Cuckoo Land [Import]

Robert Wyatt | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 19, 2003)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Video Arts
• ASIN: B0000AVTA4
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,166,580 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Just a Bit

2. Old Europe

3. Tom Hay's Fox

4. Forest

5. Beware

6. Cuckoo Madame

7. Raining in My Heart

8. Lullaby for Hamza/Silence

9. Trickle Down

10. Insensatez

11. Mister E

12. Lullaloop

13. Life Is Sheep

14. Foreign Accents

15. Brian the Fox

16. La Ahada Yalam (No-One Knows)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"It remains, in many ways, one of Wyatt's most ambitious records with some of his most striking songs." - 5 stars out of 5 --Record Collector Magazine --This text refers to an alternate Audio CD edition.

Product Description

Possibly as beautiful and assuredly restrained as anything he has done, Cuckooland was at 75 minutes Wyatt's longest work to date. After Brian Eno expressed concern about its length, Wyatt placed a half-minute break in the middle so people could go and put the kettle on. In amongst the light-as-a feather brushstrokes and Wyatt's own muted trumpet playing, is an ire and barely contained anger both at our inability to be humanitarian and the follies that get carried out in that word's name. Wyatt had done whatever is the polar opposite of mellowing. --This text refers to an alternate Audio CD edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars wow! robert has done it again!!!, October 17, 2003

By 

miguel hiraldo (miami, FL United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cuckooland (Audio CD)

To me this feels like a return to the complexities of the past ('rock botton' , 'ruth is stranger...') but of course we are not in the mid seventies anymore. Its the spirit that it's there...the stetics are diferent but the experimentalism and uniqueness typical of those past works is there again... like it used to be in those wonderful albums. Obviously he had more time in the studio to build these personal songs to such degree of detail .They will appeal to the thristy ear searching for a challenge, and will appeal to those looking for foot-tapping songs too. Some great collaborators (Karen Mantler, David gilmour, Brian eno, Annie Whitehaed, Phil Manzanera, etc) really help to the originality of the cd, but the real star is wyatt himself. His singing could not be better and the compositions are some of his best ever! also wyatt is playing cornet a lot, and it fits great to this music. A must have for anyone looking for really entertaining music, intelligent lyrics and just plain rock fun! Like it used to be when rock was about coming with an original sound , and creativity was THE thing. i was smiling all the way to work while listening to this masterpiece in my car...highly recommended...

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars beautiful compostions, wonderful musics, March 24, 2004

By 

twinteleman "Alan" (lou, ky) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Cuckooland (Audio CD)

Robert Wyatt is a gift to listeners of "prog", "fusion", "avant" rock/jazz. he has remained consistantly interesting , challenging and enjoyable in his recorded works for 35 years. i was very pleased with this new offering, certainly the most trad jazz sounding(not saying its a jazz record) elements, a more natural timbre to elements of the music....simply wonderful, if your familiar with Robert and like, get this, if you know nothing of the man but enjoy music that is hard to catergorize but lively and challenging(in the best way challenging--it rewards you quickly) BUY THIS

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Sweet & spicy jazz-pop, March 16, 2004

By 

R. Lister "burblet" (Palo Alto, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cuckooland (Audio CD)

It's a cliche that a certain singer could read the phone directory and it'd be worth hearing, but Robert Wyatt has exactly one of *those* voices for me. Warm, full of humanity and humor, it carries me through the more freeform pieces just because it's a pleasure to spend time in his company.

As distinct from the dream-like "Schleep", this album has a sense of purpose and something that might be mellow anger. This immediacy does the songs a favor, since the musical content can sometimes feel a little aimless - for example, "Lullaby for Hamza" addresses the 'collateral damage' of the gulf war, using the medium of, natch, a jazzy half-tune. Still, it's never less than richly detailed, beautifully textured jazzy half-tunes.

There's some other directions to explore here: "La Ahada Yalam" is a graceful instrumental sounding quite Arabic to these cloth ears, "Raining in my Heart" is a disarmingly simple rendition of the standard on piano - somehow perfectly apropos and touching in context. Meanwhile "Foreign Accents" is an atmospheric mantra of connected terms set over strings and piano feeling much like early Michael Nyman.

So, Robert Wyatt is still the director own distinctive type of movie, bringing his now-usual cast (hi Paul Weller!), and like many cinema auteurs, once you have the taste for his work it's fascinating to get each fresh installment. I'm not sure I've conveyed this well, but I'm loving this album at the moment and would recommend to to anyone wanting to wander into a path less travelled.

recommendation: if you are a fan, try to track down the peerless "Cute (H)ey?" compilation by Robert Wyatt's friend and collaborator Ivor Cutler: a fabulous pointer to the varied influences behind this strain of other-worldly pop. My favorite compilation of all time.