Though they achieved little commercial success, Soft Machine are considered by critics to have been influential in rock music.[4][5][6] Dave Lynch at AllMusic called them "one of the most influential underground bands of their era".[2] The group were named after the novel The Soft Machine by William S. Burroughs.
History
Original run (1966–78)
Soft Machine (billed as the Soft Machine up to 1969 or 1970)[7] were formed in mid-1966 by Mike Ratledge (keyboards), Robert Wyatt (drums, vocals), Kevin Ayers (bass, vocals), Daevid Allen (guitar) and Larry Nowlin (guitar). Allen, Wyatt and future Soft Machine bassist Hugh Hopper first played together in the Daevid Allen Trio in 1963, occasionally accompanied by Ratledge. In 1964, Wyatt, Ayers, Hopper and Hopper's brother Brian, another future Soft Machine member, were founding members of the Wilde Flowers, incarnations of which would also include future members of another Canterbury band, Caravan. By 1966, Wyatt and Ayers had both left the Wilde Flowers and reconnected with Allen for a new band called Mister Head, who also included Nowlin.[8] After a few months Mister Head split, with Wyatt, Ayers, Allen and Nowlin joining with Ratledge to form Soft Machine.[9] Suggested by Ayers, the name came from William S. Burroughs' 1961 novel The Soft Machine.[10] The band became a quartet when Nowlin departed in September 1966.[11]
In late 1966/early 1967, Soft Machine became involved in the early UK underground scene. Along with Pink Floyd, they became one of the major resident bands at the UFO Club and played other London clubs like the Speakeasy and Middle Earth. According to Wyatt, the negative reactions the Soft Machine received when playing at venues other than these underground clubs were what led to their penchant for long tracks and segued tunes, since playing continuously left their audiences no chance to boo.[12] In February 1967, the band released a single, "Love Makes Sweet Music" (recorded 5 February 1967, produced by Chas Chandler), with "Feelin' Reelin' Squeelin'" (recorded January 1967, produced by Kim Fowley) as the B-side, on Polydor Records. It was a commercial flop.[12] In April 1967 they recorded nine demo songs with producer Giorgio Gomelsky in De Lane Lea Studios that remained unreleased for several years in a dispute over studio costs.[13] Polydor later released these demos in 1972 as Jet Propelled Photographs. In 1967, as well as the UK, the band also played in the Netherlands, Germany, and on the French Riviera. During July and August 1967, Gomelsky booked shows along the Côte d'Azur with the band's most famous early gig taking place in the village square of Saint-Tropez. This led to an invitation to perform at producer Eddie Barclay's trendy "Nuit Psychédélique", performing a forty-minute rendering of "We Did It Again", singing the refrain over and over in a trance-like quality. This made them instant darlings of the Parisian "in" crowd, resulting in invitations to appear on television shows and at the Paris Biennale in October 1967.[14] When returning from France, Allen (an Australian) was denied re-entry to the United Kingdom,[12] so the group continued as a trio, while he returned to Paris to form Gong.
Sharing the same management as the Jimi Hendrix Experience, Soft Machine supported them on two North American tours during 1968.[15] Now signed to Probe Records, Soft Machine's first album was recorded in New York City in April at the end of the first tour, though it would not be released until December. Back in London, guitarist Andy Summers, later of the Police, joined the group. After a few weeks of rehearsals, the quartet began a tour of the U.S. with some headlining shows before supporting Hendrix during August and September 1968. By the time the Hendrix tour began, Summers had been fired at the insistence of Ayers.[16] Ayers himself departed amicably after the final tour date at the Hollywood Bowl in mid-September, and Soft Machine disbanded. Wyatt stayed in the U.S. to record solo demos, while Ratledge returned to London and began composing in earnest. One of Wyatt's demos, "Slow Walkin' Talk", allowed Wyatt to make use of his multi-instrumentalist skills (Hammond organ, piano, drums and vocals) and featured Hendrix on bass.[17]
In December 1968, to fulfil contractual obligations, Wyatt and Ratledge re-formed Soft Machine, with their former road manager Hugh Hopper replacing Ayers on bass, and recorded their second album Volume Two (1969), which started a transition toward jazz fusion. The album fulfilled the band's contract with Probe and they signed with CBS Records by the beginning of 1970. In May 1969 Soft Machine acted as the uncredited backing band on two tracks of The Madcap Laughs, the debut solo album by Syd Barrett of Pink Floyd. Shortly after the Barrett recording, Hopper's brother Brian Hopper joined the band on saxophone for a short time. In October 1969, following Brian Hopper's departure, Soft Machine became a septet with Wyatt, Ratledge and Hugh Hopper adding a four-piece horn section comprising saxophonists Elton Dean and Lyn Dobson, cornet player Mark Charig and trombonist Nick Evans, though the latter two departed after two months.
