Marshall, Jenkins, John Etheridge, Ric Sanders, Steve Cook
Ratledge (on studio track "Soft Space")
1 February 2019
2020
Live at The Baked Potato
Marshall, Etheridge, Roy Babbington, Theo Travis
Archival live albums
Recorded (exact dates given unless unconfirmed)
Released
Album
Line-up
April – 10 December 1967 (includes some studio recordings)
2001
Soft Machine Turns On Volume 1
April – June 1967 recordings: Mike Ratledge, Robert Wyatt, Kevin Ayers, Daevid Allen 22 September – 10 December 1967 recordings: Ratledge, Wyatt, Ayers
September 1967 – May 1968
2006
Middle Earth Masters
Ratledge, Wyatt, Ayers
10 November 1967 – 11 August 1968
2001
Soft Machine Turns On Volume 2
29 March 1969
1996
Live at the Paradiso 1969
Ratledge, Wyatt, Hugh Hopper
4 January 1970
2000
Noisette
Ratledge, Wyatt, H. Hopper, Elton Dean, Lynn Dobson
17 January 1970
2022
Facelift France & Holland (Disc 2)
31 January 1970
2005
Breda Reactor
2 March 1970
2022
Facelift France & Holland (Disc 1 + DVD)
20 – 25 April 1970
2004
Somewhere in Soho
Ratledge, Wyatt, H. Hopper, Dean
26 April 1970
2002
Facelift
November 1969 – May 1970
2002
Backwards
November 1969 recordings: Ratledge, Wyatt, H. Hopper, Dean, Dobson, Mark Charig, Nick Evans May 1970 recordings: Ratledge, Wyatt, H. Hopper, Dean
Ratledge, Marshall, Jenkins, Babbington, John Etheridge
Archival studio recordings
Recorded
Released
Album
Line-up
April 1967
1972
Jet Propelled Photographs (gained this title in 1988, previously released under various other titles including Faces and Places Vol. 7 and At the Beginning)
Mike Ratledge, Robert Wyatt, Kevin Ayers, Daevid Allen
Circa Spring/Summer 1969
1996
Spaced
Ratledge, Wyatt, Hugh Hopper, Brian Hopper
Compilation albums
Year
Album
Notes
1977
Triple Echo
Triple album covering the band's whole history to that point, featuring select tracks from all the albums up to Softs, the most recent at the time, the band's first single "Love Makes Sweet Music" and its B-side "Feelin' Reelin' Squeelin'", both later included on 2009 remaster of The Soft Machine, and several unreleased recordings, all later included among the archival albums listed above except this version of "She's Gone", which remains exclusive to this album.
Other minor releases
These albums were either released by small labels with most of their content available on the main albums listed above or are reissues/"Best of" collections released by major labels with all previously released material.
One side only, more April 1967 demo recordings. This and the preceding entry were combined on many subsequent releases, under such titles as Faces & Places Vol.7 (BYG Records, 1972), At the Beginning (Charly Records, 1976), Jet Propelled Photographs (Piccadilly, 1980 [LP], Charly, 2003 [CD]), and several others. These issues contain the track "She's Gone", recorded in April 1967, which is not the same track released in Triple Echo.
1975
1&2 (Architects of Space Time)
Double album reissue of the first two albums.
1990
The Untouchable
Compilation of tracks from Bundles, Softs, and Alive and Well.
1991
As If...
Curious (probably unauthorized) compilation with six Ratledge/Hopper compositions ranging from 1970's Third to 1973's Six.
1994
Soft Machine
Live At The Paradiso 1969 plus six tracks from Jet Propelled Photographs.
1995
The Harvest Albums 1975–1978
Box set of the Harvest-era albums Bundles (1975) to Alive & Well (1978).
Voiceprint Records released four CDs containing several tracks by various musicians from the Canterbury scene (mainly from the Soft Machine and the Caravan bands), compiled and with notes by Brian Hopper. The four single CDs are re-released in 2013 in a box set.
