@@johnayres2303 Agree about five being massively underrated and really, really good. 2 is brilliantly lively and original too, with Wyatt giving it such refreshing humour. Brilliance too in drumming as well as in the contributions from Hopper and Ratledge. 4 has great parts, but is unequal in my view. Some great stuff on Bundles too, though I could do without the drum solos there. I'm OK about the Karl Jenkins stuff. Some very good initial ideas that work well, but then he doesn't always follow up wiht developing them much.
I love this CD/DVD set - totally worth tracking down! If you think this music doesn't have soul then you aren't listening, you're just judging based on something other than the music. Thank you to Cuneiform Records for bringing stuff like this out for our enjoyment!
Got the CD/DVD, combo. THIS IS A MUST FOR THE SOFT MACHINE FAN!!! John Marshall does a killer drum solo toward the end of the show. Love his rare Hollywood drum kit, especially the pedal tuned floor toms, I would love to have kit like that!!!
If you enjoy what you seen and hear but haven't purchased this yet take the plunge and buy it. The audio and video quality are stunning and the performance smokes. Easily one of my favorite archival releases of the past decade.
Michael Naura (NDR Jazz pope) broadcasted that concert on NDR3 radio 8 years later (Sept. 26, 1981). I still own the old noisy MC. I´m glad to get the chance to see the whole concert now on a high quality CD/DVD. Guests are: Gary Boyle gt (Isotope) Linda Hoyle voc (Affinity) Art Themen ss (Jack Bruce Band)
Art Themen! Great player, I am more used to seeing him in a more conventional jazz setting, but even in that context he still plays adventurously. Nice bloke, too.
Fender VI is a bass guitar,tuned to EADGBE,but an octive lower than a guitar,so usual bass tuning+two higher strings....used to have one years ago....weighed a ton!!
I will never forget my disappointment, when I attended a concert in Düsseldorf ... expecting the "Third" line-up and then couldn't believe, that Robert was missing : - (
wasn't too bad ... my home town wasn't that far ... and It's not that I dislike what they did later ... I just thought (and still think): they should have renamed the band ... without Robert there's no Soft Machine
Compie oggi 75 anni il grande tastierista e compositore inglese Mike Ratledge (Maidstone, 6 maggio 1943). Di estrazione musicale sia Classica che Jazz, è stato un asse portante dei Soft Machine, di cui era membro fondatore, per la sua straordinaria capacità compositiva e l’approfondita ricerca sonora.
@grayguy Yes, its Gary Boyle, and the saxophonist is Art Themen. SM first plays a set by themselves, and then Hugh comes in and they play 1983, and then they carry on without Hugh, and with Themen and Boyle.
@twtom Babbington played a Fender VI , which is a six-string bass guitar - quite simply this is a standard guitar an octave lower. To put another way this is a normal 4-string bass guitar E, A, D, G plus 2 higher strings B, E. Until 6-string basses with high C and low B came in this was what was normally meant by a six-string bass guitar. If you watch "Let It Be" you can see Lennon with one. To further build up the guitar aspect of this instrument they came with a whammy bar!
I love my Bass VI! If they're good enough for Roy Babbington and Jack Bruce (he used one quite extensively with The Graham Bond Organisation) and Eric Haydock, now I come to think of it, (he got a monster sound out of his!) they're more than good enough for me! Very odd string spacing, mind...
This must have been recorded between the releases of 6 and 7. Hugh has been replaced by Roy Babbington. But, who is the other sax player that appears around 02:40 Lastly, is the guitarist Gary Boyle? Didn't realise he ever played with the Softs.
I wish I knew more about the Softs to better appreciate this. What kind of bass is he playing? It says Fender, but it looks guitar scale and six strings? which would have been odd for that time.
The compositions are outstanding and looking forward not back. A great band even if GB's guitar work is not very interesting to my ear, rather athletic with unconfident bending rarely attempted.
hahahahaha now that's some stoned guitar playing there Gary! He misses as many notes as he plays! Anyway...I like the sound of this lineup! Sure, SM were evolving into something quite different from the original band, but if you really listen to every one of their recordings, they never stayed in one place for too long! Their sound and style was constantly changing. For years I refused to listen to anything post-Robert Wyatt. That was a mistake! They had a LOT of great music still to come. Completely different genre, really, though.
