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Joined: January 07 2009
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Topic: Robert Wyatt vs Kevin Ayers Posted: November 05 2011 at 06:59
Both founding members of Soft Machine and they both have some great solo albums. Very hard choice but Robert gets my vote. His body of work is more consistently brilliant then Kevin's plus Rock Bottom is in my top 5 favourite albums of all time.
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Posted: November 05 2011 at 08:01
Adams Bolero wrote:
Both founding members of Soft Machine and they both have some great solo albums. Very hard choice but Robert gets my vote. His body of work is more consistently brilliant then Kevin's plus Rock Bottom is in my top 5 favourite albums of all time.
This. Kevin Ayers is somewhat overlooked and underrated, but it's been a long time since he released anything of note. Robert Wyatt is still making great music both as a solo artist and as a collaborator.
'Like so many of you I've got my doubts about how much to contribute to the already rich among us...'
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Posted: November 05 2011 at 08:10
Soft Machine's two first albums are amazing, but Third is still their #1 creation (I could even go so far and say that Third is the best album ever created), and fourth is also a very good album. But I feel that after Fifth lost the magic they had. So even if Kevin was the mastermind behind the first albums, Robert could keep the band running, even better at times. But without Robert the band lost most of what they had. Makes me wonder how Soft Machine would've sounded if Robert left first.
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Posted: November 05 2011 at 09:02
Robert Wyatt is my childhood more or less. He was constantly played in the car and sung along to. As I became myself a progger I was finding out that Robert is simply put one of the best songwriters in music. Also has a damn good voice!
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Posted: November 05 2011 at 15:31
Both are great, but I don't find some of Wyatt's solo work to be quite as great as nearly everyone else does. Kevin always had the sunny, cheerful, I-don't-care-what-you-think sort of humor and style to his music, which gives him some extra points in my book. I wouldn't go without either, but I will give Ayers another vote here, both for his good music (the first several albums) and his so-bad-it's-good music (Caribbean Moon, for example, is presented below).
^I agree with you, although I love Wyatt. My favourite of his is probably Whatevershebringswesing Seeing as Wyatt is going to run with it, I am giving my vote Kevin. Here´s my shameless promotion
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Posted: November 05 2011 at 15:41
My favorite of the early albums is probably still the debut...though I could probably pick any of them at any given moment. Song for Insane Times and Stop This Train (Again Doing It) especially.
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Posted: November 05 2011 at 16:07
Wyatt for sure. His brand of whimsey fits in much better with my own, my very own.
And if he didn't fall out of that damned window I feel the gap would be even larger.
Dig me...But don't...Bury me I'm running still, I shall until, one day, I hope that I'll arrive Warning: Listening to jazz excessively can cause a laxative effect.
I cannot really choose, so I vote for both. Kevin Ayers has some great songs, Robert Wyatt has this masterpiece Rock Bottom and a very peculiar "like it or not"-voice. I belong to the people who like it.
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Posted: November 05 2011 at 22:41
Much as I like Kevin Ayers, definitely Robert Wyatt. I like all of his solo albums very much (well, I haven't heard the latest), and he has appeared on many very good albums, including Kevin Ayers' ones, Michael Mantler's, News from Babel etc.. Of Wyatt's studio albums, the one I've been returningto is The End of an Ear. And I love Matching Mole.
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Posted: April 02 2016 at 12:37
As far as singing goes, I vote for Kevin Ayers. His voice was full and complete, while Wyatt's is scrawny sounding, with overly Cockney/British accent.
For stage performance, Kevin Ayers also wins. Of course, Robert had his fall and paralysis, so that accounts for for loss on his end.
Wyatt wins for being more progressive and avant garde.
Overall, I can relate to Ayers more for his lifestyle. He stood out among musicians more distinctly than Wyatt, who is sort of ordinary.
Between the two, there is a rich catalog of music!
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Posted: April 02 2016 at 15:48
I'm one of those who think Wyatt is a bit overrated: not a big fan of his voice nor his solo work which can be boring at times to me... so going with Ayers who's first 3 or 4 albums are a lot of fun.. and imho more listenable than Wyatt's material.
One does nothing yet nothing is left undone. Haquin
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Posted: April 02 2016 at 16:26
Really difficult - I will give Kevin the edge here for Joy Of A Toy alone. One of my favourite late-60's albums. And I have more Wyatt LP's than Ayers'.
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Posted: April 02 2016 at 16:33
Tom Ozric wrote:
Really difficult - I will give Kevin the edge here for Joy Of A Toy alone. One of my favourite late-60's albums. And I have more Wyatt LP's than Ayers'.
Joy of a Toy...........
One does nothing yet nothing is left undone. Haquin
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Robert Wyatt vs Kevin Ayers
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Adams Bolero wrote:
Seeing as Wyatt is going to run with it, I am giving my vote Kevin.
