Soft Machine
1966年在英国坎特伯里（Canterbury）成军的软机器乐队，其成员有鼓手Robert Wyatt，吉他手Daevid Allen，贝斯手Kevin Ayers，键盘手Mike Ratledge。乐队名取自美国垮派小说家William S. Burroughs同名小说。音乐跟小说一样渗透出浓浓的实验迷幻色彩，他们亦是Canterbury Scene 实验摇滚要角。发行两张专辑后团员Kevin Ayers、Daevid Allen相继离团，Kevin Ayers以个人名义继续发行迷幻唱片，Daevid Allen则另创乐队Gong大玩太空摇滚。回顾软机器的历史，从第4张专辑后鼓手Robert Wyatt离团成立Marching Mole，软机器似乎只是一个附载不同乐手的音乐单位，早期与晚期的作品相当不同，特色在于以实验精神向摇滚乐做不同探索时的创作，变成融合爵士乐倾向的过程。
做为在爵士摇滚领域一直保持着独特的影响力，或者说最有影响力的英国爵士摇滚乐团亦不过分的The Soft Machine却从未取得过真正商业意义上的成功。直到现在，对大多数60年代之后涉足摇滚乐的人来说，The Soft Machine也仍然是一支神秘而不为人所知的乐团。然而这支乐队在六十年代的迷幻摇滚浪潮中，是最早涉猎纯器乐演奏前卫爵士摇滚的。同时他们也是Canterbury艺术摇滚舞台（Canterbury是英国艺术摇滚重镇，六十年代以来有多支大牌艺术摇滚团体来自此地，如Caravan，MikeOldfield等）最为人所敬仰的人物。
提及The Soft Machine的音乐生涯，就无法不提到乐队的两位领头人物Robert Wyatt与Kevin Ayers。虽然The Soft Machine的音乐充满实验性，先锋性，但当他们开始组团表演时，两人却表现的相当传统。六十年代中期，Wyatt曾作为鼓手参加过一支Canterbury的叫做the Wilde Flowers的乐团，这支乐团的音乐对于当时当时的风气来说是颇为偏重流行及灵魂乐的，后来Soft Machine的成员Ayers和Hugh Hopper也曾参加了这支乐团,并以他们深深的即兴爵士素养对这支乐团组成了颇为奇异的影响。
1966年, Wyatt和贝司/歌手Ayers, 键盘手Mike Ratledge,及澳大利亚籍的吉他手Daevid Allen组成了最早的the Soft Machine。这之前Wyatt, Ratledge, Allen就曾以Daevid Allen Trio的名字在一起演出。Ratledge曾经解释过乐队为何会起这么个名字，他说:“这个名字是我搞到的一本二手的William Burroughs的书的名字，取自美国的一位生理学家的演讲，Soft machine是指整个人类的生物学种属分类, 我们大家都是soft machines。我想我最初是假定我们大家在这一点上都有共同和类似之处,所以大家可能都会喜欢Soft Machine的音乐.尽管这只是我的假设，我却希望它能变成真的。”
乐队大半部分时间都呆在伦敦。1967年1月，乐团录制了唯一一张单曲唱片，收录&Loves Make Sweet Music& 和&Feelin', Reelin',Squeelin&两首歌曲。三个月之后，乐队的试音唱片录制好了，当时却未被发行。直到1971年这张唱片由French Byg厂牌出版后，乐迷们才得以一窥此张专辑的真面目。这张Demo可以说是流行性与实验性兼具。此时的the Soft Machine，连同Pink loyd,Tomorrom等乐团是英国最早的一批迷幻艺术摇滚乐队。很快the Soft Machine就与Pink成为了伦敦艺术摇滚舞台最为受欢迎的两个乐团。经常在著名的UFO俱乐部演出。1967年夏季，乐团去法国参加一项前卫剧场艺术的演出。在回程中，由于护照过期，Alleng无法再进入英国，而不得不滞留下来。从此，他就在法国呆了下来，参与了很多艺术活动，并于两年后组建了Gong这支后来声名大噪的乐队。Allen 为何没有试图回到乐队？后来他对记者说：“Mike是个深受古典音乐训练的音乐家,Robert则喜欢爵士,Kevin则善于写琅琅上口的流行音乐。而我则对太空音响和电子音乐感兴趣，一支乐队里能容纳如此多的音乐取向是不可想象的。对他们而言，我离开可能会更好一点。”他的位置曾短暂地由Andy Summers（这位吉他手后来参加了警察乐队）接替，乐队大部分时间就处于没有吉他手的状态。
