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THE SOFT MACHINE

Canterbury Scene • United Kingdom


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The Soft Machine picture
The Soft Machine biography
Formed in Canterbury, UK in 1966 - Disbanded in 1984 - Reformed in 2015
(SM members would reconvene under several monikers along the years)

The band started playing as such in 1966 but their first record, a single, came out in 1967.
The very last concert was in 1984 at Ronnie Scott's on July 30/31 and August 1-4.
Band members at that concert were Paul Carmichael (bass), John Etheridge, Karl Jenkins, Dave McRae (once upon a time keyboard player with Matching Mole), Ray Warleigh and John Marshall.

The name of the band is similar to the book with the same title written by William Burroughs: "The Soft Machine".
Besides this, different formations/groups tour under names as "Soft Machine Legacy" (2004-2015), "Soft Works" (2002-2004), "Soft Ware" (1999-2002), "Soft Mountain", "Soft Heap (1978-1983) and "Polysoft"

The probably most important and influential band to grow out the Canterbury Scene was SOFT MACHINE. The band emerged as the quartet of Robert WYATT (drums, vocals), Mike RATLEDGE (keyboards), Kevin AYERS (bass, vocals) and Daevid ALLEN (guitar, vocals). Through a persistence of personnel changes (totalling ~30), their sound was to changed continually over the years of their existence. This band along with CARAVAN (both to come out of the formative WILDE FLOWERS), would influence the emergence of the Canterbury Sound (MATCHING MOLE, EGG, HATFIELD & THE NORTH, and many more). Many careers began with SOFT MACHINE: Robert WYATT (MATCHING MOLE band and solo artist), Kevin AYERS (later his own WHOLE WORLD band and solo artist), and Daevid ALLEN (later GONG and solo artist). Virtuosic instrumentalists such as Hugh HOPPER, Mike RATLEDGE, Elton DEAN, Allan HOLDSWORTH, (briefly) Andy SUMMERS, Roy BABBINGTON, John MARSHALL and Karl JENKINS were attracted to MACHINE's ranks through out its history, leaving us a series of ground-breaking albums.

Now, briefly - what is the music like? The SOFT MACHINE were, for many listeners, the standard against which all jazz-rock fusion, including many of t...
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THE SOFT MACHINE discography


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THE SOFT MACHINE top albums (CD, LP, MC, SACD, DVD-A, Digital Media Download)

3.97 | 660 ratings
The Soft Machine
1968
4.03 | 601 ratings
Volume Two
1969
4.20 | 1156 ratings
Third
1970
3.59 | 421 ratings
Fourth
1971
3.44 | 318 ratings
Fifth [Aka: 5]
1972
3.54 | 282 ratings
Six
1973
3.63 | 320 ratings
Seven
1973
4.12 | 477 ratings
Bundles
1975
3.95 | 299 ratings
Softs
1976
2.08 | 85 ratings
Karl Jenkins: Rubber Riff
1976
3.00 | 176 ratings
Land of Cockayne
1981
3.89 | 235 ratings
Hidden Details
2018
3.71 | 41 ratings
Other Doors
2023

THE SOFT MACHINE Live Albums (CD, LP, MC, SACD, DVD-A, Digital Media Download)

3.02 | 95 ratings
Alive & Well - Recorded in Paris
1978
3.27 | 40 ratings
Live at the Proms (1970)
1988
4.04 | 44 ratings
The Peel Sessions
1990
4.27 | 24 ratings
BBC Live In Concert 1971
1993
3.77 | 21 ratings
BBC Radio 1 Live In Concert 1972
1994
3.62 | 45 ratings
Live At The Paradiso
1995
3.32 | 28 ratings
Live In France (Paris)
1995
3.76 | 46 ratings
Virtually
1998
2.37 | 23 ratings
Live 1970
1998
4.06 | 69 ratings
Noisette
2000
3.45 | 38 ratings
Backwards
2002
1.29 | 15 ratings
Facelift
2002
4.09 | 45 ratings
BBC - Radio 1967 - 1971
2003
4.09 | 37 ratings
BBC Radio 1971 - 1974
2003
2.90 | 10 ratings
Somewhere In Soho
2004
3.86 | 17 ratings
Soft Stage BBC In Concert 1972
2005
2.08 | 3 ratings
Orange Skin Food
2005
3.20 | 16 ratings
Breda Reactor
2005
3.49 | 18 ratings
Soft Machine & Heavy Friends BBC In Concert 1971
2005
3.84 | 35 ratings
British Tour '75
2005
3.84 | 54 ratings
Floating World Live (Bremen 1975)
2006
4.41 | 68 ratings
Grides
2006
2.62 | 26 ratings
Middle Earth Masters
2006
3.09 | 30 ratings
Drop
2008
4.14 | 31 ratings
Live At Henie Onstad Art Centre
2009
4.46 | 34 ratings
NDR Jazz Workshop, Germany, May 17, 1973
2010
3.00 | 2 ratings
Daevid Allen & Gilli Smyth With The Soft Machine Family: Live At The Roundhouse 1971
2012
4.05 | 19 ratings
Switzerland 1974
2015
4.42 | 26 ratings
Live at The Baked Potato
2020
4.22 | 8 ratings
Facelift France & Holland
2022
4.06 | 12 ratings
The Dutch Lesson
2023

