Soft Machine - "Moon In June": Classic Or Dud?

Search: "Teeth" off of Soft Machine 4. Fooking 'ell.

that 'moon in june' track is pretty badass. there's a certain two measures where the drums do this half time / double time skittery thing that completely sounds like an IDM break, like something off Plug's "d'n'b for papa" album.

the first Soft Machine album is nice 60s psych rock with just the beginings of their jazz fixation.

the second one is a nice concept-y album where the songs flow together really nicely. weird synth bass all over the place. it's got that track that peeps on ILX seem to love where Wyatt sings the alphabet. i got this one a month ago, so it's still sinking in.

the third one is a double record with side long compositions by each of the members. Moon In June is the only one with vocals. this is heavy jazz influenced.

the fourth could easily double as a lost Weather Report album. there's such a fine line between jazz and prog sometimes. no vocals anywhere on this and lots of alto sax and saxello (?). this is where i stopped buying Soft Machine records. i believe it was the last album before they kicked Wyatt out of the group.

i'm also a fan of Wyatt's post-Soft Machine group Matching Mole. it's a wonderful mix of cute wyatt songs and heavy jazz-prog jamming. i prefer the first self-titled one over "The Little Red Record" except the later has an amazing cover and shows some influence of their friendship with Terry Riley.

just yesterday i talked to a kid at Amoeba who started playing drums with Daevid Allen's new group University of Errors and he was telling me he had to learn "Moon In June"

buy Soft Machine - Volume 2 and Robert Wyatt - Rock Bottom for best Robert Wyatt & Soft Machine. there's other lovely stuff scattered around thru the rest of the albums (Triple Echo 3LP is a great overview). also recommend the first 4 or 5 Kevin Ayers albums.

can anyone recommend later Hugh Hopper albums? love that man...
haha nickn reads my mind before I hit submit!

This song is sensational. Absolutely flaming sensational. I barely had the words two years ago and I sure as hell don't now. This one's being played at my funeral.

I always think that, too, and then realize that my funeral service will be 3 hours long with 2 encores, before it even gets to the part where you bury the coffin.

with a LONG ambient series of songs in the middle of the set

haha "and now stand to observe Van Der Graaf Generator's mid-period output"

"don't worry folks the next one won't be a 20-minute jazz-rock opus! it'll be like fifteen at most"

as much as I like this song, it doesn't seem befitting a viking funeral. i'll have to pass

Lots of prog fans dislike "Moon in June"

Saw this upthread, and got to wonder if it's really true? Not much of a prog fan, or a Soft Machine fan, so I guess it might be prog for people who don't normally like prog, because I say Classic. After listening to Third for the first time, I played "Moon in June" obsessively for the next week. Everything else on the album bored me.
I really, really need to try to get into Robert Wyatt some day. I listened to Rock Bottom some time back, before I head "Moon in June," but nothing stuck. I'm hoping I just wasn't paying sufficient attention at the time, although I certainly don't recall much on that album sounding anything like "Moon in June."

The rest of the album is (imo) very, very good (especially Out-Bloody-Rageous and to a slightly lesser extent Facelift...really wild moods they evoke here) but Moon In June is just...colossal. It's got everything. I've pretty much got the entire thing memorised, but so many great moments, so many wonderful touches. It's about being young, being lost...nothing else represents these things quite so well for me.

Peel Session:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4JrPnep5Aw

Yessssssss....that is THE definitive version imo.

Posted before I had even listened to the whole thing. Wow.

Think I will start a new thread.

Guess that thread already exists though: Essential demos, alternative takes, original versions, and peel sessions of CLASSIC songs...

*bump*

this was my favourite song in high school in Florida c.1980 - the first Soft Machine album I got was Triple Echo so I knew the Top Gear version first (also how I first heard of John Peel). I knew all the lyrics and used to sing it to meself all the time.

then when I went off to College in Ithaca, New York I picked up the first 3 albums. so I heard the Third version: "living is easy here in New York State". bleedin' heck, the song's following me!

Lots of prog fans dislike "Moon in June"

I've heard Wyatt say that Mike Ratledge and Hugh Hopper refused to play on the track so he had to play keyboards and bass on it - which would account for any 'amateurishness' - though they do play on the end rave up organ solo section. I can't really see Hugh Hopper refusing to play on the track, Ratledge is another matter - anyway, they're all on the Top Gear version, which is indeed definitive!