THE SOFT MACHINE

The Nucleus takeover is nearly complete: Soft Machine founder and only remaining original core member Mike Ratledge only participates on two of this album's eleven songs; newcomers Alan Wakeman and John Etheridge make their marks with bells on!

1. "Aubade" (1:51) the addition of guitars, courtesy of newcomer John Etheridge, is a game changer for this band--as demonstrated by this opening duet between Etheridge and Alan Wakeman, another newcomer. Sounds like the PAUL WINTER CONSORT to me. (4.375/5)

2. "The Tale of Taliesin" (7:17) piano arpeggi and symphonic rhythmic accents from drums and bass make this feel like a prog piece from a long-lost ELP-CAMEL collaboration. A three-part suite, upon hearing the fiery electric guitar work throughout the mid-section of this song is just weird (despite Allan Holdsworth's indomitable presence on Bundles): not the Soft Machine I think of when I conjure up the essence as my brain categorizes it. Interesting and well-made; it's very proggy (which is, in my opinion, quite a departure from the Jazz and Jazz-Rock Fusion explorations of the previous eight albums). (13.5/15)

3. "Ban-Ban Caliban" (9:22) establishing itself like a train starting up from a standing/loading position, this song has a foundational rhythm track that seems massive: like a blunt force projectile that has relentless and insidious power. Sax takes the first solo, then John Etheridge's soaring guitar. The song's power and drive is so like that of Jean-Luc Ponty's "Egocentric Molecules" (which is much more familiar to me) from his 1978 masterpiece, Cosmic Messenger that it adds fuel to my theory that Jean-Luc must have been a voracious devourer of music new to the Jazz and Jazz- Rock Fusion world and that he was not at all shy about borrowing ideas from others. Bass player Roy Babbington and drummer John Marshall even gets some shine in the third quarter before keys and rhythm guitar try to step in--but the rhythm section's momentum is simply too much for any interlopers or intruders. Monster song! (18.875/20)

4. "Song of Aeolus" (4:31) the sound of winds, bleeding over from the weather system that was the decay of "Ban-Ban Caliban," this song slowly establishes itself as a slow, emotive guitar-led song that foretells all guitar-centered New Age music of the next 20 years--especially that of Ray Gomez, Hiram Bullock, and Paul Speer. Beautiful if more Adult Contemporary/Smooth Jazz that Jazz-Rock Fusion. (9/10)

5. "Out of Season" (5:32) what starts out as piano and acoustic guitar duet that sounds a lot like the "New Age" music work of David Lanz and Paul Speer--even moreso as the song develops and the other musicians join in--as John Etheridge adds a track of electric guitar to the mix. Again: pretty and emotionally-engaging but a far stretch to call this either Jazz-Rock Fusion or Progressive Rock. (8.875/10)

6. "Second Bundle" (2:37) layered and looped keyboard experimentation that recalls some of the work Ratledge and Jenkins had done with their Terry Riley inspiration. Sounds nice. (4.4375/5)

7. "Kayoo" (3:27) another Five "D.I.S."-like display of percussion play from and for John Marshall. This one has a more defined transition to full-on drum kit play: John exhibiting more Billy Cobham-like skill at presenting "song" and "melody" than on previous solo attempts. Still, however, not a song that really stands well on its own. (8.667/10)

8. "The Camden Tandem" (2:01) John Etheridge's machine gun guitar spews forth a spray of notes to try to match/keep up with the snare play of Mr. Marshall. In the second half he pauses to inject some blues notes, chords, and scales before the two go off into machine gun territory again. (4.375/5)

9. "Nexus" (0:49) a bombastic lead in to . . .

10. "One over the Eight" (5:25) a funk jazz tune that Roy Babbington and John Marshall lead the band into so that Alan Wakeman can blow on his ultra-cool reverb sax. Etheridge and Jenkins's support is strongly aligned with what the funk requires as Wakeman kills it with his sax. If only Sanborn, Kenny G, and Najee had this kind of support crew--this kind of songwriting--and this kind of presence! What a great song! Makes me want to jump and dance till the cows come home! (9.75/10)

11. "Etika" (2:21) another acoustic guitar composition--this time performed on two guitars, over two tracks, by John Etheridge tout seul. I like the transition into John McLaughlin territory in the second half of the song. Well done! (4.75/5)

Total Time 45:13

The new members have helped The Soft Machine to usher in an entirely new and quite different sound. Here they have taken on a much more symphonic mantle manifesting a sound that is much more aligned with progressive rock than their old Canterbury or even Jazz-Rock Fusion leanings.

