From Rock Bottom to a Knight at the Comicopera
Authorised biographies are compromises - between the writer and the subject, between image and perception, between falsehood and reality. Fortunately Robert Wyatt has been found, and had his beans spilled by, a sympathetic but unsentimental fan (Grasscut man Marcus O'Dair) who is equally interested in the musician, the political observer and the human being.
It is Robert's pure mischievous childlike originality and his melancholic vulnerability that come across so strongly in this book and, perhaps overdue, the creative symbiosis he has enjoyed with his partner Alfreda Benge. In some ways I would have liked the book to be have named after both of them and included Alfie's childhood and more of her work. Robert is a collaborator who gives generously and it is the musical 'Guest Spot' obscurities in the discography that delight over and above the phenomenal solo work and his key role in Soft Machine and Matching Mole - go stream!
That this unique productive life could have been prematurely interrupted many times is a salutary lesson to us all to value the people who dare to do different. I'm not going to use the phrase national treasure because Wyatt is completely international and stubbornly flawed ...and that is what makes his singular voice so authentic and precious.
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