The Beginning Of Soft Machine Decline

When did these guys go downhill in your opinion? Also, how many other groups gradually lost all their original members one by one?

Once upon a time, I probably would have said "after Hugh Hopper left", but now I'd have to say "after Mike Ratledge left".  Truth is, although the many bands are different, I don't really see a true drop in overall quality in their music.  Soft Machine is more like three different bands, all of which I like.  However, I think that after Ratledge was gone, there was very little sense of adventure remaining, and those are the albums I listen to the least.  I still think "Softs" is a good album; "Land of Cockayne", however, is not.

Edited by HolyMoly - December 30 2012 at 10:46

I wasn't aware they went into decline.  I like all the stuff. Did they do some commercially successful sell out albums that I am not aware of?


Edited by Slartibartfast - December 30 2012 at 11:19

Slartibartfast wrote: I wasn't aware they went into decline.  I like all the stuff. Did they do some commercially successful sell out albums that I am not aware of?

For me, after Wyatt left they started making fairly pedestrian jazz-rock/fusion. It is not that it is bad, but I just much prefer the stuff with Wyatt.

That's quite true.  Jenkins brought a whole new style of writing to the band - namely, the "one riff in impossible time signature repeated over and over while someone solos over it" style.  I used to think it was cheap and boring, but I've since changed my mind..  And though he was a reed player, he didn't play alto or soprano like Elton did, he played either oboe or baritone sax most of the time.  I actually prefer Jenkins' soloing style to Dean's.  Dean is a more free player, but I enjoy the more melodic phrases that Jenkins comes up with over those complicated riffs.

Edited by HolyMoly - December 30 2012 at 12:53

Thier only bad (studio) album is LOC. So I guess the last category for me.

I've only heard the albums with Wyatt, and they're all good. What disappoints me a bit about Fourth is the rather dry and clinical recording. The previous Soft Machine albums sound like a strange nightmare; Fourth sounds like just another jazz fusion album. It has some good music on it though, especially "Teeth". I still hope to check out the rest of their albums at some point.

I wonder how it will take until these become the new survivor polls and somebody makes a "The Beginning of the Decline Polls Decline" poll.


Edited by HarbouringTheSoul - December 30 2012 at 15:34

It's kind of a wonder I'm a Soft Machine fan at all, really.  My first album was "Fourth", and I'm not really a fan of jazz.  Something about the sound intrigued me, though, and I ended up listening to it a lot, acquiring a taste for "their jazz" if not anyone else's (ok, Zappa's too I guess).  Then came "Third", which was a breeze to get into after surviving "Fourth", from a prog fan perspective.  Then came "Fifth", which at the time was pushing the jazz stuff a little too far for my liking, and for a while I didn't really venture past there.  I love them all now.  I just dig the guys, period.  I want to ask them out for ice cream.

Edited by HolyMoly - December 30 2012 at 17:35

That option should be booby-trapped to catch trolls.

I say that the Softs' 'decline' happened when Ratledge left.  It wasn't so much a decline as it was more of a change of direction under Mr Jenkins' thumb, and that direction happened to leave Canterbury and head for London.  The album 'Softs' is still quite excellent, with Mike in a guest role (and there's live footage from this period - Newcastle Jazz Festival '76 - with Percy Jones filling in for an absent Babbington on bass !!), but Alive and Well In Paris and Land Of Cockayne contain somewhat generic Fusion/Fusack material, despite the high quality of musicianship.