THE SOFT MACHINE Videos (DVD, Blu-ray, VHS etc)

4.47 | 32 ratings
Alive in Paris-1970
2008

THE SOFT MACHINE Boxset & Compilations (CD, LP, MC, SACD, DVD-A, Digital Media Download)

4.67 | 3 ratings
The Soft Machine (Compilation)
1970
3.19 | 22 ratings
Face and Place Vol. 7 [Aka: Jet Propelled Photographs, Aka: At the Beginning]
1972
4.37 | 54 ratings
The Soft Machine Collection [also released as: Volumes One and Two]
1973
3.95 | 19 ratings
Triple Echo
1977
4.00 | 3 ratings
Rock Storia E Musica: Soft Machine
1983
3.08 | 30 ratings
Jet Propelled Photographs
1989
3.26 | 10 ratings
The Untouchable Collection (1975-78)
1990
4.32 | 6 ratings
As If...
1991
3.20 | 6 ratings
Soft Machine (Live & Demos)
1994
3.67 | 9 ratings
The Best Of Soft Machine...The Harvest Years
1995
3.34 | 34 ratings
Spaced (1969)
1996
3.59 | 29 ratings
Fourth / Fifth
1999
3.20 | 5 ratings
soft machine
2000
2.07 | 17 ratings
Man in a Deaf Corner: Anthology 1963-1970
2001
3.00 | 10 ratings
Turns On Vol. 1
2001
2.14 | 9 ratings
Turns On Vol. 2
2001
1.71 | 9 ratings
Kings Of Canterbury
2003
3.40 | 12 ratings
Six/Seven
2004
4.01 | 10 ratings
Out Bloody Rageous (Anthology 67-73)
2005
1.29 | 5 ratings
The Story of Soft Machine
2005
4.00 | 19 ratings
Original Album Classics
2010
4.00 | 2 ratings
Tales of Taliesin (The EMI Years Anthology 1975-1981)
2010
3.00 | 3 ratings
Tanglewood Tails
2014
4.05 | 3 ratings
The Harvest Albums 1975-1978
2019

THE SOFT MACHINE Official Singles, EPs, Fan Club & Promo (CD, EP/LP, MC, Digital Media Download)

3.06 | 12 ratings
Love Makes Sweet Music
1968
3.88 | 8 ratings
Why Are We Sleeping?
1968
4.67 | 3 ratings
Teeth
1971
5.00 | 2 ratings
Extracts from Bundles
1975
3.80 | 10 ratings
Soft Space
1978
3.60 | 5 ratings
Bundles (Promo Single)
2010
3.67 | 3 ratings
Over 'n' Above (Promo Single)
2010

THE SOFT MACHINE Reviews


Showing last 10 reviews only
 Fifth [Aka: 5] by SOFT MACHINE, THE album cover Studio Album, 1972
3.44 | 318 ratings

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Fifth [Aka: 5]
The Soft Machine Canterbury Scene

Review by siLLy puPPy
Special Collaborator PSIKE, JRF/Canterbury, P Metal, Eclectic

4 stars Continuing down the assembly line of blandly titled album covers with artwork to match, SOFT MACHINE saved all the creative mojo for the music itself by practically reinventing itself with every album. After drifting abruptly away from the Canterbury jazz rock of the early albums on "Fourth," Robert Wyatt finally frustrated with the incessant aggravation of complexity for its own sake in the form of avant-jazz noodling that drifted more into the space jazz realms of Sun Ra than the unique jazz-flavored rock that launched the band's career, FIFTH ( or just 5 ) was the first album to feature a new band member on every subsequent album and the beginning of transforming SOFT MACHINE more into the other famous jazz fusion band of the era - Nucleus - which would find a majority of members just a few albums down the road.

