SOFT MACHINE - SEVEN cbs S 65799 LP 1973 UK

	€		30
	$		35

PREMESSA: LA SUPERIORITA' DELLA MUSICA SU VINILE E' ANCOR OGGI SANCITA, NOTORIA ED EVIDENTE. NON TANTO DA UN PUNTO DI VISTA DI RESA, QUALITA' E PULIZIA DEL SUONO, TANTOMENO DA QUELLO DEL RIMPIANTO RETROSPETTIVO E NOSTALGICO , MA SOPRATTUTTO DA QUELLO PIU' PALPABILE ED INOPPUGNABILE DELL' ESSENZA, DELL' ANIMA E DELLA SUBLIMAZIONE CREATIVA. IL DISCO IN VINILE HA PULSAZIONE ARTISTICA, PASSIONE ARMONICA E SPLENDORE GRAFICO , E' PIACEVOLE DA OSSERVARE E DA TENERE IN MANO, RISPLENDE, PROFUMA E VIBRA DI VITA, DI EMOZIONE E  DI SENSIBILITA'. E' TUTTO QUELLO CHE NON E' E NON POTRA' MAI ESSERE IL CD, CHE AL CONTRARIO E' SOLO UN OGGETTO MERAMENTE COMMERCIALE, POVERO, ARIDO, CINICO, STERILE ED ORWELLIANO,  UNA DEGENERAZIONE INDUSTRIALE SCHIZOFRENICA E NECROFILA, LA DESOLANTE SOLUZIONE FINALE DELL' AVIDITA' DEL MERCATO E DELL' ARROGANZA DEI DISCOGRAFICI .

SOFT MACHINE
seven


Disco LP 33 giri , 1973, cbs  S 65799, uk,  first press

ECCELLENTI CONDIZIONI, vinyl ex++/NM , cover ex++/NM

I Soft Machine sono una band inglese nata nei tardi anni '60 a Canterbury, Kent, e costituiscono una delle band di punta della Scena di Canterbury. Il loro stile musicale combina elementi tratti dal pop, dal rock psichedelico e dal jazz.

Seven è un album del 1973 del gruppo progressive rock e Jazz Fusion inglese Soft Machine, che furono una delle band centrali della scena di Canterbury. Il bassista Roy Babbington, che aveva già contribuito agli album Fourth e Fifth su contrabbasso, ha sostituito Hugh Hopper.

• Etichetta:  CBS
  
• Catalogo: S 65799
  
• Data di pubblicazione: 1973
• Matrici : S 65799 A  / S 65799 B
  

• Supporto:vinile 33 giri
• Tipo audio: stereo
• Dimensioni: 30 cm.
• Facciate: 2
  
• Gatefold / copertina apribile,  orange label, original CBS inner sleeve

Seven is a 1973 album by the British progressive rock and jazz/fusion band Soft Machine who were one of the central bands in the Canterbury scene. Bassist Roy Babbington, who had previously contributed to Fourth and Fifth on double bass as a session musician, replaced Hugh Hopper on bass guitar, who left to begin a solo career.

The album was issued on CBS Records with a colour gatefold cover in the UK, and on Columbia Records with a completely different black and white cover in the USA. The title on the USA front cover is the numeral 7, but is spelled out as Seven on the spine and label. Although this is a 1973 release, USA copies show a copyright date of 1974 (and a phonographic rights date of 1973), suggesting the North American release may have been delayed.

The final two tracks are clearly intended as a joke. The preceding track, "Down the Road", fades into a swirling abstract jumble of notes on keyboards which plays with little variation for three minutes before fading out, and there is nothing musically to indicate the transition from German to French lessons, and no explanation as to why these two tracks are credited to different composers.

Tracce 

Side one

1. "Nettle Bed" (Karl Jenkins) – 4:47
2. "Carol Ann" (Jenkins) – 3:48
3. "Day's Eye" (Mike Ratledge) – 5:05
4. "Bone Fire" (Ratledge) – 0:32
5. "Tarabos" (Ratledge) – 4:32
6. "D.I.S." (John Marshall) – 3:02

Side two

1. "Snodland" (Jenkins) – 1:50
2. "Penny Hitch" (Jenkins) – 6:40
3. "Block" (Jenkins) – 4:17
4. "Down the Road" (Jenkins) – 5:48
5. "The German Lesson" (Ratledge) – 1:53
6. "The French Lesson" (Jenkins) – 1:01

Formazione

• Roy Babbington - bass guitar, acoustic bass
• Mike Ratledge - (Lowrey Holiday De Luxe) organ, (AKS) synthesizer, (Fender Rhodes) electric piano
• Karl Jenkins - oboe, baritone and soprano saxophones, recorder, (Fender Rhodes & Hohner) electric piano
• John Marshall - drums, percussion

