Label: Polydor Records (UK), 532 050-6
Style: Jazz Rock, Psychedelic Rock, Progressive Rock
Country: Canterbury, England
Time: 33:33
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 206 Mb
By
the end of 1968 the Soft Machine had parted company with founder and
bass player Kevin Ayers. Ayers, who operated at a more leisurely pace
and was less jazz inclined than drummer Robert Wyatt and keyboardist
Mike Ratledge, had been put off touring, at least temporarily, by the
experience of supporting The Jimi Hendrix Experience acrioss the USA.
But following a brief hiatus the band reformed with former road manager
and school friend Hugh Hopper on bass. Joined here by brother Brian -
another key figure in Canterbury musical history - on sax, it was Hugh's
vastly developed sense of melody, combined with the aforementioned love
of jazz that saw the band enter Olympic Studios with engineer George
Chkiantz and record this masterpiece.
Volume Two's first side begins
with Wyatt reciting the alphabet, ending the side's suite of songs by
doing the same, backwards. This mixture of the absurd and the serious
that was to eventually tip in the direction of the latter (forcing out
the more whimsical Wyatt), provides a wonderful tension that no other
band has ever really replicated though many have tried (cf: Hatfield And
The North). Fearsome chord progressions (Dedicated To You But You
Weren't Listening), free noise (Fire Engine Passing With Bells Clanging)
and even scatting in Spanish (Dada Was Here): this was no ordinary
college band.
Even the infamously po-faced Ratledge was open to a
touch of tomfoolery at this point. Pig's exploration of the role of
women's underwear in the mating ritual is hilarious, while underpinned
with a time signature that they virtually patented in later years. As
Long As he Lies Perfectly Still is a truly moving tribute to the
departed Ayers: Mike Ratledge's majestic piano chords declaim over his
own distorted organ, Wyatt's swinging cymbals and Hugh Hopper's
monstrous fuzz bass while Wyatt sings lyrics that are equal parts
affectionate, silly and mocking.
Volume Two could be said to be the
band's best album. It was a taste of the pre-post modern: relegating
lyrics to the role of noise that merely describes what the band's doing
(''In his organ solos, he fills 'round the keyboards, knowing he must
find the noisiest notes for you to hear'' - Thank You Pierrot Lunaire),
or name checking friends of the group (''Thank you Noel and Mitch. Thank
you Jim, for our exposure to the crowd. And thank you for this coda
Mike, you did us proud'' - Have You Ever Bean Green?). No one makes
records like this anymore.
(bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/mxw6/) Chris Jones 2009
01. Pataphysical Introduction - Part I (01:00)
02. A Concise British Alphabet - Part I (00:09)
03. Hibou Anemone and Bear (05:59)
04. A Concise British Alphabet - Part II (00:12)
05. Hullo Der (00:54)
06. Dada Was Here (03:25)
07. Thank You Pierrot Lunaire (00:48)
08. Have You Ever Bean Grean? (01:19)
09. Pataphysical Introduction - Part II (00:51)
10. Out of Tunes (02:34)
11. As Long As He Lies Perfectly Still (02:34)
12. Dedicated To You But You Weren't Listening (02:32)
13. Fire Engine Passing With Bells Clanging (01:50)
14. Pig (02:09)
15. Orange Skin Food (01:47)
16. A Door Opens and Closes (01:09)
17. 10:30 Returns To the Bedroom (04:13)
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