LIVE AT HENIE ONSTAD ART CENTRE

Archival live releases from Soft Machine have become thick on the ground these days, but releases like this one show why - the band were absolutely dynamite in in this phase of their existence and the recording quality on this appearance in Norway is superb. This hails from around the release of Fourth, so we're quite late in Robert Wyatt's tenure in the group; vocal performances and psychedelic whimsy are out, growling jazz fusion is in. You get much of Third here (minus, of course, the vocals-heavy Moon In June), plus selections from Fourth and early takes on material which would materialise on Fifth, plus a few numbers which Soft Machine extensively performed live but didn't really set down in the studio; the overall sound is a bit sharper and more disciplined than Third, a bit more lively than Fourth and Fifth.