Track Listing

1. Heaps of Sheeps
2. Duchess
3. Maryan
4. Was a Friend
5. Free Will and Testament
6. September the Ninth
7. Alien
8. Out of Season
9. Sunday in Madrid
10. Blues in Bob Minor
11. Whole Point of No Return

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #434956 in Music
• Released on: 1998-01-20
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Import

Amazon.co.uk Review
Wyatt has a long history of really weird music in his blood. With this in mind, Shleep shouldn't surprise anyone, not its inclusion of Brian Eno for ambient depth, or Evan Parker for saxophonic extended reach, or Paul Weller's or Phil Manzanera's guitar work, or even Wyatt's own array of fiddles, trumpets, keyboards, Moog-y synth drip-drops, or sing-songy vocals. But Shleep will still probably surprise a lot of folks. First, it recalls a lot of great Soft Machine moments, as well as loopier early Eno. Somewhere between psychedelic pop and psychedelic jazz, Wyatt's Shleep is infused with grand lyrical gestures, gently comprehensive washes of words that captivate the listener while mixes of odd instruments carry songs with muted time signatures, and shady structures from casual openings to happenstance endings. --Andrew Bartlett

Customer Reviews

Robert Wyatt back in his old form again.
This is Robert Wyatt's first album since he unofficially went on "strike" after Britain voted for the Conservatives *again* in 1992, and it is absolutely fantastic.

All the old favourites are back: Phil Manzanera, Evan Parker, Brian Eno and, more unusually, Paul Weller (who makes an excellent contribution). Gone are the in-your-face political lyrics that could sometimes be a bit cringeworthy (a la Dondestan), in are fantastic lyrics, amazing tunes, fabulously rich and complicated musical textures, and above all the sound of a load of excellent musicians having fun!

The first track, "Heaps of Sheeps", really gets you in the mood with good basslines, a wonderful beat, and lyrics that are faintly similar to "Soup Song" in that they use a very strange metaphor to describe what he thinks his place is in the scheme of things.

Other songs include Blues in Bob minor, which harks back to those clever Dylan lyrics where every word means several differennt things, and The Duchess, which features a very odd, swaying texture, with Evan Parker very prominent.

Critics described this as the best album since "Rock Bottom", and they're right. An absolute must for anyone who has liked Wyatt's stuff in the past, and a very good introduction for those who haven't heard Wyatt before to the extreme versatility he (and the other musicians) have.

Buy it!

Very, very Good!
This stuff is brill! I love how Mr Wyatt sounds like a crossover between Kate Bush and Pink Floyd musically, and also how he sounds like one of the Wurzel's while he sings!

Funny, isn't it? Well, once you hear his classy musicians do their stuff, you'll fall in love!