Track Listing
1. Heaps of Sheeps
2. Duchess, The
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, A
10. Blues in Bob Minor
11. Whole Point of No Return, The
| Details | | Contributing Artists: | Brian Eno, Evan Parker, Paul Weller, Phil Manzanera | | Producer: | Brian Eno, Robert Wyatt | | Distributor: | Alternative Dis. Alliance | | Recording Type: | Studio | | Recording Mode: | Stereo | | SPAR Code: | n/a |
Album Notes
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.
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 c** 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.
Editorial Reviews
Ranked #48 in NME's 1997 Critics' Poll.
NME
...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.
Magnet (01/01/1998)
...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
Entertainment Weekly (01/30/1998)
...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.
Musician (03/01/1998)
3 stars out of 5 - ...Teems with impromptu wordplay and has the uncanny dream-like quality that made ROCK BOTTOM so original.
Q
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.
Spin (04/01/1998)
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...
Rolling Stone (05/14/1998)
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.
The Wire
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