乐队剩余的成员组成的三人小组于1968年2月，作为Jimi Hendrix的暖场乐队，与Jimi在英国共同进行三个月的全国巡演。4月，他们在纽约制作并发行了第一张真正意义上的专辑。与他们的首张Demo相比，这张专辑更多的摒弃了旋律与和演唱因素，而是将迷幻摇滚的力量融入了即兴爵士的形式中。这种尝试成功与否，当时可说是毁誉参半。专辑由Animals的前任贝司手Tom Wilson和Jimi Hendrix的制作人Chas Chandler监制。乐队此时的知名度相比之下，在美国反而要更大一点。实际上，他们的首张专辑，也仅在美国发行过。由于对乐队的音乐方向发展的意见不同，Wyatt与Ayres，Ratledge发生了不和,因而当巡演结束，Wyatt仍留在好莱钨，与Jimi一同工作，其他成员则返回了欧洲。几个月之后，乐队下一张专辑的发行者Probe公司联络Wyatt与他商讨进行促销巡演的时间,而Ayers没有时间参与，因而离开了乐队，Wyatt的老朋友Hugh Hopper代替了他的位置。这个新的阵容在进行了近一个月的排练之后，于Royal Albert Hall进行了首次演出。几天之后，他们就进入了Olympic录音室制作第二张专辑。
他们的第二张专辑，,Vol. 2(1969)走的更远,完全抛弃了当时的流行乐因素而代之以更多的爵士成分。并越来越不依靠歌词创作与歌唱部分。 Ratledge渐强的失真管风琴，Wyatt紧凑的充满想像力的鼓击，使乐队变的杂乱无章和充满超现实主义,对一般的流行摇滚听众来说，他们变的前所未有的难以接受。而在专辑发行之后的演出中，他们也经常会请Hugh的兄弟Brian加入，来为他们演奏tenor sax。这是乐队越来越倾向于爵士的迹象。1969年夏季，他们组成了一个完全爵士风格的组合，爵士钢琴家Keith Tippett的演奏小组的成员全部加入了进来。包括 Elton Dean吹奏 alto sax,Marc Charig吹奏trumpet, Nick Evans吹奏trombone.和另外一位吹奏萨克斯的Dean Lyn Dobson。这个七人小组并未持续多久，公开露面的演出也只有，在BBC的和接近年终时，在法国的巡演。Evans和Charig随即退出了乐团，他们俩后来都在欧洲爵士乐界取得了相当的成就。并曾参与过乐队后来的几张专辑。1970年出版的第三张专辑延续了Vol.2的风格,并被认为是前卫摇滚及爵士摇滚的里程碑式的作品,尽管对于大多数乐迷来说，这张专辑显得太过匪夷所思。
1970年乐队乾脆变成了一支彻底的演奏乐队，而Wyatt则是乐队里唯一仍然迷恋歌唱的人。夏季，他推出了首张个人专辑The End Of An Ear，他把自己描述为一位“过时的流行乐歌手”，而实际上这张专辑几乎毫无流行乐成分，内页不印歌词，演唱怪声怪调，歌声似乎是一种乐器，在经过录音、处理之后又被重放出来，每首歌的歌名都在影射一支Cantebuary乐队。但总体说来，专辑的概念性并不是很明显，Wyatt的音乐方向也多少有些混淆。秋季Wyatt, Hopper, Ratledge和Dean Lyn Dobson在一起录制了这第四张专辑,这是Wyatt参与的最后一张专辑。之后，Wyatt由于与乐队其他成员对于音乐的想法日渐分离，并认为其他成员在对他进行蓄意排挤，遂于1971年离开了乐队,组建了自己的乐队Matching Mole。这个乐队也未持续多久，他就开始了至今的个人发展生涯。之所以这么做，也许是为了尾随Kevin Ayers的举动，此时Kevin Ayers 已出过好几张个人专辑了。
对于乐队来说，Wyatt's的退出使乐队丧失了他们在英国爵士摇滚乐坛曾有过的举足轻重的地位。尽管乐队的作品可说是乐队成员的共同努力结果，但Wyatt在音乐中流露出的幽默和充满狂暴感情的演唱却是无可替代的。Ratledge与Hopper和乐队其他乐手仍勉力维持Wyatt退出后的the Soft Machine,尽管此时的他们已变成了一支单纯的器乐Fusion风格的演奏团体，只是在偶然的不经意间，才能流露出乐队以前的灵性。Hopper于1973年离开,最后一位原始成员Ratledge也于1976年退出了乐队。乐队剩下的成员仍然用the Soft Machine的名字进行活动，直到1990年才宣告解散。但这段时间的the Soft Machine如同人们所常说的那样，只是个名字罢了。
乐队早期的很多作品都是出自Hugh Hopper之手，即使有段时间他还不是乐队成员时也是如此。Ayers,Wyatt和Daevid Allen也都有各自的作品.当乐队变得越来越偏向纯演奏风格时，Mike Ratledge的地位变的重要起来，取代了Hugh Hopper。1972年Karl Jenkins加入了乐队之后，主要的创作都是由他进行，在1976年Ratledge退出之后更是如此，几乎所有的作品都是由他写出。