1998
Live 1970 (also known as Live in Europe 1970)
Tracks 1–2 recorded on 13 February 1970 at Swansea (or 14 at the London School of Economics); tracks 3–11 also in Live at the Proms; here, with the edited version of "Out-Bloody-Rageous" from 11:54 to 8:46, and "Esther's Nose Job" split in seven contiguous tracks.
1999
Fourth / Fifth
CD reissue of Fourth and Fifth, the first CBS-era album Third was already available on CD individually.
2001
Man in a Deaf Corner: Anthology 1963–1970
Disc 1 mainly containing live pieces from 1963 to circa 1967, with tracks 7–9 also in Turns On vol. 1 (respectively tracks 2, 1, 16); Disc 2 containing a recording at the Paradiso, 29 March 1969 (tracks 1–10) also in Live at the Paradiso (about 32 min out of 40 min); tracks 11–12 ("Facelift" and "Moon in June" – short versions) also in Live 1970 (respectively tracks 1–2); tracks 13–16 recorded at the Fairfield Halls in Croydon on 26 April 1970, also in Facelift (respectively tracks 4–7); track 17 is a Jakko Jakszyk rendition of "As Long as He Lies Perfectly Still" in conjunction with the two short tracks "That Still and Perfect Summer" and "Astral Projection in Pinner" to appear in his future album The Bruised Romantic Glee Club (Iceni 2006).
2004
Six / Seven
2-CD reissue of the last two CBS-era albums Six and Seven.
2005
Out-Bloody-Rageous: An Anthology 1967–1973
2-CD compilation of tracks from up to, and including, Seven.
2005
Orange Skin Food
2-CD compilation of previously released live recordings; tracks from Somewhere In Soho, recorded 20–25 April 1971, Facelift, recorded 26 April 1970 and the entire Live in Europe 1970, recorded 13 or 14 February 1970 and 13 August 1970 at the Proms.
2010
Original Album Classics
5-CD box set of the 2007 remasters of the CBS-era albums Third,Fourth,Fifth,Six and Seven.
2011
Tales of Taliesin: The EMI Years Anthology 1975–1981
2-CD compilation of tracks from Bundles to Land of Cockayne.
2013
68
Credited to Robert Wyatt, it nonetheless contains an 18 minutes early version of "Rivmic Melodies" (to appear in the 1969 album Volume 2) and a 20 minutes early version of "Moon in June" (to appear in the 1970 album Third), both recorded in U.S. in 1968, after Soft Machine's first dissolution, and just before the new formation with Hopper in place of Ayers.
Re-issue in a single 4 CDs edition of the four titles previously released in 1998 by Brian Hopper on Voiceprint.
2014
Tanglewood Tails
2 CDs, Disc 1 with tracks 1–4 from 1963 (also in "Canterburied Sounds"), tracks 5–12 from 1967 studio recordings (also in Turns On vol. 1); Disc 2 with tracks 1–4 live from the Col Ballroom, Davenport, Iowa, 11 August 1968 (also in Turns On vol. 2), tracks 5–6 live from the Paradiso, Amsterdam, 29 March 1969 (also in Live at the Paradiso), tracks 7–11 live from the Fairfield Halls, Croydon, 26 April 1970 (also in "Facelift"). The quality of tracks are far better than in both volumes of Turns On (especially "She's Gone" – June 1967 version that now has a quality comparable to the Triple Echo version – that is up to now the only acceptable CD version of this track).
2014
Turns On (An early collection)
2 CDs – Reprint from Floating World Records of the two Turns On volumes of 2001, with the same track list. The low quality of the former editions was here maintained.
2014
Live in 1970
4 CDs – Reprint of two live concerts. Disc 1 and Disc 2 recorded at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club on 20–25 April 1970 (already in Somewhere in Soho, Voiceprint, 2004), Disc 3 and Disc 4 recorded at Het Turfschip, Breda, Netherlands on 31 January 1970 (already in Breda Reactor, Voiceprint, 2005).
