Floating World Live

Soft Machine | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 21, 2006)
• Original Release Date: 2006
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Moonjune Records
• ASIN: B000E3LHX2
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #60,068 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

This CD marks the first release of a live performance by Soft Machine's Bundles line-up featuring Allan Holdsworth on guitar. This concert, recorded for Radio Bremen in Jan. 1975, consists of most of the Bundles material, which hadn't yet come out, although in the can since the previous summer, plus a couple of band improvs and solo showcases for Mike Ratledge, Roy Babbington and John Marshall. This era of Soft Machine was unique in that, taking the band's long established tradition of continuous change to an extreme, when Holdsworth joined all the previous repertoire was abandoned, literally at once, in favor of brand new material written by Karl Jenkins and, to a lesser extent, Mike Ratledge.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Floating World, June 10, 2006

By 

R.Cittern "Down the Road" (Springfield) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Floating World Live (Audio CD)

Finally a album live with Allan and also way better then British Tour 75. This album has great sound, better performances and has got a reasonable price on it,a clear pick over the other preformance. Live at Radio Bremen Janurary 1975 the band puts on nothing but nonstop jams with Holdsworth in a great mood just check out Bundles and The Land Of the Bagsnake of a blistering preformance. The show also gives out more solo showcases to Babbington on the six min. Earling Comedy armed with nothing but a Fender Baritone and a effects pedal. North Point gives Ratelege and his new found synths a place to bubble and screech around. Jenkins goes for his only sax solo on the album on Peff and even Holdsworth shows his skills on violin for The Man Who Waves At Trains. And finally the dynamic gymnastic stylings of Marshall on J.S.M. Song For Aeolus is very diffrent from the Softs vesion only because it brings out the fuzz soloing out of Ratelege's organ. The unreleashed material are your basic epic Softs jams like the funky Endgame. Rift 3 on the other hand is a limp version of Ban-Ban Caliban which isn't as impressing. Penny Hitch 2 took me some time to realize that it is Penny Hitch just in a sad and slow ending to a marvelous live cd. Highly recommended to anyone from gutar fanitic to a lover of fusion.

20 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars ALLAN HOLDSWORTH ON FIRE!, March 27, 2006

By 

Mui H. Yuen "Soft Freak" (New York City) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Floating World Live (Audio CD)

With the release of Floating World Live, as of 2006 there were four CDs on the market -- two studio and two live discs -- representing the peak of Soft Machine's "guitar fusion" years. Bundles and Softs (studio) and Floating World Live and British Tour '75 (live) are all recommended to anyone for whom jazz-rock fusion doesn't cause a breakout in hives, with the live discs capturing inspired performances and having an edge over the studio efforts. The expertly recorded Floating World is clear evidence that Allan Holdsworth was just what Soft Machine needed in the mid-'70s. By the time this live German show had been (partially) captured by Radio Bremen in January 1975, Holdsworth had been with the band for slightly over a year, and the Softs had already recorded Bundles with him. This is a killer live set, and Holdsworth's lightning-fast scalar runs, wide-interval leaps, and expressive note-bending over the band's vamps and composer Karl Jenkins' chordal changes -- not to mention his prominent positioning in the mix -- make Floating World a must-hear for any fans of the blurry-fingered axeman. He plays a touch of beautiful violin as well. No wonder jaws were dropping all around -- and apparently including the jaws of his bandmates, for Floating World sounds rather less like the work of a fully collaborative band and more like a live date by a guitarist-led fusion outfit than the British Tour '75 recording from later that same year after John Etheridge had joined the group following Holdsworth's departure. The flow of the overall Floating World set is at least partially to blame for any slight comparative shortcomings, particularly during the first half but redeemed by some inspired playing from all quarters at the conclusion. The group seems to have barely gotten underway when Roy Babbington's bass solo, "Ealing Comedy," makes an appearance; it's a great showcase including some Canterbury-esque fuzz in the mold of the pioneering Hugh Hopper, but its placement so soon in the proceedings somewhat derails the initial momentum of "Bundles" and "Land of the Bag Snake." And midway through, it doesn't help that "Hazard Profile," the Jenkins multi-part composition that would soon introduce Holdsworth to flabbergasted listeners upon the release of Bundles, fades out after less than five minutes -- that's where the radio station placed its commercial break. (Curious listeners are encouraged to check out the BBC Radio 1971-1974 compilation, which presents a broadcast version of the complete "Hazard Profile, Pts. 1-4" from June of 1974.) Both the Floating World and British Tour CDs feature solo Mike Ratledge synthesizer and John Marshall drum'n'gong interludes -- here respectively named "North Point" (a version of which is also on BBC Radio 1971-1974 from the June 1974 broadcast) and "J.S.M." -- but on this disc they further tilt the balance away from the full-band music and contribute to the feeling that Soft Machine had become a vehicle for solo statements with Holdsworth leading the way. Still, this is a vital document proving that the Softs were capable of some truly magnificent music during the mid-'70s -- and they were still evolving, testing the waters in live performance on a funked-up jam like "Riff III" that would later develop into "Ban-Ban Caliban" after Holdsworth bailed and Etheridge climbed aboard. Floating World Live reveals Soft Machine caught up in the excitement of a new direction thanks to an extraordinary guitarist, but not quite realizing their full potential as a collective. Nevertheless, appreciate Holdsworth for the shot in the arm he provided -- and also for suggesting Etheridge as his replacement. The new direction heard here would continue and Soft Machine would experience a final peak -- as demonstrated on British Tour '75 and to a lesser extent Softs -- before dissolution and mediocrity truly began setting in.

~ Dave Lynch, All Music Guide

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you like this, you'll love "Bundles", June 9, 2009

By 

L. Scott (Colorado) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Floating World Live (MP3 Download)

"Bundles" is the album where these jams really come together. It's a fully integrated album that moves from start to end as one hypnotic journey. Holdsworth's guitar amazes, but on repeat listenings it just carries you away. I consider Bundles to be one of the finest un-concept concept albums of all time. (Un-concept because of the lack of pretense.)

This album Floating World Live has the same numbers, but in different order. Much of it is the same, and it's marvelous in its own way. That's why I recommend this album.

Anyone who is into guitar mastery should get this album and Bundles, at the very least. (And look for Holdsworth elsewhere as he pops up here and there with other bands through the years.)