A-/five stars; another mixed bag of materiel that has some very new-feeling elements at use (including entering/pioneering the Adult Contemporary/New Age world as well as crossing over into more generic prog territory) but of a very high quality of compositional and performative maturity.

Goodbye Robert, goodbye to all vocals; hello to refugees from Ian Carr's Nucleus.

1. "All White" (6:06) opening the album with a very serious, very heavy jazz commitment, the music develops as something that could come off of one of Miles Davis' Second Great Quintet albums or one of Herbie (Hancock) or Wayne (Shorter)'s solo side projects. Though Hugh Hopper's bass is rather dull with its near-metronomic riff repeating over and over, Phil Howard's drumming is quite satisfactory. Mike Ratledge holds down the middle ground more as a mirror and reinforcement for the rhythm section (until the very end) while Elton Dean commands attention with his continuous play of his sonorous soprano sax. Interesting. (8.75/10)

2. "Drop" (7:42) water drop sound effects paired up with delay and echoing organ (Mike Ratledge) and Rhodes (Elton Dean) noodlings make this, to my mind, a further exploration or variation on the Terry Riley-inspired opening and closing sections of Third's "Out-Bloody-Rageous." In the third minute the rest of the band starts to join in and try to establish a syncopated quick-step motif within which Mike continues soloing à la Herbie Hancock while Elton Dean steps in with his kazoo-sounding "saxello" for an extended stream of electrified nasal fuzz play. Interesting. (13.125/15)

3. "M C" (4:57) an introductory barrage of echoing and reverberating electric piano runs is then greeted by Phil Howard's free-form drumming. In the second minute the quartet seems to want to try to pull something together but each musician seems to be, for whatever reason, reluctant: as if standing on the sidelines, watching one another while holding space with ramblings from their own instruments, waiting for the signal to gel and jump into a forward- moving direction. Despite its pervasive feeling of indecision and neutrality, I find myself liking this song quite a bit; it's like a lineup of race horses, caged in their starting gates, waiting for the gun to go off. (But it never does!) Very cool! Great way to end Side One! (9/10)

4. "As If" (8:02) by now I'm getting the distinct feeling that Elton Dean thinks that he's in charge--that this is his album as the "lead" instruments over the top of the relegated-feeling support of the "rhythm section" are overwhelmingly his. On this one it's the alto sax for the first five minutes before Roy Babbington's bowed double bass gets some extended shine (over Hugh Hopper's steady, hypnotic bass line). John Marshall's drumming stands out for its crisp, prominent sound, as well as for his quickness and decisiveness. Yet, despite the sharing of the spotlight, it definitely felt like Elton Dean's song--his decision to give newcomers Roy and John some time to "introduce" themselves. (13.25/15)

5. "L B O" (1:54) an eruption of drumming like something we've heard from Tony Williams and Billy Cobham. Though John Marshall is an impressive drummer, this is not a very winning solo. (4.3333/5)

6. "Pigling Bland" (4:24) a mellower, more-melody-driven near-Canterbury-feeling song in which the rhythmatists are allowed to shift and move, stop and start--and it works really well beneath Elton Dean's saxello soloing: giving the song a very interesting and engaging foundation and, perhaps, pressuring Elton to play something a little more melodic than he normally does. Cool speed shift and new motif for the last minute. I love the Nucleus effect! (9.25/10)

7. "Bone" (3:29) bowed double bass, bubbling electric bass, waves from cymbal crashes, and deep thrumming organ drone notes precede the introduction of some creepy spacey organ notes and "distant" piccolo/ocarina "jungle" noises. The feel here is both early Vangelis and early/proto World Music--perhaps even something inspired by the soundtrack to Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. Though I wish it could have developed a little more, I do like it. (8.875/10)

Total Time 36:34

Definitely not as bad an album as many reviewers want to claim: though I am glad the band did not choose to continue to forge a path through the dark woods of avant garde "free jazz," there is a lot of authentic jazz experimentalism going on in these songs--which is admirable for what feels like its genuine sincerity.

B/four stars; a solid collection of experimental jazz/Jazz-Rock Fusion tunes and études that connote advancement and progress for this band. This album result is not unlike some of the experimental albums we all know and lament that were released but we wish had been left in the artists' private libraries yet we also recognize were necessary for the artists' progress. Think Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Miroslav Vitous, Joe Zawinul, Tony Williams, Toto Blanke, Jan Hammer, John McLaughlin, Jan Akkerman, and many more and the experimental "duds" that they published (as songs or albums) but which served as stepping stones in their growth and development. That is what this album, Five feels like for me.

