THE SOFT MACHINE

Legendary Canterbury band and one of the first progressive groups along with countrymen Caravan.They were formed in 1966 by former ''Wilde flowers'' members drummer Robert Wyatt and bassist/vocalist Kevin Ayers along with Mike Ratledge on keys and Daevid Allen on guitars.Soon the band had an intense live activity even outside UK, costing their shortness to a trio,as Daevid Allen was Australian and was refused reentry on English ground due to expiration of his visa.The band had to carry on and in 1968 they recorded their first self-titled album for Probe Records (and for Barclay in France),an album which succeeded several re- issues through the years to come.

We are talking about 1968 here and as expected the sound is very dated,having lost much of his freshness nowadays.However the talent of the band is certainly there.What I can absorb from this album is actually a band deeply rooted in a typical 60's psychedelic sound but with a tendency for improvisational structures.Vocal harmonies follow also the path of somewhat ''sweet'' vocal lines, sometimes they are good,sometimes they sound rather hilarious.Fortunately ''Soft machine'' was given a lot of space for instrumental music,where the band uses the improvisational mood of jazz music without sounding jazzy at all.Wyatt is always linked with his drum kit,offering strong,tight yet schizophenic drumming with Ayers contributing with heavy bass lines.Ratledge works often on his own,adding a personal sound,which alternates between familiar psychedelic organs and experimental, almost jamming passages.Yet I'm not exactly sure if this combination of pleasant psych with experimental rock is very well balanced.

Nevertheless this is generally a good debut with the band trying to find their own identity,twisting from psych/rock to hints of what was going to come in the future.However it will propably please more fans of late 60's psych,but it would be nice if anyone tried to seek for this legendary band's early roots.

Another excellent posthumous live album from Soft Machine.

This album starts with the barking of Hugh Hopper's bass and we are into Hazard Part 1. The sound is superb. The playing is flawless throughout from this, the classic Hopper/ Wyatt/Dean/Ratledge setup of Soft Machine. The songs are taken from Third/Fourth and the Fifth album. There is also a couple of other gems here.

From this period, I think Live At Henie Onstad Centre is the best live album. But Grides is an excellent album too and comes in a very good packaging with a lot of extra stuff. Stuff that makes this album almost essential if you are into this band. The sound is superb, but not excellent. The music is.

4 stars

There has been a lot of excellent live albums releases after Soft Machine was disbanded in the beginning of the 1980s.

This is not one of them.

This live album starts with a painfully bad bootleg quality extracts of Facelift and Moon In June with the Wyatt/Hopper/Dobson/Ratledge setup. My fingers is aching to push the "Stop" button. These 1/4 extracts of these two tracks is painful listening.

Thankfully, the sound picks up a bit with the next setup. It is the classic Wyatt/Hopper/Dean/ Ratledge setup and this should give good quality. The sound quality is still not acceptable compared with Noisette, Grides and Live At Henie Onstad Centre. All those three records are miles better than this one. This setup runs through songs from the Third/Four/Fifth era. Facelift is still given a bit bad treatment here and lacks some of it's vitality. The rest is OK, but nothing more. There are some sporadic glimpses of the greatness of Soft Machine throughout this album. But there are not enough of them to really impress me.

This is not a particular enjoyable Soft Machine live album. The sound is too bad and the dynamics of a great Soft Machine gig is missing here. The inclusion of those two opening tracks is simply not acceptable on an album bearing the name of Soft Machine. Hence my two stars.

2 stars

This is certainly a monster of an album. Over seventy minutes of music, spread over only four songs. This format has been used afterward by Yes and Godspeed You! Black Emperor, both of which I find too long-winded for their own good- however, I think differently for Third. To me, Third is an album that you can either use as a backdrop to whatever you're doing- reading, going to sleep, or just sitting and thinking, or you can let your mind slip into the music and explore all the cracks and crevices of the avant-garde, free-jazz styles of The Soft Machine.

Facelift is, in my opinion, the weakest of the tracks, but it's not bad- it just offers less than the others. It was recorded during two live shows, put together, and released on the album, and it sounds as natural as the other songs.

Slightly All The Time is my favorite, starting with a powerful yet calm bass line, eventually becoming a soothing monster that does exactly what I said in the introduction- it can either drift along the listener as his or her attention is with something else, or it can be experienced with full attention, and both methods are immensely rewarding.

