The voice wavers, falters, but somehow never leaves the song.
Yet in his seemingly narrow range, Wyatt expresses such feeling. Even this double-disc compilation doesn’t cover the whole story of a 40+ year career. As drummer with the psychedelic Soft Machine, he developed his own mix of jazz, folk and a dozen other influences, resulting in some utterly idiosyncratic, but often soaring, music. His definitive version of Elvis Costello’s Falklands lament Shipbuilding is still extraordinary, while collaborations – from Pink Floyd to Bjork to Hot Chip – explain his regard across a broad spectrum of fellow artists.
