@@KiBlobsworth Huh?? I kinda doubt it. Percy Jones recorded some pretty darn creative uniquely styled stuff in 1975 (Brand X first album, Steve Hackett "A Tower Struck Down") and Jaco gained a lot of popularity when he released his solo album and joined Weather Report in 1976. I think they have some coincidental similarities in style, but neither are ripping off each other, and probably didn't know of each other during their formative training at all.
42 years down the line, still going strong. Managed to catch Soft Machine recently at Backstage, Kinross, Scotland with the current lineup of Etheridge, Marshall, Babbington & Travis. Absolutely brilliant! Played newly written material as well as some old favourites.
Good times and fabulous musicians that I had the pleasure to live in Espinho, Portugal (except mistake in 1975). Excellent alignment with John Marshall - drums; Karl Jenkins - keyboards; Percy Jones - bass; John Etheridge - guitar and Ric Sanders - violin
Heard "Softs" early on, still love that material.I guess Roy Babbington had just left shortly before this performance. Didn't know Percy Jones stepped in. Cool. Thanks for Posting Man.
Ric Sanders doubles Karl Jenkins on keys here and there. Which is what Karl himself as well as Elton Dean did when Mike Rathledge was the main keyboard player. I wish they had someone fully committed to keyboards in the current line-up.
As an intense fan of Wyatt-era Soft Machine, I really like a lot of what the band name produced after his departure, especially the Phil Howard moment, but Marshall is awesome and Out of Season is like Vince Guaraldi meets this era of the Machine. Etheridge's deliberately un-flashy playing crafted playing was really amazing.
Yes, I´m Holdsworth! Always have been, ever since 1975. But Etheridge was great too! No need to play him down! And the band was great. 1975 I watched Soft Machine perform the "Bundles"-Program with AH. I stood 3m in front of the stage, and man, gone was I! But I also like this here performance. Stop comparing Allan! He was one of a kind, second to none! But others are great too, each one in their own way.
I remember the radio broadcast of this , it was part of the Newcastle Jazz Festival............. also on the programme was Rahssan Roland Kirk ( also brilliant ! ) , and a Trad Jazz Band with guest Sax player , Bud Beadle. The whole show was magic , and fortunately for me I taped it . Never saw the TV footage though , so this is great............. wwere the other two bands also on the TV ?
@@olliepops1124 it's unfortunate that there's only a little footage of this line up with John Etheridge on guitar live playing stuff from the classic 'Softs ' album. Or did they film more that's not seen light of day. There's a whole concert with Alan Holdsworth doing the ' Bundles' album but that is one Soft Machine album I could never get into.
The whole "Softs"/Karl Jenkins era seems to be a bit of "Hey let's pretend we're Mahavishnu Orchestra" and I'm not upset about that! They even quote "Meeting of the Spirits" in one tune. It's cool because by this time, Mahavishnu itself was done. They do a good job of capturing the magic of the record live!
Quite right. In a PJ interview, he said he was only with Soft Machine for a couple of months. A few live gigs around Europe. PJ interview www.percyjones.net/interview.htm
A good example of the later Soft Machine. The compositions were probably not that spectacular in the mid-1970s, but the musicianship with Marshall, Etheridge etc. was brilliant as ever.
This is better than a lot a lot of things, but it makes no more sense to call this "later Soft Machine" than it does calling it "mid-period Nucleus" whom I like, but whose composer (Karl J) and players (John Marshall, et. al.) took over what HAD BEEN Robert Wyatt, Mike Ratledge, and Kevin Ayers/Hugh Hopper's band and extended the project formerly known as Nucleus with it. Again, really great musicianship, though, for me, only serviceable composing. Possibly Mike and Hugh had run out of ideas by then, having forced Robert out of his own band, but, nevertheless, a shadow of the band which created the name "Soft Machine" through albums 1-4. I'm just saying.
