LAND OF COCKAYNE

(last of a serie of eleven)

This one should have no business with that name and I think this was done out of contractual obligations (Harvest was a subdivision of EMI , and was not doing well). The fact that Jack Bruce (ex-Cream)and Morrissey(ex-If) are invited as members and the return of Holdsworth , they cannot manage to even begin to save the day. Vocals on Soft Machine album?????

I heard this only once and was not impressed enough to even borrow it from my buddy. Even the play on word of the title is weak. Best avoided! A sad end to superb band and there has not been a new album since ( all the posthumous releases date from far earlier than this album).

This record contains a saxophone-oriented jazz/fusion music. It sounds a bit like Spyro Gyra. There are big names involved here: Allan Holdsworth on guitars and Jack Bruce on bass. Dick Morissey and Ray Warleigh are absolutely outstanding on saxophones: they are never dull! Jack Bruce gives a solid performance, producing a very punchy and complex bass sound. The floating keyboards are loud and the overall sound refreshes like a mint candy does in the mouth; the rhythmic and melodic keyboards (tons of electric piano) sound like the George Duke's work of the 70's. The drums are very well played and sophisticated. Here again, it is another complex and structured record for the jazz fan.

It is debatable whether "Rubber Riff" or this album is the low point of Machine's recording career. Some people reckon this was a contractual obligations album for Harvest Records and other have suggested Karl Jenkins was attempting to produce a concept album? Whatever, it is not the Soft Machine in any one of its many modes heard in the previous ten years. Neither is it true progressive rock, rather inferior quality jazz fusion.

The presence of Jenkins, Allan Holdsworth, Jack Bruce and even Dick Morrisey (formerly of If and about to form the successful Morrissey-Mullen Band), in theory should make it a minor who's who of a recording. But is flops badly, hurt especially by plodding compositions on which the guests rarely sparkle in solos.

Avoid it or be disappointed.

Take it for it what it is. That is what you need to be thinking as you listen to this album. This is only a Soft Machine album in name. There are really only two members of the band here, and they were not even original members. If you listen to this with an open mind and realize that this is primarily a Karl Jenkins and John Marshall collaboration with various guess stars (Allan Holdsworth, Dick Morissey, et al...), you might actually enjoy it. Now on to the review.

The album opens with a very riffy number entitled "Over 'n Above." It features a wonderful catchy sax part with a steady percussion (John Marshall) and bass line (Jack Bruce). Karl Jenkins decided to add background vocals and string parts where he is the conductor. The sax part is a highlight of this piece, although it is much smoother than in previous Softs releases. This is a very laid-back composition.

Next comes "Lotus Groves," a more new age style piece. This is probably the weakest composition on the whole album, although the keyboard parts are still excellent. However, the title is appropriate because the piece does have an ethnic feel to it.

"Isle of the Blessed", a purely classical composition in nature, serves as a marvelous introduction to what is IMO the highlight of the entire album, "Panoramania." It is an upbeat piece that starts out with a nice sax part by and incredible drumming by John Marshall with the string arrangements in the background. John Taylor then gets an incredible solo on the Fender Rhodes. The fist side ends with "Behind the Glass Curtain," again a more new age style piece featuring sax and keyboards.

Side two begins with "Palace of Glass," which continues in the new age realm of things, creating a soft and serene mood. "Hot Biscuit Slim" is extremely catchy and features yet another great sax part. Another new age sounding piece, "(Black) Velvet Mountain," is next. This and the next track are probably the only pieces where Holdsworth's presence is fully felt. On most of the other tracks, he seems to take a step back. The track continues on with yet another sax solo. "Sly Monkey" (the titles are getting a bit silly) has even more featured sax parts and another Holdsworth solo. By now the music starts to wear a liyyle thin and the pieces seem to all sound very similar even if that was not Jenkin's intention. The album closes with another short piece in the smooth laid-back jazz style, "' A Lot of What You Fancy...'"

Overall, this is a pretty good album. My main issues with it are that many of the compositions are similar in nature, and Holdsworth's presense is rarely felt like on "Expresso II." This is definitely not the place to start with the Softs. Although, for an avid fan of them or any smooth jazz, this a good album to listen to. Karl Jenkin's does a fine job as a composer on this album. 3 stars.

