Soft Machine are an English jazz-rock [1] band from Canterbury. Formed in mid-1966, the group originally consisted of drummer and vocalist Robert Wyatt, guitarists Daevid Allen and Larry Nowlin, bassist and vocalist Kevin Ayers, and keyboardist Mike Ratledge. The current lineup of the band features guitarist John Etheridge (1975–1978, 1984 and since 2015), saxophonist, keyboardist Theo Travis (since 2015), bassist Fred Baker (since 2020) and drummer Asaf Sirkis (since 2022).
Soft Machine were formed in mid-1966 by drummer and vocalist Robert Wyatt, guitarists Daevid Allen and Larry Nowlin, bassist and vocalist Kevin Ayers and keyboardist Mike Ratledge. Wyatt, Allen and Ratledge had first worked together in 1963 as the Daevid Allen Trio, [2] after which Wyatt and Ayers co-founded the Wilde Flowers in late 1964 and Mister Head in early 1966, the latter with Allen and Nowlin. Mister Head was short-lived and in mid-1966 Wyatt, Ayers, Allen and Nowlin joined Ratledge to form Soft Machine. Nowlin's time with the band was brief, leaving less than two months after the band formed, reducing them to a quartet. [3] Soft Machine released a single, "Love Makes Sweet Music", in February 1967. Six months later they were reduced to a trio, when Allen, an Australian, was denied re-entry to the UK following a tour of France, after overstaying his visa. [4] Wyatt, Ayers and Ratledge recorded Soft Machine's self-titled debut album in April 1968, which was issued at the end of the year. [5] After the album's completion, Andy Summers joined the band on guitar, though he left after just two months returning the band to a trio. [6] After a final American tour, opening for the Jimi Hendrix Experience, Ayers left Soft Machine in September 1968. [7]
Wyatt and Ratledge rebuilt Soft Machine in December 1968 with Hugh Hopper replacing Ayers on bass. Another former member of the Daevid Allen Trio and the Wilde Flowers, Hopper had previously guested on Soft Machine's debut album. This new lineup recorded Volume Two during early 1969, and eventually released in September that year. [8] After guesting on the Volume Two sessions, Hopper's brother Brian Hopper, another Wilde Flowers founder, joined the band on saxophone in May 1969. After five months, Brian Hopper departed, with Wyatt, Ratledge and Hugh Hopper expanding the band to a septet with the addition of a four-piece horn section: saxophonists Elton Dean and Lyn Dobson, cornet player Mark Charig and trombonist Nick Evans. [9] Both Charig and Evans left after two months due to "financial and logistical challenges", while Dobson also left the band in March 1970. [9]
After the release and promotion of Third and Fourth , Wyatt was fired in August 1971. Wyatt's replacement was initially Australian drummer Phil Howard. However, after half of the next album Fifth was recorded, Howard himself was replaced by John Marshall. After Fifth was completed, Dean also left in mid-1972 and was replaced by Karl Jenkins, a former bandmate of Marshall's in Nucleus. [10] The group issued Six the next year, which was Hopper's last album before departing in May 1973. [11] He was replaced by Roy Babbington, another former Nucleus member who had previously worked with Soft Machine as a session musician, playing double bass on Fourth and Fifth. [10] In November 1973, the group became a quintet again with the addition of Allan Holdsworth (another Nucleus alumnus) as their first guitarist in five years. [12] This lineup recorded the album Bundles and managed to stay together until April 1975, when Holdsworth departed. He recommended John Etheridge as his replacement. [13] At the beginning of 1976, saxophonist Alan Wakeman was added, at which point Jenkins stopped playing saxophone and oboe and focused solely on keyboards. [14] In March 1976, the band were left with no original members when Ratledge chose to leave. [15]
After the release of Softs in 1976, Soft Machine's lineup continued to change regularly. Wakeman left in July, just after the album's release, [18] and was replaced briefly by Ray Warleigh, who had worked with the band previously as a session player on Bundles. [19] For a European tour later in the year, Ric Sanders joined on violin and Percy Jones of Brand X took over from Babbington, who had suddenly quit. [20] Jones declined to join on a full-time basis and was replaced by Steve Cook. Live shows in 1977 spawned the band's first completely live release, Alive & Well: Recorded in Paris . [21] After a final show in December 1978, as a quartet without Sanders and with Allan Holdsworth returning to replace Etheridge, [22] Soft Machine disbanded and members went their separate ways.