Moon in June is the only song with vocals, which is a very good thing- it helps differentiate the song from the others, along with giving it more organic feeling and emotion. Besides that, the first half is led by organ, and then the second half turns into strong free jazz, not unlike the previous song.

The concluding track is Out-Bloody-Rageous, which truly lives up to its name- it's not too different from the other songs in that it's instrumental jazz that flows like a river out of the speakers and into the listener's brain.

The music on Third is truly great; there's no shortage of talent here, though I personally am most impressed by Wyatt's amazing percussion work. So, with such glowing descriptions of the music, why do I give it three stars? Well, first off, it's somewhat difficult to listen to the whole thing while paying full attention. And second, there isn't much variation- most of the music here follows the same general style. Plus, I doubt that there are all that many who would really, truly enjoy this album. So, I'd give it 4 stars personally, but for reviewing purposes, It shall get 3.5, rounded down to 3.

O'Horror.

This is the final Soft Machine album and they went out with barely a whimper. This album hardly have a single trace of Soft Machine DNA in it. The horrid opening track says it all. Nice violins and the horrible pop sound with violins from the 1970s surrounding a hopeless melody. The vocals does not improve it either. Background vocals on a Soft Machine album is heresy. The saxophone takes over and fills in on some honey dripping overly sugar coated melodies. There are some pretty good jazz melodies here where the band tries go end the Soft Machine era with some guts bravado. But most of the melodies here is too overly sugar coated with this horrendous laidback pop and fusion sound.

The only good thing on this album is Jack Bruce's bass and Allan Holdsworth's guitars. Most of the songs are utterly horrible and not worthy inclusion on any albums. Yes, they sound like Spyro Gyra on this album, Soft Machine. The saxophone is the same and it totally dominates this album. That is all I can say about this weak, weak album which rivals Rubber Riff as the worst ever Soft Machine album. I will stick to the other albums instead of those two and forget this album.

2 stars (barely)

— First review of this album —

"Is this Jazz ? Rock ? Progressive ?" "No, it is Soft Machine !"

This is a conversation printed in this digi-pack and it perfectly sums up the two gigs which now have been turned into this double album. So do we need another Soft Machine live album ? Not really. The material on this album is more or less the same as Grides from some years ago. There are some differences though........

The sound quality here is absolutte superb and miles better than the other live albums from this period, including Grides. The packaging of the CDs is also the most special I have ever seen. Instead of splitting the CDs up in songs, each CD has been mastered as one track. This is not Ipod friendly, but who cares. The songs flows into each other and makes one song so why destroy the feeling by splitting up this CD in tracks.

This double CD comes as a digi pack. The paper thin digi pack is not the sturdiest I have ever seen and easy to tear up by accident. So handle this album with utmost care, please. I would suggest a better packaging. But that is a minor flaw. Included in the package is a third multimedia CD with tonnes of information about the Henie Onstad Centre, the band, the artist and other stuff I have not been able to access yet due to a lack of time. What I have seen so far is excellent and it has given me a full immersion in the concept behind the two concerts. The picture and the art work is also excellent. But strangely enough, any track list or any other references to the tracks Soft Machine loosely runs through on the two CDs here has been omitted from this album. By purpose, I guess. But I have never seen this done before on an album.

Finally, the music.......... The music is mostly taken from Third, Fourth and Fifth. Both CDs is Soft Machine at their most introvert and improvisational. The music is neither jazz, rock or progressive. It is Soft Machine from the Third to Fifth era. The musis is very dense with Elton Dean's various windhorns as the dominant instrument. Hugh Hopper is barking away on his bass and Robert Wyatt is beating the life out of the drums in the background. Mike Ratledge is keeping it all together on his tangents. The songs flows and ebbs into each other without any efforts. The band is firing on all their cylinders. Which explains why these two gigs is still so revered in the Norwegian prog rock scene.

If you love the above mentioned studio albums; this is probably the ultimate live album for you. This album is a strange brew though. Very eclectic and so Soft Machine ! I think this live album is excellent and on the same level as the Floating World Live (Bremen 1975) album. But it showcases a totally different band than the one who did Bundles and Softs. Both bands are called Soft Machine though and carry their DNA profile. Herein lays the essence of Soft Machine.

This album is excellent and a sure purchase for everyone into Soft Machine. I put my (bad) reputation on line here and gives it five stars.

5 stars

The decline continues........