Another decent offering from a band who should've changed their name as soon as Mike Ratledge exited - (Jenkins-Marshall Project anyone ??). The music here is well performed by a host of great musicians from Jack Bruce (Bass), Allan Holdsworth (Guitar) to superb keyboardist John Taylor, who supports Karl Jenkins' background keys work wonderfully. One can discern the obvious Jazz vibe, a strong New-Age bent to some tracks (especially Lotus Groves), as well as light muzak. It really is an easy album to listen to, with high quality musicianship all-round, but Holdsworth's presence is relatively low-key, only shining on the excellent, complex track 'Sly Monkey', and the mellow 'Black Velvet Mountain'. 'Hot-Biscuit Slim' features some excellent Rhodes Electric Piano from Taylor, as does Panoramania, and the only weak point on the record would have to be the wistful and all-too-smooth opener 'Over and Above', but it's enjoyable regardless. 3 and-a-half-star effort.

A DECENT ENDING OF THE SOFT MACHINE CAREER.

I don't really think of LAND OF COCKAYNE as a ''real'' SOFT MACHINE album as this is more of a JENKINS project with a little help of some friends, especially old SOFTIES alumnies. The always faithfull JOHN MARSHALL is back behind his kits, but we are witnessing a few surprises here. First of all, ALLAN HOLDSWORTH is back in the fold after only one album with the band BUNDLES. Also playing bass is no less..JACK BRUCE of CREAM fame!!! 2 saxophonists join their talents with RAY WARLEIGH who also was present on BUNDLES and ex-IF member DICK MORISSEY.

Yes, the name of the band is SOFT MACHINE, but i see no other reason than a shrewd marketing one to make the album more appealing commercially.Because if you are expecting another BUNDLES or another MAHAVISHNU ORCHESTRA cloning, you are dead wrong; This is -again- a totally- new SOFT MACHINE sound. LAND OF COCKAYNE is NOT a guitar album as the presence of ALLAN HOLDSWORTH is rather discreet on this recording. Also the saxophones are back in the front after their influence started to shrink with the SIX album to become completely non-existent on ALIVE AND WELL IN PARIS.

But we are not over with our surprises as there are now......backing vocals!!!on some tracks and let's not forget the presence of a string ensemble. So what do we get when you mix and shake hard all these ingredients?? a rather friendly listening jazz modern album. The musicianship is of course, as on any other SF album top notch and the musicians seem to have fun recording it. KARL JENKINS always compose admirably concise precise, well arranged tunes that don't leave much room for improvisation .Nobody is going to leave the building when listening to LAND OF COCAYNE contrary to FACELIFT or FLETCHER'S BLEMISH!

KARL JENKINS brings also new musical elements such as world music and new age, a path he will follow later with his own projects to great success like ADIEMUS. There is nothing crazy on this album, you even have some nice -even syrupy- tracks like the ballad BLACK VELVET MOUNTAIN which is the only 2 tracks that comes to my mind where i can really HOLDSWORTH guitar, and this is not a furious adventurous HOLDSWORTH either; more of a melodic ALLAN simply playing a cute theme. The next song SLY MONKEY is the other track where the presence of HOLDSWORTH is felt, but believe me, this is not HAZARD PROFILE!

The opening track OVER'n ABOVE, HOT BISCUIT SLIM or PANORAMIA are nice modern,very catchy jazz tunes where the sax prevails, but always in a very disciplined way,this is not ELTON DEAN! This is kind of easy listening jazz fusion, but very well arranged and well orchestrated, pleasant to the ear, but don't expect anything groundbreaking!

The real treat on LAND OF COCKAYNE is the masterful bass playing of JACK BRUCE; we knew for a long time he has never been the discreet guy and that his ego made sound his bass as loud as the guitar of CLAPTON in the good old CREAM days, a tendency he would pursue with WEST BRUCE & LAING and on his solo albums; but sometimes it's with good reason as he is is a formidable bassist and he definitely provides the goods on this album: he does an amazing job associated with JOHN MARSHALL. Speaking of MARSHALL another paricularity is for the first time since he joined SOFT MACHINE, he doesn't ''treat'' us with a percussion piece. I told you LAND OF COCKAYNE was not a 'real' SF album!! no drum solo, can you believeit?

