(2022) Soft Machine - Facelift France and Holland  


Review:
Soft Machine‘s French tours of late 1969 and early 1970 have been the subject of several releases, official and otherwise. Some, including Voiceprint’s Facelift, were drawn from hopelessly dodgy audience recordings and are, despite being licensed, simply substandard bootlegs. Others, such as Cuneiform’s Noisette, offer carefully curated performances using the best sources possible. The three-disc Facelift France & Holland adds another dimension to Cuneiform’s curatorial excavation of Soft Machine’s history. Though the band had toured France at the end of 1969 as a septet with a brass section, they were a quintet in early 1970 when they returned to complete the 30-date tour. In addition to drummer Robert Wyatt, bassist Hugh Hopper, saxophonistElton Dean, and keyboardist Mike Ratledge, the Softs brought English saxophonist Lyn Dobson along. The first disc replicates the Paris performance. While the mix is a bit thin in places, the sound remains detailed and dynamic. In addition to scorching versions of “Mousetrap,” “Eamonn Andrews,” and “Noisette,” this is the only professionally recorded performance available of “Out-Bloody-Rageous” with Dobson. There is one caveat: the full version of Ratledge’s killer “Slightly All the Time” sounds less than optimal. Along with almost half of the second set, it was left out of the edited broadcast. An audience recording of the tune has been inserted back into this performance for historical significance, but this is a tiny quibble. The second disc contains Soft Machine’s Concertgebouw appearance in Amsterdam that January. Its source is an unusually clean soundboard tape. In addition to a moody, sinister opening reading of “Facelift,” it features a true rarity in the live performance of Hugh Hopper’s “12/8 Theme.” A studio version didn’t appear until the bassist released his 1996 Monster Band album. The concert also offers a sprawling, completed version of “Esther’s Nose Job” — truncated for the Pop 2 performance. France & Holland showcases Soft Machine at an exciting juncture. Absent for much of 1968 due to U.S. tours with Jimi Hendrix Experience and a brief split, this return, following the septet dates in December 1969, reveals a band that had all but completely abandoned the vanguard pop psychedelia of earlier albums to develop a unique approach that embodied both the emergent prog rock and electric jazz scenes. This is indispensable.


   


Track List:

Disc One : Théâtre de la Musique, Paris, France, March 2, 1970
1.Eamonn Andrews 09:42
2.Mousetrap 03:56
3.Noisette 00:36
4.Backwards 04:03
5.Mousetrap (reprise) 00:24
6.Out-Bloody-Rageous 15:11
7.Facelift 18:34
8.Slightly All The Time 06:40
9.Moon In June / vocal improvisation 03:19
10.Esther's Nose Job / Pigling Bland 08:50
11.silence 00:10

Disc Two : Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, January 17, 1970
1.Facelift 09:58
2.Moon In June 06:27
3.12/8 Theme 10:52
4.drum solo 00:48
5.Esther's Nose Job / Pigling Bland 16:31
6.silence 00:10
7.entire concert Théâtre de la Musique, Paris, France, March 2, 1970 - Eamonn Andrews [audience] 08:16
8.Mousetrap [audience] 03:56
9.Noisette [audience] 00:36
10.Backwards [audience] 04:02
11.Mousetrap (reprise) [audience] 00:24
12.Out-Bloody-Rageous [audience] 15:16
13.Facelift [audience] 18:22
14.Slightly All The Time [audience] 06:40
15.Moon In June 05:03
16.12/8 Theme 08:28
17.vocal improvisation [audience] 03:15
18.Esther's Nose Job / Pigling Bland 14:31
19.silence 00:10
20.vinyl edit - Facelift [France] 18:29
21.vinyl edit - Backwards / Mousetrap (reprise) / Out-Bloody-Rageous [France] 19:38
22.vinyl edit - Eamonn Andrews / Esther's Nose Job / Pigling Bland [France] 18:13
23.vinyl edit - Facelift / Moon In June / 12/8 Theme / drum solo [Holland] 20:08


Media Report:
Genre: jazz, live, prog-rock
Country: UK
Format: FLAC
Format/Info: Free Lossless Audio Codec, 16-bit PCM
Bit rate mode: Variable
Channel(s): 2 channels
Sampling rate: 44.1 KHz
Bit depth: 16 bits


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