VOLUME TWO

This album emerged at the end era of the psychedelic years with something different with what was commonly issued in the market. Even though this is a unique endeavor it cannot be said that this is "the" pioneer. The music is something like Frank Zappa as well as the choirs remind me to the music of Gentle Giant. "Pataphysical introduction Pt. I" (1:00) represents something "introductory" to the music of Soft Machine as it is indicated through the narration on the intro part. It's then followed by "A concise British alphabet Pt. I" (0:10) performed in a funny way by the band. The true music is coming with "Hibou, anemone and bear" (5:58) whereby the music is typical Canterbury style, similar with bands like Khan or National Health or Gong. This can be considered that the music is definitely a Canterbury style.

The music brings us to another narration :" A concise British alphabet Pt. II" (0:12) and "Hulloder" (0:52). "Dada was here" (3:25) is to me like a marriage between Canterbury and psychedelic. In terms of composition this track is quite unique. "Thank you Pierrot Lunaire" (0:47) is another narration accompanied with good jazzy music. It flows seamlessly to "Have you ever bean green? " (1:23). It then returns back to "Pataphysical introduction Pt. II" (0:50).

"Out of tunes" (2:30) represents good combination of Canterbury and avant-garde. The composition seems like a free-form music with barely no (or little) melody and harmony. Esther's Nose Job. The vocal quality of the band is actually similar with Gentle Giant especially on "As long as he lies perfectly still" (2:30). I think Phish has been influence by Sost machine as well as Frank Zappa. The following "Dedicated to you but you weren't listening" (2:30) has shown even further the similarity with Gentle Giant's singer.

Overall, this is a good album which I just listened to it long after the album was initially released in 1969.

"God gives you your face, but you have to provide the expression."