The Soft Machine – THE SOFT MACHINE****

Hope For Happiness/Joy Of A Toy/Hope For Happiness(Reprise)/Why Am I So Short/So Boot If At All/A Certain Kind/Save Yourself/Priscilla/Lullaby Letter/We Did It Again/Plus Belle Qu’une Poubelle/Why Are We Sleeping/ Box 25/4 Lid

Debut album from experimental rock band The Soft Machine, the first and best known of several Canterbury based progressive bands to impact the British music scene during this period. (US:160)

"First album by the seminal UK band Soft Machine, which would in time become an icon of the psychedelic era and a founding stone of the Canterbury genre. Guitarist Kevin Ayers, keyboardist Mike Ratledge and drummer Robert Wyatt were some of the most talented, inspired and prophetic musicians, who found themselves in the midst of a musical (and social) revolution, which would inspire generations to come. This timeless masterpiece is molten gold (or mercury) of ingenuity in every respect, full of zany ideas, typical British humour and futuristic musical approach."

"The two lead vocalists share their duties well. Wyatt's earthy, haunting voice adapts to a variety of material, whilst Kevin Ayers' deeper, rich, stentorian tones are perfect for his own Why Are We Sleeping? and back up Wyatt wonderfully on Save Yourself. Possibly the most out-there psychedelic album of its time, The Soft Machine debut is Canterbury's ground zero."

"This album is actually a band deeply rooted in a typical 60s psychedelic sound but with a tendency for improvisational structures. This is generally a good debut with the band trying to find their own identity, twisting from psych/rock to hints of what was going to come in the future."

"One of the tent poles of psychedelic music. The Soft Machine added Dadaist ideas and jazz rhythms to the emerging psychedelic rock sound that created a unique and compelling vision. This album is still every bit as exciting and artful as it was over 40 years ago."

"This music is a mixture of rock, jazz and electronics, but it's not like anything called 'jazz fusion'. I guess it's a little like very early Pink Floyd, but much more interesting, and you probably don't need to be tripping to appreciate it. There is much high energy playing on this record, plus much electronic experimentation, some lovely melodies. But somehow the sum equals much more than the parts."

"A fantastic record overall, with many strong, hard rocking prog cuts, with psych influences and great period flavour. Most of these tracks run together."