The Soft Machine name was briefly revived in 1980 for Land of Cockayne . [23] In the summer of 1984, Soft Machine reformed once again for a short run of shows at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club, with the band comprising John Marshall, Karl Jenkins, Ray Warleigh, John Etheridge, Paul Carmichael and Dave MacRae. [24]
In 1978, former Soft Machine bassist Hugh Hopper and saxophonist Elton Dean formed the spin-off band Soft Heap, with former National Health keyboardist Alan Gowen and drummer Pip Pyle. [25] For their first tour, Pyle was temporarily replaced by Dave Sheen due to other commitments, and the group (renamed Soft Head) issued the live album Rogue Element by the end of the year. [26] With Pyle back on drums, the band recorded a self-titled debut album in late 1978, which was issued early the following year. [27] National Health's John Greaves later replaced Hopper and guitarist Mark Hewins joined after Gowen's death in 1981, with this second incarnation recording the live album A Veritable Centaur released in 1995. [28] A live album recorded by the original Soft Heap lineup of Hopper, Dean, Gowen and Pyle in 1978 was released as Al Dente in 2008. [29]
Over ten years after the last Soft Machine spin-off band, Hugh Hopper and Elton Dean formed Soft Ware in 1999, adding former Soft Machine drummer John Marshall and former King Crimson contributor Keith Tippett on keyboards. [30] The group did not release any albums, and by 2002 had changed their name to Soft Works as Tippett left and former guitarist Allan Holdsworth joined. [30] Abracadabra, the band's only studio album, was issued in 2003. [31] Holdsworth left again after the album's release and was replaced in October 2004 by his original replacement in Soft Machine, John Etheridge; at this point, the band renamed themselves Soft Machine Legacy. [30] During the final Soft Works tour, Hopper and Dean also recorded an album with Japanese keyboardist Hoppy Kamiyama and drummer Tatsuya Yoshida under the name Soft Mountain. [32] In 2004, they completed a tour with French keyboardist Sophia Domancich and drummer Simon Goubert under the name Soft Bounds. [33]
The first lineup of Soft Machine Legacy released Live at Zaandam in 2005, followed by a self-titled debut studio album and the live video New Morning: The Paris Concert the following year. [30] On 7 February 2006, however, Dean died following a year of "heart and liver problems". [34] His place in the band was taken by Theo Travis, and in January 2007 the group issued their second studio album Steam. [30] In June 2008, Hopper was diagnosed with leukemia and temporarily replaced on tour by Fred Baker of In Cahoots. [8] [35] He later died of the condition on 7 June 2009. [36] As had happened when Hopper left Soft Machine in 1973, his place was taken by Roy Babbington. [37] In 2010, the band issued the live collection Live Adventures recorded in 2009, which was followed in 2013 by their third studio release Burden of Proof . [30]
Starting in December 2015, Theo Travis, John Etheridge, Roy Babbington and John Marshall began touring as Soft Machine, dropping "Legacy" from their name. [13] The band released their first official studio album under the original name since 1981 in the form of Hidden Details in September 2018. In December 2020 Fred Baker replaced Babbington. [13] In August 2022, Asaf Sirkis replaced newly retired John Marshall. [38] [39] A new studio album, Other Doors, was released in June 2023. The album was recorded with Marshall before his departure.
