SIX

The sixth album from The Soft Machine called Six is where The Soft Machine again began to spark my interest after the jazzy Fourth and Fifth. Six is a very jazzy album as well but it´s like some of the old psychadelic parts have returned. The are much nicer here though and not quite as edgy as they were on Third, but they are there.

The album is divided into a live part and a studio part. The live part is very well performed and with a really good sound quality. There is a lack of audience appreciation between the songs though and that pretty much kills the idea of a liver performance IMO. Riff II which is the last song of the live set does include audience noises though and it´s nice to hear. The music on the live part does remind me of Fourth and Fifth but the relentless sax soloing isn´t as hysterical as on the two previous albums and there are actual structures in some of the songs. 5 from 13 (for Phil Seamen with love & thanks) is a good example of a great theme it´s just too bad that what could have been a great song is ruined by a boring drum solo. The theme returns in the end of the song though.

The studio part of the album consists of 4 songs where especially The soft weed factor is a slow building song with some great themes. The studio part is generally the most likable seen from my point of view.

The musicianship is great and Hugh Hopper says goodbye to The Soft Machine with 1983, which is a typical Hugh Hopper composition. Drummer John Marshall is now a fulltime member of the group ( he only played on half the tracks on Fifth) while saxophonist Elton Dean has been replaced by Karl Jenkins who is a bit more restrained in his playing style than Elton Dean was.

Six is a more accessible album than both Fourth and Fifth but it´s still way too jazzy and unstructured jamming to satisfy my taste and I´ll rate it 2 stars.