Soft Machine Third CD - Import

2007 digitally remastered and expanded reissue of this 1970 album from UK legends Soft Machine features a bonus disc that contains a BBC Live Session recorded at the Royal Albert Hall. In the history of Rock music, few bands underwent such a stylistic musical transformation as Soft Machine. Starting life as a band that absorbed Soul and Jazz influences, the group were one of the first to embrace Psychedelia before heading off on a Jazz influenced tangent. In hindsight Soft Machine's evolution could have only taken place in the musical free thinking environment that was the music business of the late 60's / early 70's. It was an evolution that would produce some of the most startlingly brilliant and innovative music of the period. Sony/BMG. 2007.

Personnel: Robert Wyatt (vocals, drums); Rab Spall (violin); Jimmy Hastings (flute, bass clarinet); Lyn Dobson (flute, soprano saxphone); Elton Dean (alto saxophone, saxello); Nick Evans (trombone); Mike Ratledge (piano, organ); Hugh Hopper (bass).
Includes bonus CD.
The Soft Machine plunged deeper into jazz and contemporary electronic music on this pivotal release, which incited the Village Voice to call it a milestone achievement when it was released. It's a double album of stunning music, with each side devoted to one composition -- two by Mike Ratledge, and one each by Hopper and Wyatt, with substantial help from a number of backup musicians, including Canterbury mainstays Elton Dean and Jimmy Hastings. The Ratledge songs come closest to fusion jazz, although this is fusion laced with tape loop effects and hypnotic, repetitive keyboard patterns. Hugh Hopper's "Facelift" recalls "21st Century Schizoid Man" by King Crimson, although it's more complex, with several quite dissimilar sections. The pulsing rhythms, chaotic horn and keyboard sounds, and dark drones on "Facelift" predate some of what Hopper did as a solo artist later (this song was actually culled from two live performances in 1970). Robert Wyatt draws on musical ideas from early 1967 demos done with producer Giorgio Gomelsky, on his capricious composition "Moon in June." Lyrically, it's a satirical alternative to the pretension displayed by a lot of rock writing of the era, and combined with the Softs' exotic instrumentation, it makes for quite a listen (the collection Triple Echo includes a BBC broadcast recording of this song, with different albeit equally fanciful lyrics). Not exactly rock, Third nonetheless pushed the boundaries of rock into areas previously unexplored, and it managed to do so without sounding self-indulgent. A better introduction to the group is either of the first two records, but once introduced, this is the place to go. ~ Peter Kurtz
When Kevin Ayers left the band, Soft Machine moved into deep jazz/rock - so deep that they rarely rocked. The mercurial Robert Wyatt became occasional vocalist, although they were now effectively an instrumental unit of great originality. Third is generally regarded as their peak recording, a wandering foray using Elton Dean's soprano saxophone and Mike Ratledge's keyboards as the foundation to their sound. 'Moon In June' features Wyatt's frail, high-pitched voice, and is still talked about by cultists for the fact that he rarely sang the same words from one performance to another. Difficult music, but well worth the effort, especially after a vat of wine.

Rolling Stone (1/7/71, p.48) - "..This album is a godsend...they are fantastic...If you could imagine Traffic with classical training, having absorbed the concept of modal thinking as developed by the likes of John Coltrane.."
Uncut (p.102) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "There's a great demonstration of what Wyatt brought to the group. With him, they were an odder fish, straddling jazz, prog and pop."
Mojo (Publisher) (p.111) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "From jazz-rock cacophony to a mood song of almost unbearable tenderness, THIRD is the big daddy of post-psych Britain."
Mojo (Publisher) (3/01, p.55) - "...Marked their full transformation from pop-psych Pink Floyd understudies to po-faced purveyors of complex jazz-rock epics....Daringly ambitious, catching the progressive inclinations of a new decade..."