What they’re saying:
The studio
album 'Hidden Details' is the first Soft Machine album (as opposed to Soft
Machine Legacy) in 37 years. This is three quarters of the celebrated 1970's
version of the legendary jazz-rock group, which recorded the acclaimed 'Softs'
album in 1975 - John Etheridge, Roy Babbington and John Marshall - completed by
outstanding saxophone star Theo Travis (Robert Fripp/David Gilmour/Gong).
The music is
broad ranging from psychedelia to jazz rock to free form improv to simple
pop-ish tunes to hypnotic mood pieces. The band plays material from the era
(compositions by Hugh Hopper, Mike Ratledge and Karl Jenkins) as well as many
contemporary works.
'Hidden
Details', released in 2018, exactly 50 years since the release of the band's
1968 debut album 'The Soft Machine' was recorded in the late Jon Hiseman's
studio in Surrey in Dec 2017. The recording features new compositions by the
band, group improvisations and interpretations of two Soft Machine classics -
from 'Third' and 'Bundles'.
Whilst the
line-up of Soft Machine may have changed many times since the heady days of the
late 1960's, the band's spirit of musical adventure, and the ease with which it
freely avoids being pigeon holed and can move from powerful progressive jazz
fusion to atmospheric psychedelia to free improvised jazz-rock to ambient loop
music, continues to make it both unique and totally contemporary.
Personnel:
John Etheridge (electric guitar), Theo Travis (tenor and soprano saxophones,
flute, Fender Rhodes piano), Roy Babbington (bass guitar), John Marshall (drums
and percussion).
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