I Soft Machine nacquero dallo scioglimento dei Wilde Flowers, un gruppo storico nel quale suonarono, negli anni '60, numerosi musicisti destinati a formare in seguito gruppi estremamente influenti della scena di Canterbury (oltre ai Soft Machine, in particolare, i Caravan). La prima formazione dei Soft Machine comprendeva Kevin Ayers (basso), Robert Wyatt (batteria e voce), Daevid Allen (chitarra) e Mike Ratledge (tastiere). Allen lasciò la band prima dell'uscita del primo disco (avrebbe in seguito fondato un altro importante gruppo di derivazione Canterbury, i Gong. Ayers fu sostituito da Hugh Hopper all'epoca del secondo disco.

I Soft Machine cominciarono a suonare nel 1966, ma il loro primo album fu inciso soltanto nel 1968. I primi due album si inseriscono nel solco della tarda psichedelia inglese, con un particolare senso dello humour, la ricerca vocale di Robert Wyatt, e sonorità che si avvicinano al jazz. In particolare, nel secondo album Volume Two ogni facciata è composta da una lunga suite di brani, uniti tra loro senza soluzione di continuità.

L'apice della notorietà e della fortuna critica giunse con l'acclamato Third, un album doppio con soli quattro brani, ciascuno della lunghezza di un'intera facciata. L'ingresso di un sassofonista, Elton Dean, e la collaborazione di altri fiati, avvicinano l'opera al Miles Davis di quel periodo, seppure con numerosi elementi inediti.

Robert Wyatt lasciò il gruppo nel 1971, dopo l'album strumentale Fourth, deluso dalla nuova impostazione più rigidamente jazz che lasciava poco spazio alle sue sperimentazioni vocali. Fondò i Matching Mole, che avrebbero dovuto essere una ideale prosecuzione dell'opera dei primi Soft Machine, ma che si sciolsero dopo circa un anno in seguito al grave incidente che costò a Wyatt la paralisi.

A partire dall'album successivo all'uscita di Wyatt entrarono nella formazione dei Soft Machine alcuni elementi già membri dei Nucleus, una band di jazz rock: il contrabbassista Roy Babbington (uscito subito dopo), il batterista John Stanley Marshall e soprattutto il tastierista Karl Jenkins, che assunse presto il ruolo guida del gruppo. La musica assunse i toni della fusion.

Mike Ratledge fu l'ultimo membro della formazione originale a lasciare la band (nel 1976). Nello stesso periodo entrò Allan Holdsworth, che riempiva il ruolo di chitarrista, rimasto vacante fin dall'abbandono di Daevid Allen.

I Soft Machine continuarono a suonare fino al 1984, diradando i loro sforzi in studio già dal 1976.

"Seven" (1973)

Having just acquired yet another Nucleus defector, bassist Roy Babbington, Soft Machine were pressured to go into the studio straight away in order to have a new album out for a projected US tour in the autumn of 1973. Apparently, much of the resulting album was composed over a very short period of time - only "Down The Road" had been routined onstage prior to the sessions. Actually there is even a disguised cover - Ratledge's "Day's Eye" is really just a re-vamp of a John McLaughlin piece off Extrapolation; and much of "Penny Hitch" sound like Jenkins' cover of his own "Soft Weed Factor". Even so, it's one of the best cuts on Seven. As with Six Album, Jenkins's contributions are hit-or-miss depending on whether they're just a complex rhythmic pattern over which to solo on either oboe or fuzz organ, or something more substantial. Ratledge contribues a couple of good themes, but his compositional output was quickly diminishing at this point. The real plus on the album is Babbington's immaculate bass playing; as a musician he's probably not as original and creative as Hugh Hopper, but he's just perfect for that kind of material, rock-solid and elegant. Otherwise, it's clear the Softs were getting a bit stagnant and needed a shot in the arm - which came in the shape of Allan Holdsworth.

Soft Machine was formed in 1966 by Robert Wyatt, Mike Ratledge, Kevin Ayers and Daevid Allen. Wyatt had already worked with Allen in the Daevid Allen Trio (which Ratledge occasionally jammed with) in 1963, and with Ayers in the Wilde Flowers in 1964. Although the band had its roots in Canterbury, it soon became a London-based band.

In January 1967, the band's one and only single ever was recorded : it had two songs on it, "Loves Make Sweet Music" and "Feelin', Reelin', Squeelin'". Three months later, a collections of demos was recorded at DeLane Lea Studios with producer Giorgio Gomelsky, but not officially released until 1971 (on two compilations on the French Byg label). At that time, Soft Machine had already become something of a 'cult' band on the London psychedelic scene, gigging at places like the Roundhouse or the UFO. On April 29th, 1967, they took part in an event set up by the underground paper 'International Times', which also featured the Pink Floyd, and was given the name, '14 Hour Technicolor Dream'.