FIFTH itself is an album that showcases the very transition that SOFT MACHINE was undergoing on a seemingly monthly basis especially if you factor in all the archival live albums that showcase new aspects of the band with members not even on the studio albums. With Wyatt out of the picture completely, the band was allowed to take its wildest jazz fantasies into the realms of reality with FIFTH and that's exactly what this album accomplished. Back to the transition part. While Mike Ratledge, Elton Dean and Hugh Hopper were back for more jazzy rock juiciness, the album features not one percussionist but two. Side one featured Australian Phil Howard who honed his chops with The Keith Tippett Group but ultimately didn't have the chops to please the SOFTIES and was nixed before the recording of the album was complete.

Dissatisfied but not dismayed, the band recruited the first of the musicians to start the Nucleus invasion, namely John Marshall who had wowed the jazz fusion community with his works on "Elastic Rock" and "We'll Talk About It Later." His contributions on the second side contrast greatly with the more psychedelic and laidback approach of Howard with more outlandish drumming solos and a more technical and even louder infusion of percussive sounds. The album in some ways sounds a bit disjointed in that regard but the build of of the echoey trippy space jazz on side A actually crafts a stellar buildup for the more demanding and upbeat pieces that follow. Joining in for a guest reprise was double bass master Roy Babbington who had sat in on the "Fourth" sessions however FIFTH was a much sparser affair with no other musicians lurking in the shadows.

With every subsequent album aiming for ever greater complexities with less focus on rock and almost an obsession for improvisation jazz with freeform compositional constructs, SOFT MACHINE continued to alienate fans of yore but also failed to woo over the hardcore jazz cats who were into this sorta thing therefore FIFTH is a bit of a hard pillow to swallow after a sole or even a half dozen listening sessions. Hammering down the time signature extravaganzas like a hard bop addict of the late 1950s, SOFT MACHINE had become more entrenched in the world of avant-jazz to the point that the only recognizable connection to the past were the crazy fuzz-fueled sounds of Ratledge's organ. In many ways FIFTH is the most intangible and abstract of SOFT MACHINE's canon with loose compositional skills blurred by the free for all stampede of instrumentalists run amok.

Side one is laced with trippy echoey keyboards and chilled out saxophone noodling while Howard focuses on fancy cymbal work. The three tracks remain subdued and unsure of themselves as if they were bad children afraid to make too much noise in their room. But as side two introduces itself with bang, the mood suddenly shifts from restraint to anything goes as announced by Marshall's technical drum wizardry that begins "As If." In response Elton Dean starts the serious saxophone frenzy seemingly having a conversation with Ornette Coleman from 1959. Throughout all the changes though is the comforting stability of Ratledge's idiosyncratic organ style which pacifies the soul no matter how wild and wooly the sax and drum combo effect become. Not to say that psychedelic trippiness doesn't occur on the second side, it's just that the dynamics and tempos are way more diverse in their approach.

While it's true that from "Third" and after SOFT MACHINE was going for the gusto in creating wild and innovative jazz fusion in a style unmatched and while "Fourth" was an announcement to the world that SOFT MACHINE was more jazz than rock, FIFTH only codified it all into some sort of musical law. With flirtatious bass grooves that act in accordance with the organ tinkling and wild boy antics at the sax and drum kit, SOFT MACHINE was a veritable jazz powerhouse at this point, a mere few years after the simpler vocal oriented psychedelic pop rock that graced the first two releases. In virtually every way, FIFTH offers two phases of SOFT MACHINE in a single album as a replacement occurred smack dab in the middle of the album which basically prognosticated the band's future where every album would find one member exit and another coming aboard.

