Released one year after after his second solo record Rock Bottom, Ruth is Stranger than Richard showed former Soft Machine drummer Robert Wyatt further dabbling in twisted prog pop. But whereas Rock Bottom seemed more wanky than wonderful, venturing into music theory inside jokes, Ruth is Stranger than Richard finds him focusing his prodigal musical talent upon something somewhat more listenable.

The dorky vibe is still very much in full effect, but this time it's mostly more charming than grating. "Black Notes and One White Note" takes a colorful synth drone and builds in electronic sound loops and noisy horns not unlike some of the tracks on the last Gastr Del Sol record. "Solar Flares" is a shuffling jazzy instrumental that Stereolab would go on to perfect some 25 years later. "Team Spirit" begins with a bopping introduction that could have been from outake from a Miles Davis acid trip before launching into a psychadelic riff fest, replete with feedbacky drones courtesy of Brian Eno.

But things get problematic when Wyatt decides to lend his vocals to the music. It's terribly hard to take the man seriously when his ass- wincingly high falsetto kicks in with lines "What do cubs and brownies do at night after a boring day?/ Sine their boots and practice tying notes." Even more troublesome is that fact that when Wyatt sings, he also has a habit of letting the music go similarly wonky. And tracks like "Muddy Mouse (C)" barely hold up musically, completely submerging themselves in multiple key changes.

This is not to deny Wyatt's unquestionable abilities as a musician and as a conceptual thinker. This is just to say that Ruth will not be every booty- shaker's cup of Earl Gray. We'll keep looking.

-Samir Khan