LAND OF COCKAYNE

The Soft Machine

Canterbury Scene

3.00 | 176 ratings

From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

Soft Machine has always evolved over the years but every album is full of integrity, talent, atmosphere and passionate soloing, including this one. Track by track ...

Over n' Above - sweetly emotional melodies but the first false ending at around the 4 min mark should have been the ending proper. A tad overlong

Lotus Groves - like a mellow lovechild of Passport and Weather Report

Isle of the Blessed - a short quasi-classical strings piece that works as an intro to ...

Panoramania - this one sounds even more like Passport. Straight up sax fusion. The rhythm section are on fire.

Behind the Crystal Curtain - a keys based intro to ...

Palace of Glass - chaotic noises soon give way to a classic Karl Perkins new age minimalist pattern overlaid with floating flutes and ahhhh vocal samples that harks back to A Floating World

Hot Biscuit Slim - still sounding like Passport, now with a touch of Spyro Gyra. Very funky fusion and I'm still lovin' that rhythm section, but I admit to being a John Marshall tragic from way back.

Black Velvet Mountain - almost prog-like! The intro is almost like UK but soon gives way to Paul Buuckmaster style strings. Then comes maestro Holdsworth's melodic whammy bar and, dare I say it, some sax work reminiscent of Klaus Doldinger of Passport. The vibe is a bit like Song of Aeolus from Softs. My favourite.

Sly Money - classic Soft Machine fusion workout, just more melodic than before. Great solos, both by Allan H and the sax. My other favourite.

"A Lot Of What You Fancy..." - a very brief piano and sax outro.

Greta007 | 4/5 | 2021-2-18

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