Robert Wyatt can cover anyone's song and make it sound like a Wyatt original masterpiece. One of the great soulful singers of the 20th century and beyond. The beauty of his 'hairy' voice is that it's very demanding and draws the listener into his world. The Wyatt world is a part absurdity, total pop, Jazz-leanings, and the political song. "Nothing Can Stop Us" is very much a political work set in a Wyatt style pop format.
For one there is only one Original Wyatt composition on the album "Born Again Cretin." An appeal to have Mandela free, but Wyatt doesn't do slogans, his approach is a very thoughtful and voice pleads with great sincerity but also a pain. The song opens up with Wyatt doing a scat-jazz-horn solo with his voice, as well as an overdubbed sea of vocals, with a very minimal keyboard. It's a beautiful, tender recording that's about something not tender, nor good. The rest of the album is covers, and which are basically either politically driven or Wyatt gives what seems like a love song, a political intensity. Chic's "At Last, I'm Free" is a beautiful ballad by Nile Rogers and Bernard Edwards, that on this set of songs, is something more than a plea for a lover to return their love to the singer. Wyatt's take is of someone asking something from a position of weakness or one who has no power.
There are two songs sung in Spanish, and they are "Caimanera" which is first known to English language ears as "Guantanamera," a hit soft-pop song by the group The Sandpipers. The very left-wing folk group from the 50s, The Weavers (with Pete Seeger) were probably the first to introduce the song in the English-speaking world, but even their version is in Spanish. Wyatt's take is very close to the melody, but I believe the lyrics (in Spanish) are more explicit in its politics that took place in Central America at the time. The other song in Spanish is "Arauco" dealing issues in Chilean politics.
The oddity on the album is "Grass" a tune by Ivor Cutler, a known eccentric and poet. Indian pop filtered through the sensibility of Wyatt. And then he gives two tracks over to Dishari and poet/writer Peter Blackman. In actuality, most of the songs here have been released as singles, so it doesn't feel like an album, even though there is the Left perspective on all the songs. Including a haunting version of Billie Holiday's "Strange Fruit." Wonderful.
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