i dunno, i guess the first four are "good" but 2 is the last great one.
― ian, Friday, 25 January 2008 06:16 (sixteen years ago) link
i really like "the soft weed factor" but i found sixth somewhat overly tentative on the whole. i like the great wobbly organ noises on fourth and fifth but in general thought they were very very boring compared to the 2nd side of third. i listened a bit to seventh tonight though and i thought it was mindblowing, so now i'm really confused.
― moonship journey to baja, Friday, 25 January 2008 08:21 (sixteen years ago) link
1 > Jet Propelled Photographs > 3 > 2 > 4 > my interest in exploring any further
― Stewart Osborne, Friday, 25 January 2008 11:27 (sixteen years ago) link
0
― Geir Hongro, Friday, 25 January 2008 11:33 (sixteen years ago) link
'third'
― That one guy that hit it and quit it, Friday, 25 January 2008 11:34 (sixteen years ago) link
reminds me of 45:33.
― That one guy that hit it and quit it, Friday, 25 January 2008 11:41 (sixteen years ago) link
Side one of 5 with Phil Howard on drums.
― Dingbod Kesterson, Friday, 25 January 2008 11:42 (sixteen years ago) link
Studio tracks on "Six" are well worth checking out - honestly, if some German group had done them, there'd probably be about three threads on that album. The live tracks are boring however. Can't remember anything about the 7th album, tho I've got it somewhere. Never heard any subsequent albums.
― Tom D., Friday, 25 January 2008 14:08 (sixteen years ago) link
holy shit
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecma6vrB3rI
― jaxon, Tuesday, 13 July 2010 22:17 (thirteen years ago) link
lol geir
― goth (crüt), Tuesday, 13 July 2010 22:18 (thirteen years ago) link
haha. weird. they're totally melodic prog
― jaxon, Tuesday, 13 July 2010 22:23 (thirteen years ago) link
dope. that's from 1978???
― emotional radiohead whatever (Jordan), Tuesday, 13 July 2010 22:26 (thirteen years ago) link
xp too much rhythm and dissonance iirc
― 69, Tuesday, 13 July 2010 22:27 (thirteen years ago) link
xp ya, but 'i feel love' was from 77, so....
― jaxon, Tuesday, 13 July 2010 22:27 (thirteen years ago) link
haha i never realised they got to the point of being one of those bands with no one from the original lineup at all though
― thomp, Tuesday, 13 July 2010 22:31 (thirteen years ago) link
that track is great, thanks jaxon!
― Dominique, Wednesday, 14 July 2010 17:18 (thirteen years ago) link
hahahahahaha wow that is fucking swell
― RIP la petite mort (acoleuthic), Wednesday, 14 July 2010 17:29 (thirteen years ago) link
man I found a copy of 7 on vinyl in near-mint for easy money, I've always heard it's diminishing returns after 4 so I'd never heard it but I thought why not give it a try...what the hell y'all. this is, for the most part, outstanding stuff. there's a couple of tracks where they miss the mark and just sound kinda leaden, but otherwise this is so good....dreamy, spacey, really stoney in the very best sense. they barely try to get all "out" any more in an aggressive way so maybe ppl miss that? but this record is really really good imo
― tremendous crime wave and killing wave (Joan Crawford Loves Chachi), Wednesday, 10 February 2016 18:00 (eight years ago) link
Yeah, I also don't get why people underrate the later albums. I like them all.
― Wimmels, Wednesday, 10 February 2016 18:05 (eight years ago) link
LOVE "Carol Ann" from 7 - reminds me of Coltrane's ballads.
― Paul, Wednesday, 10 February 2016 18:30 (eight years ago) link
I have this guy and I enjoy it thoroughly.
― Austin, Wednesday, 10 February 2016 22:01 (eight years ago) link
"hazard profile" is not bad, though i loathe holdsworth's guitar playing style.
― diana krallice (rushomancy), Wednesday, 10 February 2016 22:41 (eight years ago) link
xp that looks like a great place to start with this stuff, thanks
― the 'major tom guy' (sleeve), Wednesday, 10 February 2016 23:00 (eight years ago) link
Oh yeah 7 is great, especially "Penny Hitch"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mv_h6T5vRwA
― J. Sam, Wednesday, 10 February 2016 23:23 (eight years ago) link
I played Bundles and Softs a few years ago and was kind of surprised to find them enjoyable (esp Bundles), though no match for 7. The fact that I haven't gone back to them may say something, though.
