Third

Description

Remastered reissue + Bonus Live CD: Generally regarded as the band's culmination, this third album by Soft Machine is not just a major recording, but also an iconic record of its time (on par with Bitches Brew or Live/Evil by Miles Davis). Like its predecessor recorded in London, it features four long compositions on the four sides of the original edition, two by keyboardist Mike Ratledge (scholarly suites with complex articulations), one by drummer Robert Wyatt (the historic "Moon in June"), and one track - opening the album - dedicated to "Facelift" (the most abrupt piece in the program) by bassist Hugh Hopper. The lineup includes a significant number of guests, led by saxophonist Elton Dean (who would soon become a permanent member of the band). Lyn Dobson shares duties between flute and saxophone, Jimmy Hastings (brother of a musician from the friendly band Caravan) plays flute and bass clarinet, Nick Evans takes the trombone, and Rab Spall plays the violin. This configuration completes the band's transformation towards jazz and fusion music. Unique in its category, "Moon in June" is a long vocal piece, a collage of melodies already worked on in demos in 1967, fervently desired by Wyatt, and disparaged by the other musicians: the drummer found himself, through the use of overdubs, practically the sole master of all the parts of this long melody which, in retrospect, takes on all the appearances of a testament: to the whimsical and fanciful Soft Machine of its early days, to the songs recorded by the band, and, more simply, to Wyatt's participation in this major group of the European rock avant-garde. Therefore, Third will be considered a sad masterpiece.