Image | Name | Years active | Instruments | Soft Machine release contributions |
---|---|---|---|---|
John Etheridge |
| guitars |
| |
Theo Travis | 2015–present [13] |
|
| |
Fred Baker | 2020–present [13] | bass |
| |
Asaf Sirkis |
| "The Dew at Dawn" (2024) |
Image | Name | Years active | Instruments | Soft Machine release contributions |
---|---|---|---|---|
Mike Ratledge | 1966–1976 [2] [15] |
|
| |
Robert Wyatt | 1966–1971 [2] [10] |
|
| |
Kevin Ayers | 1966–1968 (died 2013) [2] [7] |
|
| |
Daevid Allen | 1966–1967 (died 2015) [2] [4] |
|
| |
Larry Nowlin | 1966 [40] |
| none – live performances only | |
Andy Summers | 1968 | guitars | ||
Hugh Hopper | 1968–1973 [8] [11] (session guest earlier in 1968) (died 2009) |
|
| |
Brian Hopper | 1969 (session guest earlier in 1969) [41] | tenor and soprano saxophones |
| |
Elton Dean | 1969–1972 (died 2006) [9] |
|
| |
Lyn Dobson | 1969–1970 [9] |
|
| |
Mark Charig | 1969 (session guests in 1970) [9] |
|
| |
Nick Evans | trombone |
| ||
Phil Howard | 1971–1972 [10] | drums |
| |
John Marshall |
|
|
| |
Karl Jenkins |
|
|
| |
Roy Babbington |
|
|
| |
Allan Holdsworth | (substitute for Etheridge at one show in 1977)(died 2017) [46] |
|
| |
Alan Wakeman | 1976 [47] [18] | tenor and soprano saxophones | Softs (1976) | |
Ray Warleigh |
|
|
| |
Ric Sanders | 1976–1978 [20] | violin | Alive & Well: Recorded in Paris (1978) | |
Percy Jones | 1976 [20] | bass | none – live performances only | |
Steve Cook | 1976–1978 [21] | Alive & Well: Recorded in Paris (1978) | ||
Jack Bruce | 1980–1981 (died 2014) | Land Of Cockayne (1981) [46] | ||
Dick Morrissey | 1980–1981 (both died 2000) | tenor saxophone | ||
Stu Calver | vocals | |||
John Perry | 1980–1981 | |||
Tony Rivers | ||||
Alan Parker | rhythm guitar | |||
John Taylor | 1980–1981 (died 2015) | electric piano | ||
Paul Carmichael | 1984 [24] | bass | none – live performances only | |
Dave MacRae |
|
Image | Name | Years active | Instruments | Details |
---|---|---|---|---|
Nic France |
| drums | In 2017 and 2022, France filled in for John Marshall at a few shows, after the regular drummer injured his back. [48] [49] [50] [51] | |
Gary Husband | 2018 | Husband substituted for Marshall on drums for a few gigs in 2018 [52] |
Image | Name | Years active | Instruments | Release contributions |
---|---|---|---|---|
The Cake | 1968 | backing vocals | The Soft Machine (1968) [53] | |
Rab Spall | 1970 | violin | Third (1970) [45] | |
Jimmy Hastings |
|
| ||
Alan Skidmore | tenor saxophone | Fourth (1971) [44] | ||
Nick Utteridge | 2017 | wind chimes | Hidden Details (2018) [54] |
On 11 March 1971, the then-current line-up of Soft Machine - Mike Ratledge, Robert Wyatt, Hugh Hopper and Elton Dean - performed a concert at the Paris Theatre in London as Soft Machine & Heavy Friends, with the "heavy friends" being Paul Nieman (trombone), Ronnie Scott (tenor saxophone), Neville Whitehead (bass), former Soft Machine member Marc Charig (cornet) and future Soft Machine members Phil Howard (drums) and Roy Babbington (double bass). The concert was released as BBC in Concert 1971 in 1993.
Image | Name | Years active | Instruments | Release contributions |
---|---|---|---|---|
Elton Dean |
|
| all Soft Machine spin-off band releases from Rogue Element (1978) to New Morning: The Paris Concert (2006) | |
Pip Pyle | 1978–1988 (died 2006) [25] |
|
| |
Alan Gowen | 1978–1981 (until his death) [25] |
|
| |
Hugh Hopper |
| bass | all Soft Machine spin-off band releases from Rogue Element (1978) to Al Dente (2008), except A Veritable Centaur (1995) | |
Dave Sheen | 1978 (touring) [26] | drums | Rogue Element (1978) | |
John Greaves | 1979–1988 [28] |
| A Veritable Centaur (1995) | |
Mark Hewins | 1981–1988 [28] |
| ||
John Marshall | 1999–2015 [30] (died 2023) |
| all Soft Works and Soft Machine Legacy releases | |
Keith Tippett | 1999–2002 [30] (touring 2015) (died 2020) |
| none – live performances only | |
Allan Holdsworth | 2002–2004 [30] |
| Abracadabra (2003) | |
Hoppy Kamiyama | 2003 (Soft Mountain) [32] | keyboards | Soft Mountain (2007) | |
Tatsuya Yoshida | drums | |||
Sophia Domancich | 2003–2004 (Soft Bounds) [33] |
