Soft Machine

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I searched but couldn't find a specific thread. I'd like to make a thread about Soft Machine.And if there's already one, then please feel free to merge this post.

Maybe their Jazz Rock repels them a distance from Prog, but their history through album after album tells an interesting audio experience.
I first got into them in the 90's. I'd just discovered Pink Floyd and reading up on that band saw Soft Machine mentioned here and there.
The first thing I heard of them was taking a chance on the excellent two albums on one CD of "Volume One and Volume Two".
The only compilations available were of their mid-70's period. (And some compilations had misleading band photographs on the cover!) 
Listening to Volume One and Volume Two back to back with the cheap compilation "As If" and later "The Untouchable Soft Machine" polarised my opinion that the band wasn't the same when Robert Wyatt left.
I lived with this fallacy for many years. I did have "Third" and "Fourth/Fifth" (As another 2 albums on 1 CD).
And also "The Peel Sessions".
But it wasn't until I heard "Six" that I realised Hugh Hopper was the true creative spark in the band. (And his brother co-wrote some songs from Volume One)

This is not to demean the contributions from Allan Holdsworth and John Etheridge. I still loved Bundles and Softs.

And even "Land of Cockayne" is starting to win me over. Certainly the most produced of the Soft Machine albums, but without the sparks.

And I used to hate Karl Jenkins for "ruining the band" just like some Genesis fans who hate everything after Gabriel left! 

So any other fans of Soft Machine in? It isn't even, "Once a day I feel like listening to Soft Machine". I've managed to get it down to at least "Once a week"!

Favourite 10 albums

1. Volume Two
2. Six
3. Third
4. The Peel Sessions
5.Fourth
6. Bundles
7. Fifth
8. Seven
9. Volume One
10. Land of Cockayne.

Did anyone here ever get to see them live?

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AZF Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Senior Member Joined: January 17 2012 Location: Wirral Status: Offline Points: 1079	Topic: Soft Machine Posted: January 31 2015 at 14:12
	I searched but couldn't find a specific thread. I'd like to make a thread about Soft Machine. And if there's already one, then please feel free to merge this post. Maybe their Jazz Rock repels them a distance from Prog, but their history through album after album tells an interesting audio experience. I first got into them in the 90's. I'd just discovered Pink Floyd and reading up on that band saw Soft Machine mentioned here and there. The first thing I heard of them was taking a chance on the excellent two albums on one CD of "Volume One and Volume Two". The only compilations available were of their mid-70's period. (And some compilations had misleading band photographs on the cover!) Listening to Volume One and Volume Two back to back with the cheap compilation "As If" and later "The Untouchable Soft Machine" polarised my opinion that the band wasn't the same when Robert Wyatt left. I lived with this fallacy for many years. I did have "Third" and "Fourth/Fifth" (As another 2 albums on 1 CD). And also "The Peel Sessions". But it wasn't until I heard "Six" that I realised Hugh Hopper was the true creative spark in the band. (And his brother co-wrote some songs from Volume One) This is not to demean the contributions from Allan Holdsworth and John Etheridge. I still loved Bundles and Softs. And even "Land of Cockayne" is starting to win me over. Certainly the most produced of the Soft Machine albums, but without the sparks. And I used to hate Karl Jenkins for "ruining the band" just like some Genesis fans who hate everything after Gabriel left! So any other fans of Soft Machine in? It isn't even, "Once a day I feel like listening to Soft Machine". I've managed to get it down to at least "Once a week"! Favourite 10 albums 1. Volume Two 2. Six 3. Third 4. The Peel Sessions 5.Fourth 6. Bundles 7. Fifth 8. Seven 9. Volume One 10. Land of Cockayne. Did anyone here ever get to see them live?

Nogbad_The_Bad Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum & Site Admin Group RIO/Avant/Zeuhl & Eclectic Team Joined: March 16 2007 Location: Boston Status: Offline Points: 20204	Posted: January 31 2015 at 14:26
	I saw Soft Machine Legacy at RIO a couple of years ago, the favorites are probably Third, Fourth and Bundles. I just got the Switzerland 74 cd/dvd which has excellent footage from Montreaux with Holdsworth.
	Ian Host of the Post-Avant Jazzcore Happy Hour on Progrock.com https://podcasts.progrock.com/post-avant-jazzcore-happy-hour/

Mellotron Storm Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Prog Reviewer Joined: August 27 2006 Location: The Beach Status: Offline Points: 12938	Posted: January 31 2015 at 14:40
	One of my all-time favourite bands, i'd go Third, Seven and Bundles as my top three studio albums plus there are so many incredible live albums out there that blow me away. I guess being a huge NUCLEUS fan I tend to lean towards the later period where they were more jazzy other than Third of course.
	"The wind is slowly tearing her apart" "Sad Rain" ANEKDOTEN

TradeMark0 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Senior Member Joined: October 26 2014 Location: California Status: Offline Points: 109	Posted: February 01 2015 at 01:53
	I definitely like them like them. Third is one of my favorite albums on this site.