LAND OF COCKAYNE is a good album, not a great one, more of a background music but with excellent musicianship, good compositions and great arrangements. A strange way to end the regular SOFT MACHINE carreer, a band with many surprises and so many twists. The only band that i know of changing musicians on each album ending their long storied career with absolutely no original members in the line-up.

3 STARS.

Gosh !!! What is this ???

A combo of soft-pop jazzy rock music? Or muzak?probably.

By no means does this album represent the "Soft Machine" feel. Whether you liked it or not (you can easily determine my position in this respect).

When I was listening to the long and repetitive opening song, the only feeling that prevailed is pure boredom. "Over 'N' Above" is a total disaster as far as I am concerned. I am quite perplexed with this sort of album. None of the music in here can really belong to the Canterbury Style. Jazz-rock, probably. By no means of interest in my books.

I have reviewed all of their studio albums as a tribute to Febus's memory. We were really close from time to time (Floyd - but no Ummagumma - Tull, Yes), but really far during others (mainly "Genesis"). For sure, most of the "Soft Machine" works wouldn't have been a shared passion; Still, I have been lsitening quite patiently to each of their albums.

This one belongs the lower end of my rating for "Soft Machine". Two stars, no more.

The soft-jazz orchestral music of this album was misleading to me, as this has been my first Soft Machine album. I have to say that I liked it and I still like it very much, but it made difficult for me entering into the true Soft Machines, as Fourth was my second attempt and as many of you can easily understand they are two totally different things.

So let's forget for a while that they are the Soft Machine, or what remained of the band as elements like Wyatt and Allen were no longer in the lineup.

"Over And Above" opens the album with a Floydian guitar that after some passages becomes jazzy thanks to the sax and the slap on the bass (something absolutely not Floydian). A choir sings what can be considered the chorus, then it proceeds more or less in this way, giving room to short riffs of bass, sax and guitar. Easy maybe, but I really like it.

"Lotus Groves" is introduced by a bass harmonic and a gong. Then it becomes an electronic track, repetitive but short. Or better seems short but it's about 5 minutes. The fretless bass is the protagonist together with the bass flute that gives it a touch of "ambient".

"Isle Of The Blessed" is a short orchestral track suitable for a movie soundtrack. It's less than two minutes long but it can't be considered a filler. Nobody would write an orchestral arrangement for a filler. It's connected to the next track.

"Panoramania" is fusion. Rhythmic bass, funky drums and sax while the electric piano adds accents. One of the best album's things. There's a great piano solo in the second part.

A filler like "Behind The Glass Curtain" closes the A side.

"Palace Of Glass" opens the B-side. This is just the introduction to the amazing "Hot-Biscuit Slim" which I consider the best track. The two tracks are connected by a short but effective drums solo. The start is melodic, but the sax here is the most jazzy thing that can be found on this disc. Great bass and organ in the background. Excellent fusion.

"Black Velvet Mountain" is another slow orchestral moment on which the melody is carried on by strings until the guitar first, then sax come. There's a Wishbone Ash's song on Front Page News with a similar mood.

"Sky Monkey" is another jazz-fusion track based on sax and orchestra. Just a bit more jazz than the most jazzy parts of Camel's Rain Dances or Breathless. A great guitar solo, too.

The last 50 melodic seconds of "A Lot Of What You Fancy"....they can really be the Camel here.

A very good Jazz-rock album. Forget Robert Wyatt and Daevid Allen for a while and enjoy this album for what it is, instead of for what one can expect from Soft Machine.

4.5 stars

Last studio album,still having the right be named Soft Machine's work,was released five years ago, and Land Of Cockayne obviously attracted many old band's fans at the time of release. But main reaction on it's music was deep disappointment.

