Noted with some dismay that most of the Softs threads were closed , here is a new one , on a bit of a kick lately and have been checking out some disc's that i'd not heard , Six & Seven are quite nice .
I have all the studio albums up to and including Softs (1976). I also have Kings Of Canterbury (2CD live album, recommended for its first disc which has terrific Ratledge organ sound); Spaced (1969-era 'art installation' soundtrack notable for some very weird but interesting ambient pieces); Noisette and Backwards (1970 'live' albums for the most part, though the latter also has a 21-minute demo of Moon In June); and the 1971-2 concert albums Virtually, Soft Machine & Heavy Friends and Soft Machine Softstage (the last two of which are BBC recordings). I can recommend all of them.
Love them. First four are kind of my main bag, but the later stuff has merit too. Also don't forget to track down Matching Mole, Wyatt's awesome post-Soft band. Agreed about Noisette, too, that's a fantastic live album. I almost typed "Machine Mole," which of course is how the name came to be -- "Machine Molle," i.e. Soft Machine.
I'm partial to the later era ones, like 5,6,7, Bundles, BBC Radio 1971-74 and most of all the live stuff with guitarists, including Holdsworth, like Floating World Live and the boot Live Bundles, if there's a heavier song than Hazard Profile out there, please let me know! also I think an even greater related band is Nucleus
Oooh -- forgot to mention the pre-first-album singles, too, with Ayers and Allen. KILLER psych/jazz/awesomeness.
I'm extremely enthusiastic up to '4' (and anything Wyatt has done since) and I'm fond of the '5'-'7' period. Everything after that I avoid. (well, the final track on 'Alive And Well' isn't too bad, but that might be because of Mike Thorne rather than Karl Jenkins) I have the original Strange Fruit CD of 'The Peel Sessions'. Still not sure I need to get the Hux as well. The current remaster of the first album adds both side of the Polydor single, don't it? Anyone pick that up yet?
Ooh! I forgot to mention that I have that one. It's all in mono, isn't it, or is that just the first of the 2 discs?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpE8...1D0A6E7B&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=29 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBPW73o4Wjc&feature=related
Soft Machine I is and always will be one of my all-time favorite albums, one that changed my life. For the better, might I add.
Anyone want to discuss Jet Propelled Photographs? Kind of an essential document for both the Softs and the Canterbury scene in general (and heck, it has Daevid Allen on it).
An AMAZING record. I love it dearly. It shows what Soft Machine could have been had they remained more "normal" (for lack of a better word). "That's how much I need you now" is essentially an early version of "Moon in June", except it's stripped down in both time and instrumentation, as it's only 2 minutes long and features only Wyatt on piano and vocals. It's beautiful, essential even. "She's gone" basically is an r'n'b number. In the early incarnation of Soft Machine known as The Wilde Flowers, Kevin Ayers was singing lead on this one. "Memories" is very close to the official version found on Daevid Allen's Bananamour. "I should have known" is an early version of "Why Am I so Short/So Boot if at all" with straight lovesong lyrics and a more r'n'b flavour - however it still features a long and groovy drum solo. Same goes for "Save Yourself", this is a more straight version. This album showcases the poppier side of SM. A couple of years ago, I saw Daevid Allen live and his set was mostly SM songs from this era. After the gig, I got to speak with him a little and he said something like "We couldn't believe it when 'Love Makes Sweet Music' went Top 20. We thought of ourselves as a jazzy avant-garde band, but Robert had such a pop sensibility, he wrote hits against his will".
It's really a stunning set of songs, and I'm perfectly content that some of the material got reused/reframed later by any number of its players. And on a side note, I'm also impressed that this is when the band intersected with Giorgio Gomelsky, who must've been a busy guy after his work with the Stones and the Yardbirds. I say this based on his Wikipedia entry: "Giorgio Gomelsky (born February 28, 1934) is a filmmaker, impresario, music manager and record producer. He owned the Crawdaddy Club where The Rolling Stones were house band, and he was involved with their early management. He hired The Yardbirds as a replacement and managed them. He was also their producer from the beginning through 1966. In 1967, he started Marmalade Records (distributed by Polydor), which featured "Julie Driscoll, Brian Auger and The Trinity", The Blossom Toes, and early recordings by Graham Gouldman, Kevin Godley and Lol Creme, who became 10cc. The label closed in 1969. Giorgio was also instrumental in the careers of The Soft Machine, Daevid Allen and Gong and Magma."
My favorite, certainly. The perfect blend of the pop sensibilities of the first album with the jazz leanings of Third. This was the band at its most vibrant in the Wyatt years. A stone classic, sounds as fresh today as it did 40 years ago.
Yes, SM Volume Two seems to be all around winner for the early era Machine. Of course, what was to follow thereafter was a very different evolution, most notable for the lack of vocals as the group kicked into their prog-jazz phase. I admit that I'm a fan of the vocal era more than the work that followed, although I think the next two albums possess their own instrumental charms. However, I got off the SM bus when Wyatt departed, and have no clear idea of the music that followed. So, if I wanted to check into the post-Wyatt albums, should I stay chronological and buy Fifth and keep going from there, or is there a noteworthy later record to jump to?
Yes , i recommend going chronologically , keeping in mind the BBC & Live releases , Six & Seven are well worth a listen , also Bundles & Softs arnt too shabby either