Wyatt / Atzmon / Stephen, For the Ghosts Within' (side C)

2010's For the Ghosts Within' is an unusual Robert Wyatt album, even within his already-diverse catalog.  Since his early membership in groups like Soft Machine, Wyatt has always taken credit as leader on his albums, where here it's shared with two other musicians, and their input is quite obvious.  In part because of Ros Stephen's arrangements of his Sigamos String Quartet, this might be Wyatt's most consistently pretty album, with less grit than he usually prefers.  And while Wyatt plays bits of percussion and trumpet, he mostly contributes vocals here, and on one song does not perform at all.  There are few Wyatt compositions here, but unlike the diverse content of Nothing Can Stop Us, For Ghosts Within' focuses largely on jazz standards.  Two tunes familiar to Wyatt's fans turn up again, a radically reworked version of his own "Dondestan", now titled "Where Are They Now?", and another surprising reworking of Chic's "At Last I am Free".  The third primary collaborator here is Gilad Atzmon, an Israeli-born clarinetist of Jewish descent, known for his outspoken critiques of Israel.  His playing on Wyatt's pro-Palestine "Dondestan" is a natural fit, though the rap-like vocals that also appear on "Where are They Now?" feel like a less natural fit.  Juxtaposing this track with standars like "What a Wonderful World" and "In a Sentimental Mood" certainly fits Wyatt's fondness for juxtaposing aesthetically jarring choices, and the album manages to hold the content together nicely.  The production style is generally very modern, with compression used to bring the acoustic instruments perceptibly forward, though occasional, stylized hints to more classic sounds peek through.  The three-sided double album is packaged in two layers of impressively thick, matte paper.