NOISETTE

In the crowded field of Soft Machine live albums, Noisette positively stands out for multiple reasons: first of all, it was recorded on January 4th at the Fairfield Halls in Croydon, the same night on which the band would record the version of "Facelift" that would end up on their famous Third album later that year. This also makes Noisette one of the rarer recordings to feature Lyn Dobson, and thus one of the few Soft Machine albums to prominently feature a flute (not to mention scat vocals from anyone besides Robert Wyatt); secondly, it captures the band right in the middle of their transition from psychedelic prog rock to experimental jazz fusion. Therefore, interspersed with pieces which would remain a main staple of the band's live catalog for a couple of years like "Mousetrap" and the jazzed-up rearrangement of "Esther's Nose Job" (as well as a very early version of "Teeth", here titled "12/8 Theme"), we get a droning, minimalistic take on "Eamonn Andrews" that runs for over twelve minutes, and as a real bonus treat at the end of the album, the band entertains the audience with a tripped-out version of "We Did It Again", a song that was to quickly disappear from their setlist but which is here presented in a noisier and jazzier fashion, with Elton Dean channeling the middle ground between the old and the new Soft Machine styles really well.

And that leads me to the final pro, which is that the instrumental performances are absolutely stellar. The band had an exceptionally good night on that January date in Croydon, with Mike Ratledge furiously assaulting his organs and Elton Dean blowing his lungs out; both are more free and unashamedly let loose than at possibly any other point in their career, and the rhythm section backs them up beautifully the whole time. It's just an amazing document of how good this band really was during their prime. An essential listen for any Soft Machine fan; just a damn good experience for any prog or jazz fusion aficionado.