Customer Reviews

BBC Radio: 1967-1971

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i was a little leary about buying this as there is a glut of early live material out there, some of it not good. this is a fantastic 2cd set. it covers the early softs with wyatt/ratledge/ayers and ends with charig/dean/dobson/hopper, etc. first five tracks are the rockin' side of the softs, the rest is from mostly second and third. the sound quality is excellent and the performances are top. wyatts vocals, especially on Dedicated to You... are superior. great liner notes and photos accompany this cd. this is a must have recording.

I've got a lot of Soft Machine. A lot. And I was thinking this CD would just be another brick in the wall. But the first four tracks alone of this 2-cd set make the price well worth it. Here are Ayers and Wyatt going at it with amazing pop weirdness with Lowry guru Mike Ratledge just laying back. Disk 2 features more of the classic quartet with Elton Dean and the band mostly performing from their "classic" 1970 period. Insert book from Hux Records is first rate with excellent color reproduction of a number of hard-to-find promo shots. If you like the Softs, this is a must have CD.

The Soft Machine, when their star had risen the highest and for one brief perfect period of time, were one of the most exciting, imaginative progressive-fushion bands anywhere on any continent. This two-disc set, for the most part captures the Softs in their ascention and at the peak of their creativity. The first disc is pretty much flawless material for any Soft Machine fan. The first five tracks feature Kevin Ayers; I love the version of Clarence in Wonderland, which would later figure as part of a suite on Kevin Ayers's second solo album. The version of Moon In June here is nearly identical (it probably is the same version) as that on the Peel Sessions. The only tough lemon to swallow for me ws Fletcher's Blemish (which is exactly what that song is!) as it goes nowhere and recalls the worst moments of pointless jazz noodling; for avante garde enthusiasts only. But the best song, hands down, is the 20 minute plus workout of Mousetrap-Esther's Nose Job suite. It's simply amazing, and as Hugh Hopper said in his liner notes, the best jazz they ever recorded. Elton Dean's saxophone on this song, and throughout the rest of this collection, comes across like an ongoing whip-crack, especially on Virtually, the opener for the second disc. The BBC Radio sessions represents the Soft Machine in all their experimental and inventive glory. This, and not the successive albums of banality that came after Third, is how they should be remembered and appreciated.

This is an essential masterpiece of progressive rock. The beginning of this document finds the band coming to grips with their potential, and the session derived from the first two albums are performed with a minimum of elaboration. Without the impetus of Elton Dean and the polish of the recording in several takes, the trio doesn't quite refine the improvisational potential of the first two albums, sticking strictly to the compositional framework. However with the arrival of Dean and Hopper, sparks begin to fly. Without going into a detailed analysis or session by session breakdown, the essence of the bands performance evolves into a fusion powerhouse; revealed by the band left to their own devices, devoid of production values. Robert Wyatt's value as a percussionist of the highest caliber fires the band into escalating momentum, regardless of his dwindling influence on the band. Elton Dean's conception of breaking musical boundaries with his inspired technical angularity and grasp of atonality gives spellbinding breadth to the accentuated and angular compositions of Hugh Hopper and Dean himself . Mike Ratledge assumes the central figure in the band, of course, and his mix of fuzz organ and grooving comp give the band it's identity. I would probably pick this as one of the best places to start with this band. It provides the range of the bands growth and serves as an introduction to the leader of the improvisational side of the Canterbury scene.

Even six sessions for John Peel's legendary Top Gear programme in three and a half years is not enough to demonstrate the speed of the musical developments of this band, who seem by contrast to have been falling into a black hole in subsequent years. Already, by the time of their first session in December 1967 they had changed labels and lost two guitarists (Larry Nolan and Daevid Allen) and become the classic line up of Kevin Ayers, Mike Ratledge and Robert Wyatt.

That first session, produced by Bernie Andrews, caught them at a magic time when they were still song-based and psychedelic, and captured A Certain Kind, Hope For Happiness and Lullaby Letter in very different versions from the officially released counterparts on the LP The Soft Machine, plus two songs unrecorded by the band but later revived by Kevin Ayers and the Whole World: Clarence In Wonderland and We Know What You Mean (aka Soon Soon Soon).

Sadly the group recorded no session during the life of The Soft Machine Vol. 2 and by the time they did return to record for John Walters in November 1969, Kevin Ayers had left, and long, dazzling and intense instrumentals had become the order of the day, interspersed with Robert Wyatt's self-deprecating but pithy vocal interjections. The line-up expanded to include a brass section borrowed from Keith Tippett's band and the result was a jazz-rock fusion unlike any other.

Pieces like Mousetrap (here in two versions) and Esther's Nose Job still invigorate, but shortly after the last session here, from June 1971, Robert Wyatt left, and when Mike Ratledge too left in 1976 there was no original member left. All the more reason to have these alternative readings of some of their best loved works

This is a set of radio performances which were recorded in BBC studios and broadcast later in the same week.

Show #1, broadcast 17 Dec 1967
Kevin Ayers, Robert Wyatt, Mike Ratledge
Total time 19:18
Tracks 1.1 through 1.5

Show #2, broadcast 15 June 1969
Wyatt, Ratledge, Hugh Hopper, Brian Hopper (track 1.6)
Total time 24:56
Tracks 1.6 and 1.7

Show #3, broadcast 29 Nov 1969
Wyatt, Ratledge, Hopper, Elton Dean, Lyn Dobson, Marc Charig, Nick Evans
Total time 24:30
Tracks 1.8 and 2.6

Show #4, broadcast 16 May 1970
Wyatt, Ratledge, Hopper, Dean
Total time 19:12
Track 1.9

Show #5, broadcast 02 Jan 1971
Wyatt, Ratledge, Hopper, Dean
Total time 9:58
Track 2.1

Show #6, broadcast 26 June 1971
Wyatt, Ratledge, Hopper, Dean
Total time 29:42
Tracks 2.2 through 2.5