Soft Machine discography

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.[1] Having known numerous line-ups, the band currently consists of John Etheridge (guitar), Theo Travis (saxophone, flutes, keyboards), Fred Baker (bass) and Asaf Sirkis (drums).

Soft Machine discography
Studio albums12

Discography

Studio albums
Year Album Line-up Additional musicians
1968 The Soft Machine Mike Ratledge, Robert Wyatt, Kevin Ayers Hugh Hopper
1969 Volume Two Mike Ratledge, Robert Wyatt, Hugh Hopper Brian Hopper
1970 Third Mike Ratledge, Robert Wyatt, Hugh Hopper, Elton Dean Lyn Dobson, Nick Evans, Jimmy Hastings, Rab Spall
1971 Fourth Nick Evans, Jimmy Hastings, Mark Charig, Roy Babbington, Alan Skidmore
1972 Fifth Side one: Mike Ratledge, Hugh Hopper, Elton Dean, Phil Howard
Side two: Mike Ratledge, Hugh Hopper, Elton Dean, John Marshall		 Roy Babbington
1973 Six Mike Ratledge, Hugh Hopper, John Marshall, Karl Jenkins
1973 Seven Mike Ratledge, John Marshall, Karl Jenkins, Roy Babbington
1975 Bundles Mike Ratledge, John Marshall, Karl Jenkins, Roy Babbington, Allan Holdsworth Ray Warleigh
1976 Softs John Marshall, Karl Jenkins, Roy Babbington, John Etheridge, Alan Wakeman Mike Ratledge
1981 Land of Cockayne John Marshall, Karl Jenkins, Allan Holdsworth, Ray Warleigh, Jack Bruce, Dick Morrissey, Alan Parker, John Taylor
2018 Hidden Details John Marshall, Roy Babbington, John Etheridge, Theo Travis Nick Utteridge
2023 Other Doors John Marshall, John Etheridge, Theo Travis, Fred Baker Roy Babbington

Live albums
Recorded Released Album Line-up
September 1967 – May 1968 2006 Middle Earth Masters Mike Ratledge, Robert Wyatt, Kevin Ayers
March 1969 1996 Live at the Paradiso 1969 Mike Ratledge, Robert Wyatt, Hugh Hopper
November 1969 – May 1970 2002 Backwards Mike Ratledge, Robert Wyatt, Hugh Hopper, Elton Dean, Lyn Dobson, Mark Charig, Nick Evans
January 1970 2000 Noisette Mike Ratledge, Robert Wyatt, Hugh Hopper, Elton Dean, Lyn Dobson
January 1970 2005 Breda Reactor
January 1970 2022 Facelift France & Holland CD 2
March 1970 2022 Facelift France & Holland CD 1 + DVD
April 1970 2004 Somewhere in Soho Mike Ratledge, Robert Wyatt, Hugh Hopper, Elton Dean
April 1970 2002 Facelift
August 1970 1988 Live at the Proms 1970
October 1970 2006 Grides
February 1971 2009 Live at Henie Onstad Art Centre 1971
March 1971 1998 Virtually
March 1971 1993 Soft Machine & Heavy Friends – BBC in Concert 1971
November 1971 2008 Drop Mike Ratledge, Hugh Hopper, Elton Dean, Phil Howard
May 1972 2008 Live in Paris Mike Ratledge, Hugh Hopper, Elton Dean, John Marshall
June 1972 1994 Soft Stage – BBC in Concert 1972 Mike Ratledge, Hugh Hopper, John Marshall, Karl Jenkins
October – November 1972 1973 Six Disc 1
May 1973 2010 NDR Jazz Workshop Hamburg, Germany CD + DVD Mike Ratledge, John Marshall, Karl Jenkins, Roy Babbington
July 1974 2015 Switzerland 1974 CD + DVD Mike Ratledge, John Marshall, Karl Jenkins, Roy Babbington, Allan Holdsworth
January 1975 2006 Floating World Live
October 1975 2005 British Tour '75 Mike Ratledge, John Marshall, Karl Jenkins, Roy Babbington, John Etheridge
July 1977 1978 Alive & Well: Recorded in Paris John Marshall, Karl Jenkins, John Etheridge, Ric Sanders, Steve Cook
February 2019 2020 Live at The Baked Potato John Marshall, Roy Babbington, John Etheridge, Theo Travis

