Middle Earth Masters

Soft Machine

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 9, 2006)
• Original Release Date: September 18, 2006
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Cuneiform
• ASIN: B000GYHY2C
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #202,771 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Track Listings

1. Clarence in Wonderland [Live][#]

2. We Know What You Mean [Live][#]

3. Bossa Nova Express [Live][#]

4. Hope for Happiness [Live][#]

5. Disorganisation [Live][#]

6. We Did It Again [Live][#]

7. Why Are We Sleeping? [Live][#]

8. I Should've Known [Live][#]

9. That's How Much I Need You Now [Live][#]

10. I Should've Known [Live][#]

11. Certain Kind [Live][#]

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Recorded Live in Swinging London's Legendary Middle Earth Club.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars M.E.M.ories, April 30, 2007

By	Robert Carlberg (Seattle) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Soft Machine's earliest incarnation, as a trio with Kevin Ayers, Mike Ratledge and Robert Wyatt, is represented on disc by Soft Machine 1 and the Giorgio Gomelsky demos, but the only live recordings, despite extensive gigging, have been 5 "in studio" songs done for BBC -- until now. Recorded in London clear back in September 1967, this live performance was captured on 15 i.p.s. half-track reels by Bob Woolford, nearly state-of-the-art for the time. Unfortunately the band's live concert setup was prone to distortion (understatement!) and the resulting tapes were deemed unsalvageable more than once.

Enter Mike King, the same dude who "wrote the book" on Wyatt. Thanks to modern digital technology, much persistence and a ton of hard work, Mike was able to resurrect a quite-servicable representation of the original overdriven concert. It really sounds surprisingly good (say, compared to Brian Hopper's archival tapes of the same period) and has been edited together into a continuously-flowing set like the first album.

This release rates AT LEAST five stars for the effort put into releasing it and for the rarity of it. Thanks to all the lads involved for putting it together nearly 40 years later.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars rare psych era live softs, September 12, 2007

By	rainman "rainman" (joyzee) - See all my reviews

amazing sounding live performance of soft machine from 1967. i was suprised by the sound quality of this recording, its really great. amazing what can be done these days with modern technology applied to old tapes. maybe the floyd could release something from this era also!!!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars much better than anticipated, June 5, 2007

By	metal riffer (IL) - See all my reviews

The sound quality is much better than I feared. I had a bootleg CDR called Middle Earth which was horribly reverb drenched, probably recorded with open mics, possibly to a standard 1/4" cassette. (think "Turns On" series)

This CD however, actually is a line recording and is as clean as a 1967 Soft Machine performance possibly could have been. I would love to have such a fine document of the band *with* Daevid Allen, but until then, this is a welcome addition to my collection and above average quality in comparison to similar recordings of its kind.