2014
Live in the 70s
4 CDs – Reprint of various live concerts. Disc 1 and the first four tracks on Disc 2 also issued as Live in Paris (Cuneiform, 2004); tracks 5–7 of Disc 2 also appear on Backwards (Cuneiform, 2002); Mark Charig is here wrongly mentioned as the trumpet player; Disc 3 was previously released as Noisette (Cuneiform, 2000) and Disc 4 was previously issued as Drop (Moonjune, 2008).
2015
Hugh Hopper Volume 9: Anatomy of Facelift
Five performances of "Facelift", 1969 through 1971.
2019
Live in London in the early Sixties (LP)
Eight tracks recorded live in 1963 in London, with Brian Hopper (sax), Hugh Hopper (cello, bass), Robert Wyatt (drums, voice), Kevin Ayers (bass, voice), Mike Ratledge (organ), Daevid Allen (guitar). These tracks are also in Man in a Deaf Corner (2001, 2 CD) as tracks 1.01–1.06 in a different remix.
2019
Top Gear Live in London 1967–1969 (LP)
Side 1 recorded in 1967 with the Ratledge/Wyatt/Ayers line-up; Side 2 recorded in 1969 with Ratledge/Wyatt/H. Hopper/B. Hopper line-up and including "Facelift" and "Moon in June".
Singles
1967: "Love Makes Sweet Music"/"Feelin' Reelin' Squeelin'" (Line-up: Mike Ratledge, Robert Wyatt, Kevin Ayers, Daevid Allen) (Released in the UK and New Zealand, both the A- and B-side were later included on Triple Echo in 1977, the first time either appeared on an album)
1968: "Joy of a Toy"/"Why Are We Sleeping?" (Line-up: Ratledge, Wyatt, Ayers) (Both A- and B-side from the album The Soft Machine, single released in the US and Japan)
1978: "Soft Space (Part 1)"/"Soft Space (Part 2)" (Line-up: John Marshall, Karl Jenkins, John Etheridge, Ric Sanders, Steve Cook) (From the album Alive and Well, single released in the UK and most other European countries)
2024: "The Dew at Dawn"/"(Slightly) Slightly All the Time" (Line-up: Etheridge, Theo Travis, Fred Baker, Asaf Sirkis) (Released in the UK and online)
Bootlegs
The 1960s
1968
1968, 08–11, Live at Davenport, Iowa (supporting The Jimi Hendrix Experience) (line-up: Mike Ratledge, Robert Wyatt, Kevin Ayers)
1968, 08–16, Live at the Merryweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland (supporting The Jimi Hendrix Experience) (line-up: same as previous)
1968, 09–14, Live at the Hollywood Bowl, California (supporting The Jimi Hendrix Experience) (line-up: same as previous; Kevin Ayers' last gig with Soft Machine and the band's last gig of 1968)
1969
1969, 04–13, Live at the Country Club in London (line-up: Ratledge, Wyatt, Hugh Hopper)
1969, 06–25, Live at the Ba.Ta.Clan in Paris (line-up: same as previous; Brian Hopper was in the band at this time but is absent from this show)
1969, 08–09, Live at Plumpton Race Course – only "Moon in June" was performed (line-up: Ratledge, Wyatt, H. Hopper, B. Hopper)
1969, 10–05, Live at the Lyceum in London (line-up: Ratledge, Wyatt, H. Hopper; B. Hopper was in the band at this time but is absent from this show)
1969, 10–27, Live at the Liverpool University – Excerpt (line-up: Ratledge, Wyatt, H. Hopper, Elton Dean, Lyn Dobson, Mark Charig, Nick Evans; Dean, Dobson, Charig and Evans' first gig with Soft Machine)
1969, 10–28, Live at Actuel Festival in Amougies, Belgium – Excerpt (line-up: same as previous)
The 1970s
1970