1976-10-29 Soft Machine live in Newcastle, England o Karl Jenkins - keyboards o John Etheridge - electric guitar o Ric Sanders - violin o Percy Jones - fretless bass o John Marshall - drums
Forgive my inaccuracy, since the festival was in 1977. Greetings...1977 - I Festival Internacional de Jazz de Espinho with Cecil Taylor, Buck Clayton and Soft Machine. ( Produção: Duarte Mendonça)
I think there must be a kind of Brit sensibility in this kind of fusion music, because I really like this whereas their nearest counterpart, Mahavishnu Orchestra, leaves me completely cold, as does Weather Report and Return To Forever.
I couldn't agree more, Bob. I've told myself I should like John McLaughlin, Mahavishnu, Return to Forever etc. but, although I can "admire" their work, the music does nothing for me. On the other hand, I can listen to Soft Machine/SM Legacy (particularly the Etheridge/Travis line ups) all day long - love 'em!
Good band but a name change would have helped . Nowhere as good as the classic Hopper, Wyatt , Ratleige , Dean lineup and too similar to the great Mahavishnu Orchestra . lnteresting none the less .
های پیچیده شاخه های به هم پیوسته قدردانی کنید، رنگ های تجزیه نور به قطرات آب را در باغچه بچشید، خاک مرطوب جنگل اجدادی را به شدت احساس کنید تا رد حیوانات از گذشته عمیق را درک کنید.
Percy Jones, man ... what a great bass player (much better than Roy Babbington). Etheridge is a great musician, but boy do you miss ol' Allan Holdsworth trying to stretch nearly every run into an original statement ;)
Succinctly stated about Etheridge vs. Holdsworth! Allan always seemed to be trying to fit whole paragraphs into sentences, lol. And I completely agree about the bass player situation.
Don't get me wrong; I'm not dissing on John Etheridge. He plays Le Jazz Hot quite effectively. In fact, I'd put him on a level with Philip Catherine, another outstanding jazz musician who has his own quite lyrical style. But even Philip Catherine doesn't begin to offer the cosmic approach to harmony and playing both outside and inside the chords at the same time that Holdsworth (RIP) embodies. Only Coltrane and Eric Dolphy are his true peers of the solo ...
Snardbafulator Floating World was probably the first later period Softs album I heard, many years ago...I was a total Wyatt fanatic at the time though, so I really didn't give it a chance! I should listen again now that I've expanded my appreciation of this band more. And yes, Etheridge is great! But there's only one Holdsworth! Was, rather. I always have liked his playing with others more than on his own compositions, however. Some of it is just a tad cerebral for my liking. The Dolphy/Trane comparison as far as solos go is appropriate imho! Also, Babbington. Not terrible, but certainly the weak link in the ensemble. I gotta hear that bass solo!
Soft Machine was one of the bands I started exploring in late highschool when I was moving beyond the mainstream progrock I flipped out over in eighth grade (we're talking around '76). And I took them in order. I realized they weren't up to the standards of the King Crimson and Gentle Giant I loved; this was crudely-recorded psychedelic rock with embryonic thrusts in a prog direction. But like so many people, I really grew to love Robert Wyatt. Third and Four were eye-openers when they moved in a genuine jazz direction, if both decidedly mixed bags. Heh, I just learned recently that Wyatt played all the instruments on Moon in June, not only the Hammond organ (that should've been a clue; Ratledge plays that awful Lowrey) but also the bass guitar. Slightly All the Time, Teeth and Kings and Queens are masterpieces. But I never checked out their later stuff because I bought Seven and actually returned it to the record store :( I recently scoped out Five and Six and they're both awful, IMHO. I lay the blame squarely at the feet of Karl Jenkins. Not only was he a pretty mediocre composer, but what he did to the oboe was obscene. Look, I'm a 70s Oregon fanatic. I love Paul McCandless to death -- the Coltrane of the oboe. Jenkins sticks his flush up against a vocal mic and the tone is just *total garbage.* And his tone isn't much better on the soprano sax, either. And *this matters* when the substance and concept of your music is all about extended soloing ... But when Holdsworth joined the band they got a second wind. Bundles is good but the same tunes on The Floating World are even better; they're recorded better and the solos are more alive ... As for the "intellectual" charge against Holdsworth's own recordings. I understand where you're coming from. I'm guessing you may have heard Atavachron, which has a terrible ice-cold mix, all this excess reverb in the high end that makes the cymbals all run together. That album has been long overdue for a remix / remaster. (Some of the tunes on it, though, are superb.) I'd strongly suggest that you re-visit Sand, Secrets, Hard Hat Area and The Sixteen Men of Tain. The tunes on them all hold up and there's some stunning emotion in his playing. Roy is a fine stand-up bass player on Teeth. And he supports Allan just fine on electric bass. The track of that abortion of a bass solo (he's all about twiddling his knobs) is called -- appropriately enough -- Ealing Comedy. I write it off to the general self-indulgence of the era ;)
This is the worst Machine ever.After the success with Holdsworth,they repeated the formula,but this time with John Etheridge a clumsy player obsessed with cloning Holdsworth glorious playing,wich he couldn't match. However, the innovative playing of P.Jones and the other Soft Machine origonal members make a well worth listening and enjoyable experience.The '70s!!The vibe of those stunning yers I had the privilege of witness.
