Fourth [Import, Original recording remastered]

Soft Machine | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 5, 2007)
• Original Release Date: 2007
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import, Original recording remastered
• Label: Sony Bmg Europe
• ASIN: B000H8RWFG
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #64,532 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Japanese remastered reissue packaged in a limited edition miniature LP sleeve. CBS/Sony. 2004. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars It's Jazz Man, February 4, 2001

By 

JOHN SPOKUS (BALTIMORE, MARYLAND United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fourth (Audio CD)

This was the second album I bought by the incredible Soft Machine (got Third first)and it's a great one. Although many American ensembles get all the credit for great jazz-rock fusion, Soft Machine, along with fellow countrymen Henry Cow deserve a nod as well. For some reason I find this to be a great night time driving album, and my cassette copy finds it's way into my car very often. I would actually recommend this as an intro to the band over the more highly regarded Third, mostly because the pieces are a little shorter and it's a single album.Soft Machine's music can be quite demanding of the listener and a shorter first dose may sit better with the uninitiated listener.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars brilliant, but not what I was expecting at all, October 6, 2009

By 

B. E Jackson (Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fourth (Audio CD)

Some people have told me to avoid Fourth because it marked the period where the Soft Machine made the complete change into straight up jazz, and moved completely away from rock (or progressive rock) elements.

So I went into Fourth thinking I had a pretty good idea what to expect. I was wrong! I was totally expecting the moody, melodic and easy-listening kind of jazz that's featured at the end of "Slightly All the Time" from the Third album. Nope! Well, there's SOME jazz on here similar to the saxophone playing at the end of that particular song, but the kind of jazzy style that dominates Fourth is, for the most part, *unbelievably intense*.

Imagine a hard rock or heavy metal band that, instead of using an electric guitar, uses a saxophone and just rips your speakers apart with a distinct style of intensity and a distinct ability to make it melodic. That's what Fourth is like, and why it's so unique.

The *other* unique thing about Fourth is the atmosphere. I can sit here and tell you it's "haunting" and you'd probably know what to expect because you've heard haunting music plenty of times, but to be honest, it's haunting in a way that feels frighteningly real, like immediately after something horrible happens (such as a nuclear disaster for example) you'd imagine the mood of this music to match the feeling of the horrible incident. It's really bizarre and the main reason I don't play this album very often. Nothing else from the 70's contains a similar atmosphere for example. It's just "impactfully" and distinctly dark.

Take the jam in the middle of "Out-Bloody-Rageous", add some scorching saxophone jamming with tricky rhythms and other instruments all blasting at the same time, and that's what many parts of Fourth is like.

Okay, so the entire album isn't QUITE at that level of intensity, but the moments on here where the band members let loose completely by delivering musical ideas to the best of their talent are just brilliant. It's not like any other kind of jazz I've ever heard. I almost feel like this album is too heavy for me. Luckily the fact that most of the jams on here are melodic keeps me interested in wanting to play it over and over, several times, because it's challenging and just downright exciting to get into the flow of what Soft Machine was giving us here.

Fourth is a rare masterpiece. I'd put this album up there with the best of them ANY day. By that I mean, the best of anything out there! Jazz, rock, whatever! I love it.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Madcaper's go Avant-Garde, February 4, 2009

By 

Mr. Mcdooglefish "stonefan60" (Salt Lake City, Utah) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fourth (Audio CD)

Way back in 1970 when Weather Report was just a twinkle in Joe Zawinul's eye's, The Soft Machine were across the pond in England's Canterbury scene going forward with their own brand of jazz rock fusion. Their album Third marked the beginnig of their penchant for long jazz influenced pieces. On this their follow up album Fourth, we begin to hear a more free-floating abstract jazz style, somewhat reminiscent of very early Weather Report. Casual fans of jazz will probably not care much for this very challenging psychedelic jazz rock. Fans of early 1970's fusion avant-garde may enjoy this most stimulating music!