1970, 01–04, Live at the Fairfield Halls, Croydon – This concert was published as Noisette (Cuneiform, 2000), but this official release lacks "Facelift" that was in part used for the Third album (1970), where it is joined by another version recorded 11 January and overdubbed. This concert is inserted here only because the version of "Facelift" herein contained (over 25 minutes long) is a very special version and the full song would deserve an official treatment. (line-up: Ratledge, Wyatt, H. Hopper, Dean, Dobson; first gig of this five-piece line-up and Soft Machine's first gig of the 1970s)
1970, 01–17, Live at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam (line-up: same as previous)
1970, 04–04, Live at the Kolner Festival, Germany (line-up: Ratledge, Wyatt, H. Hopper, Dean; first gig of this four-piece line-up)
1970, 09–17, Alan Black "Sound of the Seventies" (broadcast 25 Sept.), recorded at the Camden Theatre in London (line-up: same as previous)
1970, 10–24, Live at DeDoelen, Rotterdam – Excerpt (line-up: same as previous)
1971
1971, 02–07, Live at the Roundhouse, London, UK (line-up: same as previous)
1971, 03–21, Live in Het Turfschip, Breda, Netherlands (line-up: same as previous)
1971, 06–07, Live at the Cafe au Go Go (the Gaslight) in New York City (line-up: same as previous)
1971, 10–17, Donaueschinger Musiktage – This concert has appeared partially on Drop (Moonjune 2008) (line-up: Ratledge, H. Hopper, Dean, Phil Howard)
1971, 11–07, Live at the Berlin Jazz Festival – There exist two versions of this concert: the live recording and the radio broadcast (with German DJ inserts) – this concert has appeared partially on Drop (Moonjune 2008) (line-up: same as previous)
1972
1972, 04–22, Live at Palazzo dello Sport in Bergamo, Italy (line-up: Ratledge, H. Hopper, Dean, John Marshall)
1972, 04–24, Live at the Piper Club in Rome (line-up: same as previous)
1972, 07–07, Live at King's Cross Cinema (line-up: Ratledge, H. Hopper, Marshall, Karl Jenkins; Karl Jenkins' first gig with Soft Machine)
1972, 12–03, Live at Fairfield Halls, Croydon, UK (line-up: same as previous)
1974
1974, 03–11, Radio Interview with Mike Ratledge and Allan Holdsworth for an American radio broadcast
1974, 03–13, Live at Syracuse University in Syracuse, New York (line-up: Ratledge, Marshall, Jenkins, Roy Babbington, Allan Holdsworth)
1974, 03–17, Live at "My Father's Place" in Roslyn, New York (line-up: same as previous)
1974, 03–23–24, Live at the Howard Stein's Academy of Music in New York (line-up: same as previous)
1974, 08–10, Live at Le Naiadi, Pescara, Italy (line-up: same as previous)
1974, 09–20–24, Villa Pamphili Festival in Rome (line-up: same as previous)
1975
1975, 01–16, Live in Stuttgart, Germany (line-up: same as previous)
1975, 08–24, Live at the Reading Festival, UK (line-up: same as previous)
1975, 08–29, Live in Vienna (line-up: same as previous)
1975, 11–26, Live at the Cinéma Variétés in Marseille, France (line-up: same as previous)
1976
1976, 02–18, Live at the Palasport in Reggio Emilia, Italy (line-up: Ratledge, Marshall, Jenkins, Babbington, Etheridge, Alan Wakeman)
1976, 08–08, Live in Trieste, Italy (line-up: Marshall, Jenkins, Babbington, Etheridge, Ray Warleigh)
1976, 10–09, Live in Roskilde, Copenhagen (line-up: Marshall, Jenkins, Etheridge, Ric Sanders, Percy Jones)
1976, 12–13, Live at the Palais des Sports in Paris