The resulting Soft Machine quintet (Ratledge, Wyatt, Hopper, Dean and Dobson) continued until March 1970, when Dobson departed. The remaining quartet recorded the double album Third (1970) and its single album follow-up Fourth (1971). Third was mostly instrumental save for Wyatt's "Moon in June", the last Soft Machine song with lyrics. From Fourth onwards, the band became completely instrumental on record, and then on stage following Wyatt's departure soon after the album's release. Their propensity for building extended suites from regular-sized compositions, both live and in the studio (already displayed on the first two albums), reached its apogee in Third, unusual for its time with each of the four sides featuring one suite.[3] Over time Third has become Soft Machine's biggest selling album. During this period, the band received unprecedented acclaim across Europe, and they made history by becoming the first rock band invited to play at London's Proms in August 1970, with the show being broadcast live on national TV.[18]
After differences over the group's musical direction, Wyatt left (or was fired)[19] in August 1971 and formed Matching Mole (a pun on machine molle, French for soft machine; also said at the time to have been taken from stage lighting equipment "Matching Mole").[3] He was briefly replaced by Australian drummer Phil Howard. This line-up toured extensively in Europe during late 1971 and began the recording of their next album Fifth, but further musical disagreements led to Howard's dismissal at the beginning of 1972, with the album being completed with his replacement, John Marshall. Fifth was released in 1972, with side one comprising tracks recorded with Howard and side two comprising tracks recorded with Marshall. Later that year, Dean left the band[3] and was replaced by Karl Jenkins, who also played keyboards in addition to saxophone. Both Marshall and Jenkins were former members of Ian Carr's Nucleus, and the band's next album, the half-live half-studio double album Six, saw their sound develop even more towards jazz fusion.
After the release of Six in early 1973, Hopper left the band.[3] He was replaced by Roy Babbington, another former Nucleus member, who played 6-string bass. During this period, Jenkins began to take over as bandleader and main composer. After they released Seven in late 1973, the band switched record labels again, this time moving from CBS to Harvest Records, a sub-label of EMI Records. At the end of 1973, another former Nucleus member Allan Holdsworth was added to the band, their first guitarist since Andy Summers' brief tenure in 1968. Their next album, 1975's Bundles, placed strong emphasis on Holdsworth's playing and was oftentimes reminiscent of John McLaughlin's Mahavishnu Orchestra. Holdsworth was replaced by John Etheridge in the spring of 1975, while saxophonist Alan Wakeman (cousin of Yes keyboardist Rick Wakeman) was added at the beginning of 1976.[3] Wakeman's time with the band was brief, but did record with them on the next album Softs (1976), the first album without Ratledge, the last remaining original member of the band, who left in March 1976. Other musicians in the band during the later period were saxophonist Ray Warleigh, violinist Ric Sanders and bassists Percy Jones (of Brand X) and Steve Cook.[20] Their 1977 performances, documented on the live album Alive & Well released early the following year, were among the last for Soft Machine as a working band, their last performance (until the 1984 reformation) being the only Soft Machine concert of 1978, at the Sound & Musik Festival in Dortmund, Germany on 8 December, with a line-up of John Marshall, Karl Jenkins, Steve Cook and Allan Holdsworth.[21][22]
Occasional reunions (1980–81; 1984)
The Soft Machine name was resurrected for the 1981 album Land of Cockayne. Soft Machine also briefly reformed for a series of dates at London's Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club in the summer of 1984,[nb 1] featuring John Marshall, Karl Jenkins, Ray Warleigh, John Etheridge, bassist Paul Carmichael and pianist Dave MacRae.
Alternative bands (1978–2015)
Soft Heap / Soft Head (1978–88)
Soft Heap formed in January 1978, featuring Hugh Hopper and Elton Dean from Soft Machine, and Alan Gowen and Pip Pyle from the band National Health. Heap was the acronym formed by the initials of their first names. The newly formed band toured in the spring and summer of 1978 as Soft Head as Dave Sheen replaced Pip Pyle, due to the latter's commitments with the band National Health.[1] The live album Rogue Element was recorded on that tour and was released in 1978.
The original Soft Heap line-up reconvened in October 1978 to record their eponymous studio album Soft Heap which was released in 1979.
