TO THE HIGHEST BIDDER

Another strong effort from Supersister sees them distinguishing their sound a bit further from Soft Machine. By this point in their career, the Softs had firmly distanced themselves from their more whimsical past and showed little sense of humour; it's clear from this album (which captures, at one point at the end of No Tree Will Grow, the band cracking up in laughter) that Supersister weren't going to take that direction.

Instead, they keep pushing ahead in their early Canterbury sound - a blend of the Softs, a bit of Caravan, and some Hot Rats-period Frank Zappa - though this time there seem to be a few more nods here and there to classical music in the mix, further distinguishing the band's approach from their influences. Just as good as their debut, I think this one does a slightly better job of doing something new and original within the Canterbury framework, but I'd be hard-pressed to choose between the two.