FIFTH is hardly the easiest album of the band's career to digest. It's convoluted in many ways, brash, hard to latch onto and well a bit bombastic however it's one of those albums that once adapted to properly will reveal an amazingly talented band that didn't just crank out random noise. These guys were just light years ahead of the competition in their ability to craft complex jazz rock compositions that drifted into a world of its own making. While i would doubt that FIFTH ranks as anyone's all time SOFT MACHINE album (ok i'm sure there must be a few out there!), it is hardly throwaway album that many make it out to be. Bogged down by complexity for its own sake may seem like an exercise in self-aggrandizement but hey, this is the world of jazz and that's really what it's all about. Sure the immediacy of the rock characteristics had all but vanished but as a jazz lover myself, this album has definitely gotten under my skin since my first head scratching visit. Taken on its own terms, FIFTH is actually brilliant.

 Hidden Details by SOFT MACHINE, THE album cover Studio Album, 2018
3.89 | 235 ratings

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Hidden Details
The Soft Machine Canterbury Scene

Review by VianaProghead
Prog Reviewer

4 stars Review Nš 741

Soft Machine was one of the biggest English names in the 60's and 70's. The birthplace of countless talented musicians and with a history full of accidents, the group was one of the forerunners of the psychedelic rock in England, alongside Pink Floyd, and then plunged from head in a very peculiar sound, with traces of free jazz, psychedelic and progressive. The band left classic and unforgettable works full of improvisations and is one of the greats of the Canterbury scene.

"Hidden Details" is the twelfth studio album of Soft Machine and that was released in 2018. The line up on "Hidden Details" is John Etheridge (electric and acoustic guitars), Theo Travis (tenor and soprano saxophones, flutes and fender Rhodes piano), Roy Babbington (bass guitar) and John Marshall (drums and percussion). "Hidden Details" had also the participation of Nick Utteridge (wind chimes) as a guest artist.

The Soft Machine fans had to wait more than forty years for finally have a real Soft Machine studio album, if we discard "Land Of Cockayne", a weaker album probably released due to contractual obligations. So, we can say that finally we have another great studio album by this great and pioneer band. With "Hidden Details" they present an amazingly fresh album. "Hidden Details" is being touted as the first official Soft Machine studio album since "Softs" released in 1976. In the interim, the band worked under the name of Soft Machine Legacy. Under that name, they released a slew of studio and live albums maintaining the high level creativity set by the first two incarnations of the band. At this point in their career, Soft Machine was able to cover all the different phases of their past, particularly their jazzy horn driven music of the early 70's, and their more muscular guitar driven jazz- rock of the mid of the 70's, making of this album a great listen.

"Hidden Details" has thirteen tracks, most of which are new compositions but there are a few re-imaginings of older Soft Machine classics from the 70's. The first track is the title track "Hidden Details". This is a bit an ominous track that offers a very exciting tenor saxophone solo from Travis, and a frankly guitar workout from Etheridge that responds to the Babbington's fuzz bass provocations. The second track "The Man Who Waved At Trains" is an extended re-working of the original "Bundles" album track from 1975, here with Travis given free rein to transform this composition into an entirely new beast with its airy electric piano and flute that adds to it a majestic element. The third track "Ground Lift" offers up some rampaging free-jazz, Travis squawking on his sax and Etheridge's wah-wah saturated guitar battling over Marshall's busy drumming. The fourth track "Heart Off Guard" is a more acoustic track that offers up some more tranquil sounds. It feeds into "Broken Hill" and "Drifting White". The fifth track "Broken Hill" also offers up some more quiet sounds, but this last one offers a bit of smattering prog sound with some psychedelic vibe. The sixth track "Flight Of The Jett" is a freely improvised track that gives to Marshall a chance to demonstrates what a subtle but powerful player he is. It's a great vehicle for Marshall's expert drum passages and percussive work, as well as an assortment of effects laden noises from Etheridge. The seventh track "One Glove" represents the album's first instance of catchy, groove laden jazzy funk, an Etheridge number that also contains a blazing guitar solo that will leave you breathless. The eighth and ninth tracks, "Out Bloody Intro" and "Out Bloody Rageous, Part 1" of their acclaimed third album, is simply great with Travis' great sax lines over some complex rhythms brought by Babbington and Marshall. The tenth track "Drifting White" is a very short and calm track very nice and beautiful to hear. This is a typical jazz/fusion calm piece. The eleventh track "Life On Bridges" is on contrary a lengthy piece that shows again Travis and Etheridge getting involved in a sensational battle between sax and guitar searching for the supremacy over frantic rhythms. The twelfth track "Fourteen Hour Dream" is another piece with more hook laden tracks with some tricky Marshalls drumming, a dreamy flute work and a tasty guitar solo. The thirteenth track "Breathe" is a flute looped inhale and exhale tracks that features only Travis flute and Marshalls's delicate cymbal work. This is a fittingly calm conclusion to a very fine album.