Compilation albums
Year Album Notes
1972 Jet Propelled Photographs 1967 demos by the original line-up (Mike Ratledge, Robert Wyatt, Kevin Ayers, Daevid Allen)
1977 Triple Echo A "best of" album, including both sides of their first single and material from all the albums up to Softs (the most recent at the time)
1990 The Peel Sessions Radio sessions recorded during 1969–71
1996 Spaced Recorded in 1969 by the line-up of Mike Ratledge, Robert Wyatt, Hugh and Brian Hopper as a soundtrack for a work by artist Peter Dockley
2001 Turns On Volume 1 Lo-fi recordings from April to December 1967
2001 Turns On Volume 2 Lo-fi recordings from November 1967 to August 1968
2003 BBC Radio 1967–1971 Radio sessions
2003 BBC Radio 1971–1974 Radio sessions

Miscellaneous albums
Year Album Notes
1976 Rubber Riff Library music composed and performed by Karl Jenkins with some other then-current Soft Machine members (John Marshall, Roy Babbington, John Etheridge). Re-released in 1994 under the Soft Machine name

Other minor releases

These albums were either released by small labels with most of their content available on the main albums listed above or are reissues/"Best of" collections released by major labels with all previously released material.

Year Album Notes
1972 Rock Generation Vol. 7 One side only, April 1967 De Lane Lea Studios demo recordings with Giorgio Gomelsky.
1972 Rock Generation Vol. 8 One side only, more April 1967 demo recordings. This and the preceding entry were combined on many subsequent releases, under such titles as Faces & Places Vol.7 (BYG Records, 1972), At the Beginning (Charly Records, 1976), Jet Propelled Photographs (Piccadilly, 1980 [LP], Charly, 2003 [CD]), and several others. These issues contain the track "She's Gone", recorded in April 1967, which is not the same track released in Triple Echo.
1975 1&2 (Architects of Space Time) Double album reissue of the first two albums.
1990 The Untouchable Compilation of tracks from Bundles, Softs, and Alive and Well.
1991 As If... Curious (probably unauthorized) compilation with six Ratledge/Hopper compositions ranging from 1970's Third to 1973's Six.
1994 Soft Machine Live At The Paradiso 1969 plus six tracks from Jet Propelled Photographs.
1995 The Harvest Albums 1975–1978 Box set of the Harvest-era albums Bundles (1975) to Alive & Well (1978).
1998 Canterburied Sounds (Vol. 1–4) Voiceprint Records released four CDs containing several tracks by various musicians from the Canterbury scene (mainly from the Soft Machine and the Caravan bands), compiled and with notes by Brian Hopper. The four single CDs are re-released in 2013 in a box set.
1998 Live 1970
(also known as Live in Europe 1970)		 Tracks 1–2 recorded on 13 February 1970 at Swansea (or 14 at the London School of Economics); tracks 3–11 also in Live at the Proms; here, with the edited version of "Out-Bloody-Rageous" from 11:54 to 8:46, and "Esther's Nose Job" split in seven contiguous tracks.
1999 Fourth / Fifth CD reissue of the two albums, the first CBS-era album, Third, was already available on CD individually.
2001 Man in a Deaf Corner: Anthology 1963–1970 Disc 1 mainly containing live pieces from 1963 to circa 1967, with tracks 7–9 also in Turns On vol. 1 (respectively tracks 2, 1, 16); Disc 2 containing a recording at the Paradiso, 29 March 1969 (tracks 1–10) also in Live at the Paradiso (about 32 min out of 40 min); tracks 11–12 ("Facelift" and "Moon in June" – short versions) also in Live 1970 (respectively tracks 1–2); tracks 13–16 recorded at the Fairfield Halls in Croydon on 26 April 1970, also in Facelift (respectively tracks 4–7); track 17 is a Jakko Jakszyk rendition of "As Long as He Lies Perfectly Still" in conjunction with the two short tracks "That Still and Perfect Summer" and "Astral Projection in Pinner" to appear in his future album The Bruised Romantic Glee Club (Iceni 2006).
2004 Six / Seven 2-CD reissue of the last two CBS-era albums.
2005 Out-Bloody-Rageous: An Anthology 1967–1973 2-CD compilation of tracks from up to, and including, Seven.
