Customer Reviews

Cuckooland

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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...

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

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.

Although I loved "Shleep" for its loopy humour and good fun, "Cuckooland" returns to a more serious and substantial style not heard since his classic "Rock Bottom" (1974).

From the very first chords, which sound like something out of Vangelis' soundtrack to "Blade Runner", through the French chanteuse "Old Europe," the Brazilian "Insensatez" to the final Catalan "La Ahada Yalam," this is a journey through a vast world of music, all of which has influenced Mr. Wyatt. Along the way we get lyrics about the horror of war, the vagaries of love and the evil men do -- hardly popmuzik fluff! Collaborators (who no doubt come to worship at his feet) include Annie Whitehead, Brian Eno, Phil Manzanera and David Gilmour. It's a sobering, imaginative and moving journey, Robert's most personal album since 1974.

One of these masterpieces in a career would be a blessing, but Robert has created at least two -- more if you're a serious fan.

The ex-prog rock titan doesn't skimp on providing interesting compositions from off the beaten path, but with Cuckooland the eccentric French saloon influence seems to burn itself out, contributing to an apathetic weariness over time.

Cuckooland, Robert Wyatt's most recent full-length album, is exactly what I've come to expect from Wyatt's recent work: lush, engaging (but not unnecessary) production full of well-known guest stars, jazz/rock/pop compositions written by Robert, his wife Alfreda Benge, and others, fantastic vocal performances from one of the most interesting voices pop music has ever seen, and a restless search for new and surprising sounds. In a word, Cuckooland is another of Robert Wyatt's masterpieces. The more I listen to Robert Wyatt's recent music, the more I realize how unique he is: essentially, Wyatt is a jazz singer-songwriter--a rare breed, of which he may be the premiere example. A lot of jazz music is focused on interplay between instruments, complex extended harmony, and the thrill and possibilities of improvisation over often 'standard' tunes that have been around for years. Wyatt changes things up a bit, though, using jazz instrumentation, harmony and theory, vocal styling, and the free and anarchic spirit of jazz fusion as support for the principles of singer-songwriter music--a focus on what the lyrics mean, especially sung in combination with music (as opposed to printed poetry), and continual experimentation with the pop or rock song form in order to come up with something new and interesting to support each song's musical and lyrical ideas.

In this vein, Cuckooland is a resounding success, and is even a step forward from 1998's excellent Shleep in song quality and experimentation. The album kicks off with the wry, tongue-in-cheek "Just A Bit," dedicated to Richard Dawkins. The album and song open to gentle synthesizer washes and regular snare rimshots, and something new! Since the last album, Wyatt learned how to play (or at least decided to record himself playing) coronet! When contextualized with his love of the classic jazz greats, Wyatt's move to coronet makes perfect sense. With coronet, he is not only able to emulate his jazz idols, but he's also able to tap into an instrument with great potential for emotive, interpretive improvisation (much more than keyboards or drums--his other instruments), rivaled only by Wyatt's voice in the pure emotion and lyrical depth it's capable of conveying. Wyatt's coronet makes numerous welcome appearances on the album and is one of the fresh additions that makes Cuckooland an exciting move forward. "Just A Bit" combines some gently cynical musings on religion with an ultimately ironic ending, assuring listeners that Wyatt's penchant for humor, amazingly expressive voice, and lyrical skills are stronger than ever. Things get straight-up jazzy with "Old Europe," with Wyatt singing French to a smoky lounge backdrop. The atmospheric "Tom Hay's Fox" features some fine coronet, a creative piano line, and some spoken word from Wyatt, a new move that works quite well. "Forest" is one of the album's most interesting and progressive songs, with help from David Gilmour on guitar and lap steel.

Other album highlights include the paranoia-laden, "Beware," a collaboration with Karen Mantler. In addition to writing or co-writing, Mantler duets vocally with Wyatt on a number of tracks. Her singing sounds fine, but compared with Wyatt's acrobatic vocal abilities, unbelievable range, and ever-changing timbre, her voice sounds a little bit colorless. "Trickle Down" is an up-tempo swinger with a great melody and double-tracked vocals from Wyatt. "Lullaloop" is fantastic, combining a jazzy groove with some comic mugging from Wyatt and some pretty gnarly electric guitar. "Foreign Accents" is very interesting, almost like chamber music with strings and Wyatt repeating the song's short lyric repeatedly, which includes the names "Hiroshima" and "Nagasaki." As I mentioned earlier, this song's great success lies in the combination of these evocative words, and the character of Wyatt's voice and melancholy of the music. Despite its minimalism, the song succeeds in evoking all of the emotions associated with the bombing of both cities in a real and powerful way. The album closes with "La Ahada Yalam," an instrumental of a middle-eastern song that ends the album on a pensive note.

