Soft Machine – Third (1970)

Bringing you the latest in modern rock and pop music, here's young beat group Soft Machine's third album, imaginatively entitled Third.

I have this as part of a budget priced box set re-release of albums 3 to 7 which I picked up a few years ago.

There's a marked change in style from the previous two albums. Kevin Ayers has left, taking with him the majority of the whimsy, to be replaced by jazz saxophonist Elton Dean (whose name was borrowed by a young pianist bandmate, Reg Dwight). The style shifts massively from the psychedelic sounds of the previous albums, establishing a much more jazz-rock approach, which was to lead to Robert Wyatt's departure, yet set the template for half a century of music for the band, still playing today, albeit with no original members - in fact only guitarist John Etheridge remains from any 1970s line up. The album was released as a double LP, consisting of four tracks, one on each side.. So let's sit back and listen again.

The album opens with a live recording of bassist Hugh Hopper's Facelift, beginning with about five minutes of atonal noises from the band, before a discernable tune arises, a haunting sax piece, leading us into a full blooded jazz-rock section, augmented by guest Lyn Dobson's sax playing. Then there's a more discordant, percussive section, a gentle flute melody (Dobson again) which gradually rises in tone to a crescendo, before the piece climaxes with the sax theme (partly backwards) from about ten minutes earlier.

Keyboardist Mike Ratledge's Slightly All The Time follows, an amalgam of a couple of shorter pieces, starting with an enjoyable sax and organ theme before a faster middle section, again with a flute accompaniment (this time Jimmy Hastings), and sections which have more of a feel of the first two albums than anything so far. There's a lovely quieter piece, leading to a grand ending. It's a great medley, which needs something different to balance it, and that follows with the only vocal track on the album, Wyatt's Moon In June, his final vocal and composition contribution to the band, essentially a solo piece and performance for the first half. Harking back to the psychedelic days of the band, it has a rather lonely sound but it's a great listen. Halfway through, the rest of the band kick in, and it's a fantastic thrash ending in a quiet section which morphs into a strange run out of Wyatt's voice and Rob Spall on violin.

The final piece is Out-Bloody-Rageous, another Ratledge composition, opening with a Terry Riley inspired flowing soundscape, leading into a fine, long organ solo over a pounding beat, with a slower section before returning to that exciting organ sound, and the Rileyesque run off.

It's a great album, even if the sound of a band in transition. Often these don't work, but this seems to combine the best elements of both the psychedelic past and the jazz rock future. As such, many feel it's the band's most complete and satisfying album, even if the cracks are already beginning to show.

Link to full album

4* - a fantastic slice of a band probably at their creative peak.