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PROG ROCK, PSYCH, AVANT GARDE...
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Exceptional CD Remasters
And Others Genres Thereabouts
Exceptional CD Remasters
Covering 1967 to 1977 - It Also Focuses On
Fusion Rock, Acid Folk, Art Rock and Underground
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"...Kings And Queens..."
A neat and tasty little
number this – five of the 2007 Paschal Byrne Remastered albums from "The
CBS Years Series" (1970 to 1973) clumped together into one of
Sony/Legacy's dinky "Original Album Classics" Mini Box Sets. Original
Master Tapes used in the transfers, an experienced and much praised Audio
Engineer at hand, two were originally double-albums and one of the single-album
reissues even sports a worthy Alternate Take bonus track.
So at roughly two-quid a go
for your fave-rave Jazz Rock, Fusion and Prog Rock band of the Seventies – SOFT
MACHINE – this instrumental slugger is cheap and full of (mostly) cheerful
insanity. Let's get to those Kings and Queens…
UK released 25 October 2010 -
"Original Album Classics" by SOFT MACHINE on Sony/Legacy/Columbia
88697781442 (Barcode 886977814426) is a 5CD Mini Box Set with Five Singular
Card Sleeves and Outer Hard Card Slipcase that plays out as follows (2007
Remasters used):
CD1 "Third" (75:21
minutes, 2LP Set onto 1CD):
1. Facelift [Side 1]
2. Slightly All The Time
[Side 2]
3. Moon In June [Side 3]
4. Out-Bloody-Rageous [Side
4]
Tracks 1 to 4 are their third
studio album, the 2LP set "Third" - released June 1970 in the UK on
CBS Records 66246 and in the USA on Columbia G 30339. Featuring Hugh Hopper,
Elton Dean, Mike Ratledge, Lyn Dobson, Nick Evans, Rab Spall, Jimmy Hastings
and Robert Wyatt - it peaked at No. 18 on the UK LP charts (didn't chart USA).
CD2 "Fourth" (39:14
minutes):
1. Teeth [Side 1]
2. Kings And Queens
3. Fletcher's Blemish
4. Virtually Part 1 [Side 2]
5. Virtually Part 2
6. Virtually Part 3
7. Virtually Part 4
Tracks 1 to 7 are the studio
album "Fourth" - released February 1971 in the UK on CBS Records S
64280 and in the USA on Columbia C 30754. Featuring Hugh Hopper, Elton Dean,
Mike Ratledge, Alan Skidmore, Nick Evans, Jimmy Hastings and Robert Wyatt - it
peaked at No. 32 in the UK LP charts (didn't chart USA)
CD3 "Fifth" (43:51
minutes):
1. All White [Side 1]
2. Drop
3. M C
4. As If [Side 2]
5. L B O
6. Pigling Bland
7. Bone
Tracks 1 to 7 are the studio
album "Fifth" (called "5" in the USA) - released June 1972
in the UK on CBS Records S 64806 and as "5 in the USA on Columbia KC
31604. Featuring Hugh Hopper, Elton Dean, Mike Ratledge, Roy Babbington, John
Marshall and Phil Howard - it didn't chart in either country.
BONUS TRACK:
8. All White (Take Two) -
first appeared as a Bonus Track on the 2007 CD Reissue and Remaster of
"Fifth"
CD4 "Six" (76:37
minutes, 2LP Set onto 1CD):
Live Record
1. Fanfare (Live) [Side 1]
2. All White (Live)
3. Between (Live)
4. Riff (Live)
5. 37 1/2 (Live)
6. Gesoireut (Live) [Side 2]
7. E.P.V. (Live)
8. Lefty (Live)
9. Stumble (Live)
10. 5 From 13 (For Phil
Seamen With Love And Thanks) (Live)
11. Riff 2 (LIve)
Studio Record
12. The Soft Weed Factor
[Side 3]
13. Stanley Stamps Gibbon
Album (For B.O.)
14. Chloe And The Pirates
[Side 4]
15. 1983
Tracks 1 to 15 are the
double-album "Six" - released February 1973 in the UK on CBS Records
68214 and in the USA on Columbia KG 32260. Featuring Hugh Hopper, Mike
Ratledge, Karl Jenkins and John Marshall - it didn't chart in either country.
CD5 "Seven" (43:15
minutes):
1. Nettle Bed [Side 1]
2. Carol Ann
3. Day's Eye
4. Bone Fire
5. Tarabos
6. D.I.S.
7. Snodland [Side 2]
8. Penny Hitch
9. Block
10. Down The Road
11. The German Lesson
12. The French Lesson
Tracks 1 to 12 are the studio
album "Seven" - released October 1973 in the UK on CBS Records S
65799 and in the USA on Columbia C 32716. Featuring Mike Ratledge, Karl
Jenkins, Roy Babbington and John Marshall - it didn't chart in either country.
With two albums for Probe in
1968 and 1969 under their belt but non-charting in the UK (featuring the Kevin
Ayers line-up) – it must have heartening to see a four-sided double-album of
difficult Jazz Rock imaginatively entitled "Third" make the UK album
charts and actually achieve a position of No. 18 – something that would be
practically impossible fifty years on in 2020. The opening eighteen and half
minutes of "Facelift" was recorded live at the Fairfield Hall in
Croydon and sets the musical scene - long pieces of Jazz Rock with a hint of
Prog and Avant Garde and (let's be honest here) a lot of difficult listening
ahead. Probably the crudest of their recordings, time hasn't been kind to this
King Crimson having-a-go live moment - but it does at least sound a lot better
than my original orange label CBS double did.