2005 Orange Skin Food 2-CD compilation of previously released live recordings; tracks from Somewhere In Soho, recorded 20–25 April 1971, Facelift, recorded 26 April 1970 and the entire Live in Europe 1970, recorded 13 or 14 February 1970 and 13 August 1970 at the Proms.
2010 Original Album Classics 5-CD box set of the 2007 remasters of the CBS-era albums Third, Fourth, Fifth, Six and Seven.
2011 Tales of Taliesin: The EMI Years Anthology 1975–1981 2-CD compilation of tracks from Bundles to Land of Cockayne.
2013 68 Credited to Robert Wyatt, it nonetheless contains an 18 minutes early version of "Rivmic Melodies" (to appear in the 1969 album Volume 2) and a 20 minutes early version of "Moon in June" (to appear in the 1970 album Third), both recorded in U.S. in 1968, after Soft Machine's first dissolution, and just before the new formation with Hopper in place of Ayers.
2013 Canterburied Sounds Re-issue in a single 4 CDs edition of the four titles previously released in 1998 by Brian Hopper on Voiceprint.
2014 Tanglewood Tails 2 CDs, Disc 1 with tracks 1–4 from 1963 (also in "Canterburied Sounds"), tracks 5–12 from 1967 studio recordings (also in Turns On vol. 1); Disc 2 with tracks 1–4 live from the Col Ballroom, Davenport, Iowa, 11 August 1968 (also in Turns On vol. 2), tracks 5–6 live from the Paradiso, Amsterdam, 29 March 1969 (also in Live at the Paradiso), tracks 7–11 live from the Fairfield Halls, Croydon, 26 April 1970 (also in "Facelift"). The quality of tracks are far better than in both volumes of Turns On (especially "She's Gone" – June 1967 version that now has a quality comparable to the Triple Echo version – that is up to now the only acceptable CD version of this track).
2014 Turns On (An early collection) 2 CDs – Reprint from Floating World Records of the two Turns On volumes of 2001, with the same track list. The low quality of the former editions was here maintained.
2014 Live in 1970 4 CDs – Reprint of two live concerts. Disc 1 and Disc 2 recorded at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club on 20–25 April 1970 (already in Somewhere in Soho, Voiceprint, 2004), Disc 3 and Disc 4 recorded at Het Turfschip, Breda, Netherlands on 31 January 1970 (already in Breda Reactor, Voiceprint, 2005).
2014 Live in the 70s 4 CDs – Reprint of various live concerts. Disc 1 and the first four tracks on Disc 2 also issued as Live in Paris (Cuneiform, 2004); tracks 5–7 of Disc 2 also appear on Backwards (Cuneiform, 2002); Mark Charig is here wrongly mentioned as the trumpet player; Disc 3 was previously released as Noisette (Cuneiform, 2000) and Disc 4 was previously issued as Drop (Moonjune, 2008).
2015 Hugh Hopper
Volume 9: Anatomy of Facelift		 Five performances of "Facelift", 1969 through 1971.
2019 Live in London in the early Sixties (LP) Eight tracks recorded live in 1963 in London, with Brian Hopper (sax), Hugh Hopper (cello, bass), Robert Wyatt (drums, voice), Kevin Ayers (bass, voice), Mike Ratledge (organ), Daevid Allen (guitar). These tracks are also in Man in a Deaf Corner (2001, 2 CD) as tracks 1.01–1.06 in a different remix.
2019 Top Gear Live in London 1967–1969 (LP) Side 1 recorded in 1967 with the Ratledge/Wyatt/Ayers line-up; Side 2 recorded in 1969 with Ratledge/Wyatt/H. Hopper/B. Hopper line-up and including "Facelift" and "Moon in June".

Singles
  • 1967: "Love Makes Sweet Music/Feelin' Reelin' Squeelin'" (Line-up: Mike Ratledge, Robert Wyatt, Kevin Ayers, Daevid Allen) (Released in the UK and New Zealand, both the A- and B-side were later included on Triple Echo in 1977, the first time either appeared on an album)
  • 1968: "Joy of a Toy/Why Are We Sleeping?" (Line-up: Mike Ratledge, Robert Wyatt, Kevin Ayers) (Both A- and B-side from the album The Soft Machine, single released in the US and Japan)
  • 1978: "Soft Space (Part 1)/(Part 2)" (Line-up: John Marshall, Karl Jenkins, John Etheridge, Ric Sanders, Steve Cook) (From the album Alive and Well, single released in the UK and most other European countries)