The Softs are now down to one original member and three former Nucleus members! Luckily, the four very talented musicians all have a common desire to make Jazz-Rock Fusion.

Side One: 1. "Nettle Bed" (4:47) a solid and suitably-nuanced, complex, oddly-timed composition which features Mike Ratledge's synthesizer as the main soloist. The main motif cycles around and around just a few too many times before it begins to annoy (despite John Marshall's attempts to liven things up). (8.75/10)

2. "Carol Ann" (3:48) a song that reveals that the band still possesses some of that "old" capacity for creating soul- melting earworm melodies. Mike and Karl on synthesizer and electric piano, respectively, while Roy adds some great melodic bass lines and John . . . sits out. Gorgeous; ascendant into the absolute highest realms that the Canterburians ever achieved. A perfect song to illustrate how unnecessary it is (or ever was) to have to noodle and layer impressively in order to make memorable, likable, and/or beautiful music. (9.3333/10)

3. "Day's Eye" (5:05) a more jazzy song that seems to be founded on a variation of the chord and melody structure of the previous song. Here we have bass, saxes, Canterbury "buzz-saw" organ, electric piano support, drums, and, early and later, excellent baritone sax. Like many reviewers, I much prefer the more jazz-aligned bass playing style of Roy Babbington over the nebulous one of Hugh Hopper. (9.125/10)

4. "Bone Fire" (0:32) seems to be a continuation from the previous (two) song(s), differentiated only by a barely- detectable key shift. (4.625/5)

5. "Tarabos" (4:32) another song in the obvious straight-line recording tape from "Carol Ann" on, this one features some processed oboe or soprano sax over a typical revolving cycle of a Mike Ratledge Canterbury theme. I still can't tell if it's a sax or oboe as we enter the final minute of my third headphones listen to this song--which is pretty extraordinary. My biggest complaint is the same one from the album's opener is the tedium created by the endless repetition of that main cycle--which is why I love the extended "end coda" feel of the final minute. (8.875/10)

6. "D.I.S." (3:02) a percussionist's solo which sounds like a Westerner playing around with the Japanese and or Chinese (or Gamelan) instruments available to him in a Zen Buddhist garden. Interesting but something that perhaps should have been left to John's own private library. (8.6667/10)

Side Two: The Penny Hitch Suite: 7. "Snodland" (1:50) dreamy Harold Budd-like floating electric piano arpeggi paired with wind chime play turns into . . . (4.5/5) 8. "Penny Hitch" (6:40) a minimalist arpeggio of an organ chord that is slowly woven together with TRAFFIC-like bass line, ballad rock drum support, and long-sustained processed (and muted) saxophone notes. Hypnotic but stumbles for its limitation to but two chords that only alternate every minute or so. (8.875/10) 9. "Block" (4:17) in this section of the unbroken flow of the suite Mike's synthesizer tries to match and emulate Karl's saxophone (and Roy's bass) lines! Then he takes over the lead as the band matches his new found fire and intensity. (8.75/10)

10. "Down The Road" (5:48) yet another attempt to stretch a simple yet-catchy drum and bass loop out to make an entire song--a trick that the great bassist John Lee and Donald Byrd's mid-1970s songwriters, Larry and Fonce Mizell, were prone to fall prey to. Not a bad song, just dull and doing little to climb out of its mediocrity. (8.75/10)

11. "The German Lesson" (1:53) 12. "The French Lesson" (1:01) the two songs that rather seamlessly flow one into the other remind me very much of some of the old silly stuff from the band's first two albums only this time filtered through the Terry Riley-imitative synthesizer delays and looping found in Third's "Out-Bloody-Rageous"--sounds and stylings that would become the realm of German artists like Rodelius, Cluster, and Dueter. (4.375/5)

Total Time: 43:15

B+/four stars; an excellent display of the evolution of a Canterbury band who thought it was playing jazz (albeit, a very British form of jazz) turning into more evolved jazz-rock Fusion musicians.

For the first time, after 1973's Six and Seven, the band went a whole calendar year without releasing any new music. Like a caterpillar transforming into a beautiful butterfly, the band emerged with a completely new sound when they hit the scene in 1975; so different in fact, that certain audiences were disappointed with what they heard. Still retaining a penchant for noodly solos over complicated yet catchy rhythms, this new Soft Machine was far more rock- oriented than previous outings, and had a distinctively harder edge. Even the name, Bundles, a diversion from their previous numerical titles, showed that this was a different sort of Soft Machine.