I love Soft Machine with the first 3 lineups. After that, it became just another European fusion band. Robert brought the quirky and the humorous. So did Kevin Ayers, only more quirky. Hugh Hopper had a totally unique style of bass and tone, not to mention his underrated but groundbreaking fuzz tone. Michael Ratledge stood out with that over-driven bee buzzing Lowry organ before he settled into a more bland Rhodes playing role. That's what made SM stand out to me. I get it that they had to evolve, but the 68 to 71 SM is where it's at for me.
No one 'vamps' like Mike Ratledge / and that' s a fact / Boyle is cool too / never have so few musicians/ done so much for a Machine / they started off at J.G. Bennett's place btw /you can hear it in the lyrics / the overdriven amps / the best bassists on the mountain / we call 'Jazz...'
Roy babbington (Delivery) is not Hugh Hopper! His playing is too soft ;-)) Karl jenkins take the head, music is became a classic jazz rock fusion without any soul.
How refreshing and modern this music sounds in 2023, those rich-toned saxes, Ratledge's lovely poly-rhythm keyboards and the wonderful rhythm section! Great to hear the oboe as jazz lead again, as on Chloe and thr Pirates. It's all fab but the guitar solo is marred by GB's rather out-of-tune, half-attempted and rapidly abandoned bends.
excellente got here from `progarchives` link will buy it now `six` is the least nourishing of they`re output , so this will be the better aspect of that issue
@BassLudeman well, I´ve got an old newspaper(NME ?)article about that event: "The Softs at the Bratwurst -Teutonia" were I can see some pictures with single Softs-members and Linda Hoyle, who were also present. May be she did her own thing that evening. Hugh Hopper introduced his "1984" album (just left the band that month) but played "1983" with the Softs. I´m glad that Allan H. became their regular guitarist and not Gary B. (ha ha) Regards from Bratwurst Utopia
"Karl"..........the worst thing that ever happened to Soft Machine! Painfully benign without Robert, Hugh, Elton, and Lyn. And that guitar player is crap! By '73, the magic had disappeared.......
Indeed....... I was always focused on the "guitar player" as a youngster. It was the departure of Daevid Allen from the "Softs" that proved to a stubborn young man, that a guitar really wasn't necessary; as long as the core was solid, talented, and innovative. When some nut-job decided to change that formula, it was the beginning of the end. I was always surprised that Mike hung on as long as he did.
For this ensemble, which was an excruciatingly unsuccessful attempt at capitalizing on the original magic, he was definitely crap; and sloppy as hell in this concert. Not even Holdsworth or Etheridge could bring the spark back. This isn't Soft Machine; it's Jenkin's Juke Joint Jokers. Mike and Roy should never have had any part of it. If you don't get it; you were never really a fan of the original .............
Boyle, Holdsworth and Etheridge are great. Why do people talk about different line-ups being better/inferior than others. I bought all their albums in the 70s and such thoughts never crossed my mind - I just played them to death and enjoyed every one of them. Nobody knocked Karl Jenkins at the time but since he's become a succesful composer it's cool to knock him but I'm not jumping on the bandwagon, sorry. I was a fan of the original (I assume you mean the line-up with Daevid Allen) -I'm a fan of Soft Machine - full stop. I saw the Bundles gig at Newcastle in 1975 - Ratledge didn't smile all night - but he never did anyway - he looked okay to me and gave a brilliant typical solo while the others walked off and left him to it. If you don't like the later albums, fair enough - but to imply that people liking them aren't true fans is a bit much
Mike Ratledge is one of the top keyboardists of the entire 20th century. Beyond brilliant. Absolutely inhuman at many times.
Exakt!!
R.I.P. John Marshall.❤
Mike Ratledge, a genius. Love the way he's always there!
Did he have anywhere to go?
Yes really sad that he left the band. 5 was for me their best album.
@@johnayres2303 Agree about five being massively underrated and really, really good. 2 is brilliantly lively and original too, with Wyatt giving it such refreshing humour. Brilliance too in drumming as well as in the contributions from Hopper and Ratledge. 4 has great parts, but is unequal in my view. Some great stuff on Bundles too, though I could do without the drum solos there. I'm OK about the Karl Jenkins stuff. Some very good initial ideas that work well, but then he doesn't always follow up wiht developing them much.
One of the best British jazz-rock groups.
Which are the other great ones?
@@andym28 Nucleus, Isotope, Gilgamesh, Hatfield and the North
@@andym28Gong and King Crimson.
