FOURTH

Well i can't say i am a fan of the Softs BUT i am a huge lover of Third. This album had it all, the jazzy passages from Mr Dean, the great melodies from Ratledge, the fuzzy basslines of Hopper, great flow through out the songs, substance, i mean they really wrote some music there. Whereas in this album i don't really get it. Except the opening track Teeth which is absolutely fantastic (i loved it for the same reasons i loved Third.i mean it is greatly structured, and a lot more jazzier and less psychedelic than any of Third's songs but on the same level) As for the othe songs i just don't get it. Kings and Queen is a repetitive bassline much like ones you hear on Third by Hopper but in this case it is just that, over and over for Dean to play solos and Wyatt playing randomly.. Simply nothing else is going on, but you can say this is a song. What about the next one Fletcher's Blemish? what is this?They play whatever comes to mind, total luck of coherence, just improvising live on studio, no melodies, no actual parts or riffs or any themes or nothing.Just random notes here and there and in my ears Noise. Virtually is another big song consisting of four parts the first being an actual song,very good double bass from Roy Babbington. But again in part 2 3 and a half minutes go wasted playing randomly again and the songs starts of again till the end but a repetition of part 1. Still don't get it. Part 3 and 4 could be one part as they are totally the same thing, one continues right after the 3d ends and these 2 songs are some wah keys from Ratledge and Dean playing slow sax melodies which i enjoy but seven minutes of this is just a waste of time.

Overall this album (i wouldn't really call it an album) is one hole song, and somewhere in between some good stuff for 3 or 4 minutes.the rest of it is random stuff .Not a real musical idea.That is why i put it one star.