THE SOFT MACHINE

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(first of a serie of eleven)

3.5 stars really! This should have been actually the second album they recorded as their first recordings had Daevid Allen on guitar and was called Jet Propelled Photograph. If I talk of that album here , it is because of Daevid's definite influence on the songwriting of these first two Machine albums.

These are pop songs like only Allen can write (and Ayers and Wyatt learned later) but the very singular touches of these songs are pre-figuring of Canterbury-style rock. When compared to later albums, the musicianship, I would say, is still approximative - Ayers cannot be considered as virtuosity-minded as such because of his own admittance he was too lazy and aspired to spend three quarter of the year in Ibiza - something he will do after leaving for a solo career. However this musicianship issue is quickly dispelled by the sheer innovation/inspiration of the songwriting.

This album is definitely psychadelic rock but can be regarding as a link towards prog (as with the Nice's and Caravan's debuts) by the sheer adventurous nature of their music. Of historical importance.

Well, I guess if I want to review a project with Kevin Ayers involved, this is it; his solo work, though often progressive, is not to be found here (yet?). I saw these guys open for Hendrix (both acts only had one album out at the time), and of course, they did nothing for me. I was only 14 or 15; even Hendrix did little for me, although I recognized the "hits". The auditorium in San Antonio had horrible acoustics, and both acts came across as a wall of muddy noise. Anyway, NOW I can say without hesitation that this album has many examples of genius (mixed in with many examples of self-indulgent goofiness). It's really hard to go back to the "beginning" objectively after devouring nearly every solo album Ayers and Wyatt have released over the years. I'm sure that if I listened to this album for the first time now, without ever having heard that solo work, that I would be unimpressed and perplexed. Moot point.

This is the first soft machine album , the first album of a great band, one of the best bands ever , and this first album is really good, not a masterpiece, but is an excellent add to all of the prog lovers like me. This album has a particular canterbury sound, and a very complex progressive sound, the music is "soft", but powerful and gorjeous , the two voices of the great Robert Wyatt and the always happy Kevin Ayers, give to the band a particular voice sound, but i have to admit that at the first time that i`ve heard this album, sounds to me a few boring, but really i felt sick, now that im fine i`ve heard it a lot of times and its for me one of the best purchases in the last month, and excellent recomendation.

This album deserves five stars for its importance in progressive rock. The trio of Wyatt, Ratledge, and Ayers (and guests) put down one of the finest albums in the Canterbury sub-genre. While I do not consider this to be my favorite Softs album, it still deserves at least four stars for its importance.

Soft Machine and Caravan, for that matter, were the the products of the Wilde Flowers. One camp went to form Caravan and the other to form Soft Machine. Soft Machine's first album is much more impressive than Caravan's debut in my opinion. Caravan got better with their second album, "If I Could Do It All Over Again, I'd Do It All Over You," which is also highly recommended. Now, on to the review.

The album kicks off with one of the best Wyatt-era Soft Machine tunes, Hope for Happiness. It is without a doubt a Softs classic. The next song is Joy of a Toy, another Softs classic, which also became the title of Kevin Ayer's debut solo album. It has all the major elements of an earlier Softs song. This track bridges with Hope for Happiness (Reprise), which recalls the first track on the album. Why Am I So Short? is a humorous piece in which Wyatt addresses the issue of his height. After that, comes the longest piece on the album, So Boot If At All. It's primarily a nice, jazzy instrumental piece with great playing by everyone in the band. A Certain Kind is a wonderful vocal number with excellent keyboards by Ratledge and a killer drum outro by Wyatt.

