The Soft Machine (Soft Machine album)

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The Soft Machine
Record Plant Studios, New York City
Genre
Length41:30
ABC Probe
CPLP 4500
France:
Tom Wilson
The Soft Machine chronology
The Soft Machine
(1968) 		Volume Two
(1969)
Singles from The Soft Machine
  1. "Joy of a Toy" b/w "Why Are We Sleeping?"
    Released: November 1968
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic [2]

The Soft Machine (also titled Volume One as a reissue) is the debut album by the British psychedelic rock band Soft Machine, released in 1968. It is the group's only album to feature Kevin Ayers as a member.

Overview

Founded in 1966 by keyboardist

Police guitarist Andy Summers
joined the band, though he left after just two months, returning the band to the three-piece line-up.

The work on this album was one of the essential roots in

jazz-fusion.[citation needed] Two of the tracks, "Save Yourself" and "So Boot If At All" (under its original title and lyric "I Should've Known") stem from a series of April 1967 demos. With Allen's departure, Mike Ratledge took over the group's solos on a Lowrey organ, attempting to beef up its sound with a fuzz box and Wah-wah pedal at the suggestion of Hendrix. Musically, the album is a transitional release between more concise, conventional pop music with avant-garde electronics and free-form jazz improvisations, using a scaled-down, keyboard-led trio format similar to The Nice
.

The album initially saw release only in the USA and France where it made almost no impact, although retrospective critical appraisals have been largely positive. The original artwork featured a circular die-cut in the sleeve, revealing a rotating wheel card insert with gears through which the band members could be viewed underneath (a similar gimmick would later be tried for Led Zeppelin III). The gatefold and back sleeve also featured the uncensored image of a nude girl's backside.

Track listing

Side one
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Hope for Happiness"
4:21
2."Joy of a Toy"
  • Ayers
  • Ratledge
2:49
3."Hope for Happiness (Reprise)"
  • Ayers
  • Ratledge
  • B. Hopper
1:38
4."Why Am I So Short?"
1:39
5."So Boot If At All"
7:25
6."A Certain Kind"H. Hopper4:11
Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
7."Save Yourself"Wyatt2:26
8."Priscilla"
  • Ayers
  • Ratledge
  • Wyatt
1:03
9."Lullabye Letter"Ayers4:32
10."We Did It Again"Ayers3:46
11."Plus Belle qu'une Poubelle"Ayers1:03
12."Why Are We Sleeping?"
  • Ayers
  • Ratledge
  • Wyatt
5:30
13."Box 25/4 Lid"
  • Ratledge
  • H. Hopper
0:49


The 2009 Remastered Edition includes "Love Makes Sweet Music" and "Feelin' Reelin' Squeelin'" (bonus tracks), which were-respectively-Side A and Side B of their first single, issued in 1967.

Personnel

Soft Machine[3]
Additional personnel

Charts

Chart (1969) Peak
position
US Billboard Top LPs[8] 160
Canada RPM Top Albums[9] 49

References

  1. ^ Lynch, Dave. "Soft Machine | Biography & History |". AllMusic.
  2. ^ a b Bush, John. "The Soft Machine - The Soft Machine (1968) album review, credits & releases | AllMusic". allmusic.com. Retrieved 25 July 2011.
  3. ^ The Soft Machine (liner notes). Soft Machine. Probe Records. 1968. CPLP 4500.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  4. ^ "Robert Wyatt - Soft Machine". www.disco-robertwyatt.com. Retrieved 10 March 2023.
  5. ^ a b "Soft Machine-Works". www.calyx-canterbury.fr. Retrieved 10 March 2023.
  6. ^ "Perfect Sound Forever: Hugh Hopper". www.furious.com. Retrieved 10 March 2023.
  7. ^ "The Dead Rock Stars Club - The 1980s". thedeadrockstarsclub.com. Retrieved 10 March 2023.
  8. ^ Soft Machine charts. AllMusic.
  9. ^ "RPM Top 50 Albums - February 3, 1969" (PDF).

External links

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