''Comicopera'' is the ninth and final studio album by

Robert Wyatt Robert Wyatt (born Robert Wyatt-Ellidge, 28 January 1945) is an English retired musician. A founding member of the influential Canterbury scene bands Soft Machine and Matching Mole, he was initially a kit drummer and singer before becoming para ...

, released on 8 October 2007 and available on both CD and double

vinyl Vinyl may refer to: Chemistry * Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a particular vinyl polymer * Vinyl cation, a type of carbocation * Vinyl group, a broad class of organic molecules in chemistry * Vinyl polymer, a group of polymers derived from vinyl ...

formats. The vinyl's fourth side contains no music and has a poem etched into its surface. It is Wyatt's first release on the Domino Records label. It features many other musicians, including

Brian Eno Brian Peter George Jean-Baptiste de la Salle Eno (, born 15 May 1948), also mononymously known as Eno, is an English musician, songwriter, record producer, visual artist, and activist. He is best known for his pioneering contributions to ambien ...

Paul Weller John William Weller (born 25 May 1958), better known as Paul Weller, is an English singer-songwriter and musician. Weller achieved fame in the late 1970s as the guitarist and principal singer and songwriter of the rock band the Jam, alongside ...

Gilad Atzmon Gilad Atzmon (, ; born 9 June 1963) is an Israeli-born British saxophonist, novelist, political activist, and writer. As a musician, he is best known as a saxophonist and bandleader. His instruments include the saxophone, accordion, clarinet ...

and

Phil Manzanera Phillip Geoffrey Targett-Adams (born 31 January 1951), known professionally as Phil Manzanera, is an English musician, songwriter and record producer. He is the lead guitarist with Roxy Music, and was the lead guitarist with 801 and Quiet Sun. ...

, and was recorded in Wyatt's house and Manzanera's recording studio. The song "Del Mondo" is a cover from ''Ko de mondo'', the second album of Italian

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of music that emerged in late 1977 in the wake of punk rock. Post-punk musicians departed from punk's fundamental elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a broader, more experiment ...

band Consorzio Suonatori Indipendenti. ''

The Wire ''The Wire'' is an American Crime fiction, crime Drama (film and television), drama television series created and primarily written by the American author and former police reporter David Simon for the cable network HBO. The series premiered o ...

'' named ''Comicopera'' the record of the year in its annual critics' poll.

Track listing

Act One: Lost in Noise #"Stay Tuned" (

Anja Garbarek Anja Garbarek (born 24 July 1970 in Oslo, Norway) is a Norwegian singer-songwriter. She was raised in Oslo. Career Garbarek's debut album, ''Velkommen Inn'' (1992), is sung in Norwegian. She subsequently released three original albums cont ...

) – 3:49 #"Just as You Are" (

Alfreda Benge Alfreda "Alfie" Benge (born 1940) is an Austrian-born British lyricist and illustrator. She is the wife of musician Robert Wyatt, and the two have collaborated for more than fifty years. Benge has illustrated album covers for Wyatt and other music ...

, Wyatt) – 4:21 #"You You" (Alfreda Benge, Wyatt) – 4:22 #"A.W.O.L." (Alfreda Benge, Wyatt) – 2:56 #"Anachronist" (Wyatt) – 3:28 Act Two: The Here and the Now #"A Beautiful Peace" (Wyatt,

) – 2:27 #"Be Serious" (Wyatt) – 2:56 #"On the Town Square" (Wyatt) – 5:26 #"Mob Rule" (Wyatt) – 2:16 #"A Beautiful War" (Wyatt, Brian Eno) – 2:40 #"Out of the Blue" (Alfreda Benge, Wyatt) – 3:41 Act Three: Away With the Fairies #"Del Mondo" (

Giovanni Lindo Ferretti Giovanni Lindo Ferretti (born 9 September 1953) is an Italian singer-songwriter, composer, and author. He is considered to be one of the founders of Italian punk rock music. Biography Lindo Ferretti was born in Cerreto Alpi (''frazione'' of Co ...

, Massimo Zamboni, Gianni Maroccolo, Francesco Magnelli, Giorgio Canali) – 3:29 #"Cancion de Julieta" (

Federico García Lorca Federico del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús García Lorca (5 June 1898 – 19 August 1936) was a Spanish poet, playwright, and theatre director. García Lorca achieved international recognition as an emblematic member of the Generation of '27, a g ...

, Wyatt) – 7:32 #"Pastafari" ( Orphy Robinson) – 4:37 #"Fragment" (Alfreda Benge, Wyatt) – 1:38 #" Hasta Siempre Comandante" ( Carlos Puebla) – 4:37

Personnel

*Robert Wyatt – voice,

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

, keyboards,

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...

cornet The cornet (, ) is a brass instrument similar to the trumpet but distinguished from it by its conical bore, more compact shape, and mellower tone quality. The most common cornet is a transposing instrument in B. There is also a soprano cor ...

pocket trumpet 250px, Pocket trumpet in B-flat, with a standard size bell and medium-large bore The pocket trumpet is a B♭ or C trumpet that is constructed with the tubing wound into a much smaller coil than a standard trumpet, generally with a smaller diam ...

, guitar, old metronome, (voice of Karen Mantler), (voice of

), (voice of Monica Vasconcelos) *

– keyboards, effects *Seaming To – voice,

clarinet The clarinet is a Single-reed instrument, single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore (wind instruments), bore and a flared bell. Clarinets comprise a Family (musical instruments), family of instrume ...

Annie Whitehead Lena Annie Whitehead (born 16 July 1955 in Oldham, Lancashire) is a British jazz trombone player. Career Whitehead learned the trombone in high school and participated in rock and jazz bands. When she was 16, she left school to become a member ...

–

trombone The trombone (, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's lips vibrate inside a mouthpiece, causing the Standing wave, air c ...

baritone horn The baritone horn, sometimes called baritone, is 3 or 4 valved tenor-voiced brass instrument in the saxhorn family.Robert Donington, "The Instruments of Music", (pp. 113ff ''The Family of Bugles'') 2nd ed., Methuen, London, 1962 It is a pist ...

*Yaron Stavi –

bass violin Bass violin is the modern term for various 16th- and 17th-century bass instruments of the violin (i.e. '' viola da braccio'') family. They were the direct ancestor of the modern cello. Bass violins were usually somewhat larger than the modern ce ...

*Monica Vasconcelos – voice *

–

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

–

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to p ...

tenor saxophone The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (whi ...

, clarinet *Jamie Johnson –

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

* Dave Sinclair – piano *

– guitar *Del Bartle – guitar * Orphy Robinson –

steelpan The steelpan (also known as a pan or steel drum) is a musical instrument originating in Trinidad and Tobago from Afro–Trinidadians and Tobagonians, Afro-Trinidadians. Steelpan musicians are called pannists. In 1992, the steelpan was declared ...

vibraphone The vibraphone (also called the vibraharp) is a percussion instrument in the metallophone family. It consists of tuned metal bars and is typically played by using Percussion mallet, mallets to strike the bars. A person who plays the vibraphone ...

* Chucho Merchan –

*Maurizio Camardi – saxophones *Alfonso Santimone – piano, keyboards *Alessandro Fedrigo – bass guitar *Paolo Vidaich – percussion *Gianni Bertoncini – drums

References

External links

Robert Wyatt, ''"Comicopera"''
'' Brainwashed''
Robert Wyatt
on Domino Records info {{Authority control Robert Wyatt albums 2007 albums Domino Recording Company albums Albums produced by Robert Wyatt