The ace up the band's sleeve was, of course, Allan Holdsworth who would become one of Frank Zappa's biggest inspirations . The band had never featured a guitarist before, but who would they have been to turn down an opportunity to play with one of the greatest jazz fusion guitarists to have ever lived? As transient here as he was with U.K. and Bruford, he only stuck around for this one album; you can't tie a musician like that down, and his presence on Bundles is what makes it such a special album indeed.

Holdsworth's solos dominate on the first part of the epic opening track Hazard Profile, an incredible reworking of Jenkins's Song for the Bearded Lady from his Nucleus days. Even in a nine-minute song, one never gets tired of hearing his blistering fingerwork, transcendental as it is. The band take a breather with the quiet Toccatina before returning in full force for Parts Three through Five, delivering a lengthy jam in ⅞ before finishing with four repetitions of the kind of obnoxiously complicated phrase that prog fans seem to love. While Hazard Profile isn't the most cohesive of suites, it still makes for an utterly exhilarating nineteen minutes that always seems to fly by.

Over on Side Two, we get another suite of continuous music, though this time the names are kept separate. The title track is another time signature work out, segueing into Land of the Bag Snake, heavily punctuated by John Marshall's china cymbal. Next are two compositions by the only remaining founding member Mike Ratledge, the serene The Man Who Waved at Trains and the more pyrotechnic Peff. Four Gongs Two Drums might be the low point of the album, a mercifully brief assortment of randomly banged percussion. The proceedings are topped off with an oddity; The Floating World is a soothing, minimalistic track that suggests The Soft Weed Factor from Six. While pleasant, it feels more like a relic from the past that has mistakenly found its way onto a jazz-rock album.

Esoteric's reissue includes an unearthed recording from the band's subsequent tour that was made for broadcast. Curiously enough, the recording was made at Nottingham University, where Renaissance also did a set a few months later, included on Esoteric's expanded edition of Scheherazade and Other Stories; was Nottingham University the place to go to make these sorts of recordings, or is this just a pure coincidence? At 79-minutes, the length of this recording is about as much as you can fit on a single CD, and features a brilliant set that includes all the highlights from Bundles as well as a couple of numbers from the band's subsequent album, Softs. This recording features John Etheridge on guitar as Holdsworth had already left the group by that time, breaking the commitment he had made to join them for one tour. His style is certainly nowhere near as distinct and Hazard Profile in particular suffers for this, but the band still give a rousing performance, nonetheless. For my money, they do seem to rush through Hazard Profile a bit quickly though, managing it a full four minutes faster than on the album. These live documents are a fascinating insight into the band's onstage energy back in the day, and the audio quality is extremely good considering its age. 5 stars very great guitar performance by Alan Holdsworth.

Third was the third album by one of my personal favorite Canterbury bands, Soft Machine. This album marked a shift away from the psychedelic and proto-prog sounds of their first two albums and moved more towards the growing British jazz scene at the time. With each song being a little under 20 minutes, it isn't the first time Soft Machine ventured into sidelong suite territory, with their last album being entirely made up of strung together medleys reaching too around 17 minutes each. In terms of the line-up, it's the same as their last album, Volume Two, with Mike Ratledge on keyboards, Hugh Hopper on bass, and Robert Wyatt on drums, but with the inclusion of Elton Dean on saxophone and some guest members on other orchestral instruments. Another note about the line- up: Robert Wyatt also plays piano, hammond organ, and bass on most of Moon In June. The musician that stood out the most to me was Elton Dean. As his first album with the band, he does a great job playing with them and staying consistent in his power on the saxophone.

  The album opens with the live performance of the instrumental track Facelift. The first five minutes open with a keyboard part that, after a couple of minutes, evolves into this stabbing, loud, electric sound that irritates the listener, but in a good way. Elton slowly starts to add on, and eventually Hugh and Robert join in, making this almost scary buildup and ending up at this cool drum beat with the band adding a constant rising and falling dynamic to it. Around the seven minute mark, the band breaks into this heavy sounding jazz piece with flying solos by Elton and wild drumming by Robert. The song slowly devolves into near pure ambiance and a flute solo by Lyn Dobson. Originally the song also had a vocal and harmonica solo, but those two were cut from the song to fit the song on the vinyl. The ambience eventually turns into the manic jazz from before and ends with a reversed refrain of one of the sections of the song. Overall a fantastic representation of the new Soft Machine and an excellent opener to the album.  

