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Friday 6th April 2012
All Day BBQ Festival

Sparrow and the Workshop
6 Day Riot
The Nuns
Singing Adams
Y Niwl
Colours
Dignan Porch
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The Windmill
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On Our iPod

Golden Grrrls - New Pop 7”

Chris Devotion & The Expectations - Amalgamation & Capital (album)

Trailer Trash Tracys - Ester (album)

Throwing Up - Mother Knows Best 7”

Howling Wolf - Complete Chess Masters 1951-60

The Ketamines - A Rotten Bond/1 Yr (from Oddbox Singles Club Pt 2)

Cardinal - Hymns (album)

Proper Ornaments - Taking the Gamble Out of Buying 12”

Darren Hayman - January Songs (album)

Various: Marshall Teller EP 12”

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Album Review

Robert Wyatt
His Greatest Misses Domino Records

Article written by Ged M - Jun 20, 2010

Robert Wyatt: His Greatest Misses

Don Henley. Karen Carpenter. Phil Collins declaring “I’m talking Nonce Sense!” and dumping his missus by fax. Singing drummers really are a layer of hell unto themselves. There are some exceptions of course: Levon Helm from The Band and, the subject of our attention here, Robert Wyatt. His Greatest Misses, a 17 track album previously only released in Japan, is a brilliant summation of his work, a mix of pop, politics and philosophy with a warming humanist approach.

Domino has overseen the reissue of his solo albums, from Rock Bottom (first released in 1974) to Comicopera (2007) but this compilation seems to be the easiest way into understanding the breadth of his work without being inundated by a particular style. Pop is represented by the likes of ‘I’m A Believer’, his Monkees cover that sounds like the happiest he ever gets (and which put him on Top of the Pops) and the brilliant Bowie-esque ‘Heaps of Sheeps’. He’s always been a fiercely political animal, which here is covered by the anti-consumerist, anti-Thatcher ‘The Age of Self’ and the Spanish language ‘Arauco’, which lists the indigenous cultures in Chile that were eradicated by European invaders. Representing philosophy, ‘Free Will and Testament’ is a song about self-knowledge but, then again, a lot of his songs transcend the superficial in pop.

And then there’s ‘Shipbuilding’. It’s an Elvis Costello- penned song but Wyatt’s treatment is the definitive one; this is pop in its slowly unfurling melodies, politics in its examination of the Falklands War on working class communities and philosophical, when he asks: “is it worth it?” What makes it so special is his amazing voice, with its massive range and ability to mix genres, and his empathy for the song’s characters. Listening to him, there really is no vocal comparison.

The album reflects other dimensions too, from the jazz beast that has always lived in Wyatt on songs like ‘Memories of You’, to the avant garde ‘Foreign Accents’ and the uncategorisable ‘Little Red Robin On The Road’, featuring Ivor Cutler on harmonium and patois singing. It all adds up to an excellent tribute to a rich musical heritage, probably the one Wyatt album that you really need.

Links:
http://www.dominorecordco.com/artists/robert-wyatt/
http://www.myspace.com/robertwyatt