Omg, I can't believe Spike Milligan is introducing Soft Machine! 😂
John Etheridge must be one of the most beautiful..slow/lyrical players in fusion...and chops all over the place.
Percy Jones an extraordinarily original bassist, this is some rare footage here!! And what a handsome devil!
Because he's Welsh...
Because he's good.
he is Percy Jones then. I could recognize his sound. But not his face whit that taches
Original?I think not,a Pastorious/Clark soundalike.
@@KiBlobsworth Huh?? I kinda doubt it. Percy Jones recorded some pretty darn creative uniquely styled stuff in 1975 (Brand X first album, Steve Hackett "A Tower Struck Down") and Jaco gained a lot of popularity when he released his solo album and joined Weather Report in 1976. I think they have some coincidental similarities in style, but neither are ripping off each other, and probably didn't know of each other during their formative training at all.
42 years down the line, still going strong. Managed to catch Soft Machine recently at Backstage, Kinross, Scotland with the current lineup of Etheridge, Marshall, Babbington & Travis. Absolutely brilliant! Played newly written material as well as some old favourites.
That's so WONDERFUL to hear, such incredible musicians...THANKS!!
I saw them the past three years running at Kinross and was hoping they would be back this year. It is looking increasingy unlikely sad to say.
Everything evolves... That’s what Soft Machine did. “Softs” is a great album.
Its so nice to listen to
Rare to see latter-day Soft Machine...love it...thank you....
I know what you mean but latter day, it's 1976!
Sometimes as the Bhuddha said we plant the seed for the tree to be appreciated by others when we are gone. This has that quality.
Good times and fabulous musicians that I had the pleasure to live in Espinho, Portugal (except mistake in 1975).
Excellent alignment with John Marshall - drums; Karl Jenkins - keyboards; Percy Jones - bass; John Etheridge - guitar and Ric Sanders - violin
Also saw them in Espinho. Ater them the Cecil Taylor group played, if I'm not mistaken.
Really like how John Etheridge plays. This must be after Holdsworth left.
Heard "Softs" early on, still love that material.I guess Roy Babbington had just left shortly before this performance. Didn't know Percy Jones stepped in. Cool. Thanks for Posting Man.
Shades of Jean-Luc Ponty/Frank Zappa/Mahavishna Orchestra. Love that Wah Wah violin.
I truly love the sound of the keys, which are played by Ric Sanders. Classical 70s!
Karl Jenkins??
Ric Sanders doubles Karl Jenkins on keys here and there. Which is what Karl himself as well as Elton Dean did when Mike Rathledge was the main keyboard player. I wish they had someone fully committed to keyboards in the current line-up.
Great musicians, they really know how to groove together
😀fabulous music !!!
& Spike !!!🐂💨💨💨
.......Spike a tad cringy tho !?
As an intense fan of Wyatt-era Soft Machine, I really like a lot of what the band name produced after his departure, especially the Phil Howard moment, but Marshall is awesome and Out of Season is like Vince Guaraldi meets this era of the Machine. Etheridge's deliberately un-flashy playing crafted playing was really amazing.
