Thanks for the find, and thanks for the heads up on the live double disc boxset. Might be a bit too later-era “jazzy” for my tastes, but like you say, certainly worth investigating.

* ‘New’ 1971 double CD & CD Rom now out on Reel Recordings – Soft Machine Live at the Henie Onstad Arts Centre, Oslo, Norway – may or may not be a good ‘un, but (with Hopper, Wyatt, Ratledge & Dean) certainly worth investigating….. *

Oh Man, the Vibe! – I’m back at the Cooks Ferry Inn again!

Glad you managed to get hold of a copy of Vol. 2 at a knockdown price – that’s a real bargain. I’ve still not got round to purchasing either but I’m happy with my murkier Big Beat releases of 1 and 2 for the moment.

Cheers, Martin.

Well, the remastered CD reissue is a great little package- “24-bit remastering from the original analog master tapes”… with an impressive 20-page photo/text booklet containing extensive notes by Mark Powell (somebody tell me who he is, please?) that fans will cherish. Sound quality is, on the whole, noticeably improved, and while my take on this is of course highly subjective, I note the following:

Brass is more audible, punchier, and better delineated; Wyatt vocals ditto – I heard quite a few lines here and there that were only partly distinguishable through the ‘foggier’ sound picture of the original 1969 album, e.g. I finally understood that RW was saying “two fives….to take away the taste of all those sevens….” at the end of side 1! Ratledge’s organ sound however sounds tonally strangely a bit mellower than formerly…or maybe it’s just me? Also, there’s some slightly irritating left-right-left stereo panning on “Fire Engine Passing….” where the sound almost disappears at the stereo image crossover points….I don’t remenber any of this either on the original(perhaps I’ve forgotten?). They’ve done something to the bass sound in a few places too…..what must originally have been a compound sound in places(fuzz + pure bass) is now audibly separated – greater clarity, yes, but something of the ‘monumental triumvirate’ foundation feel has been lost in the tweaking, I think?

Well, I repeat – all of this is necessarily subjective. On balance it IS a worthy clean up and improvement. When the 1st stereo copy of ‘Piper at the Gates of Dawn’ came out years ago I had similar misgivings – my cherished ‘original’ version had somehow been made wholly knowable inside and out – and had thereby lost some of its mystery, charm and magic…..perhaps I’m experiencing the same thing again here……

So, I DO neverless recommend this CD unreservedly, as it’s lost none of its glory, charm and power – but keep your original vinyl LP and Dansette record player handy – because if you want to re-create 1969 again (go on – you know you do!), you’ll need a darkened room, lotus position on the Cyril Lord carpet, copious wafting joss stick fumes, and this classic full-on album spinning – with volume set on 11. Lowrey Glide in Blue!!

Martin Westmacott

I forgot to mention that these downloads come with a ‘digital booklet’. Ugh! Can you use one of those as a makeshift beermat? I think not. I’ll stick with my ‘crusty’ old CD reissues of the Soft Machine albums, thank you v. much.

That’s a shame for the artists and the music…. and the fans.