Conclusion: "Hidden Details" is one of the better Soft Machine albums that has become a worthy Soft Machine album and that will certainly be most appreciated by fans of the Canterbury scene, jazz fusion, jazz rock, psychedelic rock and progressive rock in general. "Hidden Details" is a thoroughly welcome and successful resurrection of the Canterbury veterans, which at least fans of the band and the genre shouldn't miss out on. This is jazz-fusion of the highest order, performed by master musicians still at the top of their game. The playing of the gentlemen is of a very high level with some of the best elements that constituted some of the best band's music. Somehow, the new album sounds a bit more like Soft Machine than before. For me, "Hidden Details" is one of the best works from the band since the mid of the 70's. It's almost perfect in many ways. This one will keep you coming back to it more times. So, this is highly recommended.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

 Other Doors by SOFT MACHINE, THE album cover Studio Album, 2023
3.71 | 41 ratings

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Other Doors
The Soft Machine Canterbury Scene

Review by kev rowland
Special Collaborator Honorary Reviewer

4 stars In many ways this is the closing of a chapter in that drummer John Marshall announced his retirement after the recordings of this album before passing away at the age of 82 (this never sounds like the work of an octogenarian). Bassist Roy Babbington announced his retirement after the previous album, 2018's 'Hidden Details', but returned here to guest on a couple of tracks, including a duet with his replacement Fred Thelonious Baker. Theo Travis (tenor & soprano saxophones, flutes, Fender Rhodes piano, electronics) and John Etheridge (guitars) complete the line-up, which has since been augmented by the addition of the extraordinary drummer Asaf Sirkis.

Marshall is to date the longest serving member of Soft Machine in terms of years served, and it is interesting to note that they have included some old numbers on here, possibly in deference to his forthcoming retirement. What is somewhat strange is that while both Marshall and Babbington played on the original recording of "Penny Hitch" (from 'Seven'), neither of them were involved when Soft Machine released their first single in America, "Joy of a Toy" which featured Mike Ratledge, Robert Wyatt and Kevin Ayers. It is somewhat strange to hear this again as it has been some time since I last played it, and while I am sure there will be plenty of hardcore fans who will believe this is nothing short of sacrilege, I must confess I enjoyed it. At times they are reflective, at others more dynamic and in your face, but always striving to find the perfect combinations of note and tones to make us think and take us on a journey.

Soft Machine have continually reinvented themselves over the years, both musically and in personnel, but at no time have they ever sat back and just played it safe but instead have kept challenging themselves and still tour frequently where their improvisational skills are challenged every night. That they continue to release intriguing and interesting material so far into their career is nothing short of remarkable, and one can only hope that there are many more to come in the future. The Canterbury scene is alive and well in the hands of bands like these, and long may it continue.

 Other Doors by SOFT MACHINE, THE album cover Studio Album, 2023
3.71 | 41 ratings

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Other Doors
The Soft Machine Canterbury Scene

Review by Warthur
Prog Reviewer

4 stars Fred Baker steps in on bass here to replace Roy Babbington - who guests on a couple of tracks but has otherwise retired from active duty - and the Soft Machine rumbles onwards in this latest studio album. Following on from Hidden Details this offers impeccably produced Canterbury jazz-rock with more of a pinch of psychedelia to it - there's even a revisit to Joy of a Toy, a track from the time when Kevin Ayers was still in the band. As with Hidden Details, it's not the sort of thing which anyone would expect to change the world, but it finds the group still keeping their craft sharp.
 The Dutch Lesson by SOFT MACHINE, THE album cover Live, 2023
4.06 | 12 ratings

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The Dutch Lesson
The Soft Machine Canterbury Scene

Review by Mellotron Storm
Prog Reviewer

4 stars 4.5 stars. I consider SOFT MACHINE to be a top ten band so colour me happy with all of the archival live releases that keep showing up. This is the latest from October of 1973, a four piece(Babbington, Marshall, Jenkins & Ratledge) just 2 months from Allan Holdsworth being officially named as the fifth member. I think that live date in Germany in May of this same year with Gary Boyle playing guitar on all tracks and Art Themen adding sax to all tracks made them realize how much better they could be with an expanded lineup, especially one with the talents of an Allan Holdsworth fresh from playing with the legendary NUCLEUS.