Colosseum
National Health, Matching Mole
Wonderful playing from Mike. His sublime musicianship defined for me the whole feel of that era. How I'd love to hear him play again.
On another level. These musicians are simply superb.
Pour moi le groupe le plus inventif de sa génération. J'adore !
What else can you say but "Far out dude!!". Soft Machine is amazing!!!!!
Was amazing...
I love this CD/DVD set - totally worth tracking down! If you think this music doesn't have soul then you aren't listening, you're just judging based on something other than the music. Thank you to Cuneiform Records for bringing stuff like this out for our enjoyment!
Now we're talking - Soft machine and Gary Boyle! Never knew he ever played with them - brilliant.
John Marshall RIP. Softs finest drummer
WHooaa... that is Gary Boyle on guitar! never new he stood in on any Soft Machine gigs. THANK YOU Cuneiform!!
The bass is a Fender 6 string bass. Jack Bruce used one on the first Cream album as well.
Yes he did you subhuman
th-cam.com/video/Utp5sZmG5X0/w-d-xo.html
John Marshall tearing it up.......awesome stuff.
Absolutely stunning!
Got the CD/DVD, combo. THIS IS A MUST FOR THE SOFT MACHINE FAN!!! John Marshall does a killer drum solo toward the end of the show. Love his rare Hollywood drum kit, especially the pedal tuned floor toms, I would love to have kit like that!!!
If you enjoy what you seen and hear but haven't purchased this yet take the plunge and buy it. The audio and video quality are stunning and the performance smokes. Easily one of my favorite archival releases of the past decade.
Germany was always very open for such strange,experimental music.
Michael Naura (NDR Jazz pope) broadcasted that concert on NDR3 radio 8 years later (Sept. 26, 1981). I still own the old noisy MC. I´m glad to get the chance to see the whole concert now on a high quality CD/DVD. Guests are: Gary Boyle gt (Isotope) Linda Hoyle voc (Affinity) Art Themen ss (Jack Bruce Band)
Art Themen! Great player, I am more used to seeing him in a more conventional jazz setting, but even in that context he still plays adventurously. Nice bloke, too.
Just so good
It is a big shame Mike retired. I sometimes think of the music he might be making today using modern synths etc.
Fender VI is a bass guitar,tuned to EADGBE,but an octive lower than a guitar,so usual bass tuning+two higher strings....used to have one years ago....weighed a ton!!
I love this...as much i love the ''old'' Soft machine i also think ''Karl Jenkins Soft Machine'' was fantastic...in a different way!!
right on !
Yup, by the time he jumped on board the band was dead.
Karl Jenkins is a disaster.
Ok....yes you think so.
So did Hugh Hopper!
I will never forget my disappointment, when I attended a concert in Düsseldorf ... expecting the "Third" line-up and then couldn't believe, that Robert was missing : - (
It's still lovely and weird music, but I can imagine that sense of disappointment. Did you live near Düsseldorf at least? Or were you traveling?
wasn't too bad ... my home town wasn't that far ... and It's not that I dislike what they did later ... I just thought (and still think): they should have renamed the band ... without Robert there's no Soft Machine
Matt Gaffney
@@heavenlymusiccorporationultd Thank you - so true !
R.I.P. John Marshall
True innovators.
Just awesome been listening to them for donkeys
still love it!!
C’est un son et une mélodie exceptionnelle
That was fully awesome !!!
Génial !
When electric guitarist came to Soft Machine, music changed.
They had electric guitarist when they started
the 1st guitarist was Daevid Allen in 66 I think
That's right. And there was no sax. The first sax came in 68 for 2nd album.
I mean, Boyle's guitar solo on the last track has to be one of my favorite solos in history!!!!
Compie oggi 75 anni il grande tastierista e compositore inglese Mike Ratledge (Maidstone, 6 maggio 1943). Di estrazione musicale sia Classica che Jazz, è stato un asse portante dei Soft Machine, di cui era membro fondatore, per la sua straordinaria capacità compositiva e l’approfondita ricerca sonora.
love the old HH Amps
@grayguy Yes, its Gary Boyle, and the saxophonist is Art Themen. SM first plays a set by themselves, and then Hugh comes in and they play 1983, and then they carry on without Hugh, and with Themen and Boyle.
Is that Gary Boyle from Isotope turns up around 3m in ?
Yes, it is Gary Boyle from Isotope.
Yeah I thought that, his distinctive guitar riffing.
