An important figure in the English art-rock scene of the '60s and '70s, Robert Wyatt helped to build the Canterbury sound, a wild synthesis of jazz improvisation and psychedelic rock. Wyatt left the legendary Soft Machine as its drummer shortly after its initial bout with success. He would instead focus on his own voice, striking and frail in its delivery, and develop a stunning solo career.
Undeterred by paralysis after he fell from a third-floor window in 1971, Wyatt continued to write and record music. His most recent album, Comicopera, is a three-act opera that not only protests the war, but also reflects his distaste for modern Western civilization.
Copyright 2007 XPN
