Land of Cockayne

Soft Machine | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 14, 1996)
• Original Release Date: 1981
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: One Way Records Inc
• ASIN: B000002R1Q
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #100,252 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Over 'N' Above

2. Lotus Groves

3. Isle Of The Blessed

4. Panoramania

5. Behind The Crystal Curtain

6. Palace Of Glass

7. Hot-Biscuit Slim

8. (Black) Velvet Mountain

9. Sly Monkey

10. 'A Lot Of What You Fancy...'

Editorial Reviews

Digitally remastered edition of this 1981 release, the final album from the British Prog/Art Rock band. By the time the album was recorded, the band was comprised of keyboard player and saxophonist Karl Jenkins and drummer John Marshall. The duo were joined by musicians such as Jack Bruce, the returning Allan Holdsworth, Dick Morrissey and Ray Warleigh to produce a different, but polished album. Esoteric. 2010. --This text refers to an alternate Audio CD edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars soft and mellow softs, November 11, 2003

By 

A. Dutkiewicz "jan-luke_adam" (Norwood, South Australia Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Land of Cockayne (Audio CD)

I can understand why many people don't rate this album as highly as other later Soft Machine records, but there's still a fair bit in it.

It was really Karl Jenkins' solo project, in the sense that he wrote the music and conducted the orchestral backing. In many ways it seemed to be the beginning of him bridging from his background with Nucleus and Softs into the classical idiom. So the record has a different feel to it: it's more mellow and often slower, even soundtrack material, but there's lots of musical knowledge, wisdom and good ideas.

I love the playing of John Marshall on this record, he really nails the percussive moods and grooves and has a big say in the production. I have a few problems with Jack Bruce's bass lines, which aren't too bad but occasionally seem to lack the pace, fire and even texture that one might expect in Softs' material: no more so than the almost banal disco rhythm underscoring the opening track, Over 'n' above. But, hey, it was 1980 and it was pretty high-exposure stuff back then, and I expect that was Jenkins' idea of fun, or context or zeitgeist or.... maybe it was about lifting the audience out of conformist muzak. And it was an intro, which may have attracted non-Softs people or radio play even and then transformed a few consciousnesses.

Those bumps are pretty soon smoothed out on the delicate synth, bass flute and percussive work on Lotus Groves (#2), perhaps an homage to McLaughlin's Lotus feet, but to my mind the musical performance really lifts with Panoramania(#4), which really stays with you: rich and soaring sounds of sax and orchestra and superb snappy drumming, and a great Fender Rhodes solo by John Taylor.

The second side continues the theme: Palace of Glass reminds me of Island years' Jade Warrior before being smashed open by Marshall's drums and then a soaring mellotron-like segue into the funk mayhem that follows.Those who like the material that led up to this album might find some satisfaction with the hotter and funkier tracks towards the end of the record, Hot biscuit slim and A lot of what you fancy, embellished by great cymbal playing by Marshall. In between these two sits Sly Monkey, a platform for lyrical playing by Alan Holdsworth and Dick Morrisey's bluesy sax, by then abandoned by Jenkins.

The Land of Cockayne should be seen as a concept album about musical opulence, with the tracks aligned to take the listener into a vast range of musical moods and styles. There's heaps of soundscapes here, some good moods and emotional yet tempered playing, even if the music has less of the signature melting keyboards of the Ratledge era and appears less intense and perhaps too funkified when compared to the jazz-rock that followed it. I'd give it 31/2 stars, just to warn those die-hards that this is not what fans of previous eras of Softs might expect, but I like most of the record.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Light jazz rock fusion, September 29, 2005

By 

norman a. blardony (Philippines) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Land of Cockayne (Audio CD)

Jazz rock but not as heavy as the previous Karl Jenkins led softs e.g. Seven, softs et al. This album has some catchy tunes but surely an unfair comparison with the other classic softs albums. I would still listen to this album over and over again because it gives me bliss and enjoyment

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The Last of an Obsured Legend., June 12, 2005

By 

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

This review is from: Land of Cockayne (Audio CD)

This is Soft Machines final album, even if it doesn't have any of the original members or most of the replacement members. The album is just o.k. by my taste,you don't want to hate it but you don't want to love it. This album if also filled with some famous and obsured legends like Jack Bruce or Allen Holdsworth. Over and Above starts us off with a funky groove and a Beach Boy styled harmony chorus. Lotus Goves is a quiet almost techno like ditty. Isles of the Blessed exercises Jenkins conducting which opens to the FM staple Panoramina with a biting rift and Rhodes solo.Behind the Glass Curtain is just so odd snyth making chord changes. Side 2 opens with Palace of Glass a remake of The Floating World. Hot Biscuit Slim is another funk rifter with nice guitar by Parker. Velvet Mountain is a smooth 80's ballad. Sly Monkey is the only song with Holdsworth getting a solo which isn't that impressing but has the same structure of Hot Biscuit. Then we close with the hilarious Alot of What You Fancy. That sums it up for the Great Soft Machine. Now you have you choice of Soft Head,Soft Works,Soft Heap, Nucleus,Hugh Hopper,Elton Dean, Allen Holdsworth,Isotope,Gong,Robert Wyatt,Matching Mole or Adrimidus to choose from!