The Floating World : The "Official" Soft Machine Thread

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

  1. Scope J

    Scope J Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Michigan
    Winter bump
     
  2. Desolation Row

    Desolation Row Forum Resident

    Location:
    Oklahoma
    I'm exploring them for the first time. They are blowing me away. I really like Six, Seven, and Bundles. I don't like the first album at all. Third seems cool, but I need to listen to it more. They are difficult to follow, but that's part of what I love about them. I like puzzling, enigmatic artists, as long as there is a payoff in the music. This stuff is really cool.

    What's their story? I'm relatively ignorant about them. I know they came out of the UFO scene, and were close cohorts with The Pink Floyd. Why did the group's lineup change so much? Where do you partition different contributors' primary influence within the band? I mean, is there a Ratledge period, a Jenkins period, and so forth? How do you demarcate the group's complicated history? Was the group conceived as a fluid collective that the founders envisioned transforming over time? Or were their stages of conflict within the band that explain its shifting membership?

    I love arriving at groups and artists like this that feature intriguing histories and vast, protean discographies. It's fun.
     
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  3. DaveinMA

    DaveinMA Some guy

  4. Scope J

    Scope J Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Michigan
    Highly recommend the bio Out Bloody-Rageous!

    book is out of print and rather pricey, though
    a kindle version is out now

    https://www.amazon.com/Soft-Machine...=8-1&keywords=soft+machine+out+bloody+rageous
     
    Desolation Row likes this.
  5. abor1g

    abor1g Forum Resident

    Location:
    Gwada
    Look at this : especially with Lynn dobson at 8:50

     
  6. Scope J

    Scope J Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Michigan
    Anyone catch the show in Chicago?!
     
  7. R. Totale

    R. Totale The Voice of Reason

    The "Soft Machine" DJ show in Chicago seems to have nothing to do with the English band.
     
  8. pbuzby

    pbuzby Senior Member

    Location:
    Chicago, IL, US
    Reading the email it seems they will be performing in Chicago next year.
     
    Scope J likes this.
  9. Scope J

    Scope J Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Michigan
    Right, just saw it was 2018, new album too!!!
     
  10. R. Totale

    R. Totale The Voice of Reason

    Do you mean Soft Machine Legacy? Is that band still functional?
     
  11. pbuzby

    pbuzby Senior Member

    Location:
    Chicago, IL, US
    I guess now they are calling the band Soft Machine again. John Etheridge, Theo Travis, Roy Babbington, John Marshall is the advertised lineup.
     
    Scope J likes this.
  12. Daryl M

    Daryl M Senior Member

    Location:
    London, Ontario
    Just got around to watching the `Dutch Woodstock' movie. The Softs were playing at
    night. They must have been huge to go on stage at that point!
     
    Scope J likes this.
  13. bekayne

    bekayne Senior Member

  14. bekayne

    bekayne Senior Member

  15. Daryl M

    Daryl M Senior Member

    Location:
    London, Ontario
    Is Mike Ratledge retired? Are his whereabouts known?
     
  16. bekayne

    bekayne Senior Member

    John Etheridge interview: “We never got paid for Soft Machine. God knows what happened to the money”
     
    jay.dee likes this.
  17. bekayne

    bekayne Senior Member

    Meaning the picture being taken after August 24 at earliest...put your shirt on, Robert.
     
  18. bekayne

    bekayne Senior Member

    Beyond Image by Mark Boyle and Joan Hills, music by Soft Machine

     
    Jason Pumphrey likes this.
  19. I haven't bought all the studio albums by any band in one single day since 1983 (when I first got into The Doors - my all-time favourites), but that's just what I've done today! Ironically perhaps, I've discovered them through Karl Jenkins and I actually like "Bundles" and "Softs" more than any of the other albums at this point in time. That might conceivably change over time though. What a "revolving door" band, if ever there was one! They make The Byrds look like the Fab Four!

    Over here Karl Jenkins' unique brand of cross-over, neo-classical / ethnic / pop music with orchestration and choirs is mega-popular today.
     
    Scope J likes this.
  20. evillouie

    evillouie Forum Resident

    Location:
    Toledo
    I'm surprised no one has mentioned the Land Of Cockayne album yet. Not sure how it's regarded by other SM fans, but Holdsworth and Jack Bruce are great on it.
     
  21. Scope J

    Scope J Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Michigan
    A Karl album, as is Rubber Riff imho, will post both for those who wish to opine/discuss.
     
  22. Scope J

    Scope J Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Michigan
  23. Scope J

    Scope J Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Michigan
  24. It's generally dismissed by all. I like it so I'm tempted to "work backwards" when all the discs arrive so I start with the weakest album and work my way back into the so-called "classic period", which just so happens to coincide with my favourite years of rock music anyway. As it's the 50th Anniversary of SM debut album it's a good time to begin listening to them properly for the first time ever.
     
  25. jay.dee

    jay.dee Forum Resident

    Location:
    Barcelona, Spain
    Interesting commentary on past Soft Machine's alumni reunions from Leonardo Pavkovic, the owner of MoonJune Records:
    Leonardo Pavkovic: Nothing is Ordinary
     
    bekayne and acetboy like this.

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