LIVE AT HENIE ONSTAD ART CENTRE

Here's another excellent live release from SOFT MACHINE that has come out of the woodwork.The sound quality is very good as this was professionaly recorded at the Henie Art Centre in Oslo, Norway on February 28 1971. This two disc set shows the band playing some of their classics, and as usual both discs have no breaks between songs as the band just put their heads down and played.

Disc one features "Facelift", "Virually", "Slightly All The Time" and "Fletcher's Blemish". Keyboards and cymbals standout early with no real melody. Some fuzz before 4 1/2 minutes. Check out Ratledge after 6 minutes as the drums pound. It settles down around 11 minutes. A change before 12 1/2 minutes as the sax comes to the fore and the tempo picks up. Keys, bass and drums all sound amazing. A calm 17 minutes in as sounds come and go. Sax and keys sound great 21 minutes in. Fuzz 28 minutes as it changes. A calm after 31 minutes with cymbals. Fuzz before 34 1/2 minutes. It's intense before 36 1/2 minutes then it ends with applause.

Disc two features "Neo-Caliban Grides", "Out-Bloody-Rageous", "Eamonn Andrews", "All White", "Kings And Queens", "Teeth", "Pigling Band" and "Noisette", around 55 minutes of music. Outbursts of sounds come and go to start then it settles as we get some dissonance.This is insane ! Sax, drums and keys seem to be playing on their own oblivious to each other until they unite with fuzz. It settles before 8 1/2 minutes then the tempo picks up. Killer stuff. It settles again 12 1/2 minutes in then kicks back in at 16 1/2 minutes. Some vocal experessions from Wyatt a minute later as it calms right down.The vocals and sound echo before 21 minutes. It kicks back in after 22 minutes with keyboards, bass and drums. Fuzz follows. A change 32 minutes in as we get some outbursts. Fuzz is back 36 minutes in. It settles before 41 minutes and continues to settle back .A change after 43 minutes as relaxed sax plays over the drums, bass and keyboards. Major fuzz a minute later. Applause before 47 minutes as the set ends.The encore track kicks in before 48 1/2 minutes with drums then keys. Lots of fuzz follows. It settles back before 51 minutes. The sax is intense after 52 minutes. Great section. It settles back before 54 minutes but then the fuzz kicks in for the big finish.

Again i'm reminded of what febus said with all the live archival SOFT MACHINE albums. "Where do you draw the line !" Well this one is incredible and I agree with Torodd that this is a sure purchase.