Soft Machine was at the time of the recording of this album bankrupt after several failed tours in Italy where they did not get paid and had to crawl back to UK again on empty petrol tanks. The band was in disarray and the recording of the new material, the Alive & Well album, was done with a live audience over several nights just to save studio costs. This plan backfired though because the recording turned into a farce and the band had to bite the bullet and do substantial work on this album in the studio. This is what I remember from reading the excellent Soft Machine biography by Graham Bennett. All errors is due to my faltering memories.

This is in fact a recording of new material and a proper new studio release from Soft Machine. They have got a lot of new members on this album too. Soft Machine ran through an impressive amount of members through their elleven studio albums, remember. This time, they even added a violinist. Alive & Well follows the Bundles and Soft tradition, bypassing the horrible Rubber Riff album. If you like Bundles and Soft (and the associated live albums), you will also like most of Alive & Well.

The music here is fusion based on the good guitar work by John Etheridge. The music has the magic Soft Machine identity I cannot put my finger on. The songs are not that good though. They are far better than Rubber Riff, but nowhere as good at Bundles and Softs. Only Huffin and The Nodder does have the normal Soft Machine quality. The Nodder is a throwback to the good old Soft Machine from previous years. The rest of this album is not too bad though. The Rubber Riff like stuff on Soft space is pretty bad and more suitable for a bad BBC soap opera. I am in no doubt it was intended for just that, too.

This album was created through chaos and the end result is not too bad. But it shows a band in decline and the end was near. Alive & Well is not an essential Soft Machine album by any means. But I still like it........ in small dosages.

3 stars (barely)

This is an album I have mixed feelings about. I'd like to be able to say that it is an undisputable masterpiece of psychedelic prog, but it is not. Certainly, it has some great tunes on it. "Hope for Happiness" and "Lullaby Letter" are catchy and energetic 1960s "beat" music with great vocals, superb drumming and masterful keyboard playing. "A Certain Kind" is a prime candidate for the most soulful Soft Machine ballad ever. "Why Are We Sleeping" almost deserves its reputation as an epic, but I was a Kevin Ayers fan first, and I prefer the bombastic (but tongue-in-cheek) treatment Ayers would later give this track on THE CONFESSIONS OF DR DREAM.

On the other hand, the many experimental snippets, sound collages and purely instrumental passages the band managed to strew throughout this album give a childish and unexciting impression if you compare them with the effects that had been achieved a full year earlier by their friends and colleagues, the Pink Floyd, on THE PIPER AT THE GATES OF DAWN. I doubt the Floyd were better song-writers or players, but their debut album is like a Multi-Coloured Dream Machine, whereas THE SOFT MACHINE sounds monochrome by comparison. Perhaps it was Syd Barrett's manic guitar playing that made all the difference? Perhaps the Floyd just had a much better producer?

Anyway, the good news is that you can now hear THE SOFT MACHINE in much better form than ever, thanks to the remastered edition which appeared in 2009. This edition makes a great difference: Robert Wyatt's overdubbed vocal experiments, percussional echo effects etc. stand out more clearly than ever before. The new edition also has the considerable advantage of including the Softs' first single as a bonus. That single's original A-side, "Love Makes Sweet Music", is yet another indomitable "beat" tune (which really should have been a huge hit!) while its totally whacky B-side, "Feelin' Reelin' Squealin'", is more fun (if you ask me) than anything on the original LP, mainly thanks to Kevin Ayers's dopey vocal. (As on "Why Are We Sleeping", both he and Wyatt take care of the singing here.) Unfortunately, the bonus tracks are in mono and apparently unremastered.

This album alone is a MASTERPIECE! Set aside Facelift which is a live recording and carries much psychedelic that sometimes i find unnecessary, yet this song has in it some great ideas and is very strong, all the other three songs are simply put AMAZING! Moon In June with Wyatt's lyrics adds something different, great melodies that go along with Ratledge's chords.The piano and organ sounds are also amazing.We're talking for a structured song here.My personal highlight . Slightly all the time is another amazing song a lot jazzier than the others, a bass lines from Hopper repete and changing tone over the chord changes of the keyboards. Dean's sax melodies stuck in your head for good.Jimmy Hastings plays Flute in one part.The rhythms in this one are outstanding! Out Bloody Rageous is another dynamic song more similar to Slightly all The time.Great solos from Ratledge, and a lot of psychedelic keys, with steady besslines and again amazing solos from elton Dean. Ther is nothing like this album, at least for me. Once you push play you are ready for a 40 minute journey. I myself occasionally listen to this twice in a raw. This is a MASTERPIECE!

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.