Overall, Cuckooland is a real ride of an album, clocking in at 75 minutes ("Lullaby for Hamza" even has 30 seconds of silence, so listeners can take a break!). Wyatt has managed to evolve his keyboard-heavy 80's and early-90's solo production to still include great keys and some of his always spry percussion work, but to also include lots of other surprising and interesting instruments in the arrangements (like on Shleep) that add much to each song and make the 75 minutes an adventure that never becomes tiresome or uninteresting, whereas Old Rottenhat or Dondestan may come across as relatively homogeneous in their arrangements and consistent use of keyboards and synths. I can say I heartily recommend Cuckooland to fans of any of Robert Wyatt's records (or The Soft Machine, for that matter), though I'd probably recommend working through his catalog chronologically so it makes more sense, especially getting Shleep before Cuckooland. Wyatt's still making some of the most creative, unpredictable, and excitingly original music out there. His new album, tentatively titled Comicopera, is reported to be coming out in the end of 2007, so hopefully we'll be getting even more inimitable music from Wyatt. Until then, Cuckooland should keep us all pretty content.

"Robert Wyatt makes very organic records."

That is what my friend and prog expert Lloyd told me about five years ago, when I seriously started to investigate this master's post-Soft Machine work. Of course, I started with Rock Bottom, and then worked randomly through Wyatt's output.

Rock Bottom is a masterpiece of the 1970s, and is filled with the textures of the era. Wyatt here, and always, is so unto himself musically, you never think about what trend he is following because you know he is never following any.

So it surprised me a little when I heard more modern synthesizer textures on Cuckooland. Perhaps it shouldn't have. Just as Brittney Spears could screw up a sitar and tabla if you made her use it, Wyatt could make music with a toothbrush.

Wyatt's use of modern textures here is further more interesting because there is a paradox at work. Cuckooland contains some of the most simple music I have heard Wyatt make. Simple is good. Listen to the mournful "Old Europe," to here what this master can do with more streamlined structures.

When you get to this level, it is never the composing style, but what you do in that framework. Just ask any Coltrane fan what his or her favorite thing is.

"Old Europe" sets the tone for a lot of this album. Wyatt uses his new found love for the synth on songs that could be out of a piano lesson book. He deliberately scales back the jazz complication and goes back to forms that sound straight from the 1920s. Yet he creates sometimes outright creepy silk curtains with the updated keyboards. If you can picture the master in wheelchair, singing in a dark room but bathed in a thin shaft of light, this is the feeling Cuckcooland radiates.

At this late date, Wyatt has absolutely nothing to lose: the masses don't care and people that listen to Wyatt--who have the required emotional courage--should and will follow him wherever he goes.

And if he chooses to work with traditional forms, songs that go back a generation before the be-bop and free jazz that informed the young man's Soft Machine so long ago, whatever direction he goes and however he treats this music has all the merit in the world. Ours and Wyatt's.

A deeply personal vision that draws on many different musical idioms. Rock, Jazz, Klezmer, Show Tunes....skirts the shmaltzy edge without ever going over the top. Combined with funny, insightful lyrics suffused throughout, a wry commentary on this Great Cukooland we live in.

This new Robert Wyatt work is an absolute masterpiece, deep and reflectful, yet glowingly psychedelic in the vein of the classic Rock Bottom or bits of Ruth Is Stranger Than Richard. Recommended for old stalwart fans and inquisitive thoughtful newcomers alike! I keep coming back to this CD for more. Dreamy and wonderful.

A new Wyatt album is always a moment of joy in my household. The voice, the sounds, the adventure continues with "Cuckooland". Those who know of the pleasures that Wyatt can bring will be delighted. After the first couple of listens, you will be hooked. Wyatt always has us thinking. Playing with chords, wrapping his hands around some haunting and beautiful melodies, there is much to be enjoyed here. The visit by Eno on "Forest" is a standout. It is vintage Wyatt and Eno. Guitar returns to the Wyatt sound in the persons of David Gilmour ("Forest") and the wonderful Paul Weller on the playful "Lullaloop". There is even a single lurking here in the great rendition of the Carlos Jobim tune, "Insensatez". Beautiful! More playful, varied and consistently stronger than the great "Shleep", "Cuckooland" is Wyatt at his best, making thoughtful, relevant and beautiful music.