Soft Machine were never a commercial enterprise and indeed still remain unknown even to many listeners who came of age during the late 60s, when the group was at its peak. In their own way, however, they were one of the more influential bands of their era, and certainly one of the most influential underground ones. One of the original British psychedelic groups, they were also instrumental in the birth of both progressive rock and jazz-rock. They were also the central foundation of the family tree of the Canterbury Scene of British progressive rock acts, a movement that also included Caravan, Gong, Matching Mole, and National Health, not to mention the distinguished solo careers of founding members Robert Wyatt and Kevin Ayers.
Considering their well-known experimental and avant-garde leanings, the roots of Soft Machine were in some respects surprisingly conventional. In the mid-60s, Wyatt sang and drummed with the Wilde Flowers, a Canterbury group that played more or less conventional pop and soul covers of the day. Future Soft Machine members Ayers and Hugh Hopper would also pass through the Wilde Flowers, whose original material began to reflect an odd sensibility, cultivated by their highly educated backgrounds and a passion for improvised jazz. In 1966, Wyatt teamed up with bassist/singer Ayers, keyboardist Mike Ratledge, and Australian guitarist Daevid Allen to form the first lineup of Soft Machine.
This incarnation of the group, along with Pink Floyd and Tomorrow, were the very first underground psychedelic bands in Britain, and quickly became well loved in the burgeoning London psychedelic underground. Their first recordings (many of which only surfaced years later on compilations of 1967 demos) were by far their most pop-oriented, which doesnt mean they werent exciting or devoid of experimental elements. Surreal wordplay and unusually (for rock) complex instrumental interplay gave an innovative edge to their ebullient early psychedelic outings. They only managed to cut one (very good) single, though, which flopped. Allen, the weirdest of a colorful group of characters, had to leave the band when he was refused reentry into the U.K. after a stint in France, due to the expiration of his visa.