Save Yourself has some great distorted keyboard work with Wyatt taking over as main vocalist again. This track bridges into Priscilla a nice short psychedelic instrumental. Another vocal track, Lullabye Letter comes next. Again, each musician does a superb job. We Did It Again has what sounds like Wyatt and Ayers repeating the chorus with Ratledge covering the keyboard parts. Plus Belle Qu'une Poubelle serves as a nice intro into Why Are We Sleeping? Kevin Ayers deep vocals are a highlight of this song. The chorus itself is rather catchy as well. It's one of my favorites on the album. The album ends with a short Ratledge/Hopper tune entitled Box 25/4 Lid. It's a nice ending to one of he greatest landmarks in progressive music.

As before stated, this album is very important in progressive music, especially in the Canterbury sub-genre. This album is a great introduction to someone who is interested in getting in to Soft Machine or Canterbury music itself, for that matter. I feel that I would be committing a wrong not to give this album 5 stars. It is important and needs to be recognized that way. The creative juices flowing throughout this album are astounding. Each musician contributes a sizeable amount on the album. Truly a masterpiece. 5 stars all the way!

This is the first official 'Soft Machine 'LP release recorded in 1968 as a trio by Robert Wyatt (drums & vocals), Mike Ratledge (organ & piano) and Kevin Ayers (bass & vocals) with a little help of the Hopper Brothers and produced by Chas Chandler and Tom Wilson. Daevid Allen had left in the meantime and apart from a single for 'Polydor' one year earlier, the material from the early sessions would be released only in the seventies.

The record is a mixture of Blues, Jazz and Rock, spiced with British houmour, surrealistic lyrics and a zest of Dada; all that would become a trademark of many Canterbury bands. An interesting feature : the presence of 'vocal riffs' (maybe due to the fact, that Kevin Ayers had switched from guitar to bass, some of the riffs usually played by guitar are transfered to the vocals, as in 'Hope For Happiness' and 'We Did It Again', giving the band an immediate trademark sound. Another feature borrowed from modern art is the 'collage' technique : editing small snippets together to a suite.

The record starts with a short 'Fake Blues' sung by Robert that leads into a Brian Hopper composition 'Hope For Happiness', introduced by a sung riff, that is followed by an organ solo and a re-exposition of the theme riff.

The next theme 'Joy Of A Toy,' a Kevin Ayers composition is introduced by the bass over Wyatt's heavily echoed drums and seagued into the reprise of 'Hope for happiness', followed by an organ wash and a drum outro.

'Why am I so short?' composed by Hugh Hopper with some tongue in cheek lyrics by Robert seagues into 'So boot if at all ' an instrumental with an distorted organ solo and a short introduction of the 'We Did It Again' theme.

'Save yourself' composed an sung by Robert alternates with 'Lullaby Letter' a Kevin Ayers composition linked together by some beautiful 'Canterbury' organ work by Mike Ratledge.

'We did it again' maybe the most typical one-liner-riff by Kevin Ayers with a gospel like quality: Monty Python meets Mahalia Jackson... followed by another Kevin Ayers 'hit' : 'Why are we sleeping?' a condensed version of the 'Canterbury' sound & lyrics : "It begins with a blessing, it ends with a curse/Making life easy by making it worse"My mask is my master", the trumpeter weeps/But his voice is so weak, as he speaks from his sleep",...

and as an outro of the record a nice piano/bass theme by Ratledge and Hopper.

'Soft Machine'(One) is musically not as challenging as the 'Soft Machine' records to come especially 'Two' and 'Three', but a true masterpiece, a musical Rock-Jazz-& Blues collage mixed with humour, the matrix of the Canterbury sound.

I remember when I first heard about the Soft Machine how incredibly cool they sounded. They named themselves after a Burroughs novel, had the hippest clothing ever, references to DaDa and pataphysics all throughout their song titles and they played at the place called the UFO Club with Syd Barrett. And the music. It was so originally yet so of the times. The organs, soulful vocals, witty lyrics, jazz madness, and acid sprinkled all over the place made what is in my opinion one of the finest albums of the 60's, Volume 1.

