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Friday, February 13, 2009

Music and farting?!?! A crazy marriage or... why not?!?!





ROBERT WYATT... End of an Ear, Rock Bottom, Dondestan and Dondestan (Revised), Old Rottenhat, Shleep, Ruth is Stranger than Richard... last evening, after a couple of days recovering from a (light) flu... I got a massive brain and heart massage from this stellar, one-of-a-kind musical genius.
From "Las Vegas Tango" on the seminal, difficult, almost a painful listening experience End of an Ear to "Alifib" on Rock Bottom and many others special pieces, RW always had this very unique "surfing" skill with his vocal harmonies... anticipating a phrase, giving a completely different texture at every chorus... alongating the bridge in an endless variation... mind it's never tired with RW's music.
He's the poet of paper-waste and of wind on his veranda... a continuous haiku-like hommage to every-day-life... sort of giving dignity to a dying apple or to a stained wall in the kitchen.
He's been all his life a man of granite-like friendships... Hugh Hopper, Phil Manzanera, Brian Eno, Nick Mason, his beloved sound engineer Jaime at Gallery studios and... Alfie!

Alfreda (Alfie) Benge has been "there" since the tragic wheel chair end of RW as a drummer in Soft Machine and Machine Mole and rebirth of RW as a brand new Musician, a Total Artist eons beyond his time... Alfie has been RW's best friend, inspiration, a visual artist, a dreamer artist/painter and a lover.

After, for some unknown reason, snobbing and disregarding it, I purchased - and in extra, super-duper deluxe double vinyl (but with only 3 sides of music...) - the last Robert Wyatt's Comicopera effort, with astounding art (cover) works by Robert's wife, Alfreda Benge.

Well, what can I say... I apologize with RW... it's a fantastic record, full of music, various and EXTREMELY WELL RECORDED, sound-wise, it's spectacular... music-wise... it's more jazzy, more experimental than Shleep... more on Rock Bottom vein... SO, a Masterpiece!

Buy it, pals... Robert Wyatt is an humble genius and a very sincere artist... a rare voice and a Man of great integrity, politically as musically.


Again: audio-wise, his recordings are very often of superb quality... as a plus I sang on Robert's lyrics as I often do... singing in perfect, childish happy unison and loneliness is... like farting: everyone does, but nobody talk about it.

Only among friends both natural body/human expressions are sort-of a shared well-kept secret... reminds me of hyppopotamus defecating in group I saw on National Geographic channell. Maybe also for men, something ancient, a social bonding practice, I guess, but also, in this VERY case a dadaist... maybe a pataphisical comparison, which, I trust, mr. Wyatt himself wouldn't blame at all.

... but when I... sing along any given most beloved record of mine - i.e. Michael Hedges, Pandit Pran Nath, Bert Jansch, Marius van Altena, Nusrah Fateh Ali, Tim Buckley (badly using falsetto to try to reach higher Tim's pitch) and counteless others in my voice range... well, I'm deeply into Music... and I understand "WHY" I love it and understand and praise the merits of my audio system as an emotional machine, not simply gears, but a Time and Heart Machine.

I wish you all... no, not farting ... BUT enjoying music, EVERY music you like.

2 comments:

R_Carter said...

Just by reading your blog, I made my own compilation this week, following just my feelings. So I found myself playing extremely weird stuff: Leo Kottke, Scott Cossu, Popol Vuh, The Penguin Cafe Orchestra, Gil Scott Heron, Kentucky Colonels, John Rembourne, Robbie Basho, James Martin, Tangerine Dream, Michael Gulezian, Mark Isham, The Pentangle, Eric Satie. Phew!

twogoodears said...

Only name I'm not aware of is James Martin... all others often spin on my turntable...
Wanting to find a sense where it's not needed to: Robbie Basho... I love him... Gulezian, Erik Satie... only in Reinhert de Leeuwe's super slow renditions, Penguin Cafe Orchestra... Popol Vuh... yeahhh... all the musicians and groups you quoted and grooved in are unique voices, not copy-cats...
I'm right now listening to Sigur Ros, just before I was on Mike Hollis (Talk Talk) great solo, and earlier on Colleen - Les ondes silenceuses, viola da gamba, harpsichord, ancient instruments and brand new music... also, this morning - after some leaves picking-up in the garden - played some 12 strings in the bathroom;-) Felt like I said hello to the sun after almost two months raining; after working en plein air I filled me of fresh oxygene.
... following an inner call for any given music during a day is really giving a background to life.
... and freedom, as we're choosing something.
;-)

BTW... would love reading some thought from you about music and images (see a previous post)... at yr. convenience:-)