The 1960s

1968

  • 1968, 08–11, Live at Davenport, Iowa (supporting The Jimi Hendrix Experience) (Mike Ratledge, Robert Wyatt, Kevin Ayers)
  • 1968, 08–16, Live at the Merryweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland (supporting The Jimi Hendrix Experience) (Mike Ratledge, Robert Wyatt, Kevin Ayers)
  • 1968, 09–13, Live at the Hollywood Bowl, California (supporting The Jimi Hendrix Experience) (Mike Ratledge, Robert Wyatt, Kevin Ayers)

1969

  • 1969, 04–13, Live at the Country Club in London (Mike Ratledge, Robert Wyatt, Hugh Hopper)
  • 1969, 06–25, Live at the Ba.Ta.Clan in Paris (Mike Ratledge, Robert Wyatt, Hugh Hopper, Brian Hopper)
  • 1969, 08–09, Live at Plumpton Race Course – only "Moon in June" was performed (Mike Ratledge, Robert Wyatt, Hugh Hopper, Brian Hopper)
  • 1969, 10–05, Live at the Lyceum in London (Mike Ratledge, Robert Wyatt, Hugh Hopper, Brian Hopper, last gig with this line-up)
  • 1969, 10–28, Live at Actuel Festival in Amougies, Belgium – excerpt (Mike Ratledge, Robert Wyatt, Hugh Hopper, Elton Dean, Lyn Dobson, Marc Charig, Nick Evans)
  • 1969, 10–6–27, Live at the Liverpool University – excerpt (Mike Ratledge, Robert Wyatt, Hugh Hopper, Elton Dean, Lyn Dobson, Marc Charig, Nick Evans)

The 1970s

1970

  • 1970, 01–04, Live at the Fairfield Halls, in Croydon – This concert was published as Noisette (Cuneiform, 2000), but this official release lacks "Facelift" that was in part used for the Third album (1970), where it is joined by another version recorded 11 January and overdubbed. This concert is inserted here only because the version of "Facelift" herein contained (over 25 minutes long) is a very special version and the full song would deserve an official treatment. (Mike Ratledge, Robert Wyatt, Hugh Hopper, Elton Dean, Lyn Dobson)
  • 1970, 01–17, Live at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam (Mike Ratledge, Robert Wyatt, Hugh Hopper, Elton Dean, Lyn Dobson)
  • 1970, 04–04, Live at the Kolner Festival, Germany (Mike Ratledge, Robert Wyatt, Hugh Hopper, Elton Dean, first gig with this line-up)
  • 1970, 09–01, BBC Radiophonic Workshop – Eamonn Andrews explained
  • 1970, 09–17, Alan Black "Sound of the Seventies" (broadcast 25 Sept.), recorded at the Camden Theatre in London (Mike Ratledge, Robert Wyatt, Hugh Hopper, Elton Dean)
  • 1970, 10–24, Live at DeDoelen, Rotterdam – excerpt (Mike Ratledge, Robert Wyatt, Hugh Hopper, Elton Dean)

1971

  • 1971, 02–07, Live at the Roundhouse, London, UK (Mike Ratledge, Robert Wyatt, Hugh Hopper, Elton Dean)
  • 1971, 03–21, Live in Het Turfschip, Breda, Netherlands (Mike Ratledge, Robert Wyatt, Hugh Hopper, Elton Dean)
  • 1971, 06–07, Live at the Cafe au Go Go (the Gaslight) in New York City (Mike Ratledge, Robert Wyatt, Hugh Hopper, Elton Dean)
  • 1971, 10–17, Donaueschinger Musiktage – this concert has appeared partially on Drop (Moonjune 2008) (Mike Ratledge, Hugh Hopper, Elton Dean, Phil Howard)
  • 1971, 11–07, Live at the Berlin Jazz Festival – there exist two versions of this concert: the live recording and the radio broadcast (with German DJ inserts) – this concert has appeared partially on Drop (Moonjune 2008) (Mike Ratledge, Hugh Hopper, Elton Dean, Phil Howard)

1972

  • 1972, 04–22, Live at Palazzo dello Sport in Bergamo, Italy (Mike Ratledge, Hugh Hopper, Elton Dean, John Marshall)
  • 1972, 04–24, Live at the Piper Club in Rome (Mike Ratledge, Hugh Hopper, Elton Dean, John Marshall)
  • 1972, 06–07, Live at King's Cross Cinema (Mike Ratledge, Hugh Hopper, John Marshall, Karl Jenkins, first gig with this line-up)
  • 1972, 12–03, Live at Fairfield Halls, Croydon, UK (Mike Ratledge, Hugh Hopper, John Marshall, Karl Jenkins)