In the liner notes of the album it is described that the music of The Soft Machine is intended to put the mind on a journey, some form of cerebral stimulation. That's absoultly what the music is like. Yet it's never pure unhinged psychedelic freak-out. Throughout the album there is a strong pop sensibility. Songs like 'Save Yourself' and 'Lullaby Letter' show their ability to craft incredible pop tunes while still keeping that psychedelic and experimental edge that makes this album great.

All the electronic manipulation and effects found in this record couldn't be further from pure gimmickry. Every far out organ tone or blast of fuzzed out bliss serves a purpose within the song. There's really nothing self indulgent to be found on the album. Even the slightly longer than brief drum solo in 'So Boot If At All' stays interesting the whole way through, with backwards piano and psychedelic strangeness giving even a drum solo texture.

Early trance-rock is even experimented with, with Kevin Ayers's 'We Did it Again', which shows they could have influenced some elements of the krautrock movement. 'Why Are We Sleeping' is the grand finale of the album and is one of the greatest tracks in the 60's. Kevin's spoken word poetry is what makes the song. Other bands like The Moody Blues sound incredibly pretentious and cheesy when they use spoken word in their songs, but in this case it works amazing. Everything from the blown out organ attack to the joyfully sung chorus of this track is pure classic.

'Why am I so Short' is piece by Robert Wyatt featuring fierce drumming and lyrics which Wyatt describes himself with much wit and humor: "I've got a drum-kit and some sticks, so when I'm drunk or in a fit, I find it easy to express myself!". One of the great things about the atmosphere is that it's actually quite down to earth lyrically, with songs about girls, happiness, and life in generally. Yet it's the off-key and creative vocal styles of Wyatt and Ayer's that give them an edge.

Soft Machine's debut is a work of outstanding creativity and craft. It fills me up with joy whenever I hear it. This album is the auditory form of bliss.

What a brilliant debut.

This is a perfect blend of early Canterbury sound and psychedelia. All tracks are short, but I prefer to call them brief instead. There is nothing too protracted here; this is a perfect amount of soloing and well-developed main ideas. Basically, there's no boring or weak moments. The sound is quite muddy, production is far from perfect, but in a way, that suits music fine. Fuzzy organ and bass are spread all over the place, from short odd-time-signature experiments "Box 25/4 Lid" to downtempo almost-ballad-like type songs ( "A Certain Kind"), to three-minute repetitive trance in "We Did It Again".

"Why Are We Sleeping" is a highlight, with simple structured organ chords, excellent lyrics and frenetic solo. Now wait...I just described any song on this album. They're all really good. Nice humour, experiments with vocals, overall warmth...but "Why Are We Sleeping" is my favourite, although it's hard to define why. Maybe because lyrics are sending shiver down the spine. Maybe because chorus is so suggestive.

SOFT MACHINE will never repeat the power, freshness and imagination of the first album. Second album equally good, but it's mellower, the rest of the albums are without humour, and after that...that's a completely different story.

This album is a must for any serious progressive rock collection.

One might say anything negative about Robert Wyatt: one thing remains sure: he was an outstanding drummer: he definitely proves it here, offering a VERY impressive exhibition of complex, fast, jazzy, structured and varied drums patterns: he sounds like he could drive an entire orchestra, like the legendary American jazz drummers long time ago: he is so talented that he sounds like he makes more than 50% of the music. His vocals are good, being original and excentric too, as usual: however, his voice does not take too much room, so that the other instruments can be fully appreciated. The omnipresent electric organ is very psychedelic and often experimental: its melodies contribute to give a slight Canterburian character to the music. The EXCELLENT elastic bass really has a powerful bottom & smooth sound. The album does not have a hard rock dimension, since there is no electric guitar involved. To produce such an album in 1968 is impressive: this record must be seen by many as a major & memorable one in the prog music history: this album must be appreciated firstly for the rhythmic section, i.e. the drums & bass, since it constitutes the major part of the music.

