BRITISH TOUR '75

This review is based on the sad fact that I have not had time to listen to Softs and Bundles in dept yet. This live album is my first in dept exposure to that material. I stil feel that I am able to review this live album.

I was recommended this album in my Soft Machine thread in PA and went ahead and purchased it. I love the Floating World album and it was a major positive that British Tour '75 album is from the same period. Although with a different guitarist. No Mr. Holdsworth, I am afraid. But that does not make any difference at all. This live album is a blast from start to finish. The music is The Soft Machine's take on jazz/fusion. In other words; not normal jazz/fusion. This band has always done their own thing in solid contempt for the rest of the music scene. This band also very much has their own sound. A sound which is impossible not to recognise from miles away. This is what makes this album so special. This and the superb sound quality. Which makes this live album a true gem and one of the better live albums out there.

The opening songs Bundles, Land Of The Bag Snake and Out Of Season really swings like only The Soft Machine at full flow is able to do. The Man Who Waved At Trains and JVH follows. The Floating World is an interlude before The Soft Machine weaves their magic wand again with Ban Ban Caliban, Sideburn and Hazard Profile. This is truly magical stuff. The last song Sign Of Five [Soft Machine] is a jam and shows this band from both their best and worst side.

I am pretty much a newbie in the world of The Soft Machine and I feel that I am being dragged further and further into their world. I am truly under the spell of their music. For me; this live album is feeding my appetite for this band. Besides of that; the sound quality is excellent and the band is at full flow. This is also the only recording with John Etheridge too. I would say this is one of the best prog rock live albums I have ever heard and that is why it deserves 4 stars.

4 stars