Robert Wyatt, Nothing Can Stop Us (side A)

1982's Nothing Can Stop Us collects mostly tracks from Robert Wyatt's 1980 and 1981 7" singles.  Side A of the album collects A-sides, and side B collects the equivalent B-sides in the same sequence.  I cannot, however, find evidence of a "Born Again Cretin" / "Red Flag (o.k.?)" 7", and these two songs seem to appear only on the LP.  Two of the singles were splits with other artists, and both B-sides are included here — Disharhi's performance of their song "Trade Union" and Peter Blackman reciting "Stalingrad".  Of the eight Wyatt performances, he only wrote one, the opening "Born Again Cretin".  In the others, he seems to find consistent political content, from the overt lyrics of "Red Flag" and "Stalin Wasn't Stallin'", to his emphasis brought to subtler words in Chic's "At Last, I am Free".  Because the songs were recorded as different singles, the personnel varies, but the sound is surprisingly consistent.  Wyatt uses a similar, bright digital keyboard sound throughout his tracks, and it's generally placed in the foreground.  His voice is recorded to match the keyboard, and other sounds are brought into line in the mix.  The album consistently emphasizes early-80s sonic trends — everything is syntactically clean and bright, despite being a simple and modest recording.  The cover painting, of a worker protesting within the Rolls Royce logo, nicely matches both the political contents and rough-hewn sound quality.