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Soft Machine: Grides
Grides, recorded in Amsterdam in 1970, raucously demonstrates this group in concert. It's relentless music and the sax and keyboard often start to sound the same. Try "Virtually, a tune that became one of the group's staples. Dean goose-honks over pounding rhythm and organ and keyboard wails of Ratledge. Everyone gets a shot at taking this music somewhere new and even when it quiets down it still feels as if it's rocketing forward. Wyatt is a volcanic drummer and his every accent is packed with a punch.
The records that Soft Machine made for CBS during this period were the studio takes of the live versions done in concerts like this. "Out-Bloody-Rageous is Ratledge's own paean to "madness and finds the group introducing another pulsating excursion with a slow funk groove that is overwhelmed almost immediately. The composer's fuzz organ takes off and makes us laugh with its audacious licks that keep coming.
Interestingly, the album title is a shortened version of Dean's "Neo-Caliban Grides, which he described as "raucous sounds from wild demonic mythical tribes. For this concert of course, and for many like it, Soft Machine was one of those tribes.
The concert is complemented by a twenty-minute studio performancethe only known Soft Machine on DVD. After hearing the concert, it almost seems static watching a studio performance, but the music still feels vital and new.
Track Listing
CD: Facelift; Virtually; Out-Bloody-Rageous; Neo-Caliban Grides; Teeth; Slightly All the Time; Eamonn Andrews; Esther's Nose Job; Slightly All The Time/Noisette. DVD: Neo-Caliban Grides; Out-Bloody-Rageous; Robert Wyatt's Vocal Improvisation; Eamonn Andrews; All White.
Personnel
Soft Machine
band / ensemble / orchestraElton Dean: alto saxophone, saxello, electric piano; Hugh Hopper: bass; Mike Ratledge: electric piano, organ; Robert Wyatt: drums, vocals.
Album information
Title: Grides | Year Released: 2007 | Record Label: Cuneiform Records
Comments
About Soft Machine
Instrument: Band / ensemble / orchestra
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