The dodgy recording quality of those early albums aside, its hard to go wrong with anything
Soft Machine did between '68 and 1979. Being the more experimental of the two Wilde Flowers offshoot bands (the other being
Caravan), it goes without saying that
The Soft Machine was going to be an interesting beginning one way or another, particularly in light to the jazz-fusion they would become infamous for in the early 70's and beyond.
Even with these considerations in mind though, these guys early "psychedelic" period is a fun place to check in. Wyatt gets to strut his stuff around, his feathery voice constantly in step with Mike Ratledge's stupendous fuzzboxed organ work: his brief forays into dissonance on groovy cuts like 'Hope For Happiness' and 'Joy For A Toy' are, in a word, inspiring to the ear. Or at least I've always thought so. Hell, I owe these guys for introducing me to the more experimental side of rock and jazz in general (though I'm surprised this managed to chart as well as it did: just goes to show you how different the times were).
Great album in any case though, and I'm glad I spent some more time with it. My choice for the first single honestly would have been 'Why Are We Sleeping' over 'Joy For A Toy' though. The woozy chorus line is typical of the period, but that counterpoint rhythm coupled with those Alan Rickman-esque spoken word interludes should have at least provided some novelty oomph for whatever passed for Top Of The Pops in 1968. Oh well...
While I wouldn't use
The Soft Machine as a basis of comparison against
Third,
Fourth or even the
Allan Holdsworth-led
Bundles, I highly recommend it to progfans everywhere.
85/100