@@CuneiformRecords Yess!!
Used to love watching Gary Boyle in Manchester. Soft Machine are No1. Gotta say though, Holdsworth in his Soft Machine days was untouchable.
I really like how Boyle isn't as "chaotic" and over the top in his solos. The contrast between him and Holdsworth is very refreshing!
please, upload the entire song at least :(
Who still makes money with it?
The individual musicians all do. Because we pay them.
@Tarabos1 theres no Linda Hoyle here, the bootleg always circulates with info saying shes there, but she isnt
@Tarabos1 I guess that would make more sense if she had done her own thing, because one for sure can't see or hear her anywhere on the recording
How I wish Karl would give up all this classical new age stuff and go back to jazz.
I hear you but Palladio is a classical masterpiece.
Great show! A shame it's only available in NTSC, which has inferior quality to the original PAL broadcast.
The last times that Ratledge was bandleader...
My dad played with john marsh in a band
MY GOD
@twtom Babbington played a Fender VI , which is a six-string bass guitar - quite simply this is a standard guitar an octave lower. To put another way this is a normal 4-string bass guitar E, A, D, G plus 2 higher strings B, E. Until 6-string basses with high C and low B came in this was what was normally meant by a six-string bass guitar. If you watch "Let It Be" you can see Lennon with one. To further build up the guitar aspect of this instrument they came with a whammy bar!
I love my Bass VI! If they're good enough for Roy Babbington and Jack Bruce (he used one quite extensively with The Graham Bond Organisation) and Eric Haydock, now I come to think of it, (he got a monster sound out of his!) they're more than good enough for me! Very odd string spacing, mind...
This must have been recorded between the releases of 6 and 7. Hugh has been replaced by Roy Babbington. But, who is the other sax player that appears around 02:40 Lastly, is the guitarist Gary Boyle? Didn't realise he ever played with the Softs.
Soft machine always had the most technically gifted guitar players out of all the fusion and prog bands of the 70s
Technically gifted perhaps but notes per minute.....or so it seems to me.
Wow
Amazing stuff! I can hardly wait to see the whole thing.
c'te tuerie
I wish I knew more about the Softs to better appreciate this. What kind of bass is he playing? It says Fender, but it looks guitar scale and six strings? which would have been odd for that time.
👏👏👏👏👏
so groovy
I think this is how youtube should work! By the way, I expected to find a Slavoj Zizek fan in this music sooner or later =)
The compositions are outstanding and looking forward not back. A great band even if GB's guitar work is not very interesting to my ear, rather athletic with unconfident bending rarely attempted.
i swear i thought it was Sir Jon Lord in thumbnail pic!
このギタリストだれですか？
Mike (not Matt) Ratledge...
i'm sure they know!! Nevertheless, it needed correcting!
Gary Boyle ?
Barry Goyle?
hahahahaha now that's some stoned guitar playing there Gary! He misses as many notes as he plays! Anyway...I like the sound of this lineup! Sure, SM were evolving into something quite different from the original band, but if you really listen to every one of their recordings, they never stayed in one place for too long! Their sound and style was constantly changing. For years I refused to listen to anything post-Robert Wyatt. That was a mistake! They had a LOT of great music still to come. Completely different genre, really, though.
Yes, a pity more people don't have this enlightened view
He's still alive and well and playing mainly in the North of England and yes he still gets cross with himself missing notes etc lol
Gary Boyle and Roy Babington on EL Bass.
Mike, not Matt...
1:33 Tan complejo que ni él entiende lo que está tocando.
I love Soft Machine with the first 3 lineups. After that, it became just another European fusion band. Robert brought the quirky and the humorous. So did Kevin Ayers, only more quirky. Hugh Hopper had a totally unique style of bass and tone, not to mention his underrated but groundbreaking fuzz tone. Michael Ratledge stood out with that over-driven bee buzzing Lowry organ before he settled into a more bland Rhodes playing role. That's what made SM stand out to me. I get it that they had to evolve, but the 68 to 71 SM is where it's at for me.
No one 'vamps' like Mike Ratledge / and that' s a fact / Boyle is cool too / never have so few musicians/ done so much for a Machine / they started off at J.G. Bennett's place btw /you can hear it in the lyrics / the overdriven amps / the best bassists on the mountain / we call 'Jazz...'
what's the tune called at 1:53?
Gesolreut (Ratledge).
skill.
