Blending psychedelic rock with jazz and other influences, the Soft Machine emerged from the Canterbury music scene playing a variety of prog rock characterized by a sense of playfulness lacking from many a please-take-me-seriously prog-rock band. Soft machine’s self-titled debut is one of the best prog rock albums around, and their third album (called Third) is quite good, as well. Their interconnected songs suites ebbed and flowed with musical improvisation and invention.
This playlist focuses on the period of the band’s output that might still be classified as rock, before they morphed into more of an instrumental jazz-fusion outfit, prompting lead singer Robert Wyatt to leave for a solo career.
Playlist Note:
Many of the multitude of tracks listed for their second album are in fact separate movements of the following extended song suites:
- Esther’s Nose Job: 1. Fire Engine Passing With Bells Clanging; 2. Pig; 3. Orange Skin Food; 4. A Door Opens and Closes; 5. 10:30 Returns To the Bedroom. (total time: 11:11)
- Rivmic Melodies: 1. Pataphysical Introduction – Pt. 1; 2. A Concise British Alphabet – Pt. 1; 3. Hibou, Anemone and Bear; 4. A Concise British Alphabet – Pt. 2; 5. Hulloder; 6. Dada Was Here; 7. Thank You Pierrot Lunaire; 8. Have You Ever Bean Grean?; 9. Pataphysical Introduction – Pt. 2; 10. Out of Tunes. (total time: 17:16)
Further Comments: A Quick Reflection on Prog Rock
Prog rock gets a bad rap, partly for good reasons. Overblown musical excess, synthesizer versions of classical music works, and fanciful fairytale and sci-fi lyrics have made the genre a bit of a laughing stock, or at the very least, quite an eye-roller.
I kind of tend to view prog rock as having two factions: The first is the prog-rock I knew during my classic rock days, which tended to make self-conscious attempts to make rock more “respectable” in classical music terms—bands like Yes, Emerson, Lake, and Palmer, and the Moody Blues. Although I went through a prog phase in my mid-teens, nowadays I consider the bulk this stuff to be pretty cheesy. I can sometimes stomach a little early Genesis, and still like many tracks by King Crimson (who in fact bleed a little into the second category, below).
The second strain of prog-rock is more underground, European, and psychedelic in nature, and its experiments tend to be more avant-garde—certainly not of much appeal to Mozart-lovers. I’d put Soft Machine in this category, along with continental bands like Gong and the Krautrock bands Faust and Amon Düül II. This type of prog I like better. (In fact, I suspect many of these bands would resent being labeled as “prog” at all!)
Cover Art Citation:
- The Soft Machine: Source, Discogs.com
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