194. Soft Machine - Third (1970)




















Track Listing


1. Facelift
2. Slightly All The Time
3. Moon In June
4. Out Bloody Rageous

Review

This is a long album. Although it is only 4 tracks long, each track takes up a side of the album and is about 20 minutes long. The first two tracks are mainly jazzy numbers, of the kind which is most certainly directly inspired by Mile Davis' Bitches Brew. They are actually much more listenable than Davis' experiments, and there is some semblance of tune to them. But you really can't tell that Soft Machine are mainly a Rock band by listening to Facelift or Slightly All The Time.

When we get to Moon In June there is something different happening, Wyatt's voice comes into the song and everything changes. I actually really liked this track, there is much more of a rock element and beautiful organ work as well as some crazy electronic stuff. The electronica is even more present in Out-Bloody-Rageous, which is also a good track.

So, the album is very much hit and miss, I dispense ever having to listen to the two first tracks again, but quite like the last two. So two-thumbs down and two-thumbs up... but still a worthy album to listen to and get into which definitely rewards repeated listenings. Get it at Amazon UK or US.

Track Highlights

1. Moon In June
2. Out-Bloody-Rageous

Final Grade

7/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

The song "Slighty All The Time" was used as the background for the syndicated "Realities" news program distributed by many 1970s-era "underground" radio stations. The album remained in print in the Columbia U.S. catalog throughout the 1970s and into the '80s despite its unusual format, based largely on word of mouth reviews.


Soft Machine Documentary: