Soft Machine - Grides (1970)

The Soft Machine biography
The probably most important and influential band to grow out the Canterbury Scene was SOFT MACHINE. The band emerged in 1967 as the quartet of Robert WYATT (drums, vocals), Mike RATLEDGE (keyboards), Kevin AYERS (bass, vocals) and Daevid ALLEN (guitar, vocals). Through a persistence of personnel changes (totalling ~30), their sound was to changed continually over the years of their existence. This band along with CARAVAN (both to come out of the formative WILDE FLOWERS), would influence the emergence of the Canterbury Sound (MATCHING MOLE, EGG, HATFIELD & THE NORTH, and many more). Many careers began with SOFT MACHINE: Robert WYATT (MATCHING MOLE band and solo artist), Kevin AYERS (later his own WHOLE WORLD band and solo artist), and Daevid ALLEN (later GONG and solo artist). Virtuosic instrumentalists such as Hugh HOPPER, Mike RATLEDGE, Elton DEAN, Allan HOLDSWORTH, (briefly) Andy SUMMERS, Roy BABBINGTON, John MARSHALL and Karl JENKINS were attracted to MACHINE's ranks through out its history, leaving us a series of ground-breaking albums.

Now, briefly - what is the music like? The SOFT MACHINE were, for many listeners, the standard against which all jazz-rock fusion, including many of the big American names, had to be measured. (Alas SOFT MACHINE, has taken a mighty long time to be accepted even by part of the jazz fraternity). SOFT MACHINE's first three studio albums contain some of their best work. The first two demonstrate a progression from R'n'B psychedelia, increasingly heavily flavored by Mike Ratledge's free jazz improv tempered by modern serious music, towards their own idiosyncratic jazz fusion. The first album is very much in the psychedelic vein. In the instrumental section of "Volume Two" and "Third", they are found freely blending modern jazz with modern rock sensibilities, with more than a hint of heavy abstract stylings, e.g. minimalism - that is not to say, they were doing this all along - for instance as found on the 1967 recordings heard on "Middle Earth Tapes". "Volume Two" retains the psychedelia through the mixture of metaphysical and apparently ad-lib lyrics, while instrumentally the psychedelic jamming was heavily infused with a complex jazzy style. Here Hugh HOPPER, RATLEDGE and WYATT were joined by Hugh's brother Brian on sax. "Live At Paradiso" covering the same tunes but in different order, was recorded within a fortnight of "Volume 2", by the trio and sounds more prog than jazz. "Third" is the transitional, double album with one clearly psychedelic piece "Moon in June" (the last sample of WYATT's singing with the band on a studio recording; WYATT's 1969 demo of the tune can be found on "Backwards") and the rest being more jazz-fusion with some psychedelic touches, due in part the first indication of Terry Riley's minimalism having some influence. DAEVID ALLEN (and HUGH HOPPER)had worked with TERRY RILEY in Paris in the mid-60's - and some of HOPPER's later solo work (e.g. "Jazzloops") also echoes this. The presence of ELTON DEAN (sax and saxello) now really emphasised the jazz (often free form), in the mix and so pushing the others into playing more challenging music. One thing that was constant throughout this time was the shear loudness of SOFT MACHINE's gigs

"Third" is a very good introduction to the second period SOFT MACHINE. "Fourth" is more jazzy, less dramatic and cooler than "Third". On "Fifth", "Six" and "7", jazz fusion with less of the obvious rock component. During this period ROBERT WYATT and HUGH HOPPER departed, and the recruitment over time was to be from the community of London's young jazz players, in particualr several who had played in NUCLEUS. Minimalism would also become more evident, however. If "Third" doesn't appeal, go ahead and try "Six" instead. "The Untouchable Soft Machine" is a compilation of 78 minutes of music on one disc, you can buy this one and forget about "Bundles" and after. Fans of "weird" start with a very experimental album called "Spaced" that was done as backing tapes for a multi-media performance at Crystal Palace in 1969. "Virtually" and "Noisette" are essential live recordings from 1970-1971 period.

From "Fifth" onwards the presence of former NUCLEUS players became increasingly obvious. In particular, KARL JENKIN's influence especially with RATLEDGE increasingly handing over leadership to him was to show. JENKINS' compositions also began to dominate. However, JENKINS (oboe, keyboards)increasingly disliked to solo at gigs and the first guitarist since ANDY SUMMERS was found to play lead (wind and keyboard instruments largely taking second place from there on), in the form of ALLAN HOLDSWORTH. The presence of HOLDSWORTH seemed to breath new life into SOFT MACHINE - indeed quite a few fans are only familar with this period. "Bundles" and the belated issued "Floating Worlds-Live" illustrate well how HOLDSWORTH revitalised MACHINE's music. However, HOLDSWORTH's spell was short with LIFETIME and the USA beckoning within a year. Holdsworth recommended his replacement JOHN ETHERIDGE (ex. DARRYL WAY'S WOLF) - and intriguing HOLDSWORTH also recommended OLLIE HASSALL (ex. TIMEBOX, PATTO, TEMPEST) and BRIAN GODDING (ex. BLOSSOM TOES) for the series of auditions. ETHERIDGE brought his own style, although compelled to play live pieces originally recorded by HOLDSWORTH (as the live album "Live 1976" recorded at Nottingham University reveals). While HOLDSWORTH played the occasion violin with MACHINE, the next addition to MACHINE was RIC SAUNDERS (violin - late with FAIRPORT CONVENTION). Declining interest, especially with all of the original MACHINE long gone, and JENKINS starting upon his "cross-over classical period" (initially working most successfully with RATLEDGE on advertising jingles), MACHINE effectively folded. Apart from the odd gigging tour into the early 80's, "Land Of Cockayne" was to be MACHINE studio swan song. In theory with a who's who of a line-up should have been a good one, (including JACK BRUCE, ALLAN HOLDSWORTH, DICK MORRISSEY), but the mixture of dull tunes and comparatively insipid playing failed to attract many enthusiasts.

The three LP box set "Triple Echo" released in 70's was an excellent compilation of Machine's work to date, with radio recordings standing in stead of the unavailable CBS/Columbia studio recordings. Nowadays for a good overview on CD try "Out-Bloody-Rageous" (Sony Columbia), "The Harvest Years" (EMI Harvest records) and the two "BBC" double CD sets (Hux Records) which provide an excellent overview of SOFT MACHINE's music evolution. Since the mid 90's there has been a persistence of live recordings rediscovered in the archives, in particular issued by Cuneiform Records, Voiceprint and Moonjune Records.

Footnote: The Bromley Punks, (from which The Damned, Captain Sensible , Siouxsie & The Banshees came), reckoned to be active followers of SOFT MACHINE - Captain Sensible is on record as buying and wearing a false moustache to gigs, in imitation of Mike Ratledge's facial hair.

The Soft Machine official website

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   8. Mountain - Whole Lotta?shakin?                          [02:34]
   9. Mountain - Drum Solo                                    [09:55]

Playing Time.........: 53:06
Total Size...........: 100,86 MB
 

- Elton Dean / alto saxophone, saxello, electric piano
- Hugh Hopper / electric bass
- Mike Ratledge / electric piano, organ
- Robert Wyatt / drums, voice

Soft Machine - Grides (1970).rar 187.0 MB
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