LIVE AT THE NEW MORNING

This double live album has been an absolute pleasure to listen to this past week. SOFT MACHINE LEGACY is made up of former SOFT MACHINE members and the lineup here boasts Hugh Hopper, Elton Dean, John Marshall and John Etheridge. Sadly it was less than 2 months after this concert that Elton Dean passed away, and so it's stated in the liner notes that this album is in memory and a tribute to this legendary performer. I was surprised to see that Elton also plays the Fender Rhodes during this concert when he's not wailing on his sax.The concert here was performed at a club in Paris called "New Morning" and this is a club famous for it's Jazz concerts and also a favourite place for Elton and Hugh to play at. So yes this is one special album and one I will treasure.

"Ash" opens with laid back and intricate guitar before the drums and bass come in before 2 minutes as it builds. Sax follows and will lead the way after 5 minutes in this laid back section. Marshall sounds great a minute later. Hopper is more prominant after 6 1/2 minutes. It settles back 8 minutes in as the guitar replaces the sax. It starts to pick back up in intensity after 11 1/2 minutes and the sax is back after 13 minutes. Killer opener. "Seven For Lee" is even better. Some nice chunky bass to start as the drums and sax join in.The sax is leading here as the guitar arrives.This is great ! The sax stops before 5 minutes as the guitar takes the spotlight. Intense 7 minutes in and we get some Fender Rhodes here too. Nice. Etheridge is ripping it up on guitar. A calm after 9 minutes as the sax returns. So good. "1212" opens with bass as the sax joins in in this mellow beginning. It picks up 3 minutes in and Elton starts to light it up after 5 minutes. He stops before 6 1/2 minutes and the guitar takes over with fat bass lines. Etheridge is on fire here.The sax is back after 9 1/2 minutes. "Baker's Treat" ends disc one in a mellow way with sax out front early. It's the guitars turn 3 1/2 minutes in as it stays pastoral. Sax returns to end it.

Disc two starts with "Has Riff" a song that Ratledge helped to compose with the rest of the guys. Intricate guitar to start that continues until around 6 minutes when cymbals and bass come in.The guitar stops as Fender Rhodes joins in.This is really good. The guitar is back making some noise as it builds. Sax 11 1/2 minutes in rips it up. Killer track ! "Kings & Queens" is melancholic as sax comes and goes.It picks up a little as the sax leads. It's the guitars turn after 5 minutes as Elton switches to Fender Rhodes. "Side Burn" is a drum solo that has some guitar late as it blends into "Two Down" a short track with aggressive guitar. It blends into "Kite Runner". Ahhh just like the good old days when SOFT MACHINE would put their heads down and go from one song to the next with taking a breath.This track is slower but heavier as the sax joins in. This is fun. Nice bass 4 minutes in. It settles right down 5 1/2 minutes in and slowly builds. So good.Sax around 9 minutes. "Strange Comforts" ends it in a reserved manner with sax leading then giving way to the guitar before returning to end it.

It was an honour to listen to these older men playing so amazingly and often with fire. Sad that half of this band is no longer with us.That makes this all the more meaningful.

Awesome seeing this date, where members representing the very legendary "legacy" of Soft Machine, across eras, were pulled together. The great and near-inimitable Hugh HOPPER had been with the original SOFT MACHINE since 1968, appearing on their self-titled debut (two years after the band's formation), through to 1973 for the second-to-last numeric album, Six. A 30+-year return, too, for Elton Dean, also representative of an earlier, bygone era, as he appeared alongside Hopper and Co. from 1969 to 1972 (on Third, Fourth, and Fifth)--interesting to me, given this timeline, how much I've ignorantly considered Dean to be the guy on sax. Hopper and Dean formed Soft Machine Legacy in 2004 out of the short-lived SOFT WORKS, then consisting of John Marshall (originally with early NUCLEUS, then drummer for SM from 1972 through to their true-blue Fusion era in 1976), Keith Tippet and the illustrious ALLAN HOLDSWORTH (appearing on Bundles, 1975). It was with the departure of Tippet and replacement of Holdsworth with John Etheridge-- interestingly, the exact replacement that occurred in 1975/76 between Bundles and Softs--that Legacy was formed. This latter mentioned album, as with Holdsworth and Bundles, was the sole "Soft Machine proper" studio album on which Etheridge appeared.

And this has very much the feeling of a so-called "proper" Soft Machine release. Rolling, meandering rhythm section and sax. And the now-classic [Guitar] Fusion stylings of John Etheridge hold it together, from comping and softy striding to his blazing melt. One track that I thought was just fine but turned out to be much more was "1212". Sure masters of composition, but also of backing each other. Exemplary musicianship and know- how. One track that doesn't do so well in this regard was "Has Riff", which was, at the start, 6 minutes of Etheridge noodling, truly solo. This is a spacy track with little to no resolve.

"Kings & Queens" immediately made me think of classic GONG. Pensive but lofty and ethereal. A track low-to- the-ground, but satisfying. Alongside the Malherbe-esque saxophonics, the highlight here is Marshall's drumming: reserved, yet excellent. "Sideburn" is where they felt he didn't do enough, as it's literally a near-5- minute drum solo. Take it or leave it, but it naturally goes into the next, "Two Down", a pick-me-up for sure, personally. But admittedly, a potentially bigger problem than I'd like to admit was that it felt pretty flat. No bass?... Just a weird choice.

The swing of styles range from heavy Fusion to classic but ultimately reserved Canterbury quirk to cool, loungey Post-Bop ("Baker's Treat", "Strange Comforts").

Personal stand-out tracks: "Ash", "1212"