Still is I saw them last night.
Thank you for this... so many amazing memories of listening to this stuff. It was PJ who first inspired me to play bass.
Me too! I saw them playing this on OGWT about the same time & it blew my mind.
a great fusion moment in time!
great drummer solo!
Thanks so ever much for this upload!!!!! Great stuff made my day
Yes, I´m Holdsworth! Always have been, ever since 1975. But Etheridge was great too! No need to play him down! And the band was great. 1975 I watched Soft Machine perform the "Bundles"-Program with AH. I stood 3m in front of the stage, and man, gone was I! But I also like this here performance. Stop comparing Allan! He was one of a kind, second to none! But others are great too, each one in their own way.
Those kids in Newcastle had damn good taste.
I remember the radio broadcast of this , it was part of the Newcastle Jazz Festival............. also on the programme was Rahssan Roland Kirk ( also brilliant ! ) , and a Trad Jazz Band with guest Sax player , Bud Beadle. The whole show was magic , and fortunately for me I taped it . Never saw the TV footage though , so this is great............. wwere the other two bands also on the TV ?
Yes, I also remember the TV programme but unfortunately I didn't tape it. Hopefully the Roland Kirk extract will show up on here!
genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/26e696f79975401f8b8677dd8b766e88
The radio broadcast should be released along with a dvd.
@@twistedspanner I’d love a dvd/cd. So, someone contact Cuneiform or Esoteric Records, on the double!
@@olliepops1124 it's unfortunate that there's only a little footage of this line up with John Etheridge on guitar live playing stuff from the classic 'Softs ' album. Or did they film more that's not seen light of day.
There's a whole concert with Alan Holdsworth doing the ' Bundles' album but that is one Soft Machine album I could never get into.
The whole "Softs"/Karl Jenkins era seems to be a bit of "Hey let's pretend we're Mahavishnu Orchestra" and I'm not upset about that! They even quote "Meeting of the Spirits" in one tune. It's cool because by this time, Mahavishnu itself was done. They do a good job of capturing the magic of the record live!
I mean, Karl Jenkins also had his own thing, and it's very beautiful.
First time I heard this was on one of those sampler LPs that labels issued occasionally in the 70s. Also had on it as I recall, Man, Cockney Rebel,
I saw this constellation in Stockholm I think the very same year! As I remember not one of the best concerts by the Softs but still great.
Wish Percy Jones would've stayed with Soft Machine long enough to do an album.
Quite right. In a PJ interview, he said he was only with Soft Machine for a couple of months. A few live gigs around Europe. PJ interview www.percyjones.net/interview.htm
Me too! His playing would have lit a real spark on those last couple 1970's albums.
Check out the Nova album Vimana,some of his best playing in my opinion
A good example of the later Soft Machine. The compositions were probably not that spectacular in the mid-1970s, but the musicianship with Marshall, Etheridge etc. was brilliant as ever.
Do not underestimate the "compositions" around this period, they were more riff-oriented and they had great riffs at the time.....
This is better than a lot a lot of things, but it makes no more sense to call this "later Soft Machine" than it does calling it "mid-period Nucleus" whom I like, but whose composer (Karl J) and players (John Marshall, et. al.) took over what HAD BEEN Robert Wyatt, Mike Ratledge, and Kevin Ayers/Hugh Hopper's band and extended the project formerly known as Nucleus with it. Again, really great musicianship, though, for me, only serviceable composing. Possibly Mike and Hugh had run out of ideas by then, having forced Robert out of his own band, but, nevertheless, a shadow of the band which created the name "Soft Machine" through albums 1-4. I'm just saying.
@@dantean a shadow of the band my arse,...
@@dodibenabba1378 I'd sooner not discuss your arse, mate.
Holy Crap ! Percy Jones ? where did this come from ? thanks a bunch .
Brand X, 74 - 80. Born in Wales 3-12-1947. Bass and guitar player.
C'est bien Percy Jones !!! j'adoooooore son jeu.
