Ruth Is Stranger Than Richard

Ruth Is Stranger Than Richard Artist: Robert Wyatt
Label: Hannibal
Category: Music


Average customer rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1


UPC: 031257142724
EAN: 0031257142724
ASIN: B000024C8L


Release Date: 2004-06-08

Ruth Is Stranger Than Richard


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General General
Categories | Rock | Styles | Music
Progressive Rock Progressive Rock
Categories | Progressive | Rock | Styles | Music
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Categories | Pop | Styles | Music
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Tracks:

  1. Muddy Mouse (A)
  2. Solar Flares
  3. Muddy Mouse (B)
  4. 5 Black Notes And 1 White Note
  5. Muddy Mouse (C) / Muddy Mouth
  6. Soup Song
  7. Sonia
  8. Team Spirit
  9. Song For Che

Similar Items:

  1. Rock Bottom
  2. Shleep
  3. Dondestan (Revisited)
  4. In the Land of Grey and Pink
  5. Cuckooland

Amazon.com

Robert Wyatt's voice is as distinctive and subtle an instrument as Tom Waits's or Bessie Smith's. He stretches his vocal chords through alien alto registers with grace, into notes few male singers are comfortable with past puberty. It's not stretching things to compare his work on Ruth to that of the greatest jazz-influenced singers. Wyatt knows how to throw a band together, too, choosing musicians who'll do their respective things complementarily, subtly. If you have trouble with the jazz comparison, dig his group's take on Charlie Haden's "Song for Che." This disc brims with woozy, lush underwater-sounding, underground pop, augmented by chaps like Fred Frith and Brian Eno. It's clever, playful music, ahead of its time because it's timeless and filled with a profound, infectious, children's book-type humor. --Mike McGonigal</I>

Customer Reviews:

4 out of 5 stars There was a time when bacon sandwiches were everyone's favorite snack.......2007-02-27

Rock Bottom it ain't, but Ruth Is Stranger Than Richard is an excellent album and is prized because it's one of only 3 full-length Wyatt albums from the 70's. Although it lacks the gravity, cohesion and transcendent songwriting of the aforementioned Rock Bottom, this album has some really great moments and is a wonderful, worthwhile portrait of Wyatt's abilities.

At its heart, Ruth Is Stranger Than Richard is an active listening album. What I mean is, if you don't pay attention when you listen to it, you probably won't enjoy it very much. On songs like "Solar Flares" and "Sonia," most of the song is a vamp of the same riff or chord progression and the beauty and innovation lies in the texture and interplay between the individual instruments (chief among them is Wyatt's extraordinary voice). On "Solar Flares" Wyatt's repeated line "they burn for you" weaves in and out of spare bass, piano, and sax, creating a really spacey feel. The "Muddy Mouse" tunes might not sound so great if you're only casually listening, but if you pay attention you may be amazed at Wyatt's ridiculous vocal range and his knack for clever, quirky lyrics.

One of my favorites is "Muddy Mouth," the second part of "Muddy Mouse C" which finds Wyatt using his breathtaking voice like a brass instrument in a scat section. Honestly, I think it stands up to some of his finest vocal work--the timbre of his voice, the control, and creativity are extraordinary, and it's pretty reminiscent of "Last Straw" from Rock Bottom, if not an even better scat. Also excellent is the moody "5 Black Notes and 1 White Note," which combines a plaintive organ/synth line with a horn chorus, which eventually devolves into noise. "Soup Song" is probably the most straight-ahead jazz tune on a jazz-influenced album, with some squealing sax and a hilarious lyric. "Team Spirit" is great also, with really classic Wyatt lyrics and an almost Spanish-sounding breakdown; it's one of the more prog tracks on the album.

If you're not already a Robert Wyatt fan, I'm not sure if Ruth Is Stranger Than Richard is the best or most accessible place to start--that honor might go to Rock Bottom or even the two-fer of Soft Machine's first two albums, which are excellent. Once you're hooked, though, this album has a ton of great qualities and is a sound investment worth paying attention to. Hope you enjoy!

5 out of 5 stars Robert Wyatt is the one who started it all!.......2002-10-06

Not too much to say. In my mind, this is the best recording Robert ever did. There are tunes that are lighter than the songs on Rock Bottom, though this album is not as conceptually well thoughht out. The center peice is Solar Flares, which features some excellent guitar space work. It is this song that I feel is the best thing Robert has ever done. Astounding!
You wouldn't have had much of your european progressive rock in the seventies if it were not for this man and his legacy. He still influences your on-the-edge players today! Almost perfect, eclectic spin!

5 out of 5 stars Sadly underrated.......2002-09-16

After Rock Bottom, Wyatt followed up with this less well-balanced, but more eclectic follow-up. The caliber of songqriting is extraordinary, and the line-up (Gary Windo, Mongezi Fesa, Fred Frith, Brian Eno, the amazing Laurie Allen) reads like a who's who of the avant garde of the time. I alway enjoyed this somewhat more than "Rock Bottom" because its attitude was more fun. Wyatt had seemed to come to grips with his paralysis and was realizing more of what he could do by the time this album came out.

It has the same dreamy, shimmering atmosphere as "Rock Bottom" but is no less brilliant. This was one of the few times that I have heard jazz, avant garde, and pop sensibilities blended so seamlessly. A great work!

Gary Gomes

4 out of 5 stars Another Fine Wyatt Disc.......2000-05-27

The oft-overlooked companion to "Rock Bottom", "Ruth Is Stranger Than Richard" lacks its predecessor's spiritual flow but checks in with a number of highlights, most notably the long cut "Team Spirit", which sounds like a pretend-pop song gone wrong thanks to the singer's inimitable vocal style. Wyatt's brand of avant-jazz-prog instrumental is in fine form throughout, although all of the little bits and pieces of "Muddy Mouse" which take up side one can get on one's nerves a bit. It doesn't feel as essential as "Rock Bottom" from either a lyrical or musical standpoint, but that kind of album comes only once in an artist's career anyway--and "Ruth" offers up strange delights of its own.

3 out of 5 stars

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