During the summer, the band was involved in an avant-garde theatre project in St.Tropez, on the French Riviera, and it was on the way back that Daevid Allen was refused re-entry to England. So he stayed in France, moving on to various projects before forming Gong two years later, while Wyatt, Ratledge and Ayers decided to carry on as a trio.

In February 1968, Soft Machine embarked on a 3-month US tour (opening for the Jimi Hendrix Experience), recording their first album in New York in four days in April, with production handled by Tom Wilson and Chas Chandler, former Animals bassist and Hendrix's producer. Although quickly made (most tracks are first takes) and not particularly well-recorded, "The Soft Machine" is now considered a classic of the extraordinarily creative post-psychedelic, pre-progressive, period of the late 60's... and quite rightly so!

In May, a guitarist by the name of Andy Summers (also on the earlier Hendrix US tour, backing Eric Burdon... later in The Police, of course!) joined, for the second leg of the American tour (July-September), but left mid-tour. Disagreements on the musical direction began to arise between Ayers and Wyatt-Ratledge, leading to their parting company after the tour was completed. Wyatt stayed in Hollywood to work with Jimi Hendrix, while Ratledge and Ayers flew back to Europe. In December 1968, Wyatt was contacted by Probe, who had just released the first album, to discuss possible live dates by the band to promote it. With Ayers unavailable, Hugh Hopper was asked to join (he was about to sell his bass!), and after a month of rehearsal, the new line-up made its live debut at the Royal Albert Hall in February, a few days before entering Olympic Studios to record the second album.

For "Volume Two" and most of the subsequent gigs, the trio was augmented by Hugh's brother, Brian, who played tenor saxophone. This was the symptom of the band's gradual evolution towards jazz, clearly apparent on the album. In the Autumn of 1969, a permanent brass section was recruited from pianist Keith Tippett's jazz band : Elton Dean on alto sax, Marc Charig on trumpet, Nick Evans on trombone. Another sax (and flute) player, Lyn Dobson, was added following Dean's recommendation. The resulting septet was only together for a few weeks, recording BBC sessions in November and touring France quite extensively towards the end of the year; Evans and Charig then left to pursue successful careers on the European jazz scene (although they guested on subsequent albums).

During the first months of 1970, Soft Machine recorded "Third", a double album which included four sidelong compositions. Hugh Hopper's angular "Facelift" was a collage of live performances made in January, and is the only track featuring Lyn Dobson, who had left by the time the studio sessions for the other four sides had begun. Mike Ratledge contributed two sides : "Slightly All The Time", a progressive jazz masterpiece made all the more successful by the inclusion of the "Backwards" theme (bookended by Hopper's transition theme "Noisette") from previous live medleys; and "Out-Bloody-Rageous", which showcased the band's use of tape loops and featured strong group interplay. Finally, "Moon In June", Robert Wyatt's side, was something of a farewell to Soft Machine's original style, the last piece by the band ever to feature vocals; it was actually a montage of several old songs, some of them dating back to the 1967 Gomelsky sessions, but superbly linked together (Wyatt had recorded a demo of the suite in the USA in 1968). A good indication that the rest of the band weren't too keen on pursuing that kind of direction was that, although uncredited as such, "Moon In June" was largely a solo performance by Wyatt, who played organ and keyboard bass as well as drums and vocals. Hopper and Ratledge only appeared for a brief instrumental extravaganza at the end of the main part; Wyatt didn't even ask them to play on the rest.

So by mid-1970, Soft Machine had become a purely instrumental band; Wyatt being the only member wanting vocals in the music, the majority won... During the summer, Wyatt recorded his first solo album, "The End Of An Ear", on the sleeve of which he described himself as an 'out-of-work pop singer'... But a collection on pop songs the album was not : no lyrics, no conventional singing, rather a very experimental collection of mainly improvised material (the titles of the tracks referred to several Canterbury figures : "To Caravan And Brother Jim" etc.) except for a cover of Gil Evans' "Las Vegas Tango", with the voice used as an instrument and heavily treated, mostly through tape speed alterations. The results were, depending on one's taste, unlistenable or startlingly original and unique.

In the autumn, following a controversial appearance at the Royal Albert Hall for the famous 'Promenade Concerts' in August, the 'classic' line-up of Wyatt , Hopper, Ratledge and Dean recorded "4", in fact their first and last studio album as a quartet, although this incarnation would more or less survive for one more year. This effort carried on in the vein of "Third"'s instrumental tracks (with a welcome return to the septet format on the extraordinary "Teeth" and "Virtually"), and in this respect was an impressive achievement, although the complete lack of vocals made some listeners wonder if the band could still go on under the name Soft Machine... If only they'd known how many changes of personnel and musical direction were still ahead of them!!!