The next song is Slightly All the Time, another jazz oriented instrumental. It opens with a relaxed and soothing bass intro, with the whole feel of the song being a lot more free and improvisational. Most of the song can be described as the band resting on one jazz tune and then, after exhausting all the possibilities of that section, moving on to the next tune and playing all the opportunities in it. The way the band manages to keep their cool while also playing fast paced high hat work, rapid bass movement, and saxophone solos, and then silently move onto a nice peaceful rhythm. An excellent jazz song all throughout, and I really think the band was at their creative peak with this album and this song.  

Now for one of the last Soft Machine songs with lyrics (possibly the very last), Moon In June. One of the things that surprised me the most was that Robert Wyatt, their drummer and singer at the time, wrote the entire song and played on most of it. Robert Wyatt's vocals in general are reassuring and lovely, so for me it's a good note to leave on for the singing parts in Soft Machine. Moving on to the actual song, it opens with a highly progressive structure, with the song constantly changing every couple of seconds, and Robert Wyatt is singing these strange and grammatically incorrect love lyrics, which too me captivates the listener with the whole unique feeling the lyrics give off. While the horn work might be absent from the song, the lyrics I just mentioned make up for it for the most part, and the violin part I'll get to later also does a good job at replacing Elton Dean's fantastic work. The drumming is possibly Robert's best, with his speed being a significant factor in the song. The song's lyrics shift around a quarter into the song, and Robert starts singing about New York City and how he misses it before switching right back. From this point on, the song breaks into almost another free form jazz piece. The jazz piece would continue into a slow death in the rhythm and eventually ends.  

The next song, Out-Bloody-Rageous, is probably the weakest song on the album. That doesn't mean it's a bad one, it just doesn't compare to the power of the other three. The song opens with an ambient keyboard part, with the happy tone of it making it quite boring for me. The real juice of the song kicks in around the five minute mark, with a new form of energetic jazz not seen on this album yet, while still following a melody. The jazz continues on, similar to how Slightly All the Time explores everything about the possible sections to imagine in the song, but the jazz slowly dies out into the opening of the song. Not a lot to say here, though, like I've mentioned, it's still a good song.

  In conclusion, Third is a stampede of nearly unstoppable jazz power. It has a couple of bumps here and there, but overall it's a near perfect album. While I might like Hatfield and the North or National Health better than Soft Machine, they did an incredible job to keep up with those guys in my eyes. Third is easily not only one of my favorite Canterbury Scene albums but also one of my favorite double albums. And even though the audio quality might not be great, it sort of adds to the magic of the album, in my opinion. This is a 4.5/5; I would definitely recommend it to any progressive rock, jazz, or Canterbury scene fans.

By 1973, a mere five years after the psychedelic Canterbury jazz-rock debut of the legendary SOFT MACHINE was released in 1968, the band seemed to be like a runaway train with a mad frenzy of lineup changes, stylistic shifts and a pellmell relentlessness to constantly pursue a completely different avenue of musical expression. The band that began with the likes of Robert Wyatt, Kevin Ayers and Mike Ratledge was a completely unrecognizable musical force that would be united in name only. While the departure of Ayers would pave the way towards a headier approach into the world of avant-garde jazz based progressive rock, the departure of Robert Wyatt in 1971 marked a decisively new direction that would find SOFT MACHINE becoming a refugee camp of former Nucleus members.

After a consistent flow of albums that showcased a new version of the band on every single release, SOFT MACHINE engaged in its busiest year yet by releasing not one but two albums including the double vinyl set "Six" in early 1973. The album was followed by yet another series of changes which found bassist and key member Hugh Hopper leaving the band in order to forge a solo career which left a vacancy that was filled by yet another former Nucleus member Roy Babbington who had just participated with Ian Carr on the "Labyrinth" album earlier in the year. With SOFT MACHINE now half Nucleus members and down to one founding member, the dynamics made a dramatic shift once again on the band's second LP of 1973, simple titled SEVEN, the last of the ho-hum number based album titles.

With Ratledge taking a backseat to Karl Jenkins who had become the band's main composer and bandleader, SOFT MACHINE suffered significantly from the loss of the members who brought a fiery passion and sense of experimental pursuit to the band's output from "Third" through "Fifth." While "Six" garnered enough steam to sustain a double album's worth of material that remained engaging and stimulating enough to warrant a worthy chapter of the SOFT MACHINE canon, SEVEN on the other hand found itself on a dreamy sort of simmer mode where monotonous grooves and lackluster soloing resorted to a sort of default setting. Gone were the crafty jazz excursions into the avant-garde that Elton Dean brought to the table and with Ratledge ceding his authority as band leader, under the direction of Jenkins the SOFT MACHINE experiment ceased to be engaging on SEVEN.

