anyone a fan of The Soft Machine, Caravan, or Gong? Ive been listening to a cd of '67 demos of the softs. bloody good for demos!
I really want to check out The Soft Machine, and I plan to do so very soon. I've heard many good things about them. I'm sure Skelter will be here shortly to enlighten us on these bands.
i first got into the soft machine after reading an article about them in mojo magazine, the psychedelic issue with the top 100 psych songs in it... and that sort of led me to a whole lot of other bands and side projects to check out all related to that one band.
I really dig Soft Machine, I have their second and third volumes, and I've also heard a couple of Robert Wyatt's solo works. Any drummer who still drums good while singing vocals is impressive. They're really experimental and that always ranks a band high in my book. I also know they played music for a Syd Barrett solo track or two (having been acquainted with the early Floyd when they both were the house bands of the underground London club UFO), they play on "No Good Trying," I know at least.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe they played on the first sessions for The Madcap Laughs, which includes about 5 or 6 songs. That'd be before Gilmour and Wright stepped in.
I've got my eye on the Canterburied Sounds series which has various early demos of those bands, is that what your disc is then Unspoken ?
i've only heard their first three albums, but what i heard is great. i'll check out some more . Tomorrow is another great band that played at the UFO Club. Unfortunately they only released one (self-titled) album. hiddendoor: i like that album in your signature. A lost gem from the sixties. and who are Caravan ?
Yeah the White Noise album is a treat, like a cross between United States of America and Cottonwoodhill by Brainticket. Very dark, very trippy and downright scary. The late great Delia Derbyshire who features on it was responsible for the 1970's (and best IMO) theme tune for the Dr Who TV series. Caravan were another Canterbury progressive band linked to the Softs. I have their first S/T album from 68 which is pretty psychedelic and their 3rd album In The land of Grey and Pink, but although they stuck to their organ-driven, flute and jazz inflected progressive sound pretty much after the first two albums they dropped the psychedelic influence. Great wistful pastoral sort of sounds though, and alot lighter than the soft machine these are two I have,
Soft Machine Volume 1 is easily my favourite psychedelic album to come out of the UK in the late 60's. Only just gotten into Gong recently, Angel's Egg is a favourite of mine at the moment, absolutely stunning album. Got Flying Teapot recently which is pretty good and I've got a copy of "You" winging its way my way as I type.
Here's a BBC internet radio documentary on the Canterbury sound if anyone is interested http://www.bbc.co.uk/6music/artists/city/canterbury.shtml
That 67 demos album (is it Jet Propelled Photographs?) is great, and it is the only Soft Machine album that features Daevid Allen (the founder and slide guitarrist from Gong), which links both bands in their roots. It's amazing how the Soft Machine was so influential both in the Canterbury sound and in the Psychedelic music of the late 60's, early 70's, although the demos in this album and in ONE are closer to the psychedelic sound.
I JUST bought The Soft Machine - Kings of Canterbury. I haven't even listened to it yet, but I wanted to let you know that I got it.
I know the music of caravan quite well, as i hail from Canterbury in the uk. The floyd have played canterbury twice aswell. Both times were in 1968, the first at the Marlowe theatre and the second gig was at Canterbury college. Just thought you may be interested in that piece of information.
Gong has been one of my favorite bands for a long time. Their "Radio Gnome Invisible" trilogy (Flying Teapot, Angel's Egg and You) is IMO one of the best works in the whole of psychedelic music. After "You", the original founders of the band, guitarrist Daevid Allen and singer-poet Gilli Smyth left, and Gong became a very sophisticated fusion band, with impressive performing skills, but without the psychedelic magic. Allen and Smyth released several very good albums after that. My favorites are "Mother" by Gilli Smyth with several of the original Gong musicians backing her, "Good Morning" by Daevid Allen and Gilli Smyth, backed by the spanish band Eutherpe, New York Gong (a new wave Allen experiment with New York musicians), and above all "Live Floating Anarchy", by Allen and Smyth recorded live in 1977.
