The Greatest Music
Rock Bottom
by Robert Wyatt
The 243rd greatest album of all time
Rock Bottom is Robert Wyatt's 1974 solo album that crystallizes his move toward a spare, intimate form of art rock rooted in the Canterbury scene and avant-garde jazz. Recorded after the accident that left him unable to continue as a drummer, the record centers on Wyatt's distinctive, fragile vocals and melodic keyboard work framed by brass, saxophone colors and subtle studio textures. Songs unfold in loose, free flowing structures with surreal, elliptical lyrics and shifts between melancholy, whimsy and quiet intensity, blending jazz inflections, pastoral folk elements and experimental arrangement choices. The album established Wyatt's singular voice as a solo artist and remains a touchstone of 1970s British art rock.
Categories
Appears On These Lists
NME’s The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time
NME’s The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time (2013) is a special issue compiled from ballots cast by...
Uncut’s 200 Greatest Albums of All Time
Uncut’s 200 Greatest Albums of All Time ran as the February 2016 cover story (issue “Take 225”), ...
1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die (2005)
1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die is a long-running reference book series (first published...
The 100 Best Albums of the 1970s
Pitchfork’s “The 100 Best Albums of the 1970s” (published June 23, 2004) is a staff-curated count...
1000 Albums to Hear Before you Die
The Guardian – 1000 Albums to Hear Before You Die (2007) is a large, cross-genre listening guide ...
The 1000 Best Albums of All Time
Fnac’s Les 1000 CD des disquaires de la Fnac (Dec 2008) is a collective, staff-driven canon: Fnac...
The 1000 Best Albums of All Time (Updated 2015)
This list is basically a personal canon of albums across the modern LP era (framed on-site as “si...