Here though after months of playing as a four piece these guys were on fire and also confident and mature enough to go experimental and whatever direction they wanted to go to be honest. Maybe it was playing in front of 400 people instead of thousands that brought out something special this night. A packed house no less and as usual this band just puts their heads down and play non stop from start to finish. An early version of "Hazard Profile" at 14 minutes highlights the second disc here. It will take up half of the "Bundles" album that would be released the following year.

This whole second disc though is fantastic starting with "Chloe And The Pirates" then "Hazard Profile" before a really good improv then a reprise of "Gesolreut". As far as disc one goes that three song run is amazing from "Down The Road", "Ealing Comedy" to "37 1/2" and I have it cranked. If your a fan of "Six" you need this record as it is dominated by that record. "Seven" was released but the band were only keen on playing "Down The Road" from it which is telling I suppose.

It was meant to be I suppose that the year that John Marshall passes we get this release with him front and center on the album cover as well as being front and center on the sound of this record. His rock style and energy are something to hear. "Dutch Lesson" is such a fitting part of his legacy. And Babbington is something else here as well. It really is the rhythm section that stands out for me on this record and I wasn't saying that on that "NDR Jazz Workshop" release from 6 months earlier. And I love that release.

Allow me to reminisce as this might be my last SOFT MACHINE review. So a top ten band for me but unlike most I'm not a big fan of the first two Canterbury records they put out but "Third" to "Softs" is an incredible run and some different styles in there too. My sweet spot is "Seven" to "Softs" and so of course that's the era I tend to lean to when wanting to listen to some live SOFT MACHINE. My top five archival includes the aforementioned "NDR Workshop" with Boyle on guitar. The "Switzerland 1974" with this four piece plus Allan Holdsworth and "British Tour '75" again with this four piece but with guitarist John Etheridge this time and featuring some songs from "Softs".

So those three plus two early live releases from 1970 shows including "Noisette" from January of that year and a five piece with Lyn Dobson adding so much vocally and with the sax and flute. And then "Grides" from October of 1970 where they are back to a four piece of Dean/Wyatt/Ratledge and Hopper. Just outside of these top five for me are this one here "Dutch Lessons", "Virtually", "Heavy Friends", "Backwards", "Live At Hinie Onstad Art Cantre" and "Floating World Live". There is an archival release for everyone believe me. I find "Fifth" the most difficult to listen to of the "Third" to "Softs" run so "Drop" is an archival release I have a very hard time with. It's like they went into the Free jazz style there and it's not easy listening.

If your as big a fan as I am of "Six" then "Dutch Lesson" is essential in my opinion. I have purposely held off listening to this until my Christmas break so I could spend more time with it, time well spent.

 Hidden Details by SOFT MACHINE, THE album cover Studio Album, 2018
3.89 | 235 ratings

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Hidden Details
The Soft Machine Canterbury Scene

Review by Warthur
Prog Reviewer

4 stars After Soft Machine ground to a halt in the late 1970s, the name may have laid dormant but the musicians involved kept going, and occasionally dipped back into Softworld for a quick visit. There was the deeply misguided Land of Cockayne album, and there were the odd musical projects here and there involving some subset of the band's personnel or other like Soft Heap, Soft Head, Soft Ware, Soft Works, and so on.

Then in 2004 came Soft Machine Legacy, a new formation which ended up sustaining itself longer than any of those other Soft off-shoots had managed. By the 2013 release of Burden of Proof, an understanding developed that legally speaking the group could simply call themselves Soft Machine if they wanted to, but the members preferred to remain one step removed for the time being.

Then in 2015, the "Legacy" was jettisoned and the lineup that recorded Burden of Proof embraced the mantle of Soft Machine. This would be the team of John Etheridge on guitar, Roy Babbington on bass, John Marshall behind the drum kit, and Theo Travis on flute, Fender Rhodes piano, and saxophone. This is, of course, a bit of a Ship of Theseus situation - none of the original founders of the band are here.

