SOFTS

With some new men on the board Soft Machine was really gettin' soft, with heavily orchestration and not so overwhelmingly guitar driven tune, as on its predecessor.'Aubade' opens the album calmly,with nice acoustic guitar and sax; 'The Tale Of Taliesin' is in my opinion a hihgpoint of the whole album - it starts with melodious piano andante intro theme, which is soon turned by Etheridge in guitar improvisation at the speed of sound level, which approaching the end slows down and the whole affair finishes with main theme repeated in moderate tempo, as it started. 'Ban-Ban Caliban' brings more keyboards and soprano sax solo, accompanied once again with John Etheridge flying fingers .'Song Of Aeolus' is closing side one of the record with nice interplay between piano and guitar.On the side two, three titles deserve attention:opening track 'Out Of The Season', jazzy number 'One Over The Eight' with nice Wakeman sax solo, and closing 'Etika' composed and performed by Etheridge on acoustic guitars. I remember Soft Machine concert held in February of 1977 in Zagreb promoting their 'Softs' album. At that time, it was a rare opportunity for us to attend a rock concert of such masters, so the audience followed their performance with rapt attention, for it was a musicianship of the highest level,adventure to be remembered. With this album the admirable Soft Machine story has reached the end and became the glorious part of progressive rock history.