It is, but all of 7 and the studio parts of 6 are more my jam these days. Those records just sound right.
Thanks for this thread. Have Bundles or Alive and Well.. Paris ever been remastered? There's a very particular reason why I'm asking this. I know a lot of the albums were remastered in 2007, but I'm not sure if later ones have. BTW for the last few years I've lived in Canterbury UK. I'm really keen to try and get an Canterbury Scene retrospective exhibition of visual archive material here in the future.
Yes. Bundles, Softs & Alive & Well were originally on See For Miles & then reissued & remastered by Esoteric. The remaster of Alive & Well has an extra CD with more live goodies. See Soft Machine - Alive And Well Recorded In Paris . I like the See For Miles Softs but prefer the Esoteric versions of the other 2. They have also been remastered in Japan using the Blu-Spec CD format but they are slightly louder than the Esoteric CDs so I don't like them.
I've been doing my homework on Soft Machine for a while now and I just pulled the trigger on BBC '71-'74, Switzerland '74 (CD/DVD) and NDR Jazz Workshop, '73 (CD/DVD). Looking forward to digging into these.
Great picks. My go-to live releases corresponding to each "jazzy" studio album of theirs would be the following: Third --> Noisette - their best live release by far, it should be re-released in "deluxe" edition with missing "Facelift" (partly present on 3rd) Fourth --> Virtually - terrific gig, more coherent than the transitional Amsterdam set from Grides Fifth --> Drop for Howard's side (sound quality may be an issue though), Live in Paris for Marshall's is spectacular Six --> Softstage is much better than the live portion of 6 Seven --> NDR Jazz Workshop blows 7 out of water (the transition from minimalistic jazz-rock to virtuosic guitar fusion) --> Switzerland 1974; I have always wondered how they managed to change so drastically, here is an eye-opening stepping stone Bundles --> Floating World Live - a hot fusion date works better than cold fusion in a studio reactor Softs --> British Tour '75 - as above
Despite the sleeve notes of Softstage claiming it's better than the live part of 6 I'm not convinced. To me Softstage sounds a bit tentative.
Thanks for the recommendations. I've actually spent a fair bit of time going through the content from '67-'74 and while I liked some of what I was hearing up through '70-'71, there's a certain early Pink Floyd absurdity thing going on early (sorry, I don't mean to ruffle any feathers of those who dig this era; just an observation on my part) and while I'm really as much of a jazzer as I am a rocker, overall the early-mid '70s stuff struck me the most. I don't have a great deal of $ to spend, so the three I got seemed to really focus on what I've liked so far. It's funny, the reviews I read about BBC '67-'71 and BBC '71-'74 indicated that the former was much better than the latter, but my listening on youtube convinced me of the exact opposite. These days, I generally only listen to live music with the rare exception, especially with bands such as this. I've had Vol. 2 on vinyl since my college days in the early '80s but it's never resonated much with me, but I washed it tonight and it's going on the platter tomorrow. Of those you mentioned, I think that Bundles/Floating World Live might be my next consideration pending what I hear in what's on the way. Thanks again.
Their early psychodelic dada-pop and (later) dada-prog may be of an acquired taste, although it's actually what made them famous in the first place. In terms of live recordings from that phase (SM Vol.1 & 2) there's little to talk about except for Live in Paradiso '69, which is a raw slab of fuzzy organ-driven improvs. If you are not a fan of early Floyd or The Nice, you may well skip it. The proper "jazzy" Soft Machine era starts with Third, and although the psychedelic dada element is still present on that album it would have largely gone by Fourth, with the growing dominance of the saxophonist Elton Dean. And with the departure of Robert Wyatt in the middle of Fifth sessions any traces of English quirkiness would disappear completely. It depends. If you prefer the first disc of BBC '71-74 then Live in Paris '72 and Softstage '72 should be on your shortlist, and possibly Drop '71 too, especially if you are not averse to free-jazz. If the second disc of the compilation is more to your liking, then Floating World Live '75 (w/ Allan Holdsworth) and British Tour '75 (w/ John Etheridge) will be the way to go. I would not discard the earlier phase though, because if you like their recordings from 1972 the chances are that even Wyatt-led band edition has something to offer. I would definitely give a try to Virtually '71, which has very little of the "absurdity" you're allergic to, but a whole lot of terrific improvised playing. And once/if you get there, we'll talk again.