Then again, Soft Machine hit that point much earlier in their history than this - for a good while Mike Ratledge was the only founder member left after Daevid Allen, Kevin Ayers, and Robert Wyatt, and his creative contributions tailed off sharply towards the end of his tenure, to the point where he was only in a guest spot on Softs and wasn't on Alive and Well: Recorded In Paris at all. Babbington and Marshall were, at least, stalwarts of the post-Wyatt era of the band, and Etheridge played a key role in the latter 1970s releases due to replacing Allan Holdsworth, who'd rather transformed the group's sound by adding electric guitar on Bundles. The only person here who wasn't actually on a 1970s Soft Machine release is Theo Travis, and as a regular Steven Wilson collaborator, a member of The Tangent, and a contributor to some Gong releases he's got a perfectly respectable musical pedigree of his own.

Sonically speaking, then, we're largely dealing with something much more like the post-Wyatt jazz fusion era of the band than their early psychedelic days. There's even updated takes on some old Soft Machine tracks here - The Man Who Waved At Trains having originally appeared on Bundles. (An extract of Out Bloody Rageous is also played, and whilst that Third-era track is one that Robert Wyatt played on, it's also one of the jazz fusion instrumentals of that release which heralded the future direction of the band.) Theo Travis slots into this style adeptly, his contributions on various instruments managing to fit into the ethos of the group like it always belonged, and the album includes some of the most emotionally affecting guitar playing I've ever heard Etheridge offer up.

Etheridge and Travis co-produce, and the standard of production here is truly top-notch, offering a clarity which really teases out the best of the material here. This incarnation of Soft Machine clearly have realised that they aren't going to be doing anything massively genre-defining like early incarnations of the band managed - so if they can't hit "ground- breaking", they may as well go for "well-executed", and that's what they hit here, a solid album of Canterbury-style fusion with a pristine production job. It's not going to win over anyone who thinks that Soft Machine became worthless once Robert Wyatt left (or once Robert Wyatt was banned from singing, or once Kevin Ayers left, or once Daevid Allen left...), but if you like fusion-era Soft Machine this can stand next to any of the albums from Fourth to Softs without embarrassment, and indeed is better than some of the releases during that era.

 British Tour '75 by SOFT MACHINE, THE album cover Live, 2005
3.84 | 35 ratings

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British Tour '75
The Soft Machine Canterbury Scene

Review by Warthur
Prog Reviewer

4 stars This archival live release captures Soft Machine at a curious time - specifically, it's after Allan Holdsworth departed the group and was replaced by John Etheridge, but whilst the group's setlist was still highly dependent on material from Bundles, an album that was largely built around Holdsworth's guitar work and the transformative effect it had on the group's sound. Naturally, this means Etheridge is in a really tight spot, being a newcomer to the group performing material he had no hand in composing but needing to fill Holdsworth's boots.

He does a more than credible job! Although the subsequent Softs and Alive and Well In Paris albums aren't exactly widely celebrated, you can see from material like this why the band considered it worth continuing to soldier on under these circumstances, though in the long run this era of the group would not be particularly fruitful.

 Other Doors by SOFT MACHINE, THE album cover Studio Album, 2023
3.71 | 41 ratings

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Other Doors
The Soft Machine Canterbury Scene

Review by Mellotron Storm
Prog Reviewer

4 stars 4.5 stars. After hearing of John Marshall's passing I ordered this record just to have the last studio album that John played on. Is it sad that he passed after announcing his retirement after this record? He got to do what he loved right to the end which I think is pretty cool. Loved him when he was with NUCLEUS and it was 1972 when he joined SOFT MACHINE and I really feel he is the king of drum solos. His rhythm partner of late Roy Babbington retired after the previous studio album "Hidden Details" but returns to play bass on "Penny Hitch" which he did originally on "Seven" plus he plays a duet you could say with the new bass player Fred Baker on "Now! Is The Time". Fred by the way has played in the past on solo albums by Pip Pyle, Phil Miller and Dave Sinclair so very much qualified to be here.

The only thing keeping me from giving this 5 stars is that 3 of 4 song section beginning with "Joy Of A Toy" from the debut and included "Whisper Back" and "The Stars Apart" which are all fine just not in the same league as the rest of the album in my opinion. The rest of the album is subtle and chilled. Feels like some improvizing is going on at times with the drums, bass and whoever else isn't the soloist during these passages. Surprisingly trippy and atmospheric and Theo Travis helps with this adding electronics throughout the album. Attention to detail and I love Marshall on here, he seems like he's playing random stuff a lot but man with the Fender Rhodes, those guitar expressions, electronics and flute I just love the mood. It really was when I sat down and really listened to this album that it clicked big time.

