Soft Machine

Original run (1966–78)[edit]

Soft Machine (billed as the Soft Machine up to 1969 or 1970)^[7] were formed in mid-1966 by Mike Ratledge (keyboards), Robert Wyatt (drums, vocals), Kevin Ayers (bass, vocals), Daevid Allen (guitar) and Larry Nowlin (guitar). Allen, Wyatt and future Soft Machine bassist Hugh Hopper first played together in the Daevid Allen Trio in 1963, occasionally accompanied by Ratledge. In 1964, Wyatt, Ayers, Hopper and Hopper's brother Brian, another future Soft Machine member, were founding members of the Wilde Flowers, incarnations of which would also include future members of another Canterbury band, Caravan. By 1966, Wyatt and Ayers had both left the Wilde Flowers and reconnected with Allen for a new band called Mister Head, who also included Nowlin.^[8] After a few months Mister Head split, with Wyatt, Ayers, Allen and Nowlin joining with Ratledge to form Soft Machine.^[9] Suggested by Ayers, the name came from William S. Burroughs' 1961 novel The Soft Machine.^[10] The band became a quartet when Nowlin departed in September 1966.^[11]


In late 1966/early 1967, Soft Machine became involved in the early UK underground scene. Along with Pink Floyd, they became one of the major resident bands at the UFO Club and played other London clubs like the Speakeasy and Middle Earth. According to Wyatt, the negative reactions the Soft Machine received when playing at venues other than these underground clubs were what led to their penchant for long tracks and segued tunes, since playing continuously left their audiences no chance to boo.^[12] In February 1967, the band released a single, "Love Makes Sweet Music" (recorded 5 February 1967, produced by Chas Chandler), with "Feelin' Reelin' Squeelin'" (recorded January 1967, produced by Kim Fowley) as the B-side, on Polydor Records. It was a commercial flop.^[12] In April 1967 they recorded nine demo songs with producer Giorgio Gomelsky in De Lane Lea Studios that remained unreleased for several years in a dispute over studio costs.^[13] Polydor later released these demos in 1972 as Jet Propelled Photographs. In 1967, as well as the UK, the band also played in the Netherlands, Germany, and on the French Riviera. During July and August 1967, Gomelsky booked shows along the Côte d'Azur with the band's most famous early gig taking place in the village square of Saint-Tropez. This led to an invitation to perform at producer Eddie Barclay's trendy "Nuit Psychédélique", performing a forty-minute rendering of "We Did It Again", singing the refrain over and over in a trance-like quality. This made them instant darlings of the Parisian "in" crowd, resulting in invitations to appear on television shows and at the Paris Biennale in October 1967.^[14] When returning from France, Allen (an Australian) was denied re-entry to the United Kingdom,^[12] so the group continued as a trio, while he returned to Paris to form Gong.


Sharing the same management as the Jimi Hendrix Experience, Soft Machine supported them on two North American tours during 1968.^[15] Now signed to Probe Records, Soft Machine's first album was recorded in New York City in April at the end of the first tour, though it would not be released until December. Back in London, guitarist Andy Summers, later of the Police, joined the group. After a few weeks of rehearsals, the quartet began a tour of the U.S. with some headlining shows before supporting Hendrix during August and September 1968. By the time the Hendrix tour began, Summers had been fired at the insistence of Ayers.^[16] Ayers himself departed amicably after the final tour date at the Hollywood Bowl in mid-September, and Soft Machine disbanded. Wyatt stayed in the U.S. to record solo demos, while Ratledge returned to London and began composing in earnest. One of Wyatt's demos, "Slow Walkin' Talk", allowed Wyatt to make use of his multi-instrumentalist skills (Hammond organ, piano, drums and vocals) and featured Hendrix on bass.^[17]


In December 1968, to fulfil contractual obligations, Wyatt and Ratledge re-formed Soft Machine, with their former road manager Hugh Hopper replacing Ayers on bass, and recorded their second album Volume Two (1969), which started a transition toward jazz fusion. The album fulfilled the band's contract with Probe and they signed with CBS Records by the beginning of 1970. In May 1969 Soft Machine acted as the uncredited backing band on two tracks of The Madcap Laughs, the debut solo album by Syd Barrett of Pink Floyd. Shortly after the Barrett recording, Hopper's brother Brian Hopper joined the band on saxophone for a short time. In October 1969, following Brian Hopper's departure, Soft Machine became a septet with Wyatt, Ratledge and Hugh Hopper adding a four-piece horn section comprising saxophonists Elton Dean and Lyn Dobson, cornet player Mark Charig and trombonist Nick Evans, though the latter two departed after two months.


The resulting Soft Machine quintet (Ratledge, Wyatt, Hopper, Dean and Dobson) continued until March 1970, when Dobson departed. The remaining quartet recorded the double album Third (1970) and its single album follow-up Fourth (1971). Third was mostly instrumental save for Wyatt's "Moon in June", the last Soft Machine song with lyrics. From Fourth onwards, the band became completely instrumental on record, and then on stage following Wyatt's departure soon after the album's release. Their propensity for building extended suites from regular-sized compositions, both live and in the studio (already displayed on the first two albums), reached its apogee in Third, unusual for its time with each of the four sides featuring one suite.^[3] Over time Third has become Soft Machine's biggest selling album. During this period, the band received unprecedented acclaim across Europe, and they made history by becoming the first rock band invited to play at London's Proms in August 1970, with the show being broadcast live on national TV.^[18]