Way, way back in February of 1968 I had the privilege to see Jimi Hendrix in concert. I knew that he would be incredible (he was) but what I didn't expect was to be entranced by an unknown trio called The Soft Machine. They (along with Clouds) were one of the opening acts and I'm certain that most of the audience was more interested in seeing if the drummer was actually wearing any clothes or not. With the spacey light show swirling around the stage it was very hard to tell (turns out he had on a miniscule thong thing of some sort). However, I couldn't have cared less about their stage outfits (or lack of). These guys played a different style of psychedelic jazz/rock that I found to be creative, edgy and much more interesting than most of the contrived, stare-at-the-lava-lamp acid music that was coming out of San Francisco. The very next day I tried to find this album but discovered that it hadn't even been recorded yet. When I finally got it on my turntable (it wasn't released until December of '68) I was thrilled to find that the LP consisted of the same songs in pretty much the same order that the group had performed them live. When I attempted to turn my friends on to this music not many found Soft Machine to be as engaging as I did but I just figured they weren't as progressive-minded as I was so I adopted them for my own. It no longer mattered what others thought, this record came along at a pivotal point in my life and I listened to it until the grooves wore out. It will forever have a nostalgic significance for me.

They start things off with a very unorthodox free-form, wandering vocal from drummer Robert Wyatt splayed loosely over some moody organ that clearly reveals their modern jazz roots. They slide right into "Hope For Happiness," an up-tempo psychedelic song and here you get your first encounter with Michael Ratledge's furious, intense keyboard style as he delivers a sizzling organ ride. The majority of the tunes blend seamlessly into one another throughout the album and this occurs with the playful instrumental "Joy of a Toy" where guitarist/bassist Kevin Ayers serenades you with a wah wah-driven guitar ditty that's as carefree as a stroll down a country road. It dissolves into dissonance before a reprisal of "Hope For Happiness" brings you back full circle.

I would characterize Wyatt's unique singing style as being the anti-vocal in that he delivers the lyrics in a sort of passive manner, giving the impression that he's not overly concerned about being exactly on key. Yet there's something very human and endearing about his thin voice and I've always found it to be curiously effective. A good example of this is found in his singing on "Why Am I So Short?," a semi-jazz number with an avant garde chord structure that leads you directly into a jam-oriented piece, "So Boot If At All." It comes complete with tastefully brief bass and drum solos. This is followed by a sweet ballad written by Hugh Hopper called "A Certain Kind," by far the most "normal" song on the record. It features an involved progression and melody but it's the poignant keyboard section and the subsequent build up to the climactic ending that seals the deal.

Next is a return to psychedelia with the rockin' "Save Yourself," after which they detour momentarily into the twilight zone with "Priscilla" before transitioning to the fast- paced "Lullabye Letter" that contains another excellent organ lead. It really is amazing the variety of sounds they get with their limited instrumentation. The euphoria- producing, head-bobbing groove of "We Did It Again" follows and it was (and still is) the perfect tune for that cosmic, navel-contemplating era. Ratledge's upwardly-mobile organ chords droning over the basic two-note melody is beautiful in its simplicity. I don't know what "It" is that the singer keeps doing again and again but you can fill in the blank with whatever verb/noun combination that best suits your needs.

"Plus Belle Qu'une Poubelle" is nothing more than a musical preview for "Why Are We Sleeping?," another terrific song. Here Ayers recites the verse's poetic lyrics in a lilting, conversational tone that sets it apart from every other tune. The brooding bass line and deep organ chords along with the emotional dynamics provided by the band's intelligent arrangement make this the highlight of the album. Its plea for some sense of social awareness is as relevant today as it was all those decades ago. "Box 25/4 Lid" is an odd little riff played in tandem on piano and bass guitar and its quirkiness provides the perfect finale.