The remaining trio recorded its first proper album in 1968. The considerable melodic elements and vocal harmonies of their 1967 recordings were now giving way to more challenging, artier postures that sought — sometimes successfully, sometimes not — to meld the energy of psychedelic rock with the improvisational pulse of jazz. The Softs were taken on by Jimi Hendrixs management, leading to grueling stints supporting the Jimi Hendrix Experience on their 1968 American tours. Because of this, the group at this point was probably more well-known in the U.S. than their homeland. In fact, their debut LP was only issued, oddly, in the States. For a couple of months in 1968, strangely enough, Soft Machine became a quartet again with the addition of future Police guitarist Andy Summers, although that didnt work out, and they soon reverted to a trio. The punishing tours took their toll on the group, and Ayers had left by the end of 1968, to be replaced by Wyatts old chum Hugh Hopper.
Their second album, Volume Two (1969), further submerged the bands pop elements in favor of extended jazzy compositions, with an increasingly lesser reliance on lyrics and vocals. Ratledges fuzzy, buzzy organ and Wyatts pummeling, imaginative drumming and scat vocals paced the band on material that became increasingly whimsical and surrealistic, if increasingly inaccessible to the pop/rock audience. For their third album, they went even further in these directions, expanding to a seven-piece by adding a horn section. This record virtually dispensed with vocals and conventional rock songs entirely, and is considered a landmark by both progressive rock and jazz-rock aficionados, though it was too oblique for many rock listeners.
Soft Machine couldnt afford to continue to support a seven-member lineup, and scaled back to a quartet for their fourth album, retaining Elton Dean on sax. Wyatt had left by the end of 1971, briefly leading the similar Matching Mole, and then establishing a long-running solo career. In doing so he was following the path of Kevin Ayers, who already had several solo albums to his credit by the early 70s; Daevid Allen, for his part, had become a principal of Gong, one of the most prominent and enigmatic 70s progressive rock bands.
