OUT BLOODY RAGEOUS (ANTHOLOGY 67-73)

I'm not a great one for buying compilations except by bands who I like a bit and just want a representation of their music. This goes beyond a representation of Soft Machine; this is the Essential SM! (though I wish they had included Facelift off Third) The inclusion of the brilliant Feelin' Reelin' Squeelin' (B-side of their first single) is almost worth the price of this Double CD; although perhaps the A-side (Love Makes Sweet Music) could have been missed out, as it's a very average late 60s pop song. It's also a pity this Anthology doesn't include tracks from Bundles which was a late high point in the Softs output, and my 2nd or 3rd favourite studio album of Soft Machine. The selection off the first album made me completely re-evaluate it; as I had previously written-off the first 2 records as pretentious and dated psychedelia (I'm still not overly fond of much of the 2nd). The Second Disc in this set is a very fine selection from 4,5,6 & 7 which could be best described as Hard Jazz-Rock Fusion, in the original sense (before it got all wet with American Cool!) and makes up a very rich and stimulating 74.5 minutes of listening. I agree with Dick Heath that this is better in some ways than the BBC 67-71 & 71-74 CDs, however these are almost all studio recordings and Soft Machine were much, much better live; listen to Breada Reator and Noisette to wittness the REAL sound of Soft Machine! I would love to have given this a 5 star but I don't think any Anthology which uses all previously released material (though the 1st single is impossible to get now) deserves the description "Essential" and for the omissions I mentioned; so I give it a 4.4 star.

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