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| From | "Stewart Mason" <craigtorso@verizon.net> |
| Subject | Re: Soft Machine |
| Date | Thu, 28 Oct 2004 17:47:47 -0400 |
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----- Original Message -----
From: "Brian Kassan" <brian@powerpop.org>
> Just saw a bunch of new reissues that came out...I know a little
> about this
> band, but haven't really heard anything. Can anyone recommend a
> title to
> start with? Any of this popsych or is it all
> progressive/jazz/rock--which I
> also like...also, anyone recommend a Kevin Ayers solo cd as well?
The truly essential Soft Machine records are VOLUME ONE, VOLUME TWO
and THIRD. VOLUME ONE (1968), which is the only album to feature
Kevin Ayers, is as close to pop as their proper albums get (which is
to say, not very), but it's definitely psychedelic. It's up there
with PIPER AT THE GATES OF DAWN as far as I'm concerned. VOLUME TWO
(1969), is a completely fragmentary album: although broken up into
individually-titled songs, the two sides are really side-long suites,
"Rivmic Melodies" and "Esther's Nose Job." (Clearly, someone was a
Pynchon fan.) There are a couple of individual songs that work as
such, my favorite being "Dedicated To You But You Weren't Listening,"
but this album makes no sense at all until you listen to it all at
once, and even then you have to work at it. Nonetheless, I actually
like it better than VOLUME ONE.
In contrast to the fragmentary VOLUME TWO, THIRD (1970) doesn't mess
about: it's a double album with four side-long songs, two of which
(Wyatt's "Moon In June" and Ratledge's "Out-Bloody-Rageous") are the
best thing they ever did. It's the album where the jazz influence
really comes to the fore, but it's also heavily dependent on tape
loops and other forms of sonic manipulation.
Mike Ratledge takes complete control of the band on the completely
instrumental FOURTH (1971), and while it's even more complex than
THIRD, I think it occasionally edges on boring. Ratledge kicked
Robert Wyatt out of the band after that album, and as far as I'm
concerned it's all diminishing returns after that.
If you really want to hear the Soft Machine try their hands at pop,
look for the Giorgio Gomelsky-produced 1967 demos by the group's first
lineup, which have been reissued endlessly. (Look for the song titles
"Jet-Propelled Photograph," "That's How Much I Need You Now" and "I'd
Rather Be With You.") The sound quality sucks and they're ragged, but
that's as close to the likes of Pink Floyd as they get.
Solo Ayers: any of the first four, from JOY OF A TOY to BANANAMOUR.
My vote goes to #3, WHATEVERSHEBRINGSWESING, because it has "Song from
the Bottom of a Well," which is my all-time favorite Ayers song.
S
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