 1.5

Well, the title is certainly fitting. Listening to this truly feels like being in rock bottom.

I can't do this stuff. Maybe if I was on acid...

1.5

This is one where I just go really? Really? There wasn’t another album out there more influential or, just better? Hard to believe. It makes me look back at some other 1s I’ve given and realize they should’ve been 2s.

Interring.

This album is really bad. This might be the first one star review I have given.

Man, after reading what happened to the guy, I really wanted to be able to give this a good rating but this... it's unlistenable at times. He's completely off-key. There are certain notes he can't hit but goes for anyways. It sounds like every instrument was assigned to play a different song during some parts, and during other parts it sounds like he hired people who didn't know how to play the instruments. I can appreciate the weirdness even if I don't like it, but a lot of this is just dreadful to listen to.

Robert Wyatt has two albums on the list, more than 20 years apart, and third with Soft Machine before his solo career. And they all stink. But “Rock Bottom” most of all. I thought it was fitting that this seems to be rock bottom of his music career, but then I read that he recorded this after a fall that left him paraplegic and wheelchair-bound. So it may have been rock bottom in his life, but with apologies, it was also for his music. I don’t know why this was critically acclaimed, but it was awful and I did not need to hear this.

I almost gave it an extra star for only making me listen to it for six songs

This album is the antithesis of synergy. The sum is most definitely much worse than the parts. Sea Song is very difficult to listen to. That non-word, moaning part at the end is the fingernails on a chalkboard to my ears. Yikes! I had to skip the last minute. I hate the squeaky noises in Alife. I could write more but I don’t want to listen again to pinpoint my comments. This is an album where I think being a professional critic is a bunch of bullshit because this album was overwhelmingly well received.

Awful.

This album is unlistenable garbage.

It really was Rock Bottom ! 1*

Its not often I give a one-star and this may not have be worthy of a one but it wasn't good. The music was OKish but the singing....

The cover art is washed out and hard to see or make sense of. Maybe having the physical album would help, but it turns out my impression of the art is perfect for the album which is also faint and weird and hard to get enough of a fix on to even decide if it is interesting or just self indulgent. Yeah, just got to Alife, and I'm afraid Robert Wyatt has worn out his welcome. Not for me. But then I don't like Radiohead either. I did look up the Tears for Fears cover of Sea Song and found it a bit more accessible. After that I was thinking maybe two stars and went back and listened to the album again and halfway through decided no, no second star, I just don't like it.

16qt

Rock Bottom is aptly named and decidedly feels like it belongs there.

What the actual??? I don’t know what the artist was on when they recorded this and I don’t know what I would have to be on to enjoy this. No, just no.

Did not enjoy. Somewhat odd.

Not really a fan. Musically I could probably enjoy it, but I do not like the vocals.

I like something distinctive, unique, original...weird, even. But not this, not today. No. Sorry.

Probably a reasons I've never heard of this

I tried but the last straw was the 2nd track on the album and I just couldn't continue...

Did not vibe with it

This was experimental, but not in a way that I enjoy.

Weird, not my type of music

I guess “art rock” means a total lack of anything resembling some kind of song structure, you know like a verse or chorus or even an enjoyable melody. I struggled to get through this

I don't know what that was.

Tragic story about the musician, but I didn't enjoy the music.

What in the God's name was that'

Rock bottom, scratchy sax on a jazz soundscape. Urrgh.

I get that Wyatt had just suffered a major accident in life, and he was still able to continue composing and playing music. It is impressive. Unfortunately, this experimental rock is a failed experiment.

Not my style

Nope.

Not familiar with Robert except by name. Even Soft Machine, his band I am familiar with by name and reputation only. Album has 6 long songs, or are they movements or suites. I'll take them one bu one. 1st song; did not like it closer to free jazz than rock, not my cup of tea. 2nd song a little more modal in nature, enjoyed this one more. 3rd song, reminds me a little bit of Miles Davis in a Silent Way. Like this one still more. Closer to a rock sound but still more jazz than anything (not that there's anything wrong with that) 4th song; just kinda weird ...annoying organ sounds, jazzy guitar weird percussive, metronomic breathing sounds and fragile singing add up to a strange listening experience 5th song; more weirdness...a continuation of the previous song. I do like the percussion and the sax in this one. Actually much better than the previous song and perhaps my 2nd favorite so far 6th song; and the last one more of the same anti rock & roll. Just not music for my tastes 1 🌟

Did not enjoy. In some areas it sounded like a film score without a film, but not in a good way.

What the hell did I just listen to? Good for this dude for getting his stuff out on record. This shit is weird.

Wank. 3.4/10

Disco rarísimo. Demasiado experimental para mí. Sonidos ambientales mezclados algunos de manera extraña, otros no. No es un álbum que le daría una segunda oportunidad.

Maybe I missed the point but this was self indulgent, boring, hard to listen to tripe

Slow, glacial paced art rock. Best Tracks: Sea Song, A Last Straw, Alifib

No thanks, this is utter cack

Bit weird.

Too painful. I don’t think it was done fir art. I think he’s just shit and taking the piss out of everyone

Reallllly long songs that use the same elements over and over again. Too monotonous in my view.

trying to be experimental doesnt make you experimental

Definitely not my cup of tea.

noise

1974. Key Songs: Sea Song?

oof.

Oof. I just didn't get it at all. I rarely give out 1-star ratings because I usually find some redeeming quality, or at least one song I kind of like. But not this one. There's not one song I ever want to hear again. Not one minute of one song. This album wasn't meant for me at all. Even knowing the context of the album (it was made right after he was paralyzed after falling 4 stories); didn't help at all.