After two line-up changes that occurred in 1979–81, the new line-up toured intermittently throughout the 1980s, embarking on four tours during the decade with a total of 25 European concerts, culminating with a gig on 11 May 1988 at the Festival "Jazz sous les pommiers" in Coutances, France.[1]
Soft Ware (1999–2002), Soft Works (2002–04), Soft Mountain (2003) and Soft Bounds (2004)
Soft Ware (sometimes SoftWhere) formed in September 1999, featuring Elton Dean, Hugh Hopper, John Marshall (on drums) and longtime friend Keith Tippett. This line-up would remain together only briefly, and played just a single gig (Augustusburg Hunting Lodge, Germany, Sept. 4, 1999). Then in 2002, with Tippett unavailable, another former Soft Machine member, Allan Holdsworth (on guitar), was brought in with the remaining three members of Soft Ware, who renamed themselves Soft Works in June 2002[21] to avoid confusion with Peter Mergener's band Software. As Soft Works, they made their world live debut on 17 August 2002 at the Progman Cometh Festival (at the Moore Theater in Seattle, Washington), released (on 29 July 2003)[23] their only (studio) album, Abracadabra, consisting of all new material recorded at the Eastcote Studios in London on 5–7 June 2002, and toured Japan in August 2003, Italy in January and February 2004, and Mexico in March 2004.[21]
During a Japanese Soft Works tour in August 2003, Elton Dean (on saxophone) and Hugh Hopper (on bass) formed the (very) short-lived band Soft Mountain along with Japanese musicians Hoppy Kamiyama (on keyboards), whom Hopper had met a couple of years earlier, and Yoshida Tatsuya (from the band Ruins) on drums. Indeed, looking for a break from relatively fixed set lists and song forms, Hugh Hopper had contacted Kamiyama with the idea of hitting a studio for a day to see what might happen. Kamiyama brought in Tatsuya, and, with no discussion, the quartet dove right in, playing two 45-minute improvisations. In 2007, a year after Elton Dean unexpectedly died aged 60, the one-time meeting band released their eponymous album Soft Mountain that they had recorded on that 10 August 2003 day in Tokyo, Japan.[24] The two-part "Soft Mountain Suite" extracts the best thirty minutes from each improvisation.[25] Soft Mountain named themselves after Hoppy Kamiyama, whose name translates to "God Mountain" in English.[24]
In June 2004, Elton Dean and Hugh Hopper formed the (very) short-lived band Soft Bounds along with Sophia Domancich (keyboards) and Simon Goubert (drums), playing at the Festival "Les Tritonales" at Le Triton in Les Lilas, France[1] (a suburb in the northeast of Paris). This concert was partially released as the (unique Soft Bounds) album Live at Le Triton in 2005.
Soft Machine Legacy (2004–15)
In October 2004, a new variant of Soft Works, with John Etheridge permanently replacing Holdsworth, took the name of "Soft Machine Legacy" and performed their first two gigs (two Festival shows on 9 October in Turkey and 15 October in Czech Republic), Liam Genockey temporarily replacing John Marshall who had ligament problems (the first Soft Machine Legacy line-up being consequently: Elton Dean, John Etheridge, Hugh Hopper and Liam Genockey).[21] Later on, Soft Machine Legacy released three albums: Live in Zaandam[26] (2005), the studio album Soft Machine Legacy[26] (2006) recorded in September 2005 and featuring fresh material and the album Live at the New Morning[27] (2006). After Elton Dean died in February 2006, the band continued with British saxophonist and flautist Theo Travis, formerly of Gong and the Tangent.
In December 2006, the new Legacy line-up recorded the album Steam[28][29][30] in Jon Hiseman's studio. Steam was released in August 2007 by Moonjune before a European tour.
Hopper left in 2008 because he was suffering from leukaemia, so the band continued live performances with Fred Thelonious Baker deputising for Hopper. Following Hopper's death in 2009, the band announced that they would continue with Roy Babbington again replacing Hugh Hopper on bass.[31]
Soft Machine Legacy released their fifth album in October 2010: a 58-minute album entitled Live Adventures recorded live in October 2009 in Austria and Germany during a European tour.[32]
Founding Soft Machine bassist Kevin Ayers died in February 2013, aged 68,[33][34] while Daevid Allen died in March 2015 following a short battle with cancer, aged 77.[35][36]
On 18 March 2013, the Legacy band released a new studio album, titled Burden of Proof.[37] Travis stated that "legally we could actually be called Soft Machine but for various reasons it was decided to be one step removed."[38]
A return to the name "Soft Machine" (2015–present)