The spirit of "Softs" is very much a part of this record in fact this would have been a great followup to it. This is headphone music, just so much going on and yet it is a reflective recording as well. I am blown away by most of these tracks but I think my favourite is "Fell To Earth" where we get some grit in that guitar and the opening sax could be Mel Collins from his "Island" performance. Some experimental stuff going on here, I mean check it out 2 minutes in. The closer "Back In Season" is a highlight with the electric piano in fact "Softs" really comes to mind here. Love the flute too.

Again the flute and Fender Rhodes are incredible on the opener "Careless Eyes", some soaring guitar leads too. Love "Penny Hitch" from one of my favourite SOFT MACHINE albums "Seven" and "Crooked Usage" the longest piece on here at 8 1/2 minutes. This song encapsulates what this album is about with the improv sounding bits with no melody, the flute and electric piano all shine and it's experimental late. "The Visitor At The Window" reminds me of the covid situation where many meeting apparently were done this way. I like it but I like "Maybe Never" even better. It's so chilled with the fluttering flute and guitar expressions along with the electronics, bass and drums.

With Marshall and Babbington out of the picture I was thinking it might be time to put SOFT MACHINE to bed and then I heard this album. Keep them coming boys!

 Live at The Baked Potato by SOFT MACHINE, THE album cover Live, 2020
4.42 | 26 ratings

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Live at The Baked Potato
The Soft Machine Canterbury Scene

Review by Mellotron Storm
Prog Reviewer

4 stars This is a live document of the 50th anniversary World tour SOFT MACHINE performed starting early in 2019. This show was from February 1st 2019 in LA at The Baked Potato. Love that late 50s early 60's cover art that is actually from Las Vegas.

The band offers a big thankyou to Moonjune Records owner Leonardo Pavkovic suggesting the tour and album would not have happened without his tireless effort and support. I was glad to have spent time with "Hidden Details" recently, that 2018 record, as it does get represented here as being the most recent SOFT MACHINE release.

The highlights for me are not surprising as we get plenty of nods to the past on this one hour recording and I will list those songs but the one track from "Hidden Details" I'm kind of taken with is "Life On Bridges" and it will just make my top five here. The song reminds me of NUCLEUS when they were at their melancholic best.

Number one song though is "The Tale Of Taliesin" from "Softs" and an all time favourite for me from this band. I don't have this as a live track except here so it certainly adds to the value of this recording for me. Etheridge is awesome, come on! The first 3 minutes are stunning. The other three tracks that stand out for me are "Out-Bloody-Rageous", "Hazard Profile Pt.1" and "The Man Who Waved At Trains" all SOFT MACHINE classics.

You know down the road we're going to get some archival releases from this period and later but as of right now this is the last record of John Marshall playing live. We get his short 2 minute drum solo called "Side Burn" but I like his performance on "The Tale Of The Taliesin" the best. I'll say it again Theo Travis deserves a lot of credit for taking the SOFT MACHINE bull by the horns and being the main composer and producer. A solid 4 stars.

 Floating World Live (Bremen 1975) by SOFT MACHINE, THE album cover Live, 2006
3.84 | 54 ratings

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Floating World Live (Bremen 1975)
The Soft Machine Canterbury Scene

Review by Warthur
Prog Reviewer

4 stars This live performance by Soft Machine took place after the studio sessions for Bundles, but before that album came out; Allan Holdsworth is still with the band, and the setlist is very much focused on material from that album plus additional improvisations, rather than delving to any great depth into the band's back catalogue - a symptom, perhaps, of their radically reconfigured musical direction, with Holdsworth's guitar being brought to the fore.

To my ears, there's only one real clunker here, and that's JSM - a drum solo from John Marshall which manages to be everything everyone dislikes about 1970s drum solos. Sure, sure, it's technically adept, but it's fairly soulless stuff, a demonstration of dextrous proficiency without any compositional substance behind it, and it drags on for ten horrid minutes. Trim it off and you'd have four and a half stars easy, because the rest of this absolutely cooks - as it is, it's at the low end of the four star range.

Thanks to ProgLucky for the artist addition. and to Quinino for the last updates

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