The album starts out fiery enough with the feisty "Nettle Bed" insinuating a more energetic rock based jazz-fusion that eschewed the brash experimental approach that fortified the previous three albums with a senses of purpose however beginning with the second track "Carol Ann" the band tones things down significantly with lackadaisical bass grooves, sleepy keyboard accompaniments that fell from that classic Canterbury grace and some of the laziest percussion performances on any SOFT MACHINE album. The tracks pretty much run together seamlessly with questionable 32 second tracks such "Bone Air" that really serve no purpose other than to bridge a small gap between the two tracks that bookend it. While the band members do their best to spice things up with time signature extravaganzas and various instrumental soloing bits, the entire album comes across as a musical team that had exhausted itself by its relentless pursuit of the next big thing and a touring schedule that obviously robbed the members of their vitality.

Overall SEVEN is an okay listening experience as no SOFT MACHINE album was ever truly horrible. Although it sounds like a soft jazz lite version of the band in comparison to the innovative albums that came before, there are still moments of interest that keep the album from falling completely on its face however in the end the album just lacks any sort of fiery passion that forced SOFT MACHINE to take its constant pursuit for new experimental touches that continued to propel the band into its continuous pursuit of progression. SEVEN by far is my least favorite album of the classic SOFT MACHINE years and it would do the band well to take some much needed time to rejuvenate before they would emerge two years later with the much more innovative and fiery "Bundles" which would see a reinvigorated band welcome the guitar playing skills of Allan Holdsworth to the mix. The definitive nadir of the classic run of albums from the debut to 1976's "Softs" IMHO.

I hoovered up all, well nearly all, the BBC/Windsong live archive releases in the mid 90's as they mostly fell in to the wider prog/rock category we all know and love. Imagine my disappointment when I got my copy home, the CD itself printed with the Soft Machine track list and info....and finding it was Frankie Miller and his band! On returning it to HMV, I had to wait another month for a replacement so anticipation was high.

I don't have a favourite Softs period. I appreciate the first 2 psych soaked efforts and the latter full on jazz rock of Bundles but the 3 albums and live releases with Elton Dean in the band , if pushed, would be the ones that came to the desert island with me. This isn't due to Dean himself as such but it is a fairly big part of it. As an aside Dean was in Long John Baldrys blues/soul/rock band and the keyboard player was one Reg Dwight who said he took his future stage name from Baldry and Dean. You have all heard of Long Dean Baldry yes?

So what have we here? I would suggest Softs and their live peak. A bigger wind section than usual so the freewheeling improv of Ratledge and Hopper had to follow the dots a bit more. Wyatt is sublime, but he always was/is. Their set list was as unpredictable as always with a part of Out Bloody Rageous from 3rd a few selections from 4th and an outing for stuff such as Pigling Bland from the not yet released 5th. They also include Deans Neo Caliban Grides from his '71 solo album Just Us...or the long lost Soft Machine album if you prefer. Trust me, find a copy. The band err 'rocks' if that is possible for a jazz/rock freejazz related infused complex set. The two longer tracks allow the band to stretch out but nothing fall short of excellence. I am just surprised they didn't introduce Neo Caliban Grides with 'here's one to stroke your beards to'...

Apart from 3rd, this is my most played Soft Machine album although I confess i don't have at least half of the retro live output. I would recommend it ...along with Elton Deans Just us....to any/everyone.

There are very few bands who have impacted the progressive scene like (The) Soft Machine, who are still enthralling and challenging audiences more than 50 years since their debut. Over the years they have had numerous incredible musicians through their ranks, with multiple different line-ups, and while there will always be some disagreement about which was the best, there is no doubt that the tenth version of the band can lay claim to that accolade. While Lyn Dobson was with the band just long enough to record one track on 'Third', it was the remaining quartet of Elton Dean (alto sax, saxello, Hohner pianet), Hugh Hopper (bass), Mike Ratledge (Hohner pianet, Lowrey Holiday Deluxe organ, Fender Rhodes) and Robert Wyatt (drums, vocals) who completed that seminal work and then went on to record 'Fourth'.