| Live at Le Triton 2004 (2005) | |
Simon Goubert | drums | |||
John Etheridge | 2004–2015 [30] | guitars | all Soft Machine Legacy releases | |
Theo Travis | 2006–2015 [30] |
|
| |
Fred Baker | 2008–2009 [35] [lower-alpha 1] (touring) | bass | none | |
Roy Babbington | 2009–2015 [37] |
|
Image | Name | Years active | Instruments | Details |
---|---|---|---|---|
Liam Genockey | 2004–2005 | drums | Genockey and Fletcher substituted for the injured John Marshall at shows in October 2004 and summer 2005. [41] | |
Mark Fletcher | 2005 | |||
Nic France | 2015 | During 2015, France and Husband filled in for John Marshall for several shows, after the regular drummer injured his back. [55] [56] [57] [58] [59] | ||
Gary Husband |
Image | Name | Years active | Instruments | Release contributions |
---|---|---|---|---|
Alain Eckert | 1982–1983 | guitar synthesizer | A Veritable Centaur (1995) [60] |
Period | Members | Releases |
---|---|---|
August – September 1966 |
| none |
September 1966 – August 1967 |
|
|
August 1967 – May 1968 |
|
|
May – July 1968 |
| none |
July – September 1968 |
|
|
December 1968 – May 1969 |
|
|
May – October 1969 |
|
|
October – December 1969 |
|
|
December 1969 – March 1970 |
|
|
March 1970 – August 1971 |
|
|
August 1971 – January 1972 |
|
|
January – May 1972 |
|
|
May 1972 – May 1973 |
|
|
May – November 1973 |
|
|
November 1973 – April 1975 |
|
|
April 1975 – January 1976 |
|
|
January – March 1976 |
|
|
March – June 1976 |
|
|
June – September 1976 |
| none |
September – November 1976 |
| |
November 1976 – March 1978 |
| |
December 1978 |
| none |
Band inactive January 1979 – May 1980 | ||
June 1980 – March 1981 |
|
|
Band inactive April 1981 – June 1984 | ||
July – August 1984 |
| none |
Band inactive September 1984 – November 2015 | ||
December 2015 – December 2020 |
|
|
December 2020 – August 2022 |
|
|
August 2022 – present |
|
|
Period | Members | Releases |
---|---|---|
Soft Heap (1978–1979) |
|
|
Soft Head (April – August 1978) |
|
|
Soft Heap (1979–1981) |
| none |
Soft Heap (1981–1988) |
|
|
Spin-off bands inactive 1988–1999 | ||
Soft Ware (September 1999 – June 2002) |
| none |
Soft Works (June 2002 – October 2004) |
|
|
Soft Mountain (August 2003) |
|
|
Soft Bounds (2003–2004) |
|
|
Soft Machine Legacy (October 2004 – February 2006) |
|
|
Soft Machine Legacy (March 2006 – June 2009) |
|
|
Soft Machine Legacy (July 2009 – December 2015) |
|
|
The Canterbury scene was a musical scene centred on the city of Canterbury, Kent, England during the late 1960s and early 1970s. Associated with progressive rock, the term describes a loosely-defined, improvisational style that blended elements of jazz, rock, and psychedelia.
Soft Machine are an English rock and jazz band from Canterbury formed in mid-1966 by Mike Ratledge, Robert Wyatt, Kevin Ayers, Daevid Allen and Larry Nowlin. As a central band of the Canterbury scene, the group became one of the first British psychedelic acts and later moved into progressive and jazz rock, becoming a purely instrumental band in 1971. The band has undergone many line-up changes, with musicians such as Andy Summers, Hugh Hopper, Elton Dean, John Marshall, Karl Jenkins, Roy Babbington and Allan Holdsworth being members during the band's history. The current line-up consists of John Etheridge, Theo Travis, Fred Thelonious Baker and Asaf Sirkis.
Kevin Ayers was an English singer-songwriter who was active in the English psychedelic music movement. Ayers was a founding member of the psychedelic band Soft Machine in the mid-1960s, and was closely associated with the Canterbury scene. He recorded a series of albums as a solo artist and over the years worked with Brian Eno, Syd Barrett, Bridget St John, John Cale, Elton John, Robert Wyatt, Andy Summers, Mike Oldfield, Nico and Ollie Halsall, among others. After living for many years in Deià, Mallorca, he returned to the United Kingdom in the mid-1990s before moving to the south of France. His last album, The Unfairground, was released in 2007. The British rock journalist Nick Kent wrote: "Kevin Ayers and Syd Barrett were the two most important people in British pop music. Everything that came after came from them."
