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Hugh Hopper - Hopper Tunity Box CD (album) cover

HOPPER TUNITY BOX

Hugh Hopper

 

Canterbury Scene

3.78 | 63 ratings

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Warthur
Prog Reviewer
4 stars Existing at the harder end of the Canterbury-ish fusion spectrum, Hopper Tunity Box is an album which makes the case for Hugh Hopper, along with Robert Wyatt, being one of the key personalities in Soft Machine. Though he wasn't a founder member of the group, he was in the predecessor band The Wilde Flowers and joined the Softs very early on, and arguably his raw and dirty bass sound was a key element in Volume 2 and Third. High-quality Hopper solo albums like this one underscore the point that it was his bass work which gave classic-period Soft Machine its crucial edge - an edge which I feel was sidelined a little in the albums leading up to Hopper's departure and entirely absent from the group's sound after Hopper jumped ship, a process remarkably reminiscent of the silencing of Robert Wyatt's vocals.

So, if you're a Soft Machine fan who felt that the Softs lost a little something each time they jettisoned one of their key members, it'll be of interest - and fans of the less twee and more jagged sort of Canterbury may find themselves charmed by this one too. Guest spots from fellow Softie Elton Dean and from National Health's Dave Stewart are also notable.

Warthur | 4/5 |

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