Third Double Vinyl

Among the most important and influential progressive rock bands of the late 60s and early 70s, SoftMachine initially featured a lineup of Robert Wyatt drums, vocals, Kevin Ayers bass, guitar, vocals,Daevid Allen guitar and Mike Ratledge organ. Emerging from the UK Canterbury underground in 1967,they featured prominently at epochmaking London venues such as the UFO Club and Middle Earth toestablish a powerful reputation over the next decade with a series of accomplished albums and someinnovative concert performances notably in the UK and France. After two albums for ABCProbe, they signed to CBS with a lineup consisting of Wyatt, Ratledge,saxophonist Elton Dean and bassist Hugh Hopper, releasing this, their most successful long player, in 1970. Marking the beginning of their journey away from their psychedelic roots and into jazz and contemporaryelectronic music, it is unconventional to an extreme, consisting of four stunning sidelong compositions,and is universally regarded as not just their best record but one of the best progressive rock albums everrecorded one that pushed the boundaries of genre without being pretentious.