Soft Machine’s second album for the Harvest label (following “Bundles”) featured a line-up of KARL JENKINS (Piano, Electric Piano, Synthesisers), JOHN MARSHALL (Drums), ROY BABBINGTON (Bass) and new members JOHN ETHERIDGE (Guitar) and ALAN WAKEMAN (Tenor & Soprano saxophones). A newly remastered vinyl edition will be of great interest to ‘Softs’ fans and also to the curious.
This is a different band to its famous predecessors which had peaked with “Third” (1970) and had lost Robert Wyatt by the time of “5th” (1972), with less avant-garde and progressive/ psychedelic leanings (as The Soft Machine) and more of a jazz-rock fusion approach and, at times, ambience. Alan Wakeman (also an original member of Gilgamesh) was a different kind of saxophonist to Elton Dean (or indeed Karl Jenkins), but impresses on numbers like ‘One Over the Eight’. John Marshall, as his longevity within the band attests but who sadly died last year and who had shared the drum stool with Phil Howard on “5th” (1972), was a seriously good drummer, his solos such as on ‘Kayoo’ easily tolerated and appreciated by those who could live without drum solos. Multi-instrumentalist Karl Jenkins, who had emerged on “Six” (1973), delivers a fine piano solo on ‘The Tale of Taliesin’ and ‘survivor’ Mike Ratledge (approaching the exit door) shows he is not done yet by playing synth on the evergreen 9-minute tour de force ‘Ban Ban Caliban’ (He also plays on the memorable ‘Song of Aeolus’). The album concludes with John Etheridge’s acoustic piece spotlight ‘Etka’, revealing a guitarist with the unenviable task of replacing Allan Holdsworth, but one who could span rock, jazz and other genres with ease and is still going strong. Finally, Roy Babbington, who had first appeared on double bass on half of “Fourth” (1971) brought a different dimension compared to Hugh Hopper as the Soft Machine sound continued to be refined and redefined,
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