''Ruth Is Stranger Than Richard'' is the third solo 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 ...

Background

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 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. ...

Fred Frith Jeremy Webster "Fred" Frith (born 17 February 1949) 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 ...

Mongezi Feza Mongezi Feza (11 May 1945 – 14 December 1975) was a South African jazz trumpeter and flautist. Biography Feza was born in Queenstown, Cape Province, Union of South Africa, into a family of musicians, His elder brother, Sandi Feza, who ...

, former Wilde Flowers bandmate Brian Hopper – or influences –

Charlie Haden Charles Edward Haden (August 6, 1937 – July 11, 2014) was an American jazz double bass player, bandleader, composer and educator whose career spanned more than fifty years. Haden helped to revolutionize the harmonic concept of bass playin ...

) 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 Nicholas Berkeley Mason (born 27 January 1944) is an English drummer and a founder member of the progressive rock band Pink Floyd. He has been the only constant member since the band's formation in 1965, and the only member to appear on every ...

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 Laurie Allan (born 19 February 1943) is an English drummer, best known for stints in Delivery and Gong. Biography Allan started drumming when he was 12. His professional career got going in the early 1960s. He was in The First Real Poetry Ba ...

and saxophonists George Khan and Gary Windo, with

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 ...

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".

Reception

''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 ''Old Rottenhat'' is the fourth studio album by Robert Wyatt. It was released in November 1985, and in 1993 it was reissued in its entirety as part of the CD '' Mid-Eighties''. The album was produced and performed solo by Wyatt, and is dedicated ...

''.

Track listing

Reissues from 1998 onward have the track order reversed, with "Side Richard" first and "Side Ruth" second.

Personnel

Source: *Robert Wyatt – vocals, piano, imitation electric piano (Ri4), organ (Ri2), drums (Ru2, Ri2) *

– guitar (Ri4),

synthesizer A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...

(Ri4), direct inject anti-jazz ray gun (Ru3) * Gary Windo –

bass clarinet The bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. Like the more common Soprano clarinet, soprano B clarinet, it is usually pitched in B (meaning it is a transposing instrument on which a written C sounds as B), but it plays no ...

(Ri2, Ru2),

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 ...

(Ri4, Ru1, Ru3, Ru4),

alto saxophone The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments. Saxophones were invented by Belgians, Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in the 1840s and patented in 1846. The alto saxophone is pitched in the key of E♭ ( ...

(Ri4, Ru2, Ru4) *Nisar Ahmad "George" Khan – tenor saxophone (Ri4, Ru4),

baritone saxophone The baritone saxophone (sometimes abbreviated to "bari sax") is a member of the saxophone family of instruments, larger (and lower-pitched) than the tenor saxophone, but smaller (and higher-pitched) than the bass saxophone, bass. It is the lowe ...

(Ru1, Ru4) *

–

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 ...

(Ru2) *

– piano (Ri1, Ri3, Ri5) * Bill MacCormick – bass guitar (Ri2, Ri4, Ru1, Ru3, Ru4) * John Greaves – bass guitar (Ru2) *

– drums (Ri4, Ru1, Ru3, Ru4)

Album cover

The artwork for the cover of the album was by Wyatt's wife Alfreda Benge.

References

External links

* Music audio: {{Authority control Robert Wyatt albums 1975 albums Virgin Records albums Albums produced by Robert Wyatt