This was a Christmas present several years ago, and it collects together in a 2CD set, BBC sessions from the band (mostly for John Peel's Top Gear programme) from the beginning, up to the point in 1971 where Robert Wyatt left the band.
While not laid out strictly chronologically, there seems to be a divide in the collection, with CD1 being the more psych-pop one, and CD2 more jazz fusion.
CD1 opens with a couple of Kevin Ayers' songs, Clarence In Wonderland and We Know What You Mean, neither of which the Softs recorded elsewhere, although Ayers revisited both, the former, a throwaway piece of whimsy appearing on Shooting At The Moon, and the latter, more philosophical and serious (appearing on Ayers' compilation album Odd Ditties, as Soon, Soon, Soon). There follows three songs which appeared on the band's debut album - the slow Hugh Hopper composition A Certain Kind, the full band thrash, Hope For Happiness and the very 60s pop Strangest Scene (originally called Lullaby Letter).
There's a shift to the jazz rock of Third with a medley of Facelift / Mousetrap / Noisette / Backwards / Mousetrap Reprise, with Brian Hopper joining the band on saxes to present a fine extended piece. But the highlight of this CD comes next, a live version of Wyatt's Moon In June from Third, with lyrics re-written acknowledging their gratitude to the BBC for giving them airtime. First surfacing on the late 1970s Triple Echo compilation, this feels to me the perfect capture of the playful early Soft Machine fused with the more jazz influence which was developing and would ultimately force Wyatt to leave the band. Instant Pussy is a Wyatt solo piece, a short, poignant song with piano, which later appeared on his Matching Mole album. Slightly All The Time /Out Bloody Rageous / Eamonn Andrews, more instrumental pieces from Third bring CD1 to a close with another extended jazz rocker showing this line up's ultimate direction.
CD2 opens in 1971 with Virtually, from Fourth, a Hugh Hopper piece, which is very free jazz, followed by a similarly free and much extended Elton Dean composition, also from Fourth, Fletcher's Blemish. This one's a much more difficult listen than Virtually, and it's understandable why those who fell in love with the band's first two, song based albums might question what's happening. Certainly Wyatt did, feeling reduced to being a jazz band's drummer by now, with none of his compositions being considered by the band. Neo-Caliban Grides, also from Dean, was from the Fourth sessions and left off the album. It's not hard to see why, it's an unlistenable racket.
I was hoping for the rendition of Dedicated To You But You Weren't Listening from Volume Two to remind me how things once were, but this session is a solo Wyatt version, with heavy echo for effect, and the spirit of the song vanishes. But the latest session in this compilation, from June 1971, restores things a little. Eamonn Andrews / All White is a flowing Mike Ratledge jazz fusion piece, where Dean's sax playing is kept within a tune and it's a fine listen. This CD ends with a much extended (21 minutes) medley of Mousetrap/Noisette/Backwards/Mousetrap Reprise/Esther's Nose Job from Volume Two and Third, possibly the only recording (November 1969) of the short lived septet with horn section, and for me, it's possibly the finest twenty minute summary of early jazz Soft Machine, easily the stand out of the otherwise difficult CD2.
Others have lamented the often disappointing sound quality of early Soft Machine releases from outside the studio, but fear not, if there's one organisation which can record music faithfully it's the BBC. This is a fine summary of the 1967-71 era, particularly the latter half of it, with some excellent and enjoyable pieces. I can leave Elton Dean's atonal squawks, but the rest is fantastic.
4* - A faithful live summary of early Softs, warts and all. But lots to really enjoy.
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