For most intents and purposes, Wyatts departure spelled the end of Soft Machines reign as an important band. Although Soft Machine was always a collaborative effort, Wyatts humor, humanism, and soulful raspy vocals could not be replaced. Ratledge and Hopper kept the group going with other musicians, though by now they were an instrumental fusion group with little vestiges of their former playfulness. Hopper left in 1973, and Ratledge, the last original member, was gone by 1976. Other lineups continued to play under the Soft Machine name, amazingly, until the 1990s, but these were Soft Machine in name only.
做为在爵士摇滚领域一直保持着独特的影响力，或者说最有影响力的英国爵士摇滚乐团亦不过分的The Soft Machine却从未取得过真正商业意义上的成功。直到现在，对大多数60年代之后涉足摇滚乐的人来说，The Soft Machine也仍然是一支神秘而不为人所知的乐团。然而这支乐队在六十年代的迷幻摇滚浪潮中，是最早涉猎纯器乐演奏前卫爵士摇滚的。同时他们也是Canterbury艺术摇滚舞台（Canterbury是英国艺术摇滚重镇，六十年代以来有多支大牌艺术摇滚团体来自此地，如Caravan，MikeOldfield等）最为人所敬仰的人物。
提及The Soft Machine的音乐生涯，就无法不提到乐队的两位领头人物Robert Wyatt与Kevin Ayers。虽然The Soft Machine的音乐充满实验性，先锋性，但当他们开始组团表演时，两人却表现的相当传统。六十年代中期，Wyatt曾作为鼓手参加过一支Canterbury的叫做the Wilde Flowers的乐团，这支乐团的音乐对于当时当时的风气来说是颇为偏重流行及灵魂乐的，后来Soft Machine的成员Ayers和Hugh Hopper也曾参加了这支乐团,并以他们深深的即兴爵士素养对这支乐团组成了颇为奇异的影响。
1966年, Wyatt和贝司/歌手Ayers, 键盘手Mike Ratledge,及澳大利亚籍的吉他手Daevid Allen组成了最早的the Soft Machine。这之前Wyatt, Ratledge, Allen就曾以Daevid Allen Trio的名字在一起演出。Ratledge曾经解释过乐队为何会起这么个名字，他说:“这个名字是我搞到的一本二手的William Burroughs的书的名字，取自美国的一位生理学家的演讲，Soft machine是指整个人类的生物学种属分类, 我们大家都是soft machines。我想我最初是假定我们大家在这一点上都有共同和类似之处,所以大家可能都会喜欢Soft Machine的音乐.尽管这只是我的假设，我却希望它能变成真的。”
乐队大半部分时间都呆在伦敦。1967年1月，乐团录制了唯一一张单曲唱片，收录&Loves Make Sweet Music& 和&Feelin', Reelin',Squeelin&两首歌曲。三个月之后，乐队的试音唱片录制好了，当时却未被发行。直到1971年这张唱片由French Byg厂牌出版后，乐迷们才得以一窥此张专辑的真面目。这张Demo可以说是流行性与实验性兼具。此时的the Soft Machine，连同Pink loyd,Tomorrom等乐团是英国最早的一批迷幻艺术摇滚乐队。很快the Soft Machine就与Pink成为了伦敦艺术摇滚舞台最为受欢迎的两个乐团。经常在著名的UFO俱乐部演出。1967年夏季，乐团去法国参加一项前卫剧场艺术的演出。在回程中，由于护照过期，Alleng无法再进入英国，而不得不滞留下来。从此，他就在法国呆了下来，参与了很多艺术活动，并于两年后组建了Gong这支后来声名大噪的乐队。Allen 为何没有试图回到乐队？后来他对记者说：“Mike是个深受古典音乐训练的音乐家,Robert则喜欢爵士,Kevin则善于写琅琅上口的流行音乐。而我则对太空音响和电子音乐感兴趣，一支乐队里能容纳如此多的音乐取向是不可想象的。对他们而言，我离开可能会更好一点。”他的位置曾短暂地由Andy Summers（这位吉他手后来参加了警察乐队）接替，乐队大部分时间就处于没有吉他手的状态。
乐队剩余的成员组成的三人小组于1968年2月，作为Jimi Hendrix的暖场乐队，与Jimi在英国共同进行三个月的全国巡演。4月，他们在纽约制作并发行了第一张真正意义上的专辑。与他们的首张Demo相比，这张专辑更多的摒弃了旋律与和演唱因素，而是将迷幻摇滚的力量融入了即兴爵士的形式中。这种尝试成功与否，当时可说是毁誉参半。专辑由Animals的前任贝司手Tom Wilson和Jimi Hendrix的制作人Chas Chandler监制。乐队此时的知名度相比之下，在美国反而要更大一点。实际上，他们的首张专辑，也仅在美国发行过。由于对乐队的音乐方向发展的意见不同，Wyatt与Ayres，Ratledge发生了不和,因而当巡演结束，Wyatt仍留在好莱钨，与Jimi一同工作，其他成员则返回了欧洲。几个月之后，乐队下一张专辑的发行者Probe公司联络Wyatt与他商讨进行促销巡演的时间,而Ayers没有时间参与，因而离开了乐队，Wyatt的老朋友Hugh Hopper代替了他的位置。这个新的阵容在进行了近一个月的排练之后，于Royal Albert Hall进行了首次演出。几天之后，他们就进入了Olympic录音室制作第二张专辑。
