Shleep (CD)

Robert Wyatt first came to public attention in the 1960s as drummer/singer for Canterbury jazz-rock legends Soft Machine. A tragic accident cost him the use of his legs and consequently his drumming career, but he continued working as a solo artist from the 1970s into the 21st century. Wyatt's consistently stunning albums make use of his unique sweet-but-gritty voice, often-political lyrics, jazz-schooled harmonic sense, and artsong-like arrangements for a sound that's like nothing else in "pop" music.

• Category:  Music  »  Rock & Pop  »  General Rock & Pop
• Format: CD   Learn more about the CD format using Tower WIKI.
• Release Date: March 15, 2005
• Label: Hannibal
• UPC: 031257141826
• WAPI (Tower ID): 106654677
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Rolling Stone (5/14/98, p.60) - 3.5 Stars (out of 5) - "...his most pop-friendly LP in a decade....the album's soothing tone, lilting melodicism and gentle abstraction are pure Wyatt....An ingratiating weirdness prevails..."
Spin (4/98, pp.128-129) - 9 (out of 10) - "...SHLEEP...lives up to [Wyatt's] various legacies with graceful mistakes, grown-up melodies, and rhythms that care more about the earth turning than your ass shaking....Electronicats who don't know what people are capable of in real time will be shamed by the beauty of these boiled lullabies and irreducibly human sounds."
Entertainment Weekly (1/30/98, pp.64-65) - "...SHLEEP unfolds like a blissful dream, with Wyatt's hypnotic voice and fluid percussion wrapping themselves around his oddball compositions. The result is beautifully skewed and not a bit dated." - Rating: A
Q (Summer/01, p.128) - 3 stars out of 5 - "...Teems with impromptu wordplay and has the uncanny dream-like quality that made ROCK BOTTOM so original."
Magnet (1-2/98, p.81) - "...Composing and collaborating on songs that are alternatively delicate, jazzy, cheeky, political and dreamy, Wyatt has quietly produced one of the best albums of 1997."
The Wire (p.69) - "SHLEEP allows its musicians the loosest rein with the material to produce some of the best music that's ever gone out under Wyatt's name."
Musician (3/98, p.96) - "...catches Wyatt in an outgoing mood....Lyrically, the somber political focus of previous albums has been discarded in favor of an approach that's more philosophical and observational....suggests renewed energy and willingness to face the world's hardships with humanity and good cheer."
NME (Magazine) (12/20-27/97, pp.78-79) - Ranked #48 in NME's 1997 Critics' Poll.

Personnel: Robert Wyatt (vocals, Polish fiddle, trumpet, keyboards, bass, percussion); Alfreda Benge (vocals); Paul Weller, Jamie Johnson (guitar, background vocals); Phil Manzanera, Philip Catherine (guitar); Chikako Sato (violin); Evan Parker (soprano & tenor saxophone); Annie Whitehead (trombone); Brian Eno (synthesizer, background vocals); Chucho Merchan (acoustic bass, percussion); Gary Azukx (djembe); Charles Rees (background vocals).

Recorded at Phil Manzanera's Gallery Studio, Chertsey, England, between 1996 and 1997.

Includes liner notes by Robert Wyatt.

Personnel: Robert Wyatt (vocals, fiddle, trumpet, keyboards, percussion); Jamie Johnson (vocals, keyboards, bass guitar, percussion); Alfreda Benge (vocals); Paul Weller, Phil Manzanera (guitar); Evan Parker (soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone); Annie Whitehead (trombone); Brian Eno (synthesizer, background vocals); Chucho Merchan (double bass, percussion).

Recording information: 1996 - 1997.

He first came to public attention as the drummer/singer of British jazz-rockers Soft Machine, but since the mid-'70s, Robert Wyatt has been known as an innovative, idiosyncratic singer-songwriter. Like much of Wyatt's previous work, SHLEEP (his first album since '91's DONDESTAN) incorporates jazz, rock, world music and the kind of art-song cum prog-pop that has become a Wyatt trademark. Wyatt's high, rough voice is one of the most distinctive, powerful instruments in modern music, and it navigates the unconventional hills and valleys of his melodies with grace and verve.

Fellow prog vets/soul brothers Brian Eno (whose early pop records are distant cousins of Wyatt's music) and Phil Manzanera are on hand, as are Wyatt disciples like Paul Weller and saxophonist Evan Parker, contributing to the lush, but far from overproduced sound of SHLEEP. One of the most striking differences between this and Wyatt's other work is the lyrical shift from the political to the personal. While he's always been adept at combining the two, the change marks SHLEEP as the most direct, emotional album of this complex, uncompromising artist's career.

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