Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Wyatt, Robert
Label: Virgin Records
Release: 1975
Duration: 39:06
Rating: 3.5/5
»Ruth Is Stranger Than Richard« is the third solo effort from prog rock pioneer and Canterbury scene legend Robert Wyatt. Besides the usual vocal duties, he also played most of the keyboards on it, since his drumming career had come to a premature and pretty brutal end a year earlier. Unlike its predecessor, the melancholic masterpiece »Rock Bottom« (1974), which was shaped in so many ways, lyrically and musically, by Robert’s accident and on which he created all the music himself, »Ruth Is Stranger Than Richard« (a pun on ‘truth is stranger than fiction’) was the product of Wyatt’s rearrangements of compositions by other musicians, mostly his musical friends, to which he added his own lyrics. Not exactly the most innovative move, but it was hard to repeat a masterpiece like »Rock Bottom« anyway.
Among the musical friends whose work he thoroughly rearranged on »Ruth Is Stranger Than Richard« were his former Soft Machine companion Brian Hopper (the brother of the better-known Hugh), Phil Manzanera (Roxy Music), Fred Frith (Henry Cow) and the South African jazz musician Mongezi Feza, who died unexpectedly at barely thirty in the same year this album came out, 1975. Among the pieces by musicians who influenced Wyatt’s songwriting style was also »Song For Che«, a composition by American jazz musician Charlie Haden.
Stylistically, »Ruth Is Stranger Than Richard«, split conceptually and atmospherically into two parts, the more accessible »Ruth« and the more experimental »Richard«, was mostly down to the humorous, slightly mocking nature of most of the pieces. They were backed by a jazzier, lighter structure in most of the arrangements, closer to Wyatt’s exploits with his prematurely retired band Matching Mole than to the dark melancholy of »Rock Bottom«, which left plenty of people baffled when it came out. At the same time, the greater structural minimalism made room for some ideas that would significantly shape Wyatt’s songwriting development in later years too.
Even though in artistic terms »Ruth Is Stranger Than Richard« was a step back, since it never came close to the emotional, arrangement and atmospheric depth of its predecessor, it still delivers plenty of interesting and entertaining moments, which is why most of Wyatt’s music is a joy to listen to even today, even when it’s not his most penetrating achievement. Once again old friends came to the rescue, in the shape of Brian Eno (ex-Roxy Music), the already mentioned guitar master Fred Frith, drummer Laurie Allan (ex-Gong) and saxophonist Gary Windo, to name only those that most prog rock fans know well.
The opener, »Soup Song«, serves up an almost cabaret-like vibe with mischievous sax arrangements and a playful lyric about an unusual soup. »Sonia« has juicy trumpet arrangements courtesy of the aforementioned Feza, and besides jazz you can feel traces of world music here too. A similar pulse runs through »Team Spirit«, where Wyatt’s more melodic side comes to the fore, though you’d search in vain for any commercial potential.
»Solar Flares«, the only piece on this album that’s entirely his own, is a fine example of outstanding jazz fusion minimalism, backed by a choir-tinged, almost ethereal vocal approach. His trilogy »Muddy Mouse« has classic English humor and Wyatt’s eternal fascination with assorted small, furry critters, whether rodents or insect-eaters led by the moles. Robert’s remarkable, distinctive vocal chameleonism gets to shine again here, ranging from choral harmonies and falsetto all the way to a tenor that’s unusual for him. Wyatt’s socialist worldview is once more clearly expressed on the instrumental »Song For Che«, which was dedicated to Che Guevara, the icon of the Cuban revolution, in its original version too. Fittingly, it recalls the sort of wind-instrument dirge a military band would play at the burial of a fallen hero.
»Ruth Is Stranger Than Richard« is, despite a few improvisational provocations and, for its day, an innovative flirtation with jazz-salted minimalism, one of Wyatt’s more accessible solo outings, but it stays in the long shadow of its cult studio predecessor »Rock Bottom«. After everything he’d been through at the time, Wyatt was also a little creatively exhausted and needed a longer break. Seven whole years passed before the great experimentalist, social provocateur and avowed socialist headed back into the studio after this album to record the soundtrack for a documentary called »The Animals Film« (1982), which dealt with the human abuse of animals in various scientific experiments, while his next studio album, »Old Rottenhat«, only came out in 1985.
Lineup
Robert Wyatt – vocals, keyboards, drums
Brian Eno – guitar, synthesizer
Gary Windo – bass clarinet, tenor saxophone, alto saxophone
Nisar Ahmad “George” Khan – tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone
Mongezi Feza – trumpet
Fred Frith – piano
Bill MacCormick – bass guitar
John Greaves – bass guitar
Laurie Allan – drums
Production
Robert Wyatt
Track list
– Ruth (Side 1) –
1. Soup Song (5:00)
2. Sonia (4:12)
3. Team Spirit (8:26)
4. Song for Ché (3:36)
– Richard (Side 2) –
5. Muddy Mouse (a) (0:50)
6. Solar Flares (5:35)
7. Muddy Mouse (b) (0:50)
8. 5 Black Notes and 1 White Note (4:58)
9. Muddy Mouse (c) Which in Turn Leads To Muddy Mouth (6:11)
