The Floating World : The "Official" Soft Machine Thread

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Scope J, Mar 11, 2010.

  1. Jason Pumphrey

    Jason Pumphrey Forum Resident

    Phil Howard was also good drummer in his own unique way
     
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  2. jay.dee

    jay.dee Forum Resident

    Location:
    Barcelona, Spain
    There have not been too many drummers like him in rock music. :)

     
    Last edited: Jun 7, 2016
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  3. Jason Pumphrey

    Jason Pumphrey Forum Resident

    Sounds very close to the style of Keith Moon in my opinion!
     
  4. jay.dee

    jay.dee Forum Resident

    Location:
    Barcelona, Spain
    Or even closer to... Rashied Ali. :)

     
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  5. Jason Pumphrey

    Jason Pumphrey Forum Resident

    Although Robert Wyatt it is mostly known as a drummer, he is actually proficient on several different instruments, including various keyboards and cornet, the latter he plays a beautiful solo on one of David Gilmour's solo songs.
     
  6. kaztor

    kaztor Music is the Best

    Top, middle is Andy Summers, right?
    Robert Wyatt looks strikingly like Sting here! :D

    Anyway, amazing band. Got everything up to, and including, Softs by them and think the Triple Echo compilation should see a cd release. More to follow!
     
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  7. Jason Pumphrey

    Jason Pumphrey Forum Resident

    What is the chance of any Phil Howard era footage even existing on video?
     
  8. Jason Pumphrey

    Jason Pumphrey Forum Resident

    [​IMG] spinning this CD right now, I like the fact that you have all three soft machine drummers on the same disk!
     
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  9. Jason Pumphrey

    Jason Pumphrey Forum Resident

    Of the band's five Columbia Records releases, I believe the Fourth/4 album was the best recorded and engineered, lots of nice fine detail on that album.
     
  10. Sytze

    Sytze Senior Member

    I'm pretty sure it's the Ayers/Wyatt/Allen/Ratledge line-up.
     
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  11. lennonfan1

    lennonfan1 Senior Member

    Location:
    baltimore maryland
    Don't think this has been mentioned in this thread yet, but I suppose should be:)
    The Soft Machine was a book by William Burroughs and this Beat author was also a friend to Daevid Allen.
    Daevid basically started the band with his young teenage friend Robert Wyatt.
    Daevid was also friends with Jimi Hendrix. Daevid has said he did some experiemental recordings with Paul McCartney in 1966, the most holy of Fab years, and these have never been released..
    Daevid is only on their first single Love Makes Sweet Music and some of the recorded radio broadcasts of that time.
    In 1967 on tour in France he was refused reentry into the UK so he stayed behind, left the band, and started the amazing GONG.
    If you don't have the early Gong records, you need them. Especially the Trilogy.
     
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  12. Hermetech Mastering

    Hermetech Mastering Mastering Engineer

    Location:
    Milan, Italy
    Yep, it's all in the Wyatt biog too, which is excellent.
     
  13. Jason Pumphrey

    Jason Pumphrey Forum Resident

    I like taking a ride on the old flying teapot!
     
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  14. R. Totale

    R. Totale The Voice of Reason

    Not true, there's a whole LP recorded as demos with Allen which has been issued under various names, think mine is called "Jet-Propelled Photograph" on some Gomelsky label, Charly probably. Allen's skills as a guitarist at that point are nothing to write home about. Spot Daevid and Robert Wyatt as extras in this 1964 French movie

     
  15. lennonfan1

    lennonfan1 Senior Member

    Location:
    baltimore maryland
    yes but what I'm referring to was actual official output by Soft Machine. There's also a cd of pre-Softs material called The Daevid Allen Trio from 1963.
    I haven't heard the demos but Daevid himself was very aware of his limits as a guitarist, but to give credit where it's due, his friendship with Syd Barrett led him to take Syd's glissando technique experiements and fully flesh them out and this makes his style quite unique. I think he became a better guitarist in time, but he always struck me as an ideas guy rather than Guitar God. ....and after a million guitar gods, I'm really more excited by the ideas guy:)
     
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  16. varitone

    varitone Forum Resident

    Location:
    Lincs, UK
    Well yeah, he had quite a thrilling free style but maybe not much regard for the more structured stuff. On the Germany 1971 live recording released a few years ago as Drop, there's a 13 minute version of Slightly All The Time which has Phil Howard flailing away all through it. The first 7 minutes or so sound like the other three are waiting for him to rein it in a bit, which he doesn't so they just play it anyway.

    I do like the Phil Howard side of Fifth though.
     
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  17. Jason Pumphrey

    Jason Pumphrey Forum Resident

    Yes, the first side of the fifth album is a classic, very spacey, almost psychedelic, his work on the Elton Dean solo album Just Us was pretty good as well, I do believe Phil Howard's drumming style might've worked with some of Miles Davis's Bitches Brew era stuff.
     
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  18. Jason Pumphrey

    Jason Pumphrey Forum Resident

    Robert Wyatt did more with his honey gold minimal drum kit than most drummers could do with large ones!
    I believe that kit was a gift from Mitch Mitchell if I remember correctly.
     
  19. Hermetech Mastering

    Hermetech Mastering Mastering Engineer

    Location:
    Milan, Italy
    Yes, was given it around the time they toured the states with Hendrix, I think. He's still got it.
     
  20. ArpMoog

    ArpMoog Forum Resident

    Location:
    Detroit
    Ive been on a Soft Machine kick for the last week, I had to go to the Doctor and made him a copy of the first two albums.
    I often turn him on to stuff and it will be interesting to hear what his feedback is.
    I just got the Tripple Echo box, I have wanted it for a while and the version of Moon in June on there is awesome.
    Has the forum ever done a Soft machine album by album tread ?
    I can't find anything in the search. That would be great with the Wyatt/Ayers tree branches added in.
    The family tree paper that came with the Echo box is cool and would be fun framed and up on the wall.
     
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  21. Jason Pumphrey

    Jason Pumphrey Forum Resident

    I still need the triple Echo box set, not an easy find these days
     
  22. Jason Pumphrey

    Jason Pumphrey Forum Resident

    The two fer CD of the first two albums on the Big Beat label is a great release
     
    Scope J likes this.
  23. Scope J

    Scope J Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Michigan
    This thread has an Album by Album , though
    i wish i'd have added that to the title to begin
    with .
     
  24. Scope J

    Scope J Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Michigan
    Was excited about this ......until i put
    it in the player , painfully loud !!! :realmad:

    [​IMG]
     
  25. jay.dee

    jay.dee Forum Resident

    Location:
    Barcelona, Spain
    Loud? My CD from 2006 is neither loud (quite the contrary I'd say) nor particularly compressed...
     

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