Soft Machine - Softs (1976)

Tracklist

01 - Aubade
02 - The Tale Of Taliesin
03 - Ban-Ban Caliban
04 - Song Of Aeolus
05 - Out Of Season
06 - Second Bundle
07 - Kayoo
08 - The Camden Tandem
09 - Nexus
10 - One Over The Eight
11 - Etka

personnel :

Roy Babbington – bass guitar
John Etheridge – acoustic and electric guitars
John Marshall – drums, percussion
Alan Wakeman – soprano and tenor saxophones
Karl Jenkins – piano, electric piano, pianette, string and Mini-Moog synthesizers, orchestrations
Mike Ratledge – synthesizer on (3, 4)

By 1974 the legendary Soft Machine switched record labels from CBS / Columbia (after releasing five magnificent albums on that label) to EMI's progressive Harvest label, on which they would release the band's last four albums before their epic story would finally come to an end. But the label switch was in fact only an exterior manifestation of the deep changes that the group was experiencing at the time. In retrospect, the four Harvest albums mark a completely new phase in the band's musical direction, leaving behind the Free Jazz / Improvised Music extremes in favor of more structured and composed music, with strong melodic elements and almost mainstream Jazz-Rock sound. The most significant factor, which brought about the change, was Elton Dean's replacement by oboe, saxophone and piano player Karl Jenkins, who also became the most prolific composer of the band's new material. The second factor was the decision to include a permanent guitarist into the band's ranks, which was to change the sound significantly from Jazz to Jazz-Rock. This was the second of the Harvest albums, with the Soft Machine lineup comprising of Jenkins, saxophonist Alan Wakeman, guitarist John Etheridge (who replaced Alan Holdsworth), bassist Roy Babbington and drummer John Marshall. The last founding member of Soft Machine, keyboardist Mike Ratledge left in the midst of recording of this album and his contribution here are minor. The music is a continuation of the direction set by its predecessor, based upon shorter and beautifully composed melody lines. There is still plenty of improvisation by the players, but it's much more settled and well organized. In retrospect this is still a very solid album by a great band and an absolute must to all Soft Machine fans.