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KINGS OF CANTERBURY

The Soft Machine

Canterbury Scene


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The Soft Machine Kings Of Canterbury album cover
1.71 | 9 ratings | 3 reviews | 11% 5 stars

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Boxset/Compilation, released in 2003

Songs / Tracks Listing

CD1: From Live at the Paradiso (34:20)
1. Hulloder (0:25)
2. Dada Was Here (8:21)
3. Thank You Pierrot Lunaire (0:45)
4. Have You Ever Been Green? (0:57)
5. Pataphysical Introduction Pt II (1:00)
6. As Long As He Lies Perfectly Still (1:55)
7. Fire Engine Passing With Bells Clanging (2:17)
8. Hibou, Anemone And Bear (4:18)
9. Fire Engine (Reprise) (3:21)
10. Facelift (5:03)
11. Moon in June (5:58)

CD2: From Facelift (60:54)
1. Slightly All The Time (5:22)
2. Mousetrap (6:27)
3. Noisette (0:36)
4. Backwards (3:50)
5. Mousetrap (Reprise) (0:16)
6. Eamonn Andrews (12:10)
7. Esther's Nose Job (6:50)
8. Pigling Bland (3:52)
9. I Should've Known (4:46)
10. Esther's Nose Job (Reprise) (1:36)
11. Pig (2:57)
12. Orange Skin Food (0:15)
13. A Door Opens and Closes (1:18)
14. 10-30 Returns To The Bedroom (10:39)

This choice compilation of live material from 1969-70 is selected from three albums which emerged many years after their recording - 'Live at The Paradiso' (featuring the short-lived trio line-up of Wyatt, Hopper and Ratledge), 'Facelift' (recordeded at Croydon's Fairfield Halls in April 1970 ) & 'Live 1970'.

Line-up / Musicians

- Robert Wyatt - drums, vocals
- Mike Ratledge - organ,electric piano
- Hugh Hopper - bass
- Elton Dean - alto sax, saxello-(disc 2)
- Lyn Dobson - sax (disc 1>10-11)

Releases information

CD SNAPPER MUSIC (SMD456)

Contains 3 albums : Live At The Paradiso, Facelift & Live 1970.

Thanks to ProgLucky for the addition
and to snobb for the last updates
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THE SOFT MACHINE Kings Of Canterbury ratings distribution


1.71
(9 ratings)
Essential: a masterpiece of progressive rock music(11%)
11%
Excellent addition to any prog rock music collection(11%)
11%
Good, but non-essential (0%)
0%
Collectors/fans only (56%)
56%
Poor. Only for completionists (22%)
22%

THE SOFT MACHINE Kings Of Canterbury reviews


Showing all collaborators reviews and last reviews preview | Show all reviews/ratings

Collaborators/Experts Reviews

Review by Dick Heath
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Jazz-Rock Specialist
1 stars At last this long advertised double set has become available for sale at Amazon.UK - 6 months I had to wait and with no track list information available. DON'T BE LIKE ME, DON'T BUY IT. It is for the complete completists. All this material has already been released through Voiceprint/Blueprint. Thanks to Progarchives I now have a better tracking listing than provided in the liner notes, indicating three original sources of the live recordings are on the album. One, "Paradiso" has become an increasingly essential Machine album for me - and at least the recording quality on this part of the set is good (indeed, possibly better than both the first two legitimate Soft machine solo albums). However, the rest of the recordings on "Kings Of Canterbury" are poor bootleg quality (made by friends of the Machine) - the recent Cuneiform live Machine releases are so much betterquality.

Instead buy "Live At Paradiso" the single album (to hear Soft Machine in transition from prog to jazz rock). BUT avoid this and avoid the lousy quality of the rest of the recordings.

Review by chopper
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Honorary Collaborator
2 stars I am by no means an expert in the music of Soft Machine, but I bought this along with a couple of other similiar double budget release CDs on the Recall label as I recognised some of the tracks as being SM classics. Sadly, what it does not tell you on the outside cover is that a fair number the songs are poorly recorded (on a cassette player). The tracks are taken from 3 albums released years after their recording - "Live at the Paradiso", "Facelift" and "Live 1970". At least the inner sleeve does give the details of the tracks (unlike some similiar CDs such as ELP's "The Show That Never Ends") and warns you of the poor quality.

Fortunately I only paid £5 for it as basically it sounds like the bootleg recording it effectively is and, as our own Dick Heath says, this CD is really of historical interest for completionists only.

Latest members reviews

2 stars Sometimes, I wonder what is the difference between piracy and legality. If you hijack a super tanker outside Somalia, you are a pirate. If you take three posthumous live albums from Soft Machine and release it as one double album in a cheap and nasty packaging, you are a legal businessman. I ... (read more)

Report this review (#351846) | Posted by toroddfuglesteg | Monday, December 13, 2010 | Review Permanlink

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