The BEST of live SOFT MACHINE 1969-70
W. T. Hoffman | Pennsylvania, United States | 07/17/2008
(4 out of 5 stars)
"First off, the product information is incorrect. This is a TWO CD SET. What has been compiled here, is a collection of three different bootleg recordings of SOFT MACHINE, when they were at the top of their game. The first recording (Paradiso 69) has a very good sound quality , since it was recorded professionally for a live album that was never released. LIVE AT THE PARADISO, recorded in March 1969, is why you would want to buy this collection, tho be forwarned...it is NOT the entire recording of that concert. The band preforms the second soft machine album, with some extra jamming. Listening to Soft Machine live in 1969, the stylistic connections to the Mothers of Invention really come out. Lots of small songs, all connected into a suite, the jazz and avant guarde modernists influences, intelligent songwriting and high level of musicianship, all prove SOFT MACHINE were the one British band that sounded most like Zappa's Mothers. I was very impressed with those first 9 songs from early 1969. The one problem some people might have with this version of SOFT MACHINE, is that you only have three musicians making the sound. We are talking about a keyboard player, a bass player, and an incredible drummer. So if you think this sounds like THE NICE or ELP, think again. Actually, on the PARADISO cuts, I thought it sounded like a psychedelic-jazz keyboard trio. Once you get past the psychedelic sound effects and freeform jazz, you can hear the minimalism in the way the organ may just play the same four chord forms over and over, while the drummer explodes over his kit, or when the bass player hangs on a simple five or six note figure, while the keyboard player rips. Now, if this whole anthology sounded as good as PARADISO 1969, that would be fantastic. However, two more popular bootlegs are represented, of much worse quality. Most of the second CD (track 12 on the song list in the product display, marks the beginning of the second CD) is from a horrible cassette tape recording of the quartet version of the band, from 1970. (Dean is on Sax.) Its sad that so many of these songs from that recording were never recorded by the band, because this recording is UNLISTENABLE. If i had to grade the sound, lets say D or D-. This tape was stretched, leaving the tempo to literally slow down, and speed up. On top of that, is tape hiss that rivals the volumn of the music. The other bootleg material on the CDs, is also of much poorer quality than the PARADISO recording, but I'd only rate it at B-, or C+. This is the concert material from the bootlegs usually called LIVE 1970, and comprises the songs FACELIFT and MOON IN JUNE, plus the last four songs on CD 2, I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN, ESTERS NOSE JOB, PIG and ORANGE SKIN FOOD. It has the same line-up of Hopper, Ratledge, Wyatt, with Lyn Dobson on sax. (Dean was out for the night.) All in all, I would like to give this 2CD set only a three star review, just because of the terrible quality of one of the three bootlegs recordings. But, that would be so unfair to the fantastic PARADISO 1969 tracks, and the "not bad" songs from "LIVE 1970". For the casual SOFT MACHINE fan, who might have the first three or four LPs, and wants to dig a little deeper into what the band sounded like live, this set is INDISPENSIBLE. I'll tell you why. The first reason is clear--this band was fantastic live, on par with any of the "psychedelic jam bands" from that period. Their studio recordings dont do justice, to what they were able to achieve on stage, on a good night. There is a second reason why this is a good collection. Obviously, Amazon cant give samples of these bootleg recordings, because they are not copyright protected. These three concert recordings on this set, turn up over and over, in various editions, as LIVE SOFT MACHINE CDs. If i had bought that bootleg that takes up most of the second CD, i'd be very upset, because the quality is unlistenable. (at least to me.) And, knowing how great PARADISO 1969 sounds, which takes up most of CD1, I can hear it's THE early SOFT MACHINE bootleg to get. So, for what is very little money, you get a nice 2CD set, with a 6 page insert booklet explaining what these bootlegs are, and their history, as well as a history of SOFT MACHINE. This makes the whole package a smart value, for finding out what is out there, for SOFT MACHINE live material. So, i'm happy with my purchase, and I think that most people who are out there looking for SOFT MACHINE live CDs, but dont know what's what, will be happy to have this CD in their collection. For me, this is all the live SOFT MACHINE i need, for now."