Looking from now, this album isn't so tragic,the main problem is it's not Soft Machine's album at all. No original band's members participated on this album, Karl Jenkins and John Marshall were both members of Soft Machine for some years,Allan Holdsworth collaborated on Bundles,but no one of them was artist,saving and developing original band's sound and artistic ideas.Even more,in fact the musicians collective,participated on recording,are Karl Jenkins (as Soft Machine trade mark owner) and session musicians ( besides of Allan Holdsworth there are Jack Bruce and known jazz keyboardist John Taylor between others).

Music on this album has nothing in common with any Soft Machine previous releases, so only way to listen this without prediction is just to forget about Soft Machine's name,placed on album's cover. It's business,baby... let's speak about music now.

Karl Jenkins,who came to Soft Machine one day as sax player and replacement for Elton Dean,but switched to keyboards later,continue with playing keyboards on this release as well. There are two guesting sax players,collaborating on recording,additional keyboardist,two guitarists, bassist, drummer and back-vocals section.Musically album is influenced by early 80-s fashion and contains melodic fusion,often simplified,sometimes with dance-able rhythms,in moments close to disco and new age,sometimes - openly jazzy or in pop-jazz radio friendly songs tradition. Sax player sound similar to Candy Dulfer with long catchy lyrical soloing over simplified straight forward songs structure. At the same time there are quite complex and interesting compositions,with jazzy keyboards and heavy fusion guitar soloing.In moments all music sounds as small orchestra's work,with neo-classical arrangements over openly pop-oriented songs.

All in all, the album is very eclectic, possibly one of the targets was to fulfill expectation of possibly wider circle of listeners.Musicians are really professional,musical material isn't so good, but not too bad remembering of the time's musical fashion.

Not an album for Soft Machine's real fans, but kind of average fusion recording from early 80-s.

The tenth and final studio album - and the group's only official release of the 1980's - 'Land Of Cockayne' finds Soft Machine very much at the end of the line, creatively-exhausted and without a single original member in sight. Issued in 1981, 'Land Of Cockayne' finds ex-Nucleus member Karl Jenkins now taking charge, though by now all links to the group's Canterbury-forged jazz-fusion past have been more-or-less extinguished in favour of a slick new studio-polished approach that has more in common with The Alan Parsons Project than it does with Miles Davis. Indeed, 'Land Of Cockayne' has precious little in common with virtually all of Soft Machine's previous efforts, all ten of this album's compositions written and composed solely by Jenkins who, wrongly-or- rightly, seems intent on dragging his group kicking-and-screaming into the new decade. The results, then, are more than a little disconcerting, with the major bone of contention being that this sounds like a completely different group. Aided by a veritable war-chest of musical talent - 'Land Of Cockayne' features contributions from the likes of Jack Bruce(Cream), Allan Holdsworth(UK) and Dick Morrissey(If)to name but a few - 'Land Of Cockayne' is certainly not without it's moments, yet its all a far cry from the heady peaks of 'Third' and 'Six' and undoubtedly the group's weakest overall release. Some group's simply cannot transcend the era of their own conception and the suspicion remains that maybe Soft Machine simply weren't meant for the 1980's, their dense, hazy, psych-drenched fusion sound a product of a different time. With Disco, post-punk and synth-pop now the order the day, Soft Machine were all used up by 1981, with Jenkins best intentions merely serving to extend a musical lifeline that has nothing more to give. That said, 'Land Of Cockayne' is still far better than it ought to be - both album opener 'Over 'n' Above' and the clipped beats of 'Hot Biscuit Slim' manage to impress - yet Soft Machine's swansong still doesn't provide the finishing touch they truly deserved. Although their overall legacy remains unaffected - the first nine albums are all, in the own way, rather brilliant - album number ten provides a disappointing end to an otherwise fabulous career. STEFAN TURNER,

It's always wonderful accidently rediscovering an album in your collection that you simply forgot you had, perhaps coming across it again after finding it was put back in the wrong place what feels like a lifetime ago! Case in point for me, Soft Machine's final work (with the exception of endless compilations and archive releases), `Land of Cockayne', a record that often causes much derision from die-hard fans of the band. Looking back now, this was the first Soft Machine related album I owned, at a time right at the start of my prog collecting when I had no patience or the frame of mind for anything jazz/fusion related. Coming back to it now, with an appreciation and better knowledge of the various Soft Machine incarnations, I find while it's a perfectly worthy and distinctive release from the group, full of restrained but tasteful playing by a bunch of consumate professional musicians (now including members from bands such as If, Nucleus, Cream) that you can only admire. It may be a world away from the ragged psych early days, the sonically violating noisy exploratory middle years or the driving fusion after that, and yes, it's smooth, pleasant and often a little too squeeky-clean, but there are still moments scattered throughout where the band really simmers, and at the very least, there's almost nothing that's actually terrible on the entire LP.

