Fifth - SOFT MACHINE**

All White/Drop/MC/As If/LBO/Pigling Bland/Bone

By the time of the release of Fifth founder member Robert Wyatt had left Soft Machine to form Matching Mole. As a result the group moved further away from its psychedelic roots to embrace jazz fusion.

“The absence of Robert Wyatt is palpable in this album. Gone is the sense of musical adventure, the humour and whimsy, and of course, the solid drumming. What you are left with is a very run of the mill jazz fusion that offers nothing that several other bands weren't already offering.”

“Soft Machine got very immersed into the jazz thing. That shouldn't be a problem, except for the fact that the melodies aren't jazzy at all, they're just quickly making up the whole thing. Dark tunes without too much soul.”

“The sound is quite similar to that found on their previous effort. Very jazz oriented and less progressive/psychedelic than the original style of the first two albums. This has lots of improvisation and high quality instrumental work, just the way I like it.”

“If Fourth captured Soft Machine drifting towards pure jazz territory, Fifth sees them having travelled most of the way there. With Robert Wyatt jettisoned, the band also appears to have severed most of its connection to the Canterbury sound with this music being gentle, quasi-ambient fusion.”

“This is a good 70s electric jazz album from a band who started off as psychedelic rock, moved into jazz-rock, and then dropped the rock altogether.”

“With this one, we find the tide reversing ever so slightly back towards rock, incorporating more of a fusion sound. As usual, all tracks are improvised, and while some are slightly more interesting than on earlier releases, others are even less.”

“This was the first album after the departure of Robert Wyatt, which was a major blow. With Wyatt leaving he took not only his great drumming abilities, but his sense of anarchy, eccentricity, and warmth. This begins the jazz/fusion era of Soft Machine and as always, it's all subjective, but I always thought the post Wyatt era of Soft Machine was much underrated. This is great jazz/fusion/progressive music that is ahead of it's time.”