ROBERT WYATT "Ruth Is Stranger Than Richard" 1975 LP

	£		18
	$		24

 
ROBERT WYATT "Ruth Is Stranger Than Richard" 1975 UK 2nd PRESS GREEN VIRGIN LABEL, GREAT COPY, Nr MINT AUDIO

ROBERT WYATT
Ruth Is Stranger Than Richard

ORIGINAL 1975 UK VIRGIN (V 2034) SECOND PRESSING (WITH THE GREEN VIRGIN LABELS) OF ROBERT WYATT'S FANTASTIC THIRD SOLO LP "Ruth Is Stranger Than Richard" MADE IN COLLABORATION WITH SOME OF THE FINEST EXPERIMENTAL ARTISTS AROUND INCLUDING BRIAN ENO AND FRED FRITH
THIS COPY IS IN BEAUTIFUL CONDITION HAVING SEEN JUST A FEW CAREFUL PLAYS ONLY AND IT DELIVERS SENSATIONALLY CLEAN, NEAR MINT AUDIO THROUGHOUT
MATRIX: V 2034 A3 / V 2034 B3
THE LP IS HOUSED IN THE ORIGINAL MATT SLEEVE WHICH HAS SOME SLIGHTLY DISTURBING ARTWORK BY WYATT'S WIFE ALFREDA BENGE
AND THE SET COMES COMPLETE WITH THE ORIGINAL BLACK VIRGIN COMPANY INNER SLEEVE (so this is a very early second pressing)

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'd done on Matching Mole's Little Red Record.
Apart from "Sonia", recorded for the aborted "Yesterday Man" single in October 1974 (again with Nick Mason as producer), Ruth was made at Virgin's Manor Studios with Wyatt himself handling production duties.
Much 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.
The album contains several pieces which recall the complexity and despair of Rock Bottom, but much of the record echoes the relaxed, almost silly feel of earlier Wyatt efforts such as The End of an Ear or his work with Matching Mole.
This becomes evident from the choice of title (a pun on "truth is stranger than fiction") onwards; the two sides of the original LP release were not labeled "Side A" and "Side B", but rather "Side Richard" and "Side Ruth"
The three "serious" pieces on Side Richard - the beautiful ballad "Solar Flares", "5 Black Notes And 1 White Note" (a funeral instrumental, supposedly a cover of Jacques Offenbach's Barcarolle, which degenerates into a series of noises somewhere between free jazz and electronic noise) and the piano-led Rock Bottom-esque Fred Frith collaboration "Muddy Mouth"—with a series of brief, nonsensical interludes featuring only sparse piano accompaniment and some very strange high-pitched yelping vocals under the collective title "Muddy Mouse".
The songs on Side Ruth all have more traditional structures; the rollicking "Soup Song" (derived from the Wilde Flowers song "Slow Walking Talk", of which Wyatt had recorded a version with Jimi Hendrix) has the air of a pub singalong.
The remaining songs are all covers or collaborations; the lengthy Mongezi Feza trumpet piece "Sonia", featuring a guest appearance by Feza himself (as do a number of other songs on the album) in the last year of his life, "Team Spirit" (written with Phil Manzanera, who would record the same song on his album Diamond Head under the title "Frontera") and a cover of "Song for Che" by Charlie Haden round off the album.

Side Ruth
(Ru1) "Soup Song" (Brian Hopper, Robert Wyatt) – 5:00
(Ru2) "Sonia" (Mongezi Feza) – 4:12
(Ru3) "Team Spirit" (Bill MacCormick, Phil Manzanera, Robert Wyatt) – 8:26
(Ru4) "Song For Che" (Charlie Haden) – 3:36

Side Richard
(Ri1) "Muddy Mouse (a)" (Fred Frith, Robert Wyatt) – 0:50
(Ri2) "Solar Flares" (Robert Wyatt) – 5:35
(Ri3) "Muddy Mouse (b)" (Fred Frith, Robert Wyatt) – 0:50
(Ri4) "5 Black Notes And 1 White Note" (Offenbach arr. Robert Wyatt) – 4:58
(Ri5) "Muddy Mouse (c) - which in turn leads to - Muddy Mouth" (Fred Frith, Robert Wyatt) – 6:11

Robert Wyatt - vocals, piano, imitation electric piano (Ri4), organ (Ri2), drums (Ru2, Ri2)
Brian Eno - guitar (Ri4), synthesizer (Ri4), direct inject anti-jazz ray gun (Ru3)
Gary Windo - bass clarinet (Ri2, Ru2), tenor saxophone (Ri4, Ru1, Ru3, Ru4), alto saxophone (Ri4, Ru2, Ru4)
Nisar Ahmad "George" Khan - tenor saxophone (Ri4, Ru4), baritone saxophone (Ru1, Ru4)
Mongezi Feza - trumpet (Ru2)
Fred Frith - piano (Ri1, Ri3, Ri5)
Bill MacCormick - bass guitar (Ri2, Ri4, Ru1, Ru3, Ru4)
John Greaves - bass guitar (Ru2)
Laurie Allan - drums (Ri4, Ru1, Ru3, Ru4)

LABELS: Clean and bright with no unwanted marks/writing and just a couple of light spindle marks on the Richard Side, none on the Ruth Side - this copy has evidently seen little play
VINYL Visual: The vinyl surfaces retain their original deep, glossy sheen and are unmarked - beautiful, barely played copy
VINYL Audio: Outstanding audio quality - very clean and warm sound and on playback at a loud volume (which is how I always listen to my LPs prior to listing) there are no scratches, no sticks or jumps, no clicks or pops and barely any surface noise (really hardly any at all). This is a beautifully clean pressing which plays to an extremely high standard throughout with all frequencies bright and clear, no groove-wear and no distortion (it's probably only ever been played once or twice) and is critically graded a strong NEAR MINT for audio - great copy
SLEEVE: The matt, untreated (and mostly white) sleeve has picked up a few marks over the years but it's good and solid with no wear to the edges or spine - where all text is clear and bold. This is a very fine example and although I will grade it as VERY GOOD+ it's still one of the best copies I have seen recently

PLEASE HAVE A LOOK AT MY PICTURES - I USUALLY TAKE QUITE A FEW SO YOU CAN GET A CLEAR INDICATION OF EVERY DETAIL OF THE ITEM
I HAVE UPLOADED AS MANY AS I CAN BUT I WOULD BE MORE THAN HAPPY TO SUPPLY ANY ADDITIONAL PHOTOS ON REQUEST
SUPERB, BARELY PLAYED COPY OF ROBERT WYATT'S SENSATIONAL OPUS AND VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED - SOUNDS FANTASTIC
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 308 (GS 5.3.7 (308))