In February 1971, Soft Machine performed two concerts at the Henie Onstad Art Center near Oslo, Norway, as part of an art exhibition by the Boyle family, with Mark Boyle's films projected during the performances. Mark Boyle, with his partner Joan Hills and their Sensual Laboratory light show, had accompanied Soft Machine on many of theirs gigs in the band's early years, and this was a reunion of sorts. The set came mostly from 'Third' and the newly- released 'Fourth', with a few extras?"Neo-Caliban Grides," soon to appear on Elton Dean's self-titled solo album; 'All White', the only new composition in the set (and the only one to utilize Ratledge's newly-acquired Fender Rhodes piano); and "Pigling Bland," which, despite appearing alongside "All White" on 1972's 'Fifth', actually dated back to 1969, having been written as a new ending for the septet arrangement of "Esther's Nose Job." Both nights were recorded by Meny Bloch with a tape machine connected to the mixing desk, but it was some years before they were made available, with Michael King releasing the second night as 'Live At Henie Onstad Art Centre 1971' in 2009. That has long been unavailable, while the first night has not previously been available at all, but that has now changed. Ian Beabout was given the job of mixing and mastering the tapes, and an amazing job he has done. The best way to listen to this is on headphones, and when one really has the time to do just that, as this release is nearly three hours long, broken into four sets of continuous music. There are long periods where Wyatt shows incredible restraint and control by not playing at all, leaving it to the musicians in front of him to bounce ideas off each other. There is no doubt that the best way to appreciate The Softs is in a live environment, and thanks to Cuneiform we now have the opportunity to revisit four musicians at the height of their powers, and from their performance no- one would believe that in a few short months after this recording that this line-up would be no more with the departure of founder Wyatt.

It is arguable that the second night has more of a togetherness about it, but one would expect that given they had played in the same venue the previous night so were able to get back into the connections more easily, but all four discs show a band very much at the height of their powers. This is Canterbury progressive rock at its very finest, and Cuneiform have provided a lot of information and photos in the booklet, telling the story of the nights and how the recordings were rediscovered. The result is something which is absolutely indispensable to anyone who enjoys this style of music, as Ratledge and Dean combine to create interweaving melodies which bounce off each other, Hopper does much more than "just" play bass as he provides incredible foundations and groove and then at the back is one of the more under-rated drummers from the scene who was then in the prime of his health.

Here we have a wonderful set showing just why Soft Machine have had such a major influence on so many others and why they continue to be an important force in the present day, even if the current line-up has no-one in common with the one from 1971. According to ProgArchives, the most highly rated album by the band is 'Third' (and rightly so), and here we have that line-up doing what they did best, performing incredible music in front of an appreciative audience. Now we are able to experience it for ourselves.

Featuring the contributions of yet a third defection from Ian Carr's Nucleus in the personhood of uber-talented Karl Kenkins, the band is now rocking as a quartet with absolutely no vocals.

LP 1 - Live Album (41:45) 1. "Fanfare" (0:42) 2. "All white" (4:46) 3. "Between" (2:24) 4. "Riff" (4:36) 5. "37 1/2" (6:51) 6. "Gesolreut" (6:17) 7. "E.P.V." (2:47) 8. "Lefty" (4:56) 9. "Stumble" (1:42) 10. "5 from 13 (for Phil Seamen with love & thanks)" (5:15) 11. "Riff II" (1:20)

LP 2 - Studio Album (34:40) 12. "The soft weed factor "(11:18) Mike Ratledge and Karl Jenkin's minimalist motif on multiple tracks of electric pianos. Nice weave but it's no Phillip Glass or Steve Reich. Bass and drums kick in during the fourth minute, then soprano sax and organ doubling up the melody line over the top. Seems there are nice multiple contributions from each of the band members but the song never really amounts to much besides a jazz-rock weave with the original minimalist tracks--which alone cover the final two minutes. (17.5/20)

13. "Stanley stamps Gibbon album (for B.O.)" (5:58) a more aggressive and sinister motif based once again on a minimalist piano arpeggio turns a little funkier in the second half of the first minute and yet Ratledge's left hand of his piano continues to maintain a short, two-part arpeggi as the song's foundation for the whole of time that Karl Jenkins solos with an heavily-treated/effected soprano sax (three plus minutes)--or is it a celesta keyboard? (8.75/10)

14. "Chloe and the pirates" (9:30) a mild sonic landscape that definitely perpetuates a Canterbury sound and sound over the spacious three minute opening. Karl Jenkins' treated oboe is the lead instrument on this one while Mike maintains a free and frisky support from his seat at the electric piano. John Marshall's drumming is simple but nuanced and supplemented by some conga and other percussion additions while Hugh Hopper's bass is rolling and deep as if perhaps fretless or using extra thick strings. At 6:46 there is a glitch leading into what feels like a loop/repeat of two note electric keyboard riff while the organ rises and performs just beneath the oboe. A "Tomorrow Never Knows"-like reverse track of some instrument also rises to the top, actually ending the song as the lead and only forward sound. Interesting. (17.5/20)

15. "1983" (7:54) nefarious and slightly-bombastic dual pianos and bass play a cinematic motif of suspense while John's heavy ride cymbal play and Hugh's weird "speeded up" bottle-metallophone riff gets repeated to death on top. (13/15)

Total Time: 76:25

With my distrust and aversion to live recordings, I make it a habit to not review live albums, so only LP 2, the studio recordings, earn my attention here.

