THE SOFT MACHINE

Soft Machine were formed in mid-1966 in Canterbury, one of the two bands (alongside Caravan) to be the shapes to come out of the Wilde Flowers, a psych-pop/rock band from the same place. Upon their formation, The Soft Machine (as they were initially billed as) consisted of drummer and vocalist Robert Wyatt, bassist and vocalist Kevin Ayers, organist/keyboardist Mike Ratledge, and guitarist Daevid Allen.

An early UK underground act, the band would really go on to become an underground legend, never achieving impressive commercial successes. However, their cult following is what I believe to be the reason for this enigmatic band's activity - releasing records in four different decades.

Their self-titled first album (also referred to as 'Volume One' in later reissues) was released in late 1968 and represents their all-out psychedelic music collage, spread across thirteen tracks with lengths ranging from 50 seconds to 7 minutes.

As already mentioned, the earliest Soft Machine sound is rooted in the tradition of the psychedelic rock, and 'Volume One' is reminiscent here and there of bands like Vanilla Fudge or The Jimi Hendrix Experience. However, the music is very English, very soothing sometimes, and very frantic on other occasions; It is evident that humor and eccentrics are central to the band's early output. Not only this, the songs are quite memorable (And this, I believe, is one of the significant traits of the Canterbury Scene bands) and very experimental in nature.

As it can be heard in the following album as well, the songs on each side of the album seem to constitute two larger tracks. Here, on side one, the listener will find some very recognizable tracks by the Softies, like 'Hope for Happiness', a 'model' psych-rock song, 'Joy of a Toy', a very quirky instrumental transition, 'So Boot If at All', the longest song on their debut release and an extravagant proto-prog bonanza.

Then on side two there are some seminal Soft Machine compositions, like 'Lullabye Letter', 'We Did It Again' and 'Why Are We Sleeping', which could easily be mistaken for a Vanilla Fudge song, alongside the shorter more interlude-like pieces.

Overall, this is a very impressive and important first step in this legendary band's history - an album that is unique in its own way, compelling in its presentation, and memorable in every sense.