NORTH SEA RADIO ORCHESTRA WITH JOHN GREAVES AND ANNIE BARBAZZA

New light cast on an old Canterbury classic.

It’s 45 years since Robert Wyatt’s haunting Rock Bottom was released, and NSRO’s Craig Fortnum has created sparkling new arrangements for the album in its entirety. Discretely infused with organ, vibraphone, clarinet, cello, bassoon, guitars, and drums, Annie Barbazza’s graceful vocals drift above the largely sedate settings, aided by the redoubtable William D Drake on keyboards and vocals, and the bass and voice of Henry Cow’s John Greaves. The gently see-sawing anarchy of Alife’s coda accentuates the avant

garde impulses that fluctuated throughout Wyatt’s writing, while

Little Red Riding Hood Hit The Road explodes with a surging burst of energy powered along by Gong drummer Cheb Nettles. Following Henry Cow’s vigorous 1976 rendition, it’s impossible not to smile at Greaves’ heavily-accented Welsh growl during the spoken word sections originally intoned by Ivor Cutler. To the ensemble’s credit, the gnawing ennui and the diaphanous atmospheres of the original album are somewhat captured. A triumph.