Soft Machine was a pioneering psychedelic, progressive rock and jazz band f… Read Full Bio ↴Soft Machine was a pioneering psychedelic, progressive rock and jazz band from Canterbury, United Kingdom, named after the book The Soft Machine by William S. Burroughs. They were one of the central bands in the Canterbury Scene.
The band originally consisted of Robert Wyatt, Kevin Ayers, Daevid Allen and Mike Ratledge, most of whom were former members of The Wilde Flowers in 1966. Later members have included Hugh Hopper, Roy Babbington, Elton Dean, John Etheridge, Karl Jenkins, John Marshall, and Allan Holdsworth.
Soft Machine continued on in name, even after all the original founder members moved on; Mike Ratledge was the last to depart in 1976. Numerous offshoots and side projects have included "Soft" in their names: Soft Heap, Soft Head, Soft Works, and the band Matching Mole, a play on words for the French of Soft Machine ('machine molle'). As of 2005, Soft Machine Legacy is a working concern.
Other musicians in the band during the later period were bassists Percy Jones of Brand X and Steve Cook, saxophonists Alan Wakeman and Ray Warleigh, and violinist Ric Sanders. Their 1977 performances and record Alive and Well: Recorded in Paris were among the last for Soft Machine as a working band. The Soft Machine name was used for the 1981 record Land of Cockayne with Jack Bruce and Allan Holdsworth, plus Ray Warleigh and Dick Morrissey on saxes and John Taylor on electric piano, and for a final series of dates at London's Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club in the summer of 1984, featuring Jenkins and Marshall leading an ad-hoc line-up of Etheridge, Warleigh, pianist Dave MacRae and bassist Paul Carmichael.
The band originally consisted of Robert Wyatt, Kevin Ayers, Daevid Allen and Mike Ratledge, most of whom were former members of The Wilde Flowers in 1966. Later members have included Hugh Hopper, Roy Babbington, Elton Dean, John Etheridge, Karl Jenkins, John Marshall, and Allan Holdsworth.
Soft Machine continued on in name, even after all the original founder members moved on; Mike Ratledge was the last to depart in 1976. Numerous offshoots and side projects have included "Soft" in their names: Soft Heap, Soft Head, Soft Works, and the band Matching Mole, a play on words for the French of Soft Machine ('machine molle'). As of 2005, Soft Machine Legacy is a working concern.
Other musicians in the band during the later period were bassists Percy Jones of Brand X and Steve Cook, saxophonists Alan Wakeman and Ray Warleigh, and violinist Ric Sanders. Their 1977 performances and record Alive and Well: Recorded in Paris were among the last for Soft Machine as a working band. The Soft Machine name was used for the 1981 record Land of Cockayne with Jack Bruce and Allan Holdsworth, plus Ray Warleigh and Dick Morrissey on saxes and John Taylor on electric piano, and for a final series of dates at London's Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club in the summer of 1984, featuring Jenkins and Marshall leading an ad-hoc line-up of Etheridge, Warleigh, pianist Dave MacRae and bassist Paul Carmichael.
Facelift
Soft Machine Lyrics
Instrumental
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Thiago da Silva
7:02 - 10:20, 10:20 - 11:22, 17:52 - 18:45
Funny how a single track can have more memorable moments than most musicians' entire careers. This is magic stuff.
Big Dave
the flute solo is jaw dropping it’s just so beautiful it gives me chills
James Aron
Well, this came out of the 'Golden Age of Rock' era. Heck, even the mediocre stuff was good back then. The good stuff was great, and the truly great achievements essentially tore the fabric of space and time..
SpookyKujo
I love this whole track, but especially love the end at 17:52 it sounds so, weird but fascinating to me, I love it!
portal ⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻
I always appreciate 17:04 and the buildup to it, even though it only lasts for a few seconds, lol
Aurelio Rodio
@Igor Rodrigues When "Progressive" was still a progress...
Simon Eric
- Listening to Soft Machine is like staring at the sea : you'll never get bored if you pay attention to the little details and let yourself carried away by it.
I discovered SM first, which drove me to Terry Riley, then moved on to Sun Ra. There is some closeness between those three...
Pierce Clegg
YES HOLY SHIT
Joel Kavanagh
could't tree%gray more ... ,,. ,, ....
Robert Higgins
I loved the Soft Machine at the time of the “Third”. With my friends at the time we went to as many of their concerts as we could. At the beginning Robert Wyatt was still their drummer. We were lucky enough to be at Fairfield Hall in Croydon when part of Facelift was performed and became part of this album. I still love it.