Robert Wyatt - Rock Bottom - a retrospective view 40 years on.

Reading recently that twins Jack and George Barnett of These New Puritans regarded Robert Wyatt's 1974 album 'Rock Bottom', as one of their favourites I nodded my agreement with their choice, yet realised that it was an album I liked very much but had not actually heard for goodness knows how long. I quickly scanned my CDs to find my copy but could not lay my hands on it. Nothing unusual there as I have quite a few CDs and I have never gotten round to sorting them into alphabetical order. Fortunately I do keep a computer database of all my music (see, I can be organised when I wish to be) but checking that revealed that I did not appear to have a copy. 

Shock, horror!

I recall having  a vinyl copy of the album and can only assume that when my albums went to the great vinyl graveyard in the sky (what a great place that must be), I somehow never replaced that one on CD. A travesty I know but thankfully I have now rectified the situation and have managed to listen to it two or three times in between working my way through Dylan's 'Complete Basement Tapes'.

And what a great album it is.

One must remember that this album was recorded very soon after Wyatt's terrible fall from a third floor window in June 1973, an accident that left him paralysed from the waist down and subsequently confined to a wheelchair. Despite this, the intensity of the songs does not, as many assume, originate from the accident as they had already been composed by that time.

In those six songs, Wyatt covers traditional sounding themes as well as the more free-form jazz that he was known for with The Soft Machine. He is accompanied by Fred Frith on viola, Mike Oldfield on guitar and a host of others including the wonderful Ivor Cutler on concertina, harmonium and deadpan spoken words. Incidentally the album was produced by Pink Floyd's Nick Mason.

From their own music, I can understand the likes of These New Puritans being influenced by this 40 year old album, and as Jack and George Barnett were not born until August 1988, I can only assume that the influence originates with the music collection of their parents. However they happened to discover 'Rock Bottom' I am thankful that they did and thought fit to broadcast this fact. Without that, my music collection would have been sadly lacking.