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Soft Machine: Live at the Paradiso 1969
by John Kelman
In a recent interview guitarist Nels Cline described seeing John McLaughlin's Mahavishnu Orchestra as “...like having all your body hair singed off in one fell swoop." Similar words could be used to describe British progressive rockers Soft Machine on Live at the Paradiso 1969. Their raw energy and sheer power, recorded in Amsterdam shortly before the release of Volume Two --considered by many to be a defining moment in progressive rock--translates directly from stage to disc on this fine archival ...
Continue ReadingSoft Machine: Somewhere in Soho
by John Kelman
A few months after the recordings that would result in an undisputed classic of progressive rock/jazz, Third , Soft Machine had pared down from an octet to a leaner, meaner quartet. Remaining were keyboardist Mike Ratledge, bassist Hugh Hopper, drummer/vocalist Robert Wyatt and a relative newcomer, saxophonist Elton Dean, who would continue to drive the group in further and further outward-reaching directions over the next couple of years. The group would shift around him, first in seeming agreement and then ...
Continue ReadingSoft Machine: Live In Paris
by John Kelman
Following an aborted experiment with free drummer Phil Howard, Soft Machine recruited ubiquitous drummer John Marshall to fill out a version of the quartet that ultimately recorded one side of an album and performed about twenty shows before saxophonist Elton Dean left, feeling that the group was not free enough, not a “real" jazz band. The reality is that keyboardist Mike Ratledge and bassist Hugh Hopper, the two remaining members from Soft Machine's Dada-ist pop days, still wanted some structure ...
Continue ReadingThe Soft Machine Turns You On
by Nic Jones
Any 'golden age' is always questionable, but in the period 1967-71 the British band Soft Machine are reckoned to have enjoyed such an age, and releases on the Cuneiform and Hux labels make the case. The band was built around keyboard player Mike Ratledge, bassist Hugh Hopper, and drummer/vocalist Robert Wyatt. Reed player Elton Dean was often present, and was but one of a number of horn players who passed through the ranks. At one time the band was a ...
Continue ReadingSoft Machine: BBC Radio / 1971-1974
by Colin Buttimer
Soft Machine is one of a select number of musical entities to have adopted names from William S. Burroughs’ writings; others include Steely Dan and DJ Spooky That Subliminal Kid. To do so in some way implies a radical agenda, an outsider view of things. Soft Machine was certainly never mainstream in its approach to jazz, exploring as it did a fusion with rock and other musics. This release brings together all four of the group’s BBC radio sessions from ...
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