Search - Soft Machine :: Middle Earth Masters

M.E.M.ories

Robert Carlberg | Seattle | 05/01/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Soft Machine's earliest incarnation, as a trio with Kevin Ayers, Mike Ratledge and Robert Wyatt, is represented on disc by Soft Machine 1 and the Giorgio Gomelsky demos, but the only live recordings, despite extensive gigging, have been 5 "in studio" songs done for BBC -- until now. Recorded in London clear back in September 1967, this live performance was captured on 15 i.p.s. half-track reels by Bob Woolford, nearly state-of-the-art for the time. Unfortunately the band's live concert setup was prone to distortion (understatement!) and the resulting tapes were deemed unsalvageable more than once.



Enter Mike King, the same dude who "wrote the book" on Wyatt. Thanks to modern digital technology, much persistence and a ton of hard work, Mike was able to resurrect a quite-servicable representation of the original overdriven concert. It really sounds surprisingly good (say, compared to Brian Hopper's archival tapes of the same period) and has been edited together into a continuously-flowing set like the first album.



This release rates AT LEAST five stars for the effort put into releasing it and for the rarity of it. Thanks to all the lads involved for putting it together nearly 40 years later."

Rare psych era live softs

rainman | joyzee | 09/12/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"amazing sounding live performance of soft machine from 1967. i was suprised by the sound quality of this recording, its really great. amazing what can be done these days with modern technology applied to old tapes. maybe the floyd could release something from this era also!!!"