BUNDLES

It is obvious that Allan Holdsworth's inclusion on guitars was the kick Soft Machine needed. His guitars are excellent. The Bundles album kicks of with his guitars at the nine minutes long opening track Hazard Profile Part 1. This track is a solid jazz-rock track and a break with the stuff from their previous albums. It is also like a breath of fresh air, in my view. The rest of Hazard Profile is a mix of jazz rock and a return to the old Soft Machine from Third onwards.

Gone Sailing is a piece of Allan Holdsworth on accoustic guitars. I believe that is a first on a Soft Machine album. A nice fifty seconds long track btw. The second excellent track on this alum is the title track Bundles. This is an excellent melody which is played almost as an improvisation with Allan Holdsworth on his electric guitars, backed up by hammond organs, drums and bass. This is one of Soft Machines best ever pieces of music.

After some other interesting pieces of music with the usual Soft Machine fingerprints all over them, we arrive at the third truly excellent track on this album. It is called The Floating World. This is an unusual piece of music for this album. It is not jazz rock. It is Soft Machine staring back at their previous four albums. It is a melancholic meditation with flute which ebbs and flows. This too is one of the best pieces of music Soft Machine has ever released.

Some says this is an untypical Soft Machine album. I disagree. In my view, they just did some tweaking on the Soft Machine formula after a slight stagnation on Six and Seven. Yes, it is a jazz rock album of sorts. But it is not a generic jazz rock album. It is jazz rock on Soft Machine's own terms. A couple of better tracks and this album would had been perfect. Anyway, Bundles is a truly stunning album.

4.5 stars

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