The Soft Machine
were many things to many people, but to most, the real
Soft Machine
ceased to exist when founder
Robert Wyatt
left to work on his conspicuously titled
Matching Mole
project. This departure is generally credited to
the Soft Machine
's creative advance away from
prog rock
and toward
jazz fusion
. Three years and three records after
Wyatt
's departure, this creative motion was in full sail, and the release of
Six
cemented the band in their distant station beyond the gravity of anything that resembled
rock
and its spacious, cutting-edge sonics and more symmetrical rhythms. The
jazz
era that began on
Fourth
and continued through the '70s mutates slightly on
, from the free improvisational structures used frequently on prior releases into a somewhat more constrained
fusion
design. This is due largely to new member
Karl Jenkins
, who makes a mighty impact on
's sound with his sax playing and songwriting -- and who later took creative control over the group, bringing in several guitarists to solidify a
sound. Half live and half studio album,
will never interest classic-era stalwarts, but
Jenkins
and drummer
John Marshall
lead old-timers
Mike Ratledge
and
Hugh Hopper
through some nifty
exercises that fans of the genre (and obscure '70s music of every kind) might find very enjoyable. ~ Vincent Jeffries