OTHER DOORS

Fred Baker steps in on bass here to replace Roy Babbington - who guests on a couple of tracks but has otherwise retired from active duty - and the Soft Machine rumbles onwards in this latest studio album. Following on from Hidden Details this offers impeccably produced Canterbury jazz-rock with more of a pinch of psychedelia to it - there's even a revisit to Joy of a Toy, a track from the time when Kevin Ayers was still in the band. As with Hidden Details, it's not the sort of thing which anyone would expect to change the world, but it finds the group still keeping their craft sharp.