Jazz Articles about Soft Machine

About Soft Machine

Album Review

The last several years have seen the bulk of legendary British group Soft Machine's original recordings reissued: some available after years out-of-print; all receiving sonic upgrades as definitive as they'll likely ever get. Still, Esoteric Recordings' Mark Powell gave all the love he could to Sony's reissue of the group's classic Third (1970), but its marginal improvement only proves the limitations of even the best ears and the most advanced studio technology, when substandard sound is committed to tape, even ...

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Album Review

Soft Machine: Land of Cockayne

Read "Land of Cockayne" reviewed by John Kelman

by John Kelman
August 22, 2010

Three years after Alive & Well: Recorded in Paris (Harvest, 1978), Britain's Soft Machine suddenly resurfaced momentarily with Land of Cockayne. Given the experimental nature of its glory days and a latter-day fusion masterpiece in Bundles (Esoteric, 1975), it's understandable why Cockayne has historically been considered Soft Machine's dullest moment. But time heals all wounds, and Esoteric's remaster reveals an album stronger than it seemed at a time when it was impossible not to draw comparisons with the Soft Machine ...

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Album Review

Soft Machine: Bundles

by John Kelman
June 30, 2010

If the recent discovery of NDR Jazz Workshop (Cuneiform, 2010) demonstrated that the once considered “transitional" 1973 line-up of British psychedelia-cum-electric-avant- jazzers Soft Machine was, indeed, a fine enough standalone unit, then Esoteric's near- concurrent reissue of 1975's Bundles proves that the addition of guitarist Allan Holdsworth lit one serious fire beneath that same group. Back in print and a tremendous improvement over the previous See for Miles CD, it's a chance to revisit an album that fired an important ...

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Extended Analysis

Soft Machine: NDR Jazz Workshop - Hamburg, Germany May 17, 1973

by John Kelman
June 18, 2010

Every year it seems that more archive material is unearthed from Soft Machine, the legendary British group that began life in Dadaist psychedelia, but wound down as a powerhouse, chops-centric, fusion outfit at the end of the 1970s, with stops in more complex writing and free jazz territory along the way. As influenced by minimalist composers such as Terry Riley as it was by trumpeter Miles Davis' electric jazz proclivities, the majority of live material issued during the noughties has ...

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Extended Analysis

Soft Machine: Live At Henie Onstad Arts Centre 1971

by Nic Jones
January 13, 2010

Soft Machine Live at Henie Onstad Arts Centre 1971 Reel Recordings 2009Here's some heady stuff from what in 2010 feels like a golden era, dubious though that notion might be in reality. There's already ample evidence that the Mike Ratledge / Elton Dean / Hugh Hopper / Robert Wyatt lineup of Soft Machine never played the same set the same way twice, and it's a tribute to the group's levels of interaction ...

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Extended Analysis

Soft Machine: Live at Henie Onstad Arts Centre 1971

by John Kelman
November 11, 2009

Soft Machine Live at Henie Onstad Arts Centre 1971Reel Recordings2009 It's a curious thing, but live performances can be issued all the time in the jazz world without the suggestion that there are too many of them, while in the rock world the release of too many similar programs will be criticized as excessive. Pianist Keith Jarrett's last three releases with his longstanding Standards Trio--from The Out-of-Towners (ECM, 2004) through to Yesterdays (ECM, 2009)--have ...

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Album Review

Soft Machine: Drop

by Gary Gomes
April 24, 2009

Despite significant ambivalence about Soft Machine around the time of this recording, it was the furthest out that the group ever ventured, and its closest approach to free jazz. It also possessed the freest drummer to ever grace a rock group. Australian Phil Howard was, in fact, free by most jazz standards, but by jettisoning the exceptional Robert Wyatt, the band deserted its last link with songs and humor. Howard was, however, one of the era's truly original and most ...