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Soft Machine Legacy
Soft Machine Legacy: Burden of Proof
by Glenn Astarita
Subsequent to its psychedelic late 60s existence, Soft Machine redeployed its musicality into a hybrid form of British prog-rock meets avant-garde jazz and jazz fusion schema. The band invoked a signature sound, partly due to keyboardist Mike Ratlledge's fuzz-toned Lowry organ performances and other prominent factors. A chief proponent of Britain's fabled Canterbury music scene, many aficionados and music historians often cite Soft Machine as one of the founding fathers of progressive, jazz- rock. In 2010 SONY Music's Legacy division ...
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by Dave Wayne
Over the course of three albums released between 1968 and 1970, the British band Soft Machine transformed from one of the trippiest and mind-bendingly inventive rock bands of the psychedelic era into a raging musical torrent of free jazz, thunderous prog rock, and high- concept minimalist-inspired avant-garde stylings. With the dizzying changes in musical direction came equally dizzying personnel changes, and by the time the dust settled in the early 1970s, Soft Machine--with the last remaining founding member, keyboardist Mike ...
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by Chris M. Slawecki
Many have found elements of jazz in the music of European progressive rock artists such as Gong, Can, King Crimson and even, to a certain improvisational extent, Yes. Soft Machine Legacy continues this...umm, legacy with an amoeba-like lineup (mostly) from alumni of the original progressive instrumental group Soft Machine: guitarist John Etheridge, bassist Roy Babbington and drummer John Marshall, joined by like-minded improviser and former Gong member Theo Travis on saxophones and flute. Recorded in Austria and Germany ...
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by Nic Jones
With Hugh Hopper's death in 2009, Soft Machine Legacy lost its last link with the classic Soft Machine lineups that recorded its most potent music. What is here, then, is a band which pledges allegiance to the relatively straightforward fusion period of the band's history. Once that's clarified, however, it's still a fact that this is no mere exercise in repertory. This quartet takes the music in directions that the fusion-era band would perhaps never have countenanced, ...
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by Mark Redlefsen
The unique jazz-rock of Soft Machine Legacy moves into a new decade with Live Adventures (Moonjune, 2010), along with yet another new lineup, recorded live shortly after the 2009 passing of bassist Hugh Hopper. No matter how much change in personnel occurs, a very identifiable and distinct sound is maintained all around. The balance in this music--as with the original different versions of Soft Machine--has always been about having just enough jazz fusion, grounded by very rock-like rhythms, that follow ...
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by John Kelman
The problem with reunions is that they usually serve a fan base looking for classic repertoire and little in the way of new material and direction. Fortunately, in the 25 years or so since the legendary British jazz/rock group Soft Machine disbanded, two members of the classic lineup--saxophonist/pianist Elton Dean and electric bassist Hugh Hopper--have used the Softs brand on diverse projects including Soft Heap and Soft Bounds. In recent years they've teamed with others Softs alumni who never played ...
read moreSoft Machine Legacy: New Morning--The Paris Concert
by John Kelman
Soft Machine Legacy New Morning: The Paris Concert Inakustuk 2006 Some would argue that Soft Machine didn't technically take its last wheezing gasps until the early 1980s, with the release of the largely inconsistent Land of Cockayne (EMI, 1981). Most, however, would agree that the seminal British jazz/rock group's last proper release was Alive and Well--Recorded in Paris, the first album where not a single member remained from the group that originally began ...
read moreSoft Machine Legacy Releases New Studio Album "Burden Of Proof"
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Chris M. Slawecki
Soft Machine Legacy makes their most powerful statement to date, delivering an album of epic proportions and their first studio output since 2007's Steam. Infectious grooves, undeniably hip vibes and sizzling performances dominate the outing, as the veteran progressive music masters continue to break new ground and offer listeners yet more previously-unseen facets of their dynamic musical persona. Featuring some intriguingly-inviting new writing, the album is a breath of fresh air for progressive music and a bold furtherance of the ...
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