Tom Ozric Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Prog Reviewer Joined: September 03 2005 Location: Olympus Mons Status: Offline Points: 15916	Posted: February 01 2015 at 03:26
	I go through stages of obsessively listening to their albums non-stop. Got all the 'regular' albums (debut-Cockayne) and some of the live releases - and a stack of DVD's. there's even a show from the time of Softs, with Percy Jones stepping in on bass. His style doesn't quite gel as much as Babbington's, but it's great to see him in action. Fuzz Lowrey rules........

akamaisondufromage Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Senior Member VIP Member Joined: May 16 2009 Location: Blighty Status: Offline Points: 6797	Posted: February 01 2015 at 04:01
	Is this the Percy Jones that you speak of? Not seen this before and it's introduced by Spike Milligan of all people...
	Help me I'm falling!

Tom Ozric Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Prog Reviewer Joined: September 03 2005 Location: Olympus Mons Status: Offline Points: 15916	Posted: February 01 2015 at 04:17
	That's the one !! Interesting times........

Syzygy Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator Joined: December 16 2004 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 7003	Posted: February 04 2015 at 03:57
	I never saw Soft Machine live - if only I had been born a few years earlier! - but I have seen ex-Softs in various combinations over the years. Soft Machine legacy are well worth seeing live, even if the studio albums don't really do it for you. I like pretty much everything up to Cockayne, and I have greatly enjoyed the archival live albums released by Cuneiform.
	'Like so many of you I've got my doubts about how much to contribute to the already rich among us...' Robert Wyatt, Gloria Gloom

hellogoodbye Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Senior Member VIP member Joined: August 29 2011 Location: Troy Status: Offline Points: 7251	Posted: February 04 2015 at 04:19
	My all times fav is their second album.

Tom Ozric Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Prog Reviewer Joined: September 03 2005 Location: Olympus Mons Status: Offline Points: 15916	Posted: February 04 2015 at 05:21
	^ Nothing wrong with Volume 2 - a bit of the Psychey Pop left over from the debut, with the newer, Progressive Jazz approach they focussed on, all wrapped up in the fuzzy, typically Canterburian sound.

Flight123 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Senior Member Joined: September 01 2010 Location: Sohar, Oman Status: Offline Points: 1399	Posted: February 04 2015 at 05:51
	I actually watched that TV concert introduced by Spike Milligan when it was first broadcast! (Showing my age). I plunged straight in with my first Softs album which was 'Triple Echo' and bought it when it came out - spanning the early singles up to 'Softs'. I particularly loved the material from 'Second' and the BBC sessions from Third with the 7 piece and the quartet with Elton Dean. Amazing collection that spanned the massive transitions the band made and by the last track (Tale of Taliesin) the last founding member had left... Never got to see them live except individually (Hopper with Going Going, Dean with In Cahoots, Allen and Ayers many times etc.) True story - I once worked with Elton Dean's brother - Hartley - who was very proud of his brother and recalled going to the famous Proms performance! Edited by Flight123 - February 04 2015 at 05:54

KingCrInuYasha Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Senior Member Joined: September 26 2010 Location: USA Status: Offline Points: 1281	Posted: February 04 2015 at 09:46
	The Ayers/Ratledge/Wyatt lineup is one of my favorite rock trios. The first two albums were good, but Third kind of escapes me sometimes. Still, there's enough neat stuff in there to keep me invested in going back.
	He looks at this world and wants it all... so he strikes, like Thunderball!

Catcher10 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Senior Member VIP Member Joined: December 23 2009 Location: Emerald City Status: Offline Points: 17497	Posted: February 04 2015 at 11:03
	Me like the Softs......


presdoug Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Senior Member Joined: January 24 2010 Location: Canada Status: Offline Points: 8085	Posted: February 06 2015 at 01:47
	My all time favourite is Seven, followed by Third and Bundles. The first two albums don't really do it for me, I'm afraid.

AZF Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Senior Member Joined: January 17 2012 Location: Wirral Status: Offline Points: 1079	Posted: February 10 2015 at 12:50
	Good to see the love for the Softs! What do you think of "Jet Propelled Photographs" and "Rubber Riff"? These are the most controversial of their albums because the former was a collection recorded with half the band thinking they were demos, and the producer thinking this was the making of their debut album. I realise Daevid Allen is mortified by his guitar performance and even that aside, it was still lacking the spark that (For me and a few others it's seems) drove their first two official albums. As great as a writer Kevin Ayers came to be, "She's Gone" just didn't have the drive to be a pop single. It sounded like (Even if George Martin had produced it instead) a throwback to 1963. As opposed to the "Arnold Layne" of Pink Floyd. And yet "We Did It Again" would have made a great single itself! And as for "Rubber Riff". I'm aware vaguely of it's intention as background music. And I've sat through at least half of it's material on You Tube, but is it really the most disappointing thing with the "Soft Machine" title? And as I've got Soft Machine fans on this thread, when should they really have dropped the name? I'd previously thought from Hugh Hopper's departure and would have been happy for them to continue under a different name. But I've now realised that the stuff they did after this still sounds more like Soft Machine than "Jet Propelled Photographs", even with the line up changes! It's too late now, but it's a shame the band never took extra care of their music as I still, when it's dark and late at night, and nobody is there to hear me, but I still catch myself wishing the band recorded at least two more studio albums!

