Soft Machine

:For the book by William S. Burroughs, see The Soft Machine.

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The Soft Machine were a pioneering British psychedelic, progressive rock and jazz band from Canterbury, Kent, England, named after the book The Soft Machine by William S. Burroughs. They were one of the central bands in the Canterbury scene.

Related Topics:
British - Psychedelic - Progressive rock - Jazz - Canterbury - Kent - England - The Soft Machine - William S. Burroughs - Canterbury scene

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Soft Machine had emerged out of an earlier band called Wildeflowers (a reference to Oscar Wilde). The Wildeflowers line-up included, at various times: Brian Hopper (guitar, saxophone, flute, vocals), Hugh Hopper (bass), Robert Wyatt (drums, vocals), Kevin Ayers (vocals), Richard Sinclair (guitar, vocals), Pye Hastings (guitar, vocals), Dave Sinclair (keyboards) and Richard Coughlan (drums). These latter four formed another successful Canterbury band Caravan.

Related Topics:
Wildeflowers - Oscar Wilde - Caravan

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When the band became Soft Machine, its initial lineup featured Kevin Ayers (bass), Robert Wyatt (drums, vocals), Daevid Allen (guitar) and Mike Ratledge (keyboards). Allen left before their first album, and Ayers was replaced by Hugh Hopper by the time of the second. Allen later formed Gong.

Related Topics:
Kevin Ayers - Robert Wyatt - Daevid Allen - Mike Ratledge - Hugh Hopper - Gong

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The best-known lineup, containing Wyatt, Ratledge, Hopper, and saxophonist Elton Dean, produced the critically-acclaimed album Third (note: recorded at the same time as Miles Davis's 'Bitches Brew') and its follow-up Fourth. At that time Soft Machine was playing a form of jazz rock/fusion jazz influenced by John Coltrane and other American post-bop jazzmen and has some similarities to the early work of Weather Report. However, Machine's jazz comes directly from the avant jazz and free jazz movements that had developed amongst young British jazz musicians in the mid to late 60's. This is reflected in the similarities to the music of (Ian Carr's) Nucleus, as well as personnel overlaps. Wyatt, disagreeing with a direction that left no room for his vocal experiments, left the band in 1971 to form Matching Mole (a French pun on the name Soft Machine), the creation of proably the first RIO album 'End OF An Ear', then with the unfortunate accident that broke his back, a notable solo career. Later line-up changes left Ratledge the only original member of the band, and by 1976 he was gone too (composer of some very successful music for ad jingles, including those for BA). Karl Jenkins (keyboards and woodwinds), who had joined in 1972, became the band's leader and led it until its disbanding in 1984; guitarist Allan Holdsworth was a member during this period. (Today, Karl Jenkins is better known for cross-over classical projects such as Adiemus.) Ric Sanders (later a member of Fairport Convention) was on "Alive and Well" (1978).

Related Topics:
Elton Dean - Miles Davis's - John Coltrane - Weather Report - Matching Mole - RIO - Karl Jenkins - Allan Holdsworth - Adiemus - Fairport Convention

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Bands which have grown out of Soft Machine (or the WildeFlowers) include Caravan, Kevin Ayers and the Whole World, Hatfield and the North, Gong, Matching Mole, Egg, National Health and Robert Wyatt. Henry Cow, derive from Machine's type of Canterbury sound but not out of Soft Machine. The Various European bands have adopted elements of Soft Machine's music including Moving Gelatine Plates, and several Italian bands in the 70's. Oregon-based Caveman Shoestore joined forces with Hugh Hopper becoming Caveman Hughscore, later Hughscore, which musically reflects 'Volume 2' period Machine. French-based Polysofts, recorded a tribute album to Soft Machine in 2002 during a live Parisan gig, with Hopper and Dean guesting. Out of various Soft Machine's line-ups, Soft Works (2002/3) with Hopper, Dean, Marshall and Holdsworth ('Abracadabra'), and Soft Machine Legacy (2005) Hopper, Dean, Marshall & Etheridge ('Live at Zaandan 21st May 2005') have recorded and toured.

Related Topics:
Caravan - Kevin Ayers and the Whole World - Hatfield and the North - Gong - Matching Mole - Egg - National Health - Robert Wyatt - Henry Cow - Moving Gelatine Plates - Caveman Hughscore - Hughscore - Polysofts - Soft Works - Soft Machine Legacy

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Graham Bennett's Soft Machine biography, 'Out-Bloody-Rageous' is published in September 2005.

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