Search - Soft Machine :: Fifth

Michael Ratledge Please Call Home

Bruce Brownlee | Malden, MA | 01/06/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is the beginning of the slow but steady decline of the Soft Machine. I give the recording five stars because it is inferior (slightly) only in relation to the brilliant Four. By the time of Five, a disgruntled Robert Wyatt had left to form Matching Mole (machine molle -- get it?) and pursue another, and indescribable, direction entirely. Organist Michael Ratledge, alto sax/saxello player Elton Dean, and sublime bassist Hugh Hopper still remained. The drumming, by John Marshall, is certainly more than adequate, but the band was never quite the same after Wyatt left, and was positively dreadful after -Bundles-, by which time Ratledge had followed the rest in departing, leaving them to vaporous noodling which might have made good muzak had it not been so annoying. On Five, Ratledge plays considerably more electric piano than previously (with an indeterminate amount of help from Dean, who doubled on the instrument), with a touch (though not a style) reminiscent of, say, Chick Corea and Joe Zawinul in Miles's 1970 recordings. Which is to suggest that this is prime electric jazz done in an era when many such projects tended to be excessive or misguided. For those familiar with previous Soft Machine incarnations (One, Two, and Third), this may seem quite a different beast (save for Ratledge's readily identifiable swarm-of-bees organ) -- the accent is strongly on jazz, and there remain few if any rock influences beyond those dictated by amplification.Buy it. Right now. Buy One through Four, too. After that, you're on your own (but might wish to pick up the trail with Robert Wyatt's lovely Rock Bottom from 1974.)"

Change is the word

Aaron G. Rhoads | Paris, IL USA | 08/31/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This album seems more meticulous that the bands earlier work. Like Third (and probably 4 even though I don't have it yet), its an album to kick back to and let the music flow, especially "All White" and "Drop", the drum solo on "LBO" is incredible too. Instruments on this album are blended into a whole, and each is showcased at least once. Check out the incredible sax on "As If". Fans of earlier Soft Machine should still give this album a try, even if it is completely different than what they started with."