Flight123 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Senior Member Joined: September 01 2010 Location: Sohar, Oman Status: Offline Points: 1399	Posted: February 11 2015 at 03:52
	The trouble is Soft Machine have not been very good in the quality control department in terms of releasing stuff that was never intended to be released at the time. The first album I bought by them was 'Triple Echo' that gave a taster of the pre-First Album material plus some excellent BBC sessions. I have yet to go beyond 'Bundles' in terms of listening to late Soft Machine and remain wary of 'Rubber Riff' etc. As for the name, anyone who has read Wyatt's biography that came out late last year will know how bitter he was (and still is) at being ousted from 'his' group so after that I started to think the name should have changed after 'Fourth' (only Ratledge remained from the original quartet by then, although I accept Hopper's long association as well). Should they have continued? The late 70s were not kind to prog, or even fusion bands like Soft Machine - it must have been dispiriting so it was no surprise they called it a day (sort of). I remember reading in Sounds or Melody Maker during that period that they should be offered a 'decent burial'...

Catcher10 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Senior Member VIP Member Joined: December 23 2009 Location: Emerald City Status: Offline Points: 17497	Posted: February 11 2015 at 09:34
	I don't know about a "decent burial"....could say that about all prog after the 70's. Music changed to where people wanted happy music, danceable and singable......4/4 tempo took off. I can see today where The Softs are interesting to new listeners of involving music. I was asked once by a young person in a record store what I was holding, SM-Third vinyl, I explained to him the music and band and he was interested, since I had the only SM vinyl the store had in my hands....he was gonna stream them online to get a listen....


AZF Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Senior Member Joined: January 17 2012 Location: Wirral Status: Offline Points: 1079	Posted: February 11 2015 at 11:49
	And I suppose one advantage of their career is the record companies probably weren't even sure if there'd be the same band in the morning to pull a "Contractual Obligation" clause on them. I've no idea if more was planned depending on reaction to "Cockayne", but the Soft Machine saga ended with a little of what I didn't fancy, because it sounds like a saxophone version of the 1980's advert "How to do it all Do It? What they do it for? Won't somebody Tell? If only we knew it. How Do-It-All do it? You can bet! We'd be doing it as well!" Really impressive piece just before the final track on "Land of Cockayne", but they must have thought "Yeah, we'll come back and pick up from there." But then is that always leaving them wanting more? And that's not off topic as apparently Mike Ratledge began writing music for adverts. I can't remember the product. I think it was for Jeans or possibly Coca Cola, but it began Soviet style until a worker went back to his Western flat with his black haired girlfriend hardly wearing anything and drank something. The music then turned into a slow saxophone solo that sounded like something from the "Blade Runner" film. As I said, I can't find the advert on You Tube, and it probably isn't even a Ratledge composition! I have seen a Soft Machine biography by Graham Bennett on Amazon, but it's about £50 (I haven't got a Kindle) for the book and as much as I love the band, that's too much! And that's excellent news about streaming Catcher10! If "Third" doesn't get them then the rest will either scare off or intrigue someone who has never heard of the band. That's all you can do for this band now. It looks like the BBC won't touch a biopic about them at least! And to further twist the debate, did Rick Wakeman ever elaborate on his "Mike Ratbag" nickname?

Flight123 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Senior Member Joined: September 01 2010 Location: Sohar, Oman Status: Offline Points: 1399	Posted: February 12 2015 at 06:53
	But the second album was a 'contractual obligation'! (Wonderful though it is!) It seems like Ratledge was to Soft Machine what Banks was to Genesis.

Tom Ozric Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Prog Reviewer Joined: September 03 2005 Location: Olympus Mons Status: Offline Points: 15916	Posted: February 13 2015 at 00:56
	^ Indeed, he was. They just 'weren't the same' after Wyatt's departure - and even then, as much as I simply adore 4th & 5th albums, after that, they changed......... ........Still love Seven and Bundles a lot. Softs being quite impressive, regardless of the brand, and Paris and Cockayne being enjoyable MOR Fusion things, but honestly NOT deserving the Soft Machine name. I do believe they should've changed their name after '7'................