@twtom I think its actually a baritone guitar
Fuck I could totally do this music now, even though I'm a 120 years old ..🐜💀🎵
Did not know that Gary Boyle played with the Softs.
Featured on ProgRock facebook.com/groups/ProgRockDan
Trovo che i PERIGEO, poi, si siano molto ispirati ai Soft M.
Non sempre, a volte si sono ispirati ai S.M...era difficile non ispirarsi ai Soft Machine per chi voleva suonare jazz elettrico, allora.
wonder
Aww that's Gnarly
Roy babbington (Delivery) is not Hugh Hopper!
His playing is too soft ;-))
Karl jenkins take the head, music is became a classic jazz rock fusion without any soul.
This is right. This really isn’t soft machine. soft machine died when Wyatt left.
Such an annoying music by then... (sighs)
How refreshing and modern this music sounds in 2023, those rich-toned saxes, Ratledge's lovely poly-rhythm keyboards and the wonderful rhythm section! Great to hear the oboe as jazz lead again, as on Chloe and thr Pirates. It's all fab but the guitar solo is marred by GB's rather out-of-tune, half-attempted and rapidly abandoned bends.
Who's on tenor?
questo è il karl Jenkins che mi piace per il resto la musica classica è bella assai ma karl sarà sempre questo per me!
Mike not Matt 👍😄
Haha ouch
excellente
got here from `progarchives` link
will buy it now
`six` is the least nourishing of they`re output , so this will be the better aspect of that issue
Sounds similar to some Zappa!
@BassLudeman well, I´ve got an old newspaper(NME ?)article about that event:
"The Softs at the Bratwurst -Teutonia" were I can see some pictures with single Softs-members and Linda Hoyle, who were also present. May be she did her own thing that evening. Hugh Hopper introduced his "1984" album (just left the band that month) but played "1983" with the Softs. I´m glad that Allan H. became their regular guitarist and not Gary B. (ha ha) Regards from Bratwurst Utopia
Art Themen guesting
GESOLREUT
Jenkins with the back of his hair combed forward to try and hide his approaching baldness...
Really? He seems to have a lot of hair now!
Not Wild than before member
No Allan?not S.M
Is it jazz ? "Jazz smells funny". J'ai oublié qui a dit ça.
+Marc Ballan ...Frank Zappa?
+Alessandro Pittaluga gagné ! (mais je ne sais pas quoi)
Frank Zappa
It's not Frank Zappa - it's Soft Machine - America is not the World
Ok.. But I do recall FZ saying "jazz isn't dead, it just smells funny"...
How the f*** could they become so boring ??? (sighs)
God, I hate guitars!
"Karl"..........the worst thing that ever happened to Soft Machine! Painfully benign without Robert, Hugh, Elton, and Lyn. And that guitar player is crap! By '73, the magic had disappeared.......
+Whiskey River (Doc) There was worse to come, in the shape of John 'can only play at 300 m.p.h.' Etheridge
Indeed....... I was always focused on the "guitar player" as a youngster. It was the departure of Daevid Allen from the "Softs" that proved to a stubborn young man, that a guitar really wasn't necessary; as long as the core was solid, talented, and innovative. When some nut-job decided to change that formula, it was the beginning of the end. I was always surprised that Mike hung on as long as he did.
What - Gary Boyle is crap!!?
For this ensemble, which was an excruciatingly unsuccessful attempt at capitalizing on the original magic, he was definitely crap; and sloppy as hell in this concert. Not even Holdsworth or Etheridge could bring the spark back. This isn't Soft Machine; it's Jenkin's Juke Joint Jokers. Mike and Roy should never have had any part of it. If you don't get it; you were never really a fan of the original .............
Boyle, Holdsworth and Etheridge are great. Why do people talk about different line-ups being better/inferior than others. I bought all their albums in the 70s and such thoughts never crossed my mind - I just played them to death and enjoyed every one of them. Nobody knocked Karl Jenkins at the time but since he's become a succesful composer it's cool to knock him but I'm not jumping on the bandwagon, sorry.
I was a fan of the original (I assume you mean the line-up with Daevid Allen) -I'm a fan of Soft Machine - full stop. I saw the Bundles gig at Newcastle in 1975 - Ratledge didn't smile all night - but he never did anyway - he looked okay to me and gave a brilliant typical solo while the others walked off and left him to it. If you don't like the later albums, fair enough - but to imply that people liking them aren't true fans is a bit much
John Lord Cover