Ok, I won't lie. I have a bias towards guitar and hearing Allan Holdsworth had anything to do with Soft Machine piqued my interest. But outside of that I have certainly heard people talk about them over the years so this was a good chance to check it out. Although I did get them confused with Soft Boys for awhile which is silly but there you go. I did the customary Wiki search to find out a little bit and the "canterbury scene" was mentioned which I did not know much about.
But anyways. I really like this album after even one listen. I could just picture these guys playing at the famous UFO club. And what a perfect band to back up Syd Barret on some of his solo stuff.
So as far as this album.
I liked many things about it. The free jazz sound of So Boot if at all. We did it again is just hypnotic and ends up being like a mantra. Love the bass playing through wah-wah on Joy of a toy. Hope for Happiness would not be out of place on a Deep Purple album. Why are we sleeping could sit comfortably on a Nick Cave album. I love that it is a continuous suite of music. Very trippy, very of (and ahead of) it's time but in a good way. Sad to hear Kevin Ayers died last year. Definitely want to hear more of these guys. So that is my stream of conciousness on this one. At the end of the day, I want this on vinyl and will listen to it again.
80/100