他们的第二张专辑，,Vol. 2(1969)走的更远,完全抛弃了当时的流行乐因素而代之以更多的爵士成分。并越来越不依靠歌词创作与歌唱部分。 Ratledge渐强的失真管风琴，Wyatt紧凑的充满想像力的鼓击，使乐队变的杂乱无章和充满超现实主义,对一般的流行摇滚听众来说，他们变的前所未有的难以接受。而在专辑发行之后的演出中，他们也经常会请Hugh的兄弟Brian加入，来为他们演奏tenor sax。这是乐队越来越倾向于爵士的迹象。1969年夏季，他们组成了一个完全爵士风格的组合，爵士钢琴家Keith Tippett的演奏小组的成员全部加入了进来。包括 Elton Dean吹奏 alto sax,Marc Charig吹奏trumpet, Nick Evans吹奏trombone.和另外一位吹奏萨克斯的Dean Lyn Dobson。这个七人小组并未持续多久，公开露面的演出也只有，在BBC的和接近年终时，在法国的巡演。Evans和Charig随即退出了乐团，他们俩后来都在欧洲爵士乐界取得了相当的成就。并曾参与过乐队后来的几张专辑。1970年出版的第三张专辑延续了Vol.2的风格,并被认为是前卫摇滚及爵士摇滚的里程碑式的作品,尽管对于大多数乐迷来说，这张专辑显得太过匪夷所思。
1970年乐队乾脆变成了一支彻底的演奏乐队，而Wyatt则是乐队里唯一仍然迷恋歌唱的人。夏季，他推出了首张个人专辑The End Of An Ear，他把自己描述为一位“过时的流行乐歌手”，而实际上这张专辑几乎毫无流行乐成分，内页不印歌词，演唱怪声怪调，歌声似乎是一种乐器，在经过录音、处理之后又被重放出来，每首歌的歌名都在影射一支Cantebuary乐队。但总体说来，专辑的概念性并不是很明显，Wyatt的音乐方向也多少有些混淆。秋季Wyatt, Hopper, Ratledge和Dean Lyn Dobson在一起录制了这第四张专辑,这是Wyatt参与的最后一张专辑。之后，Wyatt由于与乐队其他成员对于音乐的想法日渐分离，并认为其他成员在对他进行蓄意排挤，遂于1971年离开了乐队,组建了自己的乐队Matching Mole。这个乐队也未持续多久，他就开始了至今的个人发展生涯。之所以这么做，也许是为了尾随Kevin Ayers的举动，此时Kevin Ayers 已出过好几张个人专辑了。
对于乐队来说，Wyatt's的退出使乐队丧失了他们在英国爵士摇滚乐坛曾有过的举足轻重的地位。尽管乐队的作品可说是乐队成员的共同努力结果，但Wyatt在音乐中流露出的幽默和充满狂暴感情的演唱却是无可替代的。Ratledge与Hopper和乐队其他乐手仍勉力维持Wyatt退出后的the Soft Machine,尽管此时的他们已变成了一支单纯的器乐Fusion风格的演奏团体，只是在偶然的不经意间，才能流露出乐队以前的灵性。Hopper于1973年离开,最后一位原始成员Ratledge也于1976年退出了乐队。乐队剩下的成员仍然用the Soft Machine的名字进行活动，直到1990年才宣告解散。但这段时间的the Soft Machine如同人们所常说的那样，只是个名字罢了。
乐队早期的很多作品都是出自Hugh Hopper之手，即使有段时间他还不是乐队成员时也是如此。Ayers,Wyatt和Daevid Allen也都有各自的作品.当乐队变得越来越偏向纯演奏风格时，Mike Ratledge的地位变的重要起来，取代了Hugh Hopper。1972年Karl Jenkins加入了乐队之后，主要的创作都是由他进行，在1976年Ratledge退出之后更是如此，几乎所有的作品都是由他写出。
Soft Machine were never a commercial enterprise and indeed still remain unknown even to many listeners who came of age during the late 60s, when the group was at its peak. In their own way, however, they were one of the more influential bands of their era, and certainly one of the most influential underground ones. One of the original British psychedelic groups, they were also instrumental in the birth of both progressive rock and jazz-rock. They were also the central foundation of the family tree of the Canterbury Scene of British progressive rock acts, a movement that also included Caravan, Gong, Matching Mole, and National Health, not to mention the distinguished solo careers of founding members Robert Wyatt and Kevin Ayers.
