THE SOFT MACHINE COLLECTION [ALSO RELEASED AS: VOLUMES ONE AND TWO]

A fantastic, high-value compilation of the first two Soft Machine albums, capturing the very best material from their psychedelic era with their later jazz-rock experiments creeping in just a little towards the end. As well as being good value for money, the CD is actually a good way to listen to the two albums, since they flow together quite well; the final track on the first album, Box 25/4 Lid, in fact features a guesting Hugh Hopper on bass, so it actually acts as an appropriate little marker to signify the changeover from the Ratledge/Wyatt/Ayers lineup to Ratledge/Wyatt/Hopper. Both albums are, of course, enormously important to the Softs' discography, and were also fairly well-received in the psych underground at the time, making this compilation a landmark of where psych and jazz-rock met to spawn Canterbury. Bring two five-star albums together, don't make any serious blunders with the presentation, and what you get is a five-star compilation.