The Set List

Best of 2007, Long Songs: Robert Wyatt

The top 10 list of this year's songs clocking  in at more than seven minutes, 30 seconds continues with: 

7. Robert Wyatt - Cancion de Julietta (from "Comicopera") 7 minutes 33 seconds
Sung in Spanish, matador-summoning trumpets rise above and then fold into an oscilating drone until the horns add the texture of a whale call. Wyatt's calming high-pitched voice, somehow unchanged over the last 30 years, rolls with melody like anchored boats banging into the dock at high tide. A calm cello brings the piece to a still conclusion, never overlooking the need for tension and making the listener feel like they've enjoyed a stoic film.
Speaking of film, here's 90 minutes of Wyatt answering questions

Pitchfork Gives Robert Wyatt A Chance to Speak His Mind

Over the weekend, I purchased a copy of Robert Wyatt's latest, "Comicopera," at Amoeba Records in Hollywood and the sales clerk - a very thin man in his early 20s - wanted to talk about Soft Machine and Wyatt's work on Rough Trade. It was a pleasant exchange - he seemed appreciative of my recommendations of Wyatt's first two Virgin albums - and a reminder of how record stores can be great communities that no online site will ever replace.
Wyatt's work has fascinated me for decades and the latest album is start-to-finish charming and the abundance of famous names being involved with the disc never overshadow the performances.
Not all that surprisingly,
Pitchfork wanted to talk to Wyatt about Brian Eno, Paul Weller and bands, and they received a response about jazz.

"I really like bands. Not particularly rock bands, but big jazz bands. As a jazz fan I want it to have real people there. There's still a consistency to it all, because it's my voice. And there is some improvisation. I never do anything the same way twice in the studio, and nor does anyone else, and it's not til the end that work out the best takes."

Wyatt also talks about the influence of Dionne Warwick and Johnny Cash, the U.S. as a ruthless financial empire and how Eddie Izzard makes him laugh.

Thom Yorke Name Checks The Great Robert Wyatt

On a Radiohead website, Thom Yorke quotes Robert Wyatt in explaining the way he works. "I love pop music to death..... Most great composers rely on folk music. I rely on pop music."
Wyatt, a brilliant art-rock singer whose drumming career ended after a fall out a window left him paralyzed from the waist down, has never received his due, even when he created the U.K. chart-topper, "Shipbuilding," which Elvis Costello wrote for him in the early '80s. One of the most convincing alchemists in the world of musicians whose gentle and warm pop music features bits of jazz and improvisation and sparse instrumentation, he's the rare artist capable of creating solo works - his 2003 album "Cuckooland" continues to amaze - 30-plus years after making career-defining works ("Rock Bottom," "Ruth is Stranger Than Richard"). He is in the small club - maybe the only member? - of people who have collaborated with two of England's guitar greats, Fred Frith and David Gilmour.
Steve Hochman wrote an interesting interview/review hybrid for the L.A. Times last week on Wyatt and his latest album, "Comicopera."