Shleep

Rolling Stone - 3.5 Stars (out of 5) - "...his most pop-friendly LP in a decade....the album's soothing tone, lilting melodicism and gentle abstraction are pure Wyatt....An ingratiating weirdness prevails..." Musician - "...catches Wyatt in an outgoing mood....Lyrically, the somber political focus of previous albums has been discarded in favor of an approach that's more philosophical and observational....suggests renewed energy and willingness to face the world's hardships with humanity and good cheer." Q - 3 stars out of 5 - "...Teems with impromptu wordplay and has the uncanny dream-like quality that made ROCK BOTTOM so original." Magnet - "...Composing and collaborating on songs that are alternatively delicate, jazzy, cheeky, political and dreamy, Wyatt has quietly produced one of the best albums of 1997." NME - Ranked #48 in NME's 1997 Critics' Poll. Entertainment Weekly - "...SHLEEP unfolds like a blissful dream, with Wyatt's hypnotic voice and fluid percussion wrapping themselves around his oddball compositions. The result is beautifully skewed and not a bit dated." - Rating: A Spin - 9 (out of 10) - "...SHLEEP...lives up to [Wyatt's] various legacies with graceful mistakes, grown-up melodies, and rhythms that care more about the earth turning than your ass shaking....Electronicats who don't know what people are capable of in real time will be shamed by the beauty of these boiled lullabies and irreducibly human sounds." The Wire - "SHLEEP allows its musicians the loosest rein with the material to produce some of the best music that's ever gone out under Wyatt's name."

Robert Wyatt continues to follow his singular musical path with the lovely Shleep, delivering another album of considerable quirky charm and understated beauty; a less melancholy affair than much of his recent work, the record is informed by a hazy, dreamlike quality perfectly in keeping with the elements of subconsciousness implicit in the title. ~ Jason Ankeny|