Introduced by Splke Milligan, if you please!
😳😳😳 Le jeu de Percy à 19'10,,,, et ce son de PBass !!!!
1976-10-29 Soft Machine live in Newcastle, England
o Karl Jenkins - keyboards
o John Etheridge - electric guitar
o Ric Sanders - violin
o Percy Jones - fretless bass
o John Marshall - drums
Superb...!! John Etheridge.. can I borrow your SG Les Paul electric guitar for a few years?
Um Soft Machine zu verstehen, braucht man viel Platz im Kopf
Show!!!
Magical!!!
Recorded this off the wireless at the time (simultaneous broadcast on BBC Radio 3) - brilliant gig!
Roland Kirk was on the same gig!
Wow!!!
Forgive my inaccuracy, since the festival was in 1977. Greetings...1977 - I Festival Internacional de Jazz de Espinho
with Cecil Taylor, Buck Clayton and Soft Machine.
( Produção: Duarte Mendonça)
Super
echt fantasties!
❤😊
This must be from the Newcastle Jazz Festival...also on the bill was Rahsaan Roland Kirk, and the compere was Spike Milligan...
Spikd,you sadly missed and sorely needed loony!
Does anybody have a tracklisting ?
0:35: Out of Season
4:58: Ban-Ban Caliban
10:06: The Tale of Taliesin
17:45: Sideburn
18:47: One Over the Eight
I think there must be a kind of Brit sensibility in this kind of fusion music, because I really like this whereas their nearest counterpart, Mahavishnu Orchestra, leaves me completely cold, as does Weather Report and Return To Forever.
There's a warmth and emotion to this, I too struggle a bit with the others...
Listen to Mirage by Jean Luc Ponty, it’s warm Jazz Fusion.
I couldn't agree more, Bob. I've told myself I should like John McLaughlin, Mahavishnu, Return to Forever etc. but, although I can "admire" their work, the music does nothing for me. On the other hand, I can listen to Soft Machine/SM Legacy (particularly the Etheridge/Travis line ups) all day long - love 'em!
mahavishnu sort of
Vishnu all the way!
16:36 Did he just grab a harmonic off that gong? :-O
I guess it's the bass but it sure looks like he touches a 'node' on the gong with the beater on the pull away.
what's the main song's name?
Out of Season
its hard playing violin and waiting on tables at the same time
By the way: has anyone of you guitarplayers noticed, Etheridge rarely uses his pinky?
Steve Hillage doesn't either!
@@RickTransit Very interresting remarks! Thanks. But Hillage is far better, he has much more feeling in his playing (I saw each one on stage).
gentle giant vocals outstanding musically better than this i dont think so
Good band but a name change would have helped . Nowhere as good as the classic Hopper, Wyatt , Ratleige , Dean lineup and too similar to the great Mahavishnu Orchestra . lnteresting none the less .
18:54
های پیچیده شاخه های به هم پیوسته قدردانی کنید، رنگ های تجزیه نور به قطرات آب را در باغچه بچشید، خاک مرطوب جنگل اجدادی را به شدت احساس کنید تا رد حیوانات از گذشته عمیق را درک کنید.
ME CAUTIVA LA FORMA DE TOCAR DEL VIOLINISTA.
EN GENERAL PRODIGIOS .
* spike not spikd,although he would have found that funny.
Spike Milligna, the well-known typing error
Damn, Percy, trim your nails! Lol
Percy Jones, man ... what a great bass player (much better than Roy Babbington).
Etheridge is a great musician, but boy do you miss ol' Allan Holdsworth trying to stretch nearly every run into an original statement ;)
Succinctly stated about Etheridge vs. Holdsworth! Allan always seemed to be trying to fit whole paragraphs into sentences, lol. And I completely agree about the bass player situation.
Don't get me wrong; I'm not dissing on John Etheridge. He plays Le Jazz Hot quite effectively. In fact, I'd put him on a level with Philip Catherine, another outstanding jazz musician who has his own quite lyrical style.
But even Philip Catherine doesn't begin to offer the cosmic approach to harmony and playing both outside and inside the chords at the same time that Holdsworth (RIP) embodies.
