Frederick Linden Wyatt

If only for his melodic genius, Handel would have been forever acknowledged as one of history's greatest composers. These delightful sonatas for recorder provide abundant evidence to support that claim, and Marion Verbruggen's warm, resonant recorder and brilliant flute prove the perfect partners for bringing these rarely heard pieces to life.

Rock Bottom, recorded with a star-studded cast of Canterbury musicians, has been deservedly acclaimed as one of the finest art rock albums. Several forces surrounding Wyatt's life helped shape its outcome. First, it was recorded after the former Soft Machine drummer and singer fell out of a five-story window and broke his spine. Legend had it that the album was a chronicle of his stay in the hospital. Wyatt dispels this notion in the liner notes of the 1997 Thirsty Ear reissue of the album, as well as the book Wrong Movements: A Robert Wyatt History. Much of the material was composed prior to his accident in anticipation of rehearsals of a new lineup of Matching Mole. The writing was completed in the hospital, where Wyatt realized that he would now need to sing more, since he could no longer be solely the drummer…

Zeitgeist is a collaborative music endeavor led by Happy The man legend Frank Wyatt featuring members of the progressive rock bands Happy The Man, Oblivion Sun, and the Pedal Giant Animals Project. Zeitgeist is a beautifully crafted, versatile album.

Rock Bottom, recorded with a star-studded cast of Canterbury musicians, has been deservedly acclaimed as one of the finest art rock albums. Several forces surrounding Wyatt's life helped shape its outcome. First, it was recorded after the former Soft Machine drummer and singer fell out of a five-story window and broke his spine. Legend had it that the album was a chronicle of his stay in the hospital…

The original issue of Dondestan, one of Robert Wyatt's later, signature recordings, ran over budget, prompting him to release the album without an authoritative final mix. Wyatt, unlike many of the artists of his era, has often been in the unenviable position of having the original unmixed tapes of his records either disappear or get erased. Dondestan was the lone exception and he took full advantage. Where the original recording was a seamless whole, full of spare, haunting, keyboard and percussive textures, Revisited showcases the collaborations with his wife, poet Alfreda Benge, his own songs, and a collaboration with former Soft Machine bandmate Hugh Hopper, as separate entities, standing on their own as songs…

Formed in La Plata at the beginning of the millennium, Argentinean instrumental band Ünder Linden is one of the most refreshing novelties in the world of symphonic prog in their country. The band's style is very dynamic and modern-sounding, mostly based on the guitar-violin duels fluidly set upon lush keyboards and a strong, precise rhythm duo. Main influences are Camel, UK and Focus, with certain similarities to KBB, but mainly providing an original effort.
"Espacios intermedios" is the lads' second studio effort, and also presents a more in-depth quest for rhythmic variations in each composition featured on this album.

Robert Wyatt has been quoted as declaring that this record was "a conscious attempt to make un-misusable music," i.e., music that couldn't be appropriated by the right or broadcast on Voice of America. VOA doesn't broadcast uncommercial music such as this in any case, but Wyatt did succeed in stating some of his political concerns - imperialism, the carnage in East Timor, the flaws of rigid political ideology – in an understated manner. He went back to writing his own material for this album, after having focused on eclectic "covers" in the early '80s, with fair success. It's perhaps an even moodier outing than usual for Wyatt, his melancholia amplified by the foggy, spooky keyboards.

If there’s one lesson to be gleaned from Jaime Wyatt’s latest album, Neon Cross, it’s that life goes on. And through it all - good times and bad, dreaming and desperation, there is truth. When it came to capturing that truth on tape, Wyatt had some assistance from Shooter Jennings, who produced Neon Cross. Together, she and Jennings boldly colour out- side the country lines, taking a wide-lens sonic and stylistic approach to the songs on Neon Cross.

With bassist Eric Wheeler grounding the proceedings with humungous tones and agile lines, pianist Donald Vega bringing harmonic freshness in his comping and excitement in his solos and Watts underscoring the proceedings with his inimitable polyrhythmic touch on the kit, Wyatt is on firm footing here. Trumpeters Theo Croker and Chris Lowery, trombonist Clifton Anderson and percussionist Kahlil Owame Bell all contribute mightily to A Song of Hope, which resonates as a kind of healing balm for these stressful times.