VOLUME TWO

Jazzy start to the second release "Voulume two" from Soft Machine, released in 1969, kevin Ayers Is absent, replaced by Hugh Hopper, and Brian Hopper on the horns. The first song pretty much introduces the second song named A Concise British Alphabet #1, which is a bridge to song number three called Hibou, Anemone & Bear. At 6min in lenth, this is one of those songs that Captures the full essense of the Canterbury collective at it's best, stunning organ work from Ratlidge, and great horn work from Hopper, and trippy vocals as to be expected from Wyatt. Then Comes the alphabet part again, after that comes Hulloder which is short and sweet; great bass work from the new bass player Hugh Hopper. Next comes Dada Was Here with stunning Bass work, fuzzy organ, jazzed up drums, and different tracks of Roberts voice. "Have You Ever? Bean Green" trippy song that is semi connected to the short song Pataphysical Introduction #2 which has great piano and horn work. Out Of Tunes is a freak-out song, psychosis chaos, "hey it was '1969". As Long as he lies perfectly Still, upbeat and trippy, Robert's voice stands out on this track. Dedicated To You, But You Weren't Listening, acoustic guitar only accompained by Roberts mouth, pretty unusual song for Soft Machine. Fire Engine Passing With Bells Clanging has frantic drumming, spacey bass, and the organ sounds like the opening to Soft Machines best album Third, kinda another freak out song that blends into Pig that has a jazzy piano and a harsh rasp organ, but then comes Wyatt's friendly voice, and strong incredible bass from Hugh. Orange Skin Food extremely jazzy great horn playing from Hopper, and once again the trippy bubbly organ, but the drums and bass is what carry the song. A Door Opens & Closes follows the path of the previous song but has vocals and tends to have more of a rock edge when compaired to the previous. 10:30 Returns You To The Bedroom: the closer. Nice song, showcase is the drum solo by Robert, their are no lyrics, but there are vocals, and a great way to end a really good album. With Kevin Ayers gone and Hugh Hopper and later Elton Dean now in Soft Machine, the band seems to evenly balance their sound, and tone done the over-whelming psychedelia which was very present with their first album "The Soft Machine" and add more of a jazz spin to it. I have always considered this album to be a bridge from "The Soft Machine" to "Third", the band was just starting to get their feet wet with their new and improved sound, present on this album, yet by 1970 during the classic Third album, the band was fully submerged.