Only Coltrane and Eric Dolphy are his true peers of the solo ...
Have you heard The Floating World Live? That's the post-Bundles tour with Holdsworth. Babbington's bass solo absolutely *sucks* :(
Snardbafulator Floating World was probably the first later period Softs album I heard, many years ago...I was a total Wyatt fanatic at the time though, so I really didn't give it a chance! I should listen again now that I've expanded my appreciation of this band more.
And yes, Etheridge is great! But there's only one Holdsworth! Was, rather.
I always have liked his playing with others more than on his own compositions, however. Some of it is just a tad cerebral for my liking. The Dolphy/Trane comparison as far as solos go is appropriate imho!
Also, Babbington. Not terrible, but certainly the weak link in the ensemble. I gotta hear that bass solo!
Soft Machine was one of the bands I started exploring in late highschool when I was moving beyond the mainstream progrock I flipped out over in eighth grade (we're talking around '76). And I took them in order. I realized they weren't up to the standards of the King Crimson and Gentle Giant I loved; this was crudely-recorded psychedelic rock with embryonic thrusts in a prog direction.
But like so many people, I really grew to love Robert Wyatt. Third and Four were eye-openers when they moved in a genuine jazz direction, if both decidedly mixed bags. Heh, I just learned recently that Wyatt played all the instruments on Moon in June, not only the Hammond organ (that should've been a clue; Ratledge plays that awful Lowrey) but also the bass guitar. Slightly All the Time, Teeth and Kings and Queens are masterpieces. But I never checked out their later stuff because I bought Seven and actually returned it to the record store :(
I recently scoped out Five and Six and they're both awful, IMHO.
I lay the blame squarely at the feet of Karl Jenkins. Not only was he a pretty mediocre composer, but what he did to the oboe was obscene. Look, I'm a 70s Oregon fanatic. I love Paul McCandless to death -- the Coltrane of the oboe. Jenkins sticks his flush up against a vocal mic and the tone is just *total garbage.* And his tone isn't much better on the soprano sax, either. And *this matters* when the substance and concept of your music is all about extended soloing ...
But when Holdsworth joined the band they got a second wind. Bundles is good but the same tunes on The Floating World are even better; they're recorded better and the solos are more alive ...
As for the "intellectual" charge against Holdsworth's own recordings. I understand where you're coming from. I'm guessing you may have heard Atavachron, which has a terrible ice-cold mix, all this excess reverb in the high end that makes the cymbals all run together. That album has been long overdue for a remix / remaster. (Some of the tunes on it, though, are superb.) I'd strongly suggest that you re-visit Sand, Secrets, Hard Hat Area and The Sixteen Men of Tain. The tunes on them all hold up and there's some stunning emotion in his playing.
Roy is a fine stand-up bass player on Teeth. And he supports Allan just fine on electric bass. The track of that abortion of a bass solo (he's all about twiddling his knobs) is called -- appropriately enough -- Ealing Comedy. I write it off to the general self-indulgence of the era ;)
This is the worst Machine ever.After the success with Holdsworth,they repeated the formula,but this time with John Etheridge a clumsy player obsessed with cloning Holdsworth glorious playing,wich he couldn't match.
However, the innovative playing of P.Jones and the other Soft Machine origonal members make a well worth listening and enjoyable experience.The '70s!!The vibe of those stunning yers I had the privilege of witness.
Bass player has too much hair on his head and not enough under his nose!
plus rien a voir avec la magie de la première formation
Man, this band kinda sucks without Kevin or Robert
Should have changed the name from Soft Machine to Karl Jenkins Wankerschnott
Exact! Degeneration since Elton Dean left and Jenkins came in. From genius to bullshit.
Who woke up the grumpy grandads??
Both bands have their merits. I prefer the Wyatt era.
Karl Jenkins "Super Ego" Project...
@@gilousebPreferisco la "Ratledge Era".
Very far from " We did it again" or Hope for happiness
Yeah... miles better..
Barrie Hellon-Warwick Third is their best.