ROBERT WYATT Ruth Is Stranger Than Richard UK Prog Psych NM LP Soft Machine Eno

	£		16
	$		21

ROBERT WYATT: Ruth Is Stranger Than Richard
UK VIRGIN (V 2034) FIRST PRESSING (May 1975)
WITH BRIAN ENO & FRED FRITH (HENRY COW)
PRESSED WITH THE FIRST ISSUE VIRGIN LABELS
MATRIX: V 2034 A-2U / V 2034 B-2U
MOTHERS/STAMPERS: 1/G and 1/GA
THE LP IS HOUSED IN THE ORIGINAL MATT SLEEVE WITH ARTWORK BY WYATT'S WIFE ALFREDA BENGE

Condition: The sleeve is in EX- condition (but grubby as it's white and unlaminated)
The record is in MINT condition.

   

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
Soup Song (5:00)
Sonia (4:12)
Team Spirit (8:26)
Song For Che (3:36)
Side Richard
Muddy Mouse (a) (0:50)
Solar Flares (5:35)
Muddy Mouse (b) (0:50)
Five Black Notes And One White Note (4:58)
Muddy Mouse (c) / Muddy Mouth (6:11)

Robert Wyatt vocals, piano, imitation electric piano, organ, drums
Brian Eno guitar, synthesizer, direct inject anti-jazz ray gun
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

NOTE! Postage indicated in the auction is not the actual postage as ebay doesn't allow a higher postage then 4 GBP in this category. Postage for this item is 8 GBP to most countries within Europe and 16 GBP for the rest of the world. This is up to 2kg, so you can add up to 6 more LP's for the same postage. Postage for 7 LP´s is the same as for 1 LP, so buy more to save on postage!

Mail me if you have any questions. Check my other auctions for many rare similar items! Be sure to add me to your favourites list!

POSTAGE COSTS FOR THE BUYER:
Postage for 1 LP is the same as for 7 LP's (<2kg), so please order more LP's to save on shipping!
1-7 LP's priority mail:

EUR1: 8 GBP
EUR2: 9 GBP
EUR3: 10 GBP
Rest of the world: 16 GBP

EUR1:
Denmark, Germany, France, Italy, Luxembourg, Austria, Spain, UK, Sweden

EUR2:
Bulgaria, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Czech Republic

EUR3:
Greece, Croatia, Norway, Serbia, Switzerland + other European countries