― nickn, Thursday, 11 February 2016 00:42 (eight years ago) link
I think if I think of them more as Nucleus under a different name than Soft Machine with different people they might be more enjoyable.Just kind of wish they had decided not to use the name that denotes the band that put out the first couple of lps.
I'd really like to hear the 4 piece with Andy Summers improvising raga guitar, haven't come across any recordings of them though.
Somebody has just re-upped the US tour 1968 recordings to Dime last week. Pretty great set that is, Dada Insanity Vol 3 is its name.
I'm not surer I've heard the last couple of numbered lps
― Stevolende, Thursday, 11 February 2016 15:46 (eight years ago) link
i'll go at least as far as 7. "tarabos"!
― reggie (qualmsley), Tuesday, 28 August 2018 13:51 (five years ago) link
It's "Third" for me, but only as found on the "BBC Radio 1967 - 1971" comp.
― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Tuesday, 28 August 2018 15:10 (five years ago) link
Alive and Well recorded in Paris has Soft Space, which makes it a good album.
― mfktz (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Tuesday, 28 August 2018 16:55 (five years ago) link
https://softmachine-moonjune.bandcamp.com/album/hidden-details-hd
^ a contender from 2018!
― j., Wednesday, 31 October 2018 03:15 (five years ago) link
We are doing a "George Washington's ax" as far as Soft Machine goes with this.
That said, I'm planning on seeing them in Los Angeles at the end of January.
― nickn, Wednesday, 31 October 2018 04:49 (five years ago) link
you mean a "ship of theseus"
― the late great, Wednesday, 31 October 2018 05:30 (five years ago) link
Mid to late 70s members are as good as we'll get now, so I'm all in.
― nickn, Wednesday, 31 October 2018 05:40 (five years ago) link
yeah this album is good. they're definitely firmly a fusion band at this point but Theo Travis is pretty great and I'll be seeing them in Berkeley myself
― akm, Wednesday, 31 October 2018 13:37 (five years ago) link
Now that I've heard and completely fallen for Live at the Baked Potato, I guess I need to go back and check out Hidden Details, which I'd missed completely.
Otherwise my answer to this is Seven, which is great!
― soaring skrrrtpeggios (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Friday, 4 September 2020 15:19 (three years ago) link
I will never not rep for Seven. It's got their best cover art too
― J. Sam, Friday, 4 September 2020 15:34 (three years ago) link
You guys are making me wonder if I shouldn't be so narrow-minded: so far I've only listened to the ones with Wyatt, incl. several live sets legitimized etc. by Cuneiform over the years, maybe with more to come---comments here, while listening to freebies on bandcamp:Robert Wyatt: Classic or Dud? Lotta good stuff, but eventually I had my fill of their all-instrumental shows.
― dow, Friday, 4 September 2020 16:57 (three years ago) link
Weird: that doesn't look like a link, but it is, it works. It's alive, I tell you, it's alive!
― dow, Friday, 4 September 2020 16:59 (three years ago) link
there is plenty of good stuff after '5', even some after '7' but you have to pick and choose and you have to be open minded about cheesy late 70s / early 80s jazz rock
― Anti-Cop Ponceortium (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Friday, 4 September 2020 17:03 (three years ago) link
I've only heard the first 2, the first album is great but the 2nd I didn't like that much :/
― CP Radio Gorgeous (Colonel Poo), Friday, 4 September 2020 17:18 (three years ago) link
I have heard that from a few people before, think Volume Two takes a while to dig its claws in, can't remember not loving it, but I have heard it too many times to recall first impressions now. Third is the one people usually cite as the best (not me, but many people), 4 and 5 are also good, though more generic psych-jazz and much less mind-blowing.
― Anti-Cop Ponceortium (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Friday, 4 September 2020 18:40 (three years ago) link
Man, I gotta say it's probably the new one, Other Doors. Still obviously a different beast from the Wyatt years and the '70s, but this might be my favorite of the current era yet!
― Maxmillion D. Boosted (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Thursday, 14 September 2023 17:17 (seven months ago) link
Wish Nucleus had kept their own name so you didn't have to think mid 70s fusion lps were bad Soft Machine.They can be like semi interesting in themselves. Just don't want to be going Wyatt was so much more interesting. Like he probably was contemporarily
― Stevo, Thursday, 14 September 2023 17:36 (seven months ago) link