With his thin high tremulous voice, Robert Wyatt crooned like the spirit of twentieth century radicalism lamenting its obsolescence. He hangs out on the edges of the canon, essaying large scale quasi-symphonic pieces and tuneful fragments. Chic, Gil Evans, and Elvis Costello, among others, got recontexualized. As recently as 2007’s Comicopera, he was relevant — still my favorite album of that bloody year.
I limit this dozen to Wyatt’s post-Soft Machine work. I haven’t heard 1970’s The End of an Ear.
1, Shipbuilding
2. Grass
3. Sea Song
4. Team Spirit
5. At Last I Am Free
6. You
7. Heaps of Sheep
8. Alifie
9. Catholic Architecture
10. A Beautiful War
11. Sonia
12. Memories
Humanizing The Vacuum 