M- ENGLAND ? 2xLP 1970 Orig? THE SOFT MACHINE ? THIRD ? PROG JAZZ Psych + WYATT

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  TOP COPY 1970 ORIGINAL 2xLP PROGRESSIVE ADVENTURE     ..|/\|...............................................|/\|..                          

            SOFT MACHINE
                       "THIRD"
            ..|/\|...............................................|/\|..                                      UK - Orange red CBS - 66246

TOP MINT "ARCHIVE COPY"...

'70s BRITISH pressing ... a vintage pressing from approx 40 years at least, in slick gatefold cover, a 2 LP set, third album (just as the title implies), finding the Soft Machine in a full blown adventurous & highly creative affair.

With 4 close-to-twenty-minute-long tracks, it's hard to come up with a brief review that is still informative. So instead will listen to the album and try to describe each track as it plays:

"Facelift" - Opens with a loooong, deep, menacing organ note over which other keyboard lines build into a chaotic patchwork of sound. After about four minutes of this, the other instruments (bass & reeds) start to creep into the mix. Around the five minute mark, there's an audible edit (this track was constructed from two different live shows) and the song switches to a more structured section. This part sounds more like the jazz-based progressive rock that Canterbury bands are known for. Near the track's midpoint, there are a couple edits as other melodies are faded in and out. A whirling flute solo over another long organ note follows, then at the thirteen minute mark the band goes back into jazzrocking. At one point, it sounds like recordings from both concerts are playing at the same time. The track ends with a repetition of the composed bit from five minutes into the track, which shifts into some backward masking and finally fades away.

"Slightly All the Time" - Starts off with the bass sounding like it's randomly bouncing between a handful of notes, creating a catchy bass line. The drums soon join in, and then the horns state the main melody. After that there's a lengthy section of reeds backed up by bass, drums and organ. Just before the six minute mark, the track doubles its pace and then goes into a fluttering flute solo. It calms back down a couple minutes later and goes into a keyboard and sax dominated section which builds up into a ripping fuzz organ solo. Next, the song slows down and gets a little atmospheric, with swelling guitar (or is that a keyboard?) notes floating behind a smoky sax solo. During the last couple minutes the song accelerates to high speed, finally ending with a restatement of the horn theme from the beginning, this time joined by heavily distorted organ.

"Moon in June" - some collectors single this out as the best song on the album. For those who are big fans of Robert Wyatt vocals, which cover the first half of this track. The music behind the vocal parts seems to wander around until mid-way through the track, they launch into some fusion jams. Over the course of the next several minutes, the bass, drums and keyboards really shine. There are some more vocals from Wyatt, but it's mostly just wordless melodies. Towards the end, the music breaks down into some very experimental sounding stuff with long reverberating notes and squeaky keyboard noises. The track finally ends with some clanging sounds just past the nineteen minute mark.

"Out-Bloody-Rageous" - Far and away another favorite track, largely due to the wonderful looped keyboard (or is it guitar?) sounds at the beginning and end. These are built up, layer by layer into an undulating wall of sound. After this opening, the piano and bass pick up the looped melody and launch into a fairly straightforward jazz/prog number. An impressive organ solo covers the next several minutes, this gives way to a brief reappearance of the wall of keyboard loops, which fades into a section of piano working variations on the loop theme. After that, the backing 'spice' get to solo for a few minutes, eventually being joined by the keys and bass for a final restatement of the main theme before the loops return and gracefully sweep the song along its last few minutes to the album's end.

If one had to make a comparison, they might say most of this album reminds of the early Mothers of Invention, particularly when they'd play long tracks with lots of soloing (such as "King Kong"). There are also parts reminding of Daevid Allen & Gong

side 1 Facelift — 18:45
side 2 Slightly All the Time — 18:11
side 3 Moon in June — 19:08
side 4 Out-Bloody-Rageous — 19:13

CONDITION: The cover: rated: M- TOP ARCHIVE! The delicate British gatefold cover is solid all over, really hard to find this 40 year old pressing without any shelf wear (apparently it wasn't made to last!) = no seam splits, no bends, no writing ... final collection copy... especially with the MINTY CLEAN records:

The vinyl: Both records and all 4 sides are immaculate, M- look and play beautiful...the UK CBS labels are all (4) CLEAN