Robert Wyatt - Robert Wyatt Box Set (2009) {14CD Box Set Domino Records DOMRW1CDX}

Robert Wyatt - Robert Wyatt Box Set (2009) {14CD Box Set Domino Records DOMRW1CDX}

Out of print and hard to get 2009 UK Domino label 14CD box set comprising singlular and prominent English exp- and artrock musician and radical political singer/singwriters 9 studio albums and including the 5-disc EP's box illuminating various periods in Wyatt's long solo career - singles, odd B-sides, live cuts, alternate versions, and remixes. It begins with "Rock Bottom" (1974) which was made after Wyatt had been permanently confined to a wheelchair following a fall from a high window the previous year. Following "Ruth Is Stranger Than Richard" (1975), Wyatt took an extended break, returning reinvigorated in 1980 with a series of excellent singles on the Rough Trade label, with some B-sides generously given over to other artists. All are collected together on "Nothing Can Stop Us" (1982).



Over the next 25 years Wyatt made a series of acclaimed albums including "Old Rottenhat"(1985), "Dondestan" (1991), "Shleep" (1997), "Cuckooland" (2003) and "Comicopera" (2007). The final album in this collection is the live "Theatre Royal Drury Lane" recorded in 1974 but not issued until 2008.
Wyatt's music is heavily influenced by jazz and left-field rock, and is performed with a modicum of fuss; the arrangements are for the most part sparse, whilst his lyrical dexterity runs from the personal to the political; he is not afraid to tackle many often contentious issues. Each album comes in a card gatefold sleeve with an info/lyric booklet, apart from the live album.
The EP set pulls together other singles, and album material that have been scattered throughout Wyatt's career, although there are a few missing items; notably his final Rough Trade single, "Wind Of Change" and the "Short Break" mini album. Robert Wyatt remains one of British music's national treasures; always challenging and original, this is music that draws the listener in and although some requires a bit of work, one comes away with a feeling of great intellect and you can't really ask more than that from an artist.

Tracklisting:

Disc 1: Rock Bottom - 1974:

1 Sea Song
2 A Last Straw
3 Little Red Riding Hood Hit The Road
4 Alifib
5 Alife
6 Little Red Robin Hood Hit The Road

Disc 2: Ruth Is Stranger Than Richard - 1975:

Side Richard
1 Muddy Mouse (a)
2 Solar Flares
3 Muddy Mouse (b)
4 5 Black Notes And 1 White Note
5 Muddy Mouse © Which In Turn Leads To Muddy Mouth

Side Ruth
6 Soup Song
7 Sonia
8 Team Spirit
9 Song For Che

Disc 3: Nothing Can Stop Us - 1982:

1 Born Again Cretin
2 At Last I Am Free
3 Caimanera
4 Grass
5 Stalin Wasn't Stallin'
6 Red Flag
7 Strange Fruit
8 Arauco
9 Trade Union
10 Stalingrad

Disc 4: Old Rottenhat - 1985:

1 Alliance
2 Us Of Amnesia
3 East Timor
4 Speechless
5 The Age Of Self
6 Vandalusia
7 The British Road
8 Mass Medium
9 Gharbzadegi
10 P.L.A

Disc 5: Dondestan (Revisited) - 1991:

1 CP Jeebies
2 N.I.O. (New Information Order)
3 Dondestan
4 Sight Of The Wind
5 Shrinkrap
6 Catholic Architecture
7 Worship
8 Costa (Memories Of Under-Developement)
9 Left On Man
10 Lisp Service

Disc 6: Shleep - 1997:

1 Heaps Of Sheeps
2 The Duchess
3 Maryan
4 Was A Friend
5 Free Will And Testament
6 September The Ninth
7 Alien
8 Out Of Season
9 A Sunday In Madrid
10 Blues In Bob Minor
11 The Whole Point Of No Return

Disc 7 - 11: EPs - 1999:

CDEP1: Bits:
1 I'm A Believer (Previously Unreleased Extended Version)
2 Memories
3 Yesterday Man
4 Sonia (Alternate Version)
5 Calyx (Recorded Live At Drury Lane)

CDEP2: Pieces:

1 Shipbuilding (Remastered Version)
2 Memories Of You
3 Round Midnight
4 Pigs… (In There)
5 Chairman Mao

CDEP3: Work In Progress:

1 Yolanda
2 Te Recuerdo Amanda
3 Biko
4 Amber And The Amberines

CDEP4: Animals:

1 The Animals' Film

CDEP5: Remixes:

1 Was A Friend
2 Maryan
3 A Sunday In Madrid
4 Free Will And Testament

Disc 12: Cuckooland - 2003:

Part One 'Neither Here…'
1 Just A Bit
2 Old Europe
3 Tom Hay's Fox
4 Forest
5 Beware
6 Cuckoo Madame
7 Raining In My Heart
8a Lullaby For Hamza
8b Silence

Part Two '…..Nor There'
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

Disc 13: Theatre Royal Drury Lane - 2005:

1 Introduction By John Peel
2 Dedicated To You But You Weren't Listening
3 Memories
4 Sea Song
5 A Last Straw
6 Little Red Riding Hood Hit The Road
7 Alife
8 Alifib
9 Mind Of A Child
10 Instant Pussy
11 Signed Curtain
12 Calyx
13 Little Red Robin Hood Hit The Road
14 I'm A Believer

Disc 14: Comicopera - 2007:

Act One Lost In Noise
1 Stay Tuned
2 Just As You Are
3 You You
4 A.W.O.L.
5 Anachronist

Act Two The Here And The Now
6 A Beautiful Peace
7 Be Serious
8 On The Town Square
9 Mob Rule
10 A Beautiful War
11 Out Of The Blue

Act Three Away With The Fairies
12 Del Mondo
13 Cancion De Julieta
14 Pastafari
15 Fragment
16 Hasta Siempre Comandante