If there's any downside to the album it's that audio-wise it's a little bit flat and many of the studio effects sound quite dated nearly 40 years down the road. But the music is just as spontaneous and free as it was that magical evening when I saw them in concert and if you have an inquisitive mind that's open to exploring a totally different side of the psychedelic rock phenomenon of the late 60s then I strongly suggest that you give this a spin. It's a treat.

THE BIRTH OF THE CANTERBURY SOUND.

It all started here! Among the new underground scene coming out of London around 1967/1968, 2 bands emerged as the kings of this new psychedelia/avant garde music where they were no boundaries, no restrictions on how to play your instruments or compose songs; The old rules were trashed and new sounds, weird sounds for a lot of people, new musical horizons were opened and explored. The names of those 2 bands were PINK FLOYD and SOFT MACHINE.

Even if SOFT MACHINE remains to this day the biggest name and most successful act from the CANTERBURY scene, they didn't follow exactly the same successful commercial path than PINK FLOYD and never became a mainstream big name as WATERS and co. The main reasons for that was their uncompromising stand with the music they wanted to play , their ever-changing line-up from one album to another resulting in sudden shifts of music style that left quite a few of their early fans scratching their perplexed heads.

But at this time around 1968 to 1971, SOFT MACHINE was a huge name in the burgeonning prog movement. It's just too bad than through the next decades, the reputation of this band waned from a big caliber name to just another Canterbury name. I checked on PA some polls and discussions about them. Nothing big enough to crash the server of this site.

That's sad because they were one of the most unique and innovative bands of the prog movement, creating the Canterbury school or sound.They were never duplicated because it was unpossible to sound like them. Even SOFT MACHINE couldn't duplicate themselves as their sound was always changing and going some other places, no one has ever been. The only comparison with them i can think of is FRANK ZAPPA and the MOTHERS OF INVENTION, not necessarily musically but in their own way to create their own music mixing serious avant garde sounds with psychedelic jazzy jams, silly vocals and...a lot of talent!

SOFT MACHINE started as a quartet featuring MIKE RATLEDGE on keyboards, mainly organ, KEVIN AYERS on bass and vocals , ROBERT WYATT on drums and vocals and the Aussie DAEVID ALLEN of future GONG fame on guitar. Worth noticing that the next bassist of SOFT MACHINE HUGH HOPPER was already around as a.....roadie and ...songwriter! This line-up would record plenty of demos and songs that would be released only a few years later under the JET PROPELLED PHOTOGRAPH which could be considered as a real first SOFT MACHINE album, but legally THE SOFT MACHINE is the first one. Also, this album would be named later on VOLUME ONE on some editions as their next album will be named VOL.2.

By the time this album was recorded, DAEVID ALLEN was out of the band because he was not allowed an entry visa in Britain from France where he was living back then.This is like that history is being made as DAEVID would form GONG later in France. KEVIN AYERS would take over the occasional guitar parts, but they weren't many anyway!

Even if you find some kind of classic strong structures on this album,it has to be heard as a whole piece of music with freaky interludes bridging all parts.This is a wild experience and a trippy journey through fuzz-box distortion, strange off key organ sounding, maniacal great drumming, a rumbling heavy groovy bass and unique vocals from ROBERT WYATT and KEVIN AYERS.No one in the world sings like ROBERT WYATT! there is only one RW. One can say his voice is an instrument by itself as it helps the album and the subsequent SOFT MACHINE releases to sound like no one else.

This is a raw album full of energy and new twists at every corner. This is not jazz, this is not rock, this not contemporary music, this is only SOFT MACHINE. A mad mixture of everything and raged psychedelism cooked by some crazy wizard. I won't go into details, track by track as i said earlier, this album has to be listened as a whole. There are even sweet songs such as the beautiful HUGH HOPPER penned A CERTAIN KIND, in the style of CAROLINE from WYATT'MATCHING MOLE. You have the ''hits'' from KEVIN AYERS singing with his strong baritone voice WE DID IT AGAIN and WHY ARE WE SLEEPING which are still played by KEVIN on stage nowadays.What a contrast with the very delicate sounding voice of ROBERT WYATT.But IT IS the overall sound madness that prevails with no time to take a breath!