The opener `Over 'N Above' is actually one of the poorest moments, a repetitive and slightly bland AOR fusion-lite plodder that's at least twice as long as it should be. There's some silly orchestral strings over part of it that sound like it's wandered in from an Alan Parsons Project album, but I suppose the sighing wordless harmonies give it a slightly recognizable Canterbury sound. Tinkering programmed loops and raindrop-like synths patter `Lotus Groves', sounding more like something off a later Ashra disc with an almost New-Age influence, but there's some nice (if slight) fretless bass from Jack Bruce murmurring away drowsily in the background, and drifting flute gives it a mysterious old-world sound. `Isle of the Blessed' is a dramatic cinematic orchestration that grows more impressive as it progresses, eventually taking on a sweeping romantic quality. `Panoramania' is the first real workout on the disc, a sax fuelled mid-tempo jog with a tasty extended Rhodes electric piano solo spot from John Taylor in the middle (that just becomes a little politely unhinged in a few momens as nicely as possible!), droning harmonies, gentle synths/orchestration, and John Marshall's peppy drum-work - pretty tasty stuff. The first side closes with a brief electronic and sax lament interlude.

The perky uptempo jazz/fusion of `Hot-Biscuit Slim' has enough punchy busy drumming, driving spirited sax-work and a sprinkling of glistening electric piano to bring some catchy and foot-tapping grooves. `(Black) Velvet Mountain doesn't really go anywhere, just a soaring powerful orchestral melody over a Pink Floyd-like solid drumbeat and a nicely played but somewhat unthrilling lead electric guitar run from Alan Holdsworth. He makes a better impression on the twisting guitar of `Sly Monkey', a little more playful and energetic number with infectious sax melodies and gulping bass. All the players get little moments to shine in this compact little arrangement. Sadly the album closes on a wretched piano and sax interlude `A Lot of What You Fancy' that is so cosy it practically comes with an oversized knitted Christmas sweater from your Mum to keep to warm in winter. Thanks a lot, Mum.

Depending on your preferred version of the band, this album may be as far removed from what your interpretation of Soft Machine should be as possible. I actually find it a perfect background listen to enjoy, especially if I'm not in the mood for their earlier blistering feedback dirges and honking hell! `Land of Cockayne' may not be greatest album to properly end on for the Soft Machine, but it's varied and eclectic, and all the musicians involved here delivered a respectable and perfectly enjoyable listen with their dignity intact.

Three and a half stars.

I used to joke that Soft Machine might be the only band I know to have made the transition from free jazz to smooth jazz. Upon rewriting this review in 2022 I'm tempted to say that such a statement is giving this album not enough credit, but I could just as easily say that it's giving it too much credit because Land Of Cockayne is for all intents and purposes a Karl Jenkins solo album using the Soft Machine brand name, with very little stylistic overlap or historical continuity to connect it to the original band. A shame that the last album to come out under the Soft Machine name in almost forty years contains little more than some half-interesting elevator music. Alright alright, some of the songs on here have a decent groove going on, with "Panoramania" and the Alan Parsons-ish "Over & Above" probably rocking the catchiest melodies and "Sly Monkey" being the sole track on which the presence of guitar maestro Allan Holdsworth isn't completely wasted, but pretty much every song (even the aforementioned ones) seems to last just a little bit longer than it needs to. Everything's just too safe and too afraid to truly stand out. "Hot-Biscuit Slim" gets downright annoying after a while, and all the primitive pseudo-classical stuff littered throughout the album is just a pretentious waste of disc space.