B/four stars; a fairly good though consistently experimental Still, the studio LP of this release feels as if the boys were very curious and somehow satisfied with releasing to the public the results of their curiosities and experimentations with little regard for any kind of "finished song" product.

Two years after the departure of Robert Wyatt, SOFT MACHINE was diving deeper into the world of jazz fusion leaving the Canterbury sounds of its origins far behind. The year 1973 was the most productive year of the band's many lineups with two albums emerging and if that wasn't enough the first of these, SIX, was a sprawling double album with 15 tracks that added up to a staggering 76 minutes of nerdy jazz fusion workouts. Once again the band lost one more member and gained another as saxophonist Elton Dean stepped out only to be replaced by Karl Jenkins who impressively displays his many talents as oboist, saxophone player and pianist combined. The album is also unusual in that the first album was a live one while the second was one totally recorded in the studio.

While "Fifth" was arguably the most abstract and difficult to grasp album amongst the greater SOFT MACHINE canon, SIX on the other hands takes a more refined approach and offered tangible grooves and a more accessible sound. While the band had been on the verge of dropping all of the rock aspects altogether, SIX delivered the perfect mix between steady rock beats and streamlined jam-like processions along with the jazz improvisation that had become the SOFT's signature style after Wyatt left and took any considerations of lyrics along which would find their new domain in Matching Mole. SIX pretty much latched onto the new standard that the band would carry on up to the final 70s release "Softs" and once again found yet another member of Nucleus claiming musical asylum with the arrival of Jenkins.

Two albums worth of instrumental jazz fusion is admittedly a lot to take in but surprisingly the powerhouse musical outfit known as SOFT MACHINE was quite amazing in how it could craft memorable and instantly lovable jazz fusion tracks. The first album featured the early live performances of the new lineup and established the band's new style of rockin' a bass and drum groove with an accompanying horn section. As with most SOFT MACHINE albums that differ so greatly in approach, the common thread that connects all of them remains Mike Ratledge's distinct Canterbury tones forged through his intricate keyboard playing. Tracks are both upbeat and slowed down to a percussion less trickle. The live album is really hard to believe that it's really live because the artists are so in tune with each other and the production sounds are so good. The only real indication that they are indeed live recordings is the audience participation that becomes it's most energetic at the end of "Riff II."

The studio recorded album features a lot more interesting uses for the keyboard as a major player. The opening album two track "The Soft Weed Factor" showcases Ratledge's cyclical keyboard playing loops as a key element that that percolates over the bass and drum and allow the soft sensual sax moments. The following "Stanley Stamps Gibbon Album (for B.O.)" offers yet another approach with knotty angular keyboard runs ushering in a faster tempo jazz rock session with heavier saxophone contributions. "Chloe And The Pirates" offers a psychedelic effect with oscillating synthesizer sounds and harkens back to the "Fourth" album. The closing "1983" contrasts greatly from the rest of SIX as it evokes a spooky horror soundtrack with spidery keyboard tinkling, a heavily distorted bass. The percussion only features sporadic cymbal action and lots of bass keys on the piano. It's actually unique to anything on any SOFT MACHINE album and the most overtly avant-jazz of all.

While it may sound like a chore to sit through two albums worth of post-Wyatt SOFT MACHINE jazz fusion, this one actually flows quite nicely as the tracks cede well into the others and the instrumental interplay is top notch. Jenkins seemed to have brought a sense of organization to the SOFT's dystopian approach on "Fifth" and the accessibility is a nice reprise from the overt complexities that had been brewing since "Third." Whereas "Fifth" was more heady in its recondite pursuit of detachment, SIX provides a more hypnotic and relaxing affair that allows you to just go along for the flow. The album is definitely much easier on the ears and requires less investment for it to sink in. The SOFTS were so dedicated to their craft at this point that "Seven" would soon emerge in the same calendar year of 1973.