1971 was a year of experimentation, as one can tell from listening to the radio sessions recorded on this period. Several musicians (various brass players, string-bassist Roy Babbington and drummer Phil Howard) were sometimes added to the basic quartet, furthering the evolution towards jazz. That same year, Elton Dean released his first solo album, in much the same vein, with his own Elton Dean Band musicians (Howard and bassist Neville Whitehead), and Ratledge among the guests.

When Wyatt finally left in July, later forming Matching Mole, Phil Howard was a natural choice as replacement, but he rapidly left, midway through the sessions of the "5" album - his style was considered too 'free' by Hopper and Ratledge... and a good majority of the audiences who had seen the band play that autumn. He was in turn replaced by John Marshall, one of the very best drummers in Britain, formerly of Nucleus among other bands. With Marshall in, Soft Machine rapidly moved away from the straighter jazz feel of "5", into more 'jazz-rock' territory, which apparently wasn't to the taste of Elton Dean, who left in May 1972. He subsequently worked with mainly acoustic jazz ensembles, although he was also (quite surprisingly) involved in the Dutch 'progressive rock' band Supersister in 1973-74.

Ex-Nucleus pianist/reeds player Karl Jenkins wasn't really a replacement for Dean, as his multiple talents, including that of composer, rapidly made him the co-leader of Soft Machine with Ratledge. With the impressive Hopper/Marshall rhythm section at their disposal, the pair could allow themselves any level of complexity and musical variety. "Six Album", released in early 1973, was a double half-studio, half-live set. The latter showcases the interplay between the four musicians, while the former is more experimental, focussing on Jenkins and Ratledge's dual keyboard patterns and the use of Echoplex, most notably on the hypnotic "The Soft Weed Factor".

In May 1973, Hugh Hopper decided that four years in Soft Machine was enough and that it was time to move on to pastures new. He had just released his first solo album, "1984", and went on to release several others, and work with countless jazz and progressive bands throughout the decade, and again from the mid-eighties onwards after he stopped playing for five years. Roy Babbington, who had guested on a couple of Soft albums a double-bass player, was a natural replacement, except for the fact that he now concentrated on his 6-string bass guitar. The resulting line-up recorded "7", a natural progression from the studio album of "Six Album", with shorter compositions and even less jazz influence.

Perhaps sensing that, for the first time in the band's existence, Soft Machine's music tended to repeat itself, it was decided to add guitarist Allan Holdsworth to the line-up in December 1973. The resulting quintet (which toured North America in early 1974) was a fusion powerhouse, with possibly the best British drummer and guitarist at that time. Consequently, the music took a decidedly 'rocky' character, as documented on "Bundles", recorded in the summer of 1974 but only released in the spring of 1975. This was the first Soft album not to bear a number, a sign that times were surely changing : the band had left CBS for EMI/Harvest, and also left the underground scene for a more mainstream approach at a time when American fusion bands were a dominant force (and reached their commercial peak).

Holdsworth left shortly after the release of "Bundles", and recommended fellow guitarist John Etheridge as a possible replacement. This proved satisfactory and in the summer of 1975 Soft Machine embarked on an ambitious, but ill-fated, package tour of European arenas with the likes of Caravan and the Mahavishnu Orchestra. From then on, the band's popularity waned as it failed to sustain the momentum initially gathered by its new orientation. Ratledge, the last remaining founding member, left in March 1976, leaving Soft Machine's reins in the hands of Jenkins and Marshall. "Softs" appeared later that year, with Alan Wakeman (the cousin of famous keyboard wizard Rick) on saxophone; a shortlived addition as he left after less than six months, to be replaced by a violin player, Ric Sanders. Babbington also left after a last appearance in Edinburgh, and was replaced first by Brand X's Percy Jones, and finally Steve Cook (ex-Gilgamesh/Mirage). The live album "Alive And Well, Recorded In Paris" (1978) documented a series of French gigs in July 1977. Soft Machine subsequently ground to a halt, perfoming its last gig in Bremen in December 1978.

Soft Machine was active again for one more album - the purely studio affair, "Land Of Cockayne" (1981), with an all-star line-up featuring Allan Holdsworth and Jack Bruce alongside Jenkins and Marshall, but a rather uninspiring mixture of American fusion and orchestral 'muzak' - and a series of gigs at London's Ronnie Scotts club in the summer of 1984, with a line-up of Jenkins, Marshall, John Etheridge, Dave MacRae and bassist Paul Carmichael. Plans for further studio and live projects never materialized and indeed probably never will, as Karl Jenkins has found far more lucrative activities in the field of library, TV and advertisement music, most notably with his Adiemus project.