It was a very important album back then along the next VOL2 and FLOYD's PIPERS AT THE GATE and SAUCERFUL OF SECRETS.They wouldl launch the experimental prog movement starting with KCRIMSON and Krautrock next. They told other and future musicians you can dare, you are not obligated to follow the verses/chorus rules, be yourself, be like a mad scientist , not be always serious, have fun , explore new musical horizons and create.

SOFT MACHINE would produce a few more masterpieces starting with the next one and THIRD before becoming too serious and losing their freshness....and some fans. But i guess that's the price TO PAY when you stay true to yourself and don't compromise in the name of money and they didn't, thanks to them. 4 stars for the music and one more star because it's where it all began!!

5 STARS.

This is my favourite SOFT MACHINE album,it was love at first listen for me.There is such a sixties sound to this record,and i know it was recorded in 1968, but the sixties vibe just makes me feel good that's all.These guys played on the same bill as PINK FLOYD a lot back then before going on a U.S. tour opening for Jimi Hendrix. "Hope For Happiness" features overlapping vocals from Wyatt that sound cool.The song kicks in before 2 minutes.Check out the organ work from Ratledge! The bass and drums shine as well. "Joy Of A Toy" would later be the name of a Kevin Ayer's solo album.This song is reserved until it picks up some after 2 minutes. The next song is a reprise of the first track,and i like it.It has a dissonant ending. I love the organ and drums on "Why Am I So Short". "So Boot If At All" is a great,uptempo instrumental that calms down after 3 minutes.Check out Wyatt 4 1/2 minutes in.Piano is sprinkled in as things get a little psychedelic. "A Certain Kind" reminds me of MATCHING MOLE and Wyatt's solo stuff.A nice ballad. "Save Yourself" is very 60's sounding. "Priscilla" has some DOORS-like organ in it. "Lullabye Letter" is another 60's sounding tune as drums,organ and vocals lead the way as usual. "We Did It Again" is like a Krautrock inspired tune with the repetitivness and crazy drumming after 3 minutes. "Plus Belle Qu'une Poubelle" has an ominous intro before some outstanding drum work from Wyatt.The bass is great as well as the song blends into "Why Are We Sleeping?".This is a psychedelic,60's sounding song with spoken words before vocals and organ come in. "Box 25/4 Lid" is a short instrumental of piano/bass to end the album. Anyone who is into the Canterbury genre needs to check out this very influencial record.

Wow, compared to most other reviewers, I am just not on board with what the Soft Machine is all about. Here is where they got their start, and things sure sound raw. My personal opinion is that if you take away Wyatt's drumming (which I also happen to find highly overrated), you'd have some truly terrible music here. As it stands, what we have here is lot of relatively free-form noodling on keys (sure it can be fast some of the time, but also sloppy and without much direction) coupled with off-key vocal wailings. Wyatt to me sounds a homeless man's David Crosby, with a raspy texture.

I suppose these guys did sound a bit unique in 1968, but given the powerhouses that would follow in the next year (Led Zeppelin, Santana, Yes, etc), it's no coincidence that they took a major drop in popularity: there's really just not much talent here (at least compared to the aforementioned bands), and they don't play that well together (certainly not at this point). Most of the time when they finally settle on a decent groove to build on, all goes quiet and they're back in free-form mode (the Hope for Happiness songs and So Boot if at All). The only song where they have decent interplay Lullabye Letter, and at least this points to future potential.

So, am I the oddball who just doesn't get it? Possibly, but after becoming familiar with a good deal of the Soft Machine's early discography, my take is still that Wyatt is the only real talent in the group (and for his work on drums only--certainly not the vocals). Even considering that this is a debut, and also taking into account historical relevance, I can't give this album more than two stars. If you like simple music (standard chords, lots of quarter-note playing) with an old sound and some psychadelic influence, this may be up your alley. If need the complexity that later prog offers, avoid this album.