In September and October 2015, it was announced that the band Soft Machine Legacy, comprising drummer John Marshall, guitarist John Etheridge, bassist Roy Babbington and sax, flute and keyboard player Theo Travis, would be performing under the name "Soft Machine" in late 2015 and early 2016: two shows in the Netherlands and Belgium in early December 2015[39][nb 2] and a series of seven UK shows in March–April 2016.[39][41][nb 3] In December 2015, it was confirmed that the band were officially dropping the "Legacy" tag from their name moving forward, thus reactivating Soft Machine for the first time since 1984.[41]
Another former Soft Machine member, Allan Holdsworth, died on 15 April 2017 at the age of 70 at his home in Vista, California, from heart failure.[44][45][46]
On 7 September 2018, Soft Machine released Hidden Details on Dyad Records in the UK and Tonefloat Records in the US, their first new studio album since 1981's Land of Cockayne. In Fall and Winter 2018, they toured the world as part of their 50th anniversary celebration and in support of the new album, and the US in January and February 2019.[nb 4]
On 20 March 2020, Soft Machine released Live at The Baked Potato, their first original live album since 1978's Alive & Well. It was recorded live at The Baked Potato, Los Angeles, on 1 February 2019 and was initially only available as a twelve-track only-200-numbered-copy limited edition double vinyl LP; it has since been released on CD. The album documents their extensive 2018–2019 world tour.[49][50]
On 7 December 2021 Soft Machine issued a press release announcing that Babbington was retiring from the band, to be replaced by Fred Thelonious Baker.[51]
In June 2023, the band released a new studio album, Other Doors. The album was recorded with John Marshall before he retired from music. Marshall died on 16 September 2023.[52]
The current line-up of Soft Machine, in place since August 2022, comprises John Etheridge (guitar), Theo Travis (saxophones, flutes, keyboards), Fred Thelonious Baker (bass) and Asaf Sirkis (drums).[53][54] They embarked on a seven-date UK "Spring 2023 Tour" beginning on 3 February 2023 at the New Cross Inn in London and ending on 26 May 2023 at City Varieties in Leeds.[nb 5] The band began touring again in November 2023 with dates booked through February 2024.[55]
John Marshall, John Etheridge, Roy Babbington, Theo Travis
Nick Utteridge
2023
Other Doors
John Marshall, John Etheridge, Theo Travis, Fred Baker
Roy Babbington
Live albums
Recorded
Released
Album
Line-up
September 1967 – May 1968
2006
Middle Earth Masters
Mike Ratledge, Robert Wyatt, Kevin Ayers
March 1969
1996
Live at the Paradiso 1969
Mike Ratledge, Robert Wyatt, Hugh Hopper
November 1969 – May 1970
2002
Backwards
November 1969 recordings: Mike Ratledge, Robert Wyatt, Hugh Hopper, Elton Dean, Lyn Dobson, Mark Charig, Nick Evans May 1970 recordings: Mike Ratledge, Robert Wyatt, Hugh Hopper, Elton Dean
January 1970
2000
Noisette
Mike Ratledge, Robert Wyatt, Hugh Hopper, Elton Dean, Lyn Dobson
January 1970
2005
Breda Reactor
January 1970
2022
Facelift France & Holland CD 2
March 1970
2022
Facelift France & Holland CD 1 + DVD
April 1970
2004
Somewhere in Soho
Mike Ratledge, Robert Wyatt, Hugh Hopper, Elton Dean
^A week of gigs from 30 July to 4 August 1984.[21]
^On 2 December 2015 at Cultuurpodium Boerderij in Zoetermeer, Netherlands[40] and on 4 December 2015 at N9 Villa in Eeklo, Belgium.[39]
^On 18 March 2016[42] as part of the HRH Prog 4 Festival (scheduled from 17 to 20 March) at Camp HRH (Hafan y Môr Holiday Park), Pwllheli, North Wales, UK,[43] on 19 March at the Brewery Arts Centre, Kendal, UK, on 20 March at the Bristol Jazz Festival, Bristol, UK (once scheduled then cancelled and rescheduled for 16 November 2016 at The Robin 2, Wolverhampton, UK), on 24 March 2016 at the Talking Heads in Southampton, UK, on 26 March 2016 at Trading Boundaries, Sheffield Green, East Sussex, UK, on 30 March at the Assembly Rooms, Leamington Spa, UK, on 31 March 2016 at the Band on the Wall in Manchester, UK, on 1 April 2016 at Nell's Jazz & Blues Club in London, UK.[39]
^Soft Machine embarked on 6 September 2018 in Oslo, Norway on a world tour starting with a 10-date Europe leg (ended on 19 September 2018 in Jena, Germany); followed on 6 October in Baltimore by a 12-date North American leg – their first North American tour since 1974 (ended on 23 October in Saint Paul, Minnesota); followed on 3 November in Canterbury by an 11-date second European leg (ended on 16 December 2018 in Bonn, Germany); and embarked on 21 January 2019 on a 14-date second North American leg (ended by a 5-date residency from 4 to 8 February 2019 at Key West, Florida through Cozumel, Mexico at the Cruise to the Edge festival).[47][48]
^On 3 February 2023 at the New Cross Inn (a pub in New Cross) in London; 8 February at the Tivoli Theatre, Wimborne; 9 February at The Pavilion, Falmouth; 15 February at Band on the Wall in Manchester; 16 February at Backstage at The Green Hotel in Kinross; 17 February at Zeffirellis in Ambleside; 26 May 2023 at City VarietiesMusic Hall in Leeds
