BUNDLES

For the first time, after 1973's Six and Seven, the band went a whole calendar year without releasing any new music. Like a caterpillar transforming into a beautiful butterfly, the band emerged with a completely new sound when they hit the scene in 1975; so different in fact, that certain audiences were disappointed with what they heard. Still retaining a penchant for noodly solos over complicated yet catchy rhythms, this new Soft Machine was far more rock- oriented than previous outings, and had a distinctively harder edge. Even the name, Bundles, a diversion from their previous numerical titles, showed that this was a different sort of Soft Machine.

The ace up the band's sleeve was, of course, Allan Holdsworth who would become one of Frank Zappa's biggest inspirations . The band had never featured a guitarist before, but who would they have been to turn down an opportunity to play with one of the greatest jazz fusion guitarists to have ever lived? As transient here as he was with U.K. and Bruford, he only stuck around for this one album; you can't tie a musician like that down, and his presence on Bundles is what makes it such a special album indeed.

Holdsworth's solos dominate on the first part of the epic opening track Hazard Profile, an incredible reworking of Jenkins's Song for the Bearded Lady from his Nucleus days. Even in a nine-minute song, one never gets tired of hearing his blistering fingerwork, transcendental as it is. The band take a breather with the quiet Toccatina before returning in full force for Parts Three through Five, delivering a lengthy jam in ⅞ before finishing with four repetitions of the kind of obnoxiously complicated phrase that prog fans seem to love. While Hazard Profile isn't the most cohesive of suites, it still makes for an utterly exhilarating nineteen minutes that always seems to fly by.

Over on Side Two, we get another suite of continuous music, though this time the names are kept separate. The title track is another time signature work out, segueing into Land of the Bag Snake, heavily punctuated by John Marshall's china cymbal. Next are two compositions by the only remaining founding member Mike Ratledge, the serene The Man Who Waved at Trains and the more pyrotechnic Peff. Four Gongs Two Drums might be the low point of the album, a mercifully brief assortment of randomly banged percussion. The proceedings are topped off with an oddity; The Floating World is a soothing, minimalistic track that suggests The Soft Weed Factor from Six. While pleasant, it feels more like a relic from the past that has mistakenly found its way onto a jazz-rock album.

Esoteric's reissue includes an unearthed recording from the band's subsequent tour that was made for broadcast. Curiously enough, the recording was made at Nottingham University, where Renaissance also did a set a few months later, included on Esoteric's expanded edition of Scheherazade and Other Stories; was Nottingham University the place to go to make these sorts of recordings, or is this just a pure coincidence? At 79-minutes, the length of this recording is about as much as you can fit on a single CD, and features a brilliant set that includes all the highlights from Bundles as well as a couple of numbers from the band's subsequent album, Softs. This recording features John Etheridge on guitar as Holdsworth had already left the group by that time, breaking the commitment he had made to join them for one tour. His style is certainly nowhere near as distinct and Hazard Profile in particular suffers for this, but the band still give a rousing performance, nonetheless. For my money, they do seem to rush through Hazard Profile a bit quickly though, managing it a full four minutes faster than on the album. These live documents are a fascinating insight into the band's onstage energy back in the day, and the audio quality is extremely good considering its age. 5 stars very great guitar performance by Alan Holdsworth.

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