JET PROPELLED PHOTOGRAPHS

On this album, Daevid Allen and his University of Errors band decide to re-record covers of the demo songs from his previous/original band Soft Machine that were released on the 'Jet Propelled Photographs' compilation that was released well after the Softs were no more. (That compilation released the demos that the Softs made back in 1966/7 to try and win a record contract, which included Daevid Allen at the time). Even more strange, they don't interpret them very much, and so record them pretty straight in line with those demos, and even more bizarre, in the exact same order as that compilation! (but with a few extra songs added at the end). If you weren't going to interpret these songs and make them different, why re-record them? Not that they sound exactly the same. These versions have more distorted guitars and guitar solos, and no organ (guitar solos largely take the place of the organ solos on the original compilation). So, now that we have these, did we need these new versions? This album has produced an interesting response for me. Usually I find that after multiple listens either that tracks I liked on first listen interest me less and less over time, OR tracks that I didn't love at first listen grew on me. This album had a different effect. The first (and second) time I listened to it, I really disliked it. But after a 4 or 5 listens, I started to like it. But...strangely...a few more listens after that and I am back to disliking it. Not sure why, but now that I have gone through this, I am back to wondering just why we needed this album to be made. Now don't get me wrong, the music is not bad (I love the Softs), and the guitar solos are definitely better than on the originals. But other than that, I like the original demos a lot more, and find no reason to listen to these remakes any longer. I will stick to the original demos. How to rate such a strange album? Well, combining musicality and (lack of) originality, I give this album 4.2 out of 10 on my 10-point scale, which translates to lower 2 PA stars. Not terrible, but really only for completionists.

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