I just picked up that Switzerland release too. Really looking forward to that! Found a copy of Bundles on discogs last month, so that's been occupying a lot of time on the turntable these days. That one just never gets old.
For now, I'm not discarding anything, but with a somewhat limited budget, I honed in on what attracted me the most. I've copied your comments here and above into the Word file that has my order confirmation so I have them handy down the road. Thanks again.
I'm hearing a fair bit of similarity between much of the '72 stuff to King Crimson of the same era. Certainly there are differences in instrumentation and some of the music is much less similar to Crimso, but it's almost as if they're two bands taking slightly different paths to cracking the same nut. Good stuff. So far, while I really dig the grooves that Babbington sets up in '73 and '74, I'm a bit more partial to the more improvisational style of Hopper. But the playing of the band as a whole so far is slightly more intense in '73 and '74 than what I have from '71 and '72. But all in all, a nice, natural fit for me so far.
I guess I should warn you then. Don't expect too much from Switzerland. The performance is fine but sound-wise it is one of the worst from that period.
There's generally more intensity on the live sets like Drop '71 (with Phil Howard on drums) and Live in Paris '72 (with John Marshall) than on the BBC tracks you have. Although Hugh's influence on their improvisational style had peaked IMO before Howard and Dean took the band into freer direction. It was a very unique chemistry and balance the core quartet of Hopper, Ratledge, Wyatt and Dean had, which in its purest form is evidenced on the sequence of these quality live recordings: Grides (Oct '70), Live at Henie Onstad Art Centre (Feb '71) and Virtually (Mar '71). Structured improvisations with a bit of free-form jamming that Elton would gradually inject in larger quantities after Wyatt's departure. Soft Machine - Wikipedia Interestingly Wyatt's solo vehicle after his departure, Matching Mole, were very much into free-form open-ended improvisations live, best heard on Smoke Signals '72 set. Yet it was more a free-form à la Miles Davis ca. 1970, i.e. Black Beauty or Fillmore East, than the (post-)Coltrane '66 free form pursued by Dean and Howard. However, as neither of these free directions convinced the structured-improv guys like Hopper and Ratledge, the free contingent got gradually ousted (first Wyatt, then Howard and finally Dean), and the band would get filled with the musicians from Nucleus (Jenkins, Babbington & Holdsworth). And this would first skew the balance towards jazz-rock (although Jenkins also had used to play with British free-improv stalwarts like Barry Guy!) and then push Hopper and, later, Ratledge out of the band, who would have grown dissatisfied with the new fusion direction.
Other than the noted distortion during The Man Who Waved at Trains and Peff, the sound on Switzerland isn't too bad. Compared to some of the live Deep Purple Mark II and King Crimson releases from that era it's quite passable.
I was not expecting much as far as the sound goes. I just wanted to see these dudes live and in action after having listened to them for a while, and from that aspect it did not disappointe.
Loved 1, 2, and 3 then they got too jazzy for me. But Mike Ratledge was an amazing musician - he totally blew my mind. Too bad he dropped out of music, but not unusual, there's an entire thread devoted to that topic. Had 1 - 4 on LP in college, now on CD.
Jan 23 - Sofia Tsakapolous Center for Arts - Sacramento, CA (with Levin Brothers) Jan 24 - Freight & Salvage - Berkeley, CA (with Levin Brothers) Jan 25 - Flynn's - Felton/Santa Cruz, CA (with Levin Brothers) Jan 27 - Alberta Rose Theater - Portland, OR (with Moraine) Jan 28 - The Triple Door - Seattle, WA (with Moraine) Jan 29 - Triple Door - Seattle, WA (with Moraine) Jan 31 - The Baked Potato (2 shows) - Los Angeles, CA Feb 1 - The Baked Potato (2 shows) - Los Angeles, CA Feb 2 - Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts - Scottsdale, AZ (with Levin Brothers) Feb 4-8 - The Cruise To The Edge - Key West, FL, USA + Cozumel Mexico