Considering their well-known experimental and avant-garde leanings, the roots of Soft Machine were in some respects surprisingly conventional. In the mid-60s, Wyatt sang and drummed with the Wilde Flowers, a Canterbury group that played more or less conventional pop and soul covers of the day. Future Soft Machine members Ayers and Hugh Hopper would also pass through the Wilde Flowers, whose original material began to reflect an odd sensibility, cultivated by their highly educated backgrounds and a passion for improvised jazz. In 1966, Wyatt teamed up with bassist/singer Ayers, keyboardist Mike Ratledge, and Australian guitarist Daevid Allen to form the first lineup of Soft Machine.
This incarnation of the group, along with Pink Floyd and Tomorrow, were the very first underground psychedelic bands in Britain, and quickly became well loved in the burgeoning London psychedelic underground. Their first recordings (many of which only surfaced years later on compilations of 1967 demos) were by far their most pop-oriented, which doesnt mean they werent exciting or devoid of experimental elements. Surreal wordplay and unusually (for rock) complex instrumental interplay gave an innovative edge to their ebullient early psychedelic outings. They only managed to cut one (very good) single, though, which flopped. Allen, the weirdest of a colorful group of characters, had to leave the band when he was refused reentry into the U.K. after a stint in France, due to the expiration of his visa.
The remaining trio recorded its first proper album in 1968. The considerable melodic elements and vocal harmonies of their 1967 recordings were now giving way to more challenging, artier postures that sought — sometimes successfully, sometimes not — to meld the energy of psychedelic rock with the improvisational pulse of jazz. The Softs were taken on by Jimi Hendrixs management, leading to grueling stints supporting the Jimi Hendrix Experience on their 1968 American tours. Because of this, the group at this point was probably more well-known in the U.S. than their homeland. In fact, their debut LP was only issued, oddly, in the States. For a couple of months in 1968, strangely enough, Soft Machine became a quartet again with the addition of future Police guitarist Andy Summers, although that didnt work out, and they soon reverted to a trio. The punishing tours took their toll on the group, and Ayers had left by the end of 1968, to be replaced by Wyatts old chum Hugh Hopper.
Their second album, Volume Two (1969), further submerged the bands pop elements in favor of extended jazzy compositions, with an increasingly lesser reliance on lyrics and vocals. Ratledges fuzzy, buzzy organ and Wyatts pummeling, imaginative drumming and scat vocals paced the band on material that became increasingly whimsical and surrealistic, if increasingly inaccessible to the pop/rock audience. For their third album, they went even further in these directions, expanding to a seven-piece by adding a horn section. This record virtually dispensed with vocals and conventional rock songs entirely, and is considered a landmark by both progressive rock and jazz-rock aficionados, though it was too oblique for many rock listeners.
Soft Machine couldnt afford to continue to support a seven-member lineup, and scaled back to a quartet for their fourth album, retaining Elton Dean on sax. Wyatt had left by the end of 1971, briefly leading the similar Matching Mole, and then establishing a long-running solo career. In doing so he was following the path of Kevin Ayers, who already had several solo albums to his credit by the early 70s; Daevid Allen, for his part, had become a principal of Gong, one of the most prominent and enigmatic 70s progressive rock bands.
For most intents and purposes, Wyatts departure spelled the end of Soft Machines reign as an important band. Although Soft Machine was always a collaborative effort, Wyatts humor, humanism, and soulful raspy vocals could not be replaced. Ratledge and Hopper kept the group going with other musicians, though by now they were an instrumental fusion group with little vestiges of their former playfulness. Hopper left in 1973, and Ratledge, the last original member, was gone by 1976. Other lineups continued to play under the Soft Machine name, amazingly, until the 1990s, but these were Soft Machine in name only.
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