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Soft Machine: Live In Paris
ByThis recording, previously released by One Way Records as Live in France, has been carefully remastered by Cuneiform. The original release suffered from a thin sound, poor instrumental mix and sometimes painfully bright and harsh saxophone sound. While source tapes can only be cleaned up so much, the improvement on this reissue is palpable; The bottom end is bigger; Marshall's drum kit sounds like a drum kit, and while Dean's sax and Ratledge's signature organ voice are still somewhat abrasive, the whole set is completely listenable.
The material is drawn primarily from Third and Fifth; noticeably absent is any material from the more compositionally dense Fourth, but this is just as well. While Ratledge's extended compositions from Third, namely "Slightly All the Time" and "Out-Bloody-Rageous," get substantially reworked this time around, they are clearly adaptable to the more "music-in-a-test-tube" nature of this incarnation of the Softs. And Hopper's "Facelift," which opens disk two, is a highlight of the entire hundred-and-five-minute set.
But as much as the structured material lays a foundation for the soloists, it is the continuous nature of their set that keeps things interesting. Free passages segue between compositions, and Marshall proves that he was ultimately the right drummer for the job, irrespective of Dean's predilection for Howard. Marshall, who went on to drive both Eberhard Weber's Colours, and his recent impressionistic trio with Arild Andersen and Vassilis Tsaboropoulos, shows his ability to cover everything from rubato passages to out-and-out free segments to more rhythmically-based material like "All White," which would be a staple for the Softs for, well, a couple of years. And while it's hardly a term to apply to the Softs, Marshall can swing as well.
Live in Paris captures a transitional Soft Machine in a period where it may well have been at its extemporaneous best. Jazz and rock combine in a way that is less rigid than what would eventually pass off as fusion. Loose, exciting and exploratory, it is a shame that this incarnation was in existence for so short a time.
Track Listing
Disk 1: Plain Tiffs; All White; Slightly All The Time; Drop; M.C.; Out-Bloody-Rageous
Disk 2: Facelift; And Sevens; As If; LBO; Pigling Bland; At Sixes
Personnel
Soft Machine
band / ensemble / orchestraElton Dean (saxello, alto sax, electric piano), Hugh Hopper (bass), John Marshall (drums), Mike Ratledge (electric piano, organ)
Album information
Title: Live In Paris | Year Released: 2004 | Record Label: Cuneiform Records
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