 | This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations .(February 2013) |
| Ruth Is Stranger Than Richard | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | May 1975 | |||
| Recorded | October 1974 – March 1975 | |||
| Studio | The Manor Studio, Shipton-on-Cherwell, Oxfordshire | |||
| Genre | Progressive rock | |||
| Length | 39:06 | |||
| Label | Virgin | |||
| Producer | Robert Wyatt, Nick Mason ("Sonia") | |||
| Robert Wyatt chronology | ||||
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Ruth Is Stranger Than Richard is the third solo album by Robert Wyatt.
The follow-up to Rock Bottom , for which Wyatt had written all of the music and lyrics, Ruth... consisted of Wyatt's adaptations and arrangements of other people's music (either friends – Phil Manzanera, Fred Frith, Mongezi Feza, former Wilde Flowers bandmate Brian Hopper – or influences – Charlie Haden) with Wyatt adding his own lyrics in much the same way as he had done on Matching Mole's Little Red Record . Apart from "Sonia", recorded for the shelved "Yesterday Man" single in October 1974 (again with Nick Mason as producer), the entire album was recorded and mixed at Virgin's The Manor Studio with Wyatt himself handling production duties. Much of the album features Wyatt (on lead vocals and keyboards) backed by a "band" consisting of bassist Bill MacCormick, drummer Laurie Allan and saxophonists George Khan and Gary Windo, with Brian Eno adding his own idiosyncratic "anti-jazz" touch.
Two years earlier Wyatt had provided the hypnotic soundtrack to the experimental film Solar Flares by Arthur Johns. The nine-minute film, "a personal essay on colour effects", had been produced by Nick Mason and recorded at his home studio. Wyatt had been involved at an early stage and his music was central to the project. The music itself would reappear on his 1975 album "in a more 'digestible' form". [1]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   link |
| Pitchfork Media | 7.7/10 link |
Ruth Is Stranger Than Richard was released in May 1975. Unlike its predecessor Rock Bottom, it received a mixed critical and public response.
Not counting 1982's Nothing Can Stop Us (which brought together a series of previously released single A and B sides, most of which were cover versions), Ruth... would be Wyatt's last solo studio album until 1985's Old Rottenhat .
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Soup Song" | Brian Hopper, Robert Wyatt | 4:03 |
| 2. | "Sonia" | Mongezi Feza | 4:18 |
| 3. | "Team Spirit" | Bill MacCormick, Phil Manzanera, Wyatt | 8:33 |
| 4. | "Song for Che" | Charlie Haden | 3:42 |
| Total length: | 20:36 | ||
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Muddy Mouse (a)" | Fred Frith, Wyatt | 0:49 |
| 2. | "Solar Flares" | Wyatt | 5:36 |
| 3. | "Muddy Mouse (b)" | Frith, Wyatt | 0:50 |
| 4. | "5 Black Notes and 1 White Note" | Jacques Offenbach; arranged by Robert Wyatt | 5:00 |
| 5. | "Muddy Mouse (c)" which in turn leads to "Muddy Mouth" | Frith, Wyatt | 6:15 |
| Total length: | 18:30 | ||
Reissues from 1998 onward have the track order reversed, with "Side Richard" first and "Side Ruth" second. [2]
Source: [3]
The artwork for the cover of the album was by Wyatt's wife Alfreda Benge. [3]
Before and After Science is the fifth solo studio album by Brian Eno, originally released by Polydor Records in December 1977 in the United Kingdom and by Island U.S. soon after. Produced by Eno and Rhett Davies, it is the first of Eno's popular music works to be published under his full name.
Jeremy Webster "Fred" Frith is an English multi-instrumentalist, composer, and improviser. Probably best known for his guitar work, Frith first came to attention as a founding member of the English avant-rock group Henry Cow. He was also a member of the groups Art Bears, Massacre, and Skeleton Crew. He has collaborated with a number of prominent musicians, including Robert Wyatt, Derek Bailey, the Residents, Lol Coxhill, John Zorn, Brian Eno, Mike Patton, Lars Hollmer, Bill Laswell, Iva Bittová, Jad Fair, Kramer, the ARTE Quartett, and Bob Ostertag. He has also composed several long works, including Traffic Continues and Freedom in Fragments. Frith produces most of his own music, and has also produced many albums by other musicians, including Curlew, the Muffins, Etron Fou Leloublan, and Orthotonics.