Robert Wyatt is an English retired musician. A founding member of the influential Canterbury scene bands Soft Machine and Matching Mole, he was initially a kit drummer and singer before becoming paraplegic following an accidental fall from a window in 1973, which led him to abandon band work, explore other instruments, and begin a 40-year solo career.
Sir Karl William Pamp Jenkins,, HonFLSW is a Welsh multi-instrumentalist and composer. His best known works include the song "Adiemus", Palladio (1995), The Armed Man (2000), his Requiem (2005) and his Stabat Mater (2008).
Hugh Colin Hopper was a British progressive rock and jazz fusion bass guitarist. He was a prominent member of the Canterbury scene, as a member of Soft Machine and other bands.
Third is a live and studio album by the English rock band Soft Machine, released as their third overall in June 1970 by CBS Records. It is a double album with a single composition on each of the four sides, and was the first of two albums recorded with a four-piece line-up of keyboardist Mike Ratledge, drummer and vocalist Robert Wyatt, saxophonist Elton Dean, and bass guitarist Hugh Hopper. Third marks a shift in the group's sound from their psychedelic origins towards jazz rock and electronic music.
Elton Dean was an English jazz musician who performed on alto saxophone, saxello and occasionally keyboards. Part of the Canterbury scene, he featured in Soft Machine, among others.
Volume Two is the second album by The Soft Machine, released in 1969. The album combined humour, dada, psychedelia and jazz. In 2000 it was voted number 715 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums.
The Wilde Flowers were an English psychedelic rock band from Canterbury, Kent. Formed in 1964, the group originally featured lead vocalist Kevin Ayers, lead guitarist and co-lead vocalist Brian Hopper, rhythm guitarist and vocalist Richard Sinclair, bassist Hugh Hopper and drummer Robert Wyatt. Despite not releasing any material during their brief three-year tenure, the band are generally considered to be the originators of the Canterbury scene. After their breakup in 1969, the group's members went on to form numerous key bands within the scene, including Soft Machine, Caravan and Camel.
The Soft Machine is the debut album by the British psychedelic rock band Soft Machine, released in 1968. It is the group's only album to feature Kevin Ayers as a member.
Fourth is the fourth studio album by the rock band Soft Machine, released in 1971. The album is also titled Four or 4 in the USA.
Seven is the seventh studio album by the jazz rock band Soft Machine, released in 1973. Bassist Roy Babbington, who had previously worked with the band as a session musician on the Fourth (1971) and Fifth (1972) albums, joined the band as a full-time member, replacing Hugh Hopper, who left to begin a solo career. This line-up change meant more than half of Soft Machine was now former members of the band Nucleus.
Fifth, is the fifth studio album by the jazz rock band Soft Machine, released in 1972. In the US the album was identified on cover and label by number (5).
Michael Roland Ratledge is a British musician. A part of the Canterbury scene, he was a founding member of Soft Machine. He was the last founding member to leave the group, doing so in 1976.
Softs is the ninth studio album by the jazz rock band Soft Machine, released in 1976.
Joy of a Toy is the debut solo album of Kevin Ayers, a founding member of Soft Machine. He is accompanied on the LP by pianist and arranger David Bedford as well as his erstwhile Soft Machine colleagues Robert Wyatt and Mike Ratledge, and his eventual replacement Hugh Hopper, who had previously worked with him in the semi-pro band Wilde Flowers. Among the session musicians are cellist and arranger Paul Buckmaster, jazz bassist Jeff Clyne, oboist Paul Minns and drummer Rob Tait.
Romantic Warriors III: Canterbury Tales (2015) is the third in a series of feature-length documentaries about Progressive rock written and directed by Adele Schmidt and José Zegarra Holder. This one focuses on the music of the Canterbury scene.
Steam is the fourth album by the Canterbury associated band Soft Machine Legacy and their second studio album, released on CD in 2007. This is the final Soft Machine project to feature bassist Hugh Hopper prior to his death in June 2009. He was replaced by Roy Babbington, Soft Machine member from 1973 to 1976. Babbington has previously replaced Hopper in Soft Machine-proper. Steam also marks the first appearance of Theo Travis in the group replacing Elton Dean who died in February 2006 at age 60.
Soft Machine are an English rock band from Canterbury formed in mid-1966. As a central band of the Canterbury scene, the group became one of the first British psychedelic acts and later moved into progressive rock and jazz fusion. Having known numerous line-ups, the band currently consists of John Etheridge (guitar), Theo Travis, Fred Baker (bass) and Asaf Sirkis (drums).
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