1974

  • 1974, 03–11, Radio Interview with Mike Ratledge and Alan Holdsworth for an American radio broadcast
  • 1974, 03–13, Live at Syracuse University in Syracuse, New York (Mike Ratledge, John Marshall, Karl Jenkins, Roy Babbington, Allan Holdsworth)
  • 1974, 03–17, Live at "My Father's Place" in Roslyn, New York (Mike Ratledge, John Marshall, Karl Jenkins, Roy Babbington, Allan Holdsworth)
  • 1974, 03–23–24, Live at the Howard Stein's Academy of Music in New York (Mike Ratledge, John Marshall, Karl Jenkins, Roy Babbington, Allan Holdsworth)
  • 1974, 08–10, Live at Le Naiadi, Pescara, Italy (Mike Ratledge, John Marshall, Karl Jenkins, Roy Babbington, Allan Holdsworth)
  • 1974, 09–20–24, Villa Pamphili Festival in Rome (Mike Ratledge, John Marshall, Karl Jenkins, Roy Babbington, Allan Holdsworth)

1975

  • 1975, 01–16, Live in Stuttgart, Germany (Mike Ratledge, John Marshall, Karl Jenkins, Roy Babbington, Allan Holdsworth)
  • 1975, 08–17, Live at the Théâtre antique d'Orange, Orange Festival in France (Mike Ratledge, John Marshall, Karl Jenkins, Roy Babbington, John Etheridge)
  • 1975, 08–24, Live at the Reading Festival, UK (Mike Ratledge, John Marshall, Karl Jenkins, Roy Babbington, John Etheridge)
  • 1975, 08–29, Live in Vienna (Mike Ratledge, John Marshall, Karl Jenkins, Roy Babbington, John Etheridge)
  • 1975, 11–26, Live at the Cinéma Variétés in Marseille, France (Mike Ratledge, John Marshall, Karl Jenkins, Roy Babbington, John Etheridge)

1976

  • 1976, 02–18, Live at the Palasport in Reggio Emilia, Italy (Mike Ratledge, John Marshall, Karl Jenkins, Roy Babbington, John Etheridge, Alan Wakeman)
  • 1976, 08–08, Live in Trieste, Italy (John Marshall, Karl Jenkins, Roy Babbington, John Etheridge, Ray Warleigh)
  • 1976, 10–09, Live in Roskilde, Copenhagen (John Marshall, Karl Jenkins, John Etheridge, Ric Sanders, Percy Jones)
  • 1976, 12–03, Live at the Palais des Sports in Paris (John Marshall, Karl Jenkins, John Etheridge, Ric Sanders, Steve Cook)

Discography
Year Album Soft Machine members involved
The Wilde Flowers
1965–69 The Wilde Flowers (released in 1994) Ayers, B. Hopper, H.Hopper, Wyatt
Planet Earth
1978 Planet Earth Ratledge, Jenkins
Soft Head
1978 Rogue Element H. Hopper, Dean
Soft Heap
1979 Soft Heap H. Hopper, Dean
1979 Al Dente (released in 2008) H. Hopper, Dean
1982-83 A Veritable Centaur (released in 1995) Dean
Rubba
1979 Push Button Ratledge, Jenkins
2nd Vision
1980 First Steps Etheridge, Sanders
Rollercoaster
1980 Wonderin' Ratledge, Jenkins, Warleigh, Morrissey, Parker
Soft Works
2002 Abracadabra (released in 2003) H. Hopper, Dean, Holdsworth, Marshall
Soft Mountain
2003 Soft Mountain (released in 2007) H. Hopper, Dean
Soft Bounds
2004 Live at Le Triton (released in 2005) H. Hopper, Dean
Soft Machine Legacy
2005 Live In Zaandam H. Hopper, Dean, Etheridge, Marshall
2006 Soft Machine Legacy H. Hopper, Dean, Etheridge, Marshall
2006 Live at the New Morning H. Hopper, Dean, Etheridge, Marshall
2007 Steam H. Hopper, Travis, Etheridge, Marshall
2010 Live Adventures Babbington, Travis, Etheridge, Marshall
2013 Burden of Proof Babbington, Travis, Etheridge, Marshall
Delta Saxophone Quartet
2007 Dedicated To You But You Weren't Listening: The Music Of Soft Machine H. Hopper (as a guest on some tracks)

Notes

    References
    1. Lynch, Dave. "Soft Machine". AllMusic. Retrieved 1 April 2022.
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