The Soft Machine: Volumes One and Two (1968 & 1969/ Big Beat/ 1995)[FOUND]
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Artist: The Soft Machine
Album: Volumes One and Two
Released: November 1968 & September 1969/November 1995
Big Beat 920
Genre: Psychedelic/Jazz-Rock/Canterbury Scene
Review:
"The Soft Machine" (1968)
Recorded in just a few days in New York while Soft Machine were touring America, this debut album is really a reflection of the band's live sets at the time : a collection of psych-flavoured pop songs linked together by instrumental, sometimes improvised, interludes. Although the arrangements don't have the sophistication of later ones, what strikes one when listening to this album is how unique a style Soft Machine had already come up with at the time. Granted, there is some naivety in both the lyrics and music sometimes (some of the songs date from the Wilde Flowers years), but also an impressive maturity as a group of players. The interplay between Ratledge's organ and Wyatt's drums is of an intensity rarely paralleled in Soft Machine's later, more jazz-oriented efforts. Kevin Ayers' contributions are concentrated on the second side, the highlights of which are the absurdly repetitive "We Did It Again" and the Gurdjieff-inspired "Why Are We Sleeping?", both of which have since remained favourites of Ayers' solo gigs.
"Volume Two" (1969)
Kevin Ayers' departure after the lenghty American tours of 1968 almost caused Soft Machine to break up. But when Wyatt and Ratledge were offered to play a few gigs to promote the newly released first album in February 1969, they brought in former roadie Hugh Hopper and reformed the band. This new start provided Ratledge with the impetus to really have a go at composing, and the result is his lengthy "Esther's Nosejob" suite, which totals 11 minutes and makes up most of side two of Volume Two. The arrangements are of an unprecedented sophistication, combining Ratledge's keyboards with the dual saxophones of the Hopper brothers (former Wilde Flowers leader Brian later augmented the trio on most of their 1969 gigs), and the music is largely experimental.
Side one is also made up of segued more song-based tracks, most of them Hopper-Wyatt collaborations, bearing the collective title "Rivmic Melodies". They are humorously introduced by a spoken statement by Wyatt presenting them as a collection of songs "from the official orchestra of the College of Pataphysics". Particularly funny is Wyatt's two-part "Concise British Alphabet". The album includes two other songs, "As Long As He Lies Perfectly Still", a tribute to former bandmate Kevin Ayers, alluding to his macrobiotic food addiction as well as directly quoting from "Why Are We Sleeping?" and "Lullabye Letter"; and "Dedicated To You, But You Weren't Listening", a exquisitely weird Hopper song that Wyatt singing suitably oblique lyrics to an unorthodox open-tuning acoustic guitar chord sequence.
Track List:
[The Soft Machine, 1968]
1. Hope for Happiness
2. Joy of a Toy
3. Hope for Happiness (reprise)
4. Why Am I So Short?
5. So Boot If at All
6. A Certain Kind
7. Save Yourself
8. Priscilla
9. Lullabye Letter
10. We Did It Again
11. Plus belle qu’une poubelle
12. Why Are We Sleeping?
13. Box 25/4 Lid
[Volume Two, 1969]
Rivmic Melodies:
14. Pataphysical Introduction—pt. 1
15. A Concise British Alphabet—pt. 1
16. Hibou, Anemone and Bear
17. A Concise British Alphabet—pt. 2
18. Hullo Der
19. Dada Was Here
20. Thank You Pierrot Lunaire
21. Have You Ever Been Green?
22. Pataphysical Introduction—pt. 2
23. Out of Tunes
Esther’s Nose Job:
24. As Long as He Lies Perfectly Still
25. Dedicated to You but You Weren’t Listening
26. Fire Engine Passing with Bells Clanging
27. Pig
28. Orange Skin Food
29. A Door Opens and Closes
30. 10.30 Returns to the Bedroom
"The Soft Machine"
A wild, freewheeling, and ultimately successful attempt to merge psychedelia with jazz-rock, Soft Machine's debut ranges between lovingly performed oblique pop songs and deranged ensemble playing from drummer/vocalist Robert Wyatt and organist Mike Ratledge. With only one real break (at the end of side one), the songs merge into each other—not always smoothly, but always with a sense of flair that rescues any potential miscues. Wyatt takes most of the vocals, and proves himself a surprisingly evocative singer despite his lack of range. Like Pink Floyd's The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, Volume One was one of the few over-ambitious records of the psychedelic era that actually delivered on all its incredible promise.
(by John Bush)
"Volume Two"
The first Soft Machine LP usually got the attention, with its movable parts sleeve, as well as the presence of ultra-talented songwriter Kevin Ayers. But musically, Volume Two better conveys the Dada-ist whimsy and powerful avant-rock leanings of the band. Hugh Hopper took over for Ayers on bass, and his fuzz tones and experimental leanings supplanted Ayers' pop emphasis. The creative nucleus behind this most progressive of progressive rock albums, however, is Robert Wyatt. He provides the musical arrangements to Hopper's quirky ideas on the stream-of-consciousness collection of tunes ("Rivmic Melodies") on side one. Unlike the first record, which sounded choppy and often somnolent, this one blends together better, and it has a livelier sound. The addition of session horn players enhanced the Softs' non-guitar lineup, and keyboardist Mike Ratledge, whose musical erudition frequently clashed in the early days with the free-spirited Wyatt, Ayers, and Daevid Allen, lightened his touch here. He even contributes one of the album's highlights with "Pig" ("Virgins are boring/they should be grateful for the things they're ignoring"). But it's Wyatt who lifts this odd musical jewel to its artistic heights. He uses his tender voice like a jazz instrument, scatting (in Spanish!) on "Dada Was Here," and sounding entirely heartfelt in "Have You Ever Bean Green," a brief tribute to the Jimi Hendrix Experience, with whom the Softs toured ("Thank you Noel and Mitch, thank you Jim, for our exposure to the crowd"). Fans of the Canterbury scene will also relish "As Long As He Lies Perfectly Still," a loving tribute to ex-bandmate Ayers. This is the one record that effectively assimilates rock, absurdist humor, jazz, and the avant-garde, and it misses classic status only due to some dissonant instrumentation on side two.
(by Peter Kurtz)
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