The Soft Machine debut is a very good album of early psychedelic anarchy, with some regular psychedelic songs and some short, divided in parts, that could only make sense in the heads of the members of the band. The album is very solid, despite the early loss of a key member, Daevid Allen, whose visa to UK was refused and had to stay in France, leaving the band. But the trio formed by Kevin Ayers, Mike Ratledge and Robert Wyatt made a superb psychedelic work, that had no hints of the fusion signature that would dominate their late career.

The album starts with one of the best songs, Hope for Happiness, with insane organ and bass playing. Between the two parts there is the excellent Joy of a Toy, with a superb guitar melody that goes during the whole song in different moods.

The album continues with songs more or less linked one with others and they take the advantage of their strong improvisational abilities, delivering a superb psychedelic jamming in the longest song of the album, So Boot If It All. They show their progressive pionnering tendencies by presenting many time changes and some jazzy hints, thought they are not so clear among the psychedelic anarchy in the song. And the following is the most beautiful song of the album, with superb singing by Wyatt and a very beautiful organ arrangement.

The second side starts with the energetic Save Yourself, with great vocal and organ melody and superb drumming. Other song that is top notch in the second side is Lulabye Letter, with great rhythm section and organ. Singing is very good and the organ solo in the middle of the song is breathtaking. In the sequence comes the curious We Did It Again, which has a constant mumbling We Did It Again and the bass line seems to be talking We Did It Again also while there are great organ and drum playing. Then there is one more key song, Why are we Sleeping, with great organ playing, bass and chorus.

Overall is one of the great psychedelic masterpieces of the late sixties, being a very strong concept album, with weirdness, great musicianship, memorable melodies and rhythms, great ideas and anything else. A must-have.

The Soft Machine is the selftitled debut album from one of the two groups that emerged after the demise of The Wilde Flowers.Soft Machine and Caravan, which was the other band to emerge after The Wilde Flowers ceased to exist, were both very influential forces on the Canterbury music scene and they are widely aknowledged as the creators of that particular subgenre to progressive rock. While Caravan´s debut album didn´t impress me much it´s a whole other story with Soft Machine. This is a beautiful album and it´s got all the characteristica of early Canterbury scene. The whimsical singing style and humorous lyrics and the soft jazz/ rock approach to music.

The music on this debut album is very experimental which was a common feature on many recordings from 1968, but I think Soft Machine was a bit different. First of all this is not regular psychadelic music IMO even though it´s pretty strange at times. it´s rather intellectual if you ask me.

Robert Wyatt´s drumming needs to be mentioned as it is very adventurous and his vocals are also along with the vocals from Kevin Ayers are defining for the Canterbury Scene. In my review of the debut from Matching Mole I was very critical towards Robert Wyatt´s voice but it´s great here. Very fragile but great never the less.

The songs are short witful statements that at times can seem a bit underdeveloped which is a real shame as some of them definitely invites to longer sections. That doesn´t mean that these songs don´t sound great as they are though. If you like Canterbury scene music this one is a must IMO. I won´t mention any songs in particular as I like them all and I think that all the songs together is what makes this such a great album. There is a sort of concept like cohesiveness to the songs.

The musicianship is outstanding and above all innovative and adventurous. I really enjoy the interplay between the musicians.

The production is charming even though it´s not the best sixties sound quality I have heard. It´s way better than Caravan´s debut album though.

Soft Machine has taken me by surprise with this album, and I must declare myself a fan from this day forth. At least of this brilliant album. I have been debating myself if this is a masterpiece but I have come to the conclusion that I will rate it 4 stars now and maybe later upgrade it to 5 if my excitement doesn´t stop. This is a highly recommendable album for Canterbury scene fans and for fans of sixties and early seventies prog rock in general too.