Things improve immeasurably
audio-wise with the Bass harmonic notes and saxes of Side 2's "Slightly
All The Time" - those drum whacks and high-hat touches tingling around
your speakers as Lyn Dobson and Elton Dean trade horn improvisations (Ratledge
underpinning with keyboards). "Moon In June" is another
nineteen-minuter - only this time opening with the distinctive vocals of drummer
Robert Wyatt duetting with Ratledge on lyrics you actually can't make out. As
those huge chunky keyboard chords kick in, the transfer is incredible, as too
is that Bass solo that used to always blur a tad on my double LP. Side 4 gives
us the slow water-gurgling keyboard lead-in to "Out-Bloody-Rageous" -
ominously building into a sort of Tangerine Dream soundscape before in leaps
into rapido Prog Rock. Amazing audio for this.
Their "Fourth"
installment returned to single-album territory, and with Lyn Dobson departed
and new boys Alan Skidmore and Jimmy Hastings adding to the mix. After the
excesses of "Three" – this album is so much more controlled and
better for it. The opening nine-minute Jazz-Rock of "Teeth" hammers
home the Sax and Keyboard battles that dominates the album. Shimmering keys
open the strangely ethereal "Kings And Queens" – a very Colosseum
moment as those drums and crashing symbols float behind Oboe notes and
Crimson-like Guitar moments (the Audio is so good here). Scraped violin notes
open the doomy "Fletcher's Blemish" – not one of my faves it has to
be said. But I totally dig the Miles Davis moments in Side 2's Four-Part
"Virtually" – trumpet fills complimenting expert double bass plucks
amidst super-controlled cymbal tapping. I can’t help thinking that
"Fourth", their most Jazz-sounding Soft Machine album, perfectly
showcases their exceptional playing – Paschal Byrne's remaster make it
absolutely shine.
1972's "Fifth" may
have seen their British and American chart shelf life evaporate, but it didn't
stop the playing from getting better. Opening with "All White" - once
again there's that Canterbury Jazz-Rock swirl - echoes of Miles getting warmed
up for a Mahavishnu moment. The near eight-minutes of "Drop" not
surprisingly sports beautifully recorded water drops that soon melt into
shimmering keyboards - Ratledge channeling his inner Phaedra two years before
the album's appearance (superb remaster too). The Jazz tingling continues with
"MC" - reminding me of "Caravanserai" in its more
cymbal-clashing mysterious moments. We almost get commercially soft with the
smooth and funky "Pigling Bland" - oboe soloing galore. The 7:13
minute 'Take Two' of "All White" is a nice addition - the group
finding its Fusion feet pretty damn quick in this excellent Bonus Track.
The first LP of 1973's
"Six" is Live and the second a Studio set - Sides 1 and 2 mixing new
with old to the crowd's clear pleasure and Sides 3 and 4 featuring all new
material. "Fanfare" gives us a forty-second musical intro to the opening
track of "Six" - "All White" - and immediately the Audio is
properly great. The soft shimmering notes that introduce "Between"
dance across your speakers like Tomita trying to mimic rain instead of
Snowflakes only to morph into a Fusion groove not surprisingly called
"Riff". Speaking of pretty and floating, over on Side 2 of the first
record "Lefty" throws up a soft shimmer until Fripp like distorted
guitar intensifies proceedings. A long keyboard fade-in weaves "The Soft
Weed Factor" into play, the first of four lengthy pieces on the studio LP.
The band gets into an almost Can groove and the Remaster is excellent - all
that percussive stuff audible. ELP type piano initially sets up the mixed-up
title "Stanley Stamp Gibbon Album (For B.O.)" before Soft Machine
throw fans a curve and go into a very funky Brian Auger's Retaliation groove. I
find "1983" hard work, but "Chloe And The Pirates" once
again lifts up a very cool double-album installment in their long
Canterbury-instrumentals career.
Their second album in 1973
would be their seventh outing, though by this time, I'm not sure who was
listening (which on evidence now is a damn shame). Funky Synths greet listeners
on a track that sounds like its title "Nettle Bed" - but I like the
moody and mellow "Carol Ann" better – an undoubtedly beautiful lady
captured in sensual piano chords. I can hear Kevin Ayers and his 1974 Island
Records debut album "The Confessions Of Dr. Dream And Other Stories"
in the brilliant keyboard soloing that features throughout "Day's Eyes".
Over on Side 2 the six and half minutes of "Snodland" is Soft Machine
getting in touch with its Soulful Funky instrumental side – for me a highlight
on an album overlooked in their catalogue.
I'd admit that in 2020, and
to a new set of ears, what we old farts loved and thought wildly innovative
back in the day might now seem dated - even be labelled as tuneless noodles
best avoided. But like say Colosseum or The Mahavishnu Orchestra or for that
matter Seventies Tangerine Dream, Soft Machine and their floating sometimes
jagged soundscapes were always an acquired taste. And if you want them, they're
here in abundance and sounding, absolutely pucker too…
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