Soft Machine

While they formed far from the psychedelic confines of Haight-Ashbury, no band has had a longer, stranger trip than Soft Machine.

A legendary British jazz-rock fusion group most prominent in the late '60s and '70s, Soft Machine is the only notable group to evolve from the English underground psychedelic rock scene to become an influential ensemble with a continual turnover of respected musicians. Soft Machine should also be seen as an influence on the Czech dissident rock group The Plastic People of the Universe. While musically, the Plastics are usually compared to Frank Zappa or the Velvet Underground, Soft Machine has more in common with the seminal Czech band, with their combination of a free-jazz saxophonist and experimental rock musicians and the inclusion of extended improvisations. These days, Soft Machine Legacy, with several former Soft Machine members, continues to help ensure that the group's sound and influence will live on.

In the mid '60s, Soft Machine, including drummer and singer Robert Wyatt, bassist Kevin Ayers, guitarist David Allen and organist Mike Ratledge, was an up-and-coming psychedelic rock band in the same circle as Pink Floyd, who was then led by the mystic vocalist Syd Barrett. The musicians of this earliest incarnation of Soft Machine are actually the uncredited backup band for several songs on Barrett's brilliant solo album The Madcap Laughs. The band toured North America with the Jimi Hendrix Experience in 1968, in the midst of an era when acid-rock bands usually shared the bill with blues and experimental jazz groups.

By the early 1970s, the band, now including saxophonist Elton Dean and bassist Hugh Hopper, was embarking on an impressive experiment: instrumentals combining free-form jazz and progressive rock sounds in improvisations with cut-and-paste editing techniques and tape loops integrated in production. This was a revolutionary sound for the time; inspired by the free-form explorations of John Coltrane's Love Supreme and coming immediately after Miles Davis' influential Bitches Brew recording. Soft Machine was thus right in step with the aftermath of Davis' innovations, including the multitude of projects by Bitches Brew's contributors, including soon-to-be jazz fusion giants like John McLaughlin, Chick Corea, Joe Zawinul and Wayne Shorter.

Perhaps as a reaction to the jazz fusion phenomenon in the States as well as ongoing personnel changes, the group soon began to return to more structured songs less influenced by free-form jazz. At the same time, their psychedelic roots and experimental progressive rock sound continued to evolve. In 1975, for their album Bundles, Soft Machine swerved back to jazz fusion with the guitarist Allan Holdsworth. Their last album, Softs, was released in 1976, with John Etheridge replacing Holdsworth on guitar. Soft Machine then broke up.

Soft Machine Legacy was formed in 2005, after previous Soft Machine reunions, Soft Ware and Soft Works, proved there was still a strong interest in the group and its many former members.

For their show in Prague, Soft Machine Legacy will feature electric guitarist John Etheridge, who joined the band in 1976, drummer John Marshall, a core group member since 1971, bassist Roy Babbington, who first played with Soft Machine in 1971, and Theo Travis, formerly of the iconic '70s progressive-rock, jazz-rock fusion band Gong, on soprano and alto sax, flute, loops and electronic effects.

John Marshall tells The Prague Post that for this tour, "The band performs some new material from the last few studio albums Soft Machine Legacy and Steam and some vintage material, compositions of Hugh Hopper, Karl Jenkins and Mike Ratledge from the 1970-76 period, and often those tunes are extended to some lengthy improvisations."

The group also promises a few specific compositions, including former saxophonist Hugh Hopper's "Facelift" from their earliest classic jazz-fusion recording Third, Mike Ratledge's "As If" from Fifth and former keyboardist Karl Jenkins' "Song of Aeolus" from Softs.

Soft Machine has performed in Prague a few times, and Roy Babbington adds they are eager to return.

"We enjoy [coming] to Prague, a beautiful city in a beautiful country where people have great taste for music. We would like to keep coming to Prague as much we can in the future. East European audiences are very mature, well-informed and educated about good music," Babbington says. "But we believe that in any part of the world it is the same; if people know us or are eager to find out about us, they should come and check us [out], and we will definitely do a great performance for fans and music lovers from Prague."

Tony Ozuna can be reached at
features@praguepost.com