Matching Mole were an English progressive rock band associated with the Canterbury scene. Robert Wyatt formed the band in October 1971 after he left Soft Machine and recorded his first solo album, The End of an Ear. He continued his role on vocals and drums and was joined by David Sinclair of Caravan on organ and piano, Dave MacRae on electric piano, Phil Miller of Delivery on guitar and Bill MacCormick of Quiet Sun on bass. The name is a pun on Machine Molle, the French translation of the name of Wyatt's previous group Soft Machine.
Mthutuzeli Dudu Pukwana was a South African saxophonist and composer.
Septober Energy is the only album of the jazz/progressive rock big band Centipede. Produced by Robert Fripp under the musical direction of Keith Tippett, it was originally released 1971 in the UK as a double LP, and 1974 in the US with a different cover. The album was recorded at Wessex Studios, London during three days in June 1971. The album is a four-part suite consisting of four tracks of about 20 minutes each.
Centipede were an English jazz/progressive rock/big band with more than 50 members, organized and led by the British free jazz pianist Keith Tippett. Formed in 1970, it brought together much of a generation of young British jazz and rock musicians from a number of bands, including Soft Machine, King Crimson, Nucleus and Blossom Toes.
Rock Bottom is the second solo album by former Soft Machine drummer Robert Wyatt. It was released on 26 July 1974 by Virgin Records. The album was produced by Pink Floyd's drummer Nick Mason, and was recorded following a 1973 accident which left Wyatt a paraplegic. He enlisted musicians including Ivor Cutler, Hugh Hopper, Richard Sinclair, Laurie Allan, Mike Oldfield and Fred Frith in the recording.
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Gary Windo was an English jazz tenor saxophonist.
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Voices and Instruments is a 1976 album by saxophonist Jan Steele and composer John Cage. The album was the fifth release on Brian Eno's Obscure Records.
Theatre Royal Drury Lane 8th September 1974 is a 2005 live album by English progressive rock musician Robert Wyatt, documenting a concert on that date at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in London. The concert took place the year after Wyatt had fallen from a fourth-storey window and become paralysed from the waist down. Since the accident, Wyatt has used a wheelchair. The concert remains Wyatt's first and only live performance as a headlining solo artist.
Live at Willisau is a live album by South African pianist and composer Chris McGregor's big band Brotherhood of Breath. It was recorded on January 27, 1973, in Willisau, Switzerland, and was released on LP by Ogun Records in 1974. In 1994, the album was reissued on CD with extra tracks. The recording took place eight days after the concert heard on Travelling Somewhere.
Free Jam is a double-CD live album by trumpeter Mongezi Feza. It was recorded during November and December 1972, and was released in 2004 by Ayler Records. On the album, Feza is accompanied by members of the Bernt Rosengren quartet, featuring Rosengren and Tommy Koverhult on saxophone, Torbjörn Hultcrantz on bass, and Leif Wennerström on drums. The group is also joined by percussionist Okay Temiz.
Dudu Phukwana and the "Spears" is the debut album by South African saxophonist Dudu Pukwana and his band, the "Spears." Produced by Joe Boyd, it was recorded in 1968 at Sound Techniques in London, and was initially released on vinyl in 1969 by Quality Records, a subsidiary of the Trutone label. In 2020, the album was remastered and reissued by Matsuli Music as a double-LP set with nine previously unissued tracks that were recorded in 1969, and that feature a number of guest artists such as Fairport Convention's Richard Thompson and Simon Nicol.
In the Townships is an album by South African alto saxophonist, pianist, and composer Dudu Pukwana. It was recorded during 1973 at The Manor Studio in Shipton-on-Cherwell, Oxfordshire, England, and was released in 1974 by Caroline Records. On the album, Pukwana is joined by members of his band Spear: tenor saxophonist Bizo Mngqikana, trumpeter Mongezi Feza, double bassist Harry Miller, and drummer Louis Moholo.
Diamond Express is an album by South African alto saxophonist and composer Dudu Pukwana. It was recorded during the fall of 1975 at Island Studios in London, and was released on vinyl in 1977 by Arista/Freedom. In 1999, it was reissued on CD by the German Jazz Colours label with the title Ubagile, and with a different track order. On four of the album's five tracks, Pukwana is joined by trumpeter Mongezi Feza, guitarist Lucky Ranko, keyboardist Frank Roberts, double bassist Ernest Mothle, and drummers James Meine and Louis Moholo. On the remaining track, he is accompanied by saxophonist Elton Dean, trumpeter Feza, trombonist Nick Evans, guitarist Ranko, pianist Keith Tippett, double bassist Victor Ntoni, and drummer Moholo.
