Product Description
A limited edition (1000 only), deluxe four CD set in digi-pack format, re-mastered with extensive liner notes. These live recordings feature the band in a transitional stage from the darlings of the London Underground scene of the late sixties to the jazz rock outfit they became. The line up is MIKE RATLEDGE, ROBERT WYATT, HUGH HOPPER, and ELTON DEAN. Discs 1 and 2 were recorded at Ronnie Scott's, and cover material from their first three albums. Discs 3 and 4 feature musician LYN DOBSON, and this line up only lasted three months, and includes a 22 minute version of HUGH HOPPER'S classic Facelift.

CD 1
1. Slightly All The Time
2. Out Bloody-Rageous
3. Eamonn Andrews
4. Mousetrap
5. Noisette
6. Backwards
7. Mousetrap (Reprise)
8. Hibou Anemone & Bear

CD 2
1. Facelift
2. Moon In June
3. Esther's Nose Job
4. Pigling Band
5. Cymbalism
6. Esther's Nose Job (Reprise)

CD 3
1. Eamonn Andrews
2. Mousetrap
3. Backwards
4. Mousetrap
5. Hibou Anemone & Bear

CD 4
1. Facelift
2. Moon In June
3. 12/8 Theme
4. Drum Link
5. Esther's Nose Job
6. Pigling Bland
7. Cymbalism
8. Out Bloody-Rageous
9. Esther's Nose Job
10. We Did It Again

Amazon USA
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JL03C2S/?tag=imwan-20

Amazon UK
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00JL03C2S/?tag=imwan-21

This looks very interesting but I can't find any reviews of this as of yet. Need to see a few positive ones first before I pull the trigger.

Rick A.

The Soft Machine grey area vault stuff has a tendency for really bad sound quality, so I'm with Rick on the reviews.

Floating World has done a good job on releasing archival stuff from the Nucleus version of Soft Machine (i.e. Karl Jenkins dominated era) so that's a plus. I have most of the legal Soft Machine releases, but will confess I'm too lazy to go back and determine whether this is a reissue of existing material or new music. OCD strikes though, so I ordered one anyway. If somebody would want a saner view of the quality of the set, I would wait until it gets listed on the Wayside Music site. They are incredibly knowledgeable about Soft Machine and have themselves done some Soft Machine releases over the years vis Cuniform, If they say it has value, then I would take them at their word. Also, for those of you who are Soft Machine inclined, I highly recommend the book Soft Machine: Out-Bloody -Rageous by Graham Bennett. It covers the complete history of the group, including the late 70s wind down. An excellent read. And as one final comment, why doesn't John Marshall get the recognition he deserves as one of the finest drummers of the past forty years. He can do it all,,,and has.

Here's the book Paul mentioned above (it's out of print):



Amazon USA
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0946719845/?tag=imwan-20

Amazon UK
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0946719845/?tag=imwan-21

Thanks PES. I'll keep my eye out on what Wayside Music site has to say as you suggest.

Rick A.

I decided to take a chance on the Soft Machine set since I found it at a nice price - I'm very glad I did. The shows are awesome and sound great! If you're a fan you'll dig it.

Thanks Willy. I was hoping to hear good things about this. I'm going for it now.

Rick A.

OK, I received my copy today. There is one difference from the original post. My copy is from VoicePrint, rather than Floating World, although it's possible that Floating World is a subsidiary of VoicePrint. As to the music itself, it actually is a reissue of two previous VoicePrint Soft Machine releases; Breda Reactor from Breda, The Netherlands on 1/31/70 (2005 release) & Somewhere in Soho...Live At Ronnie Scott's on 4/20-25/70 (2004 release). The liner notes identify the disc sources, so there's no sneakiness on VoicePrint's part. The discs may have been remastered since the liner notes also state . I haven't heard the new discs yet, but my recollection is that both were pretty decent recordings. I do need to admit to one bias though. Unlike most of the Soft Machine aficionados out there, I actually prefer the jazz rock era from IV on, rather than the Robert Wyatt material. So that may color any comments I make on the band.

I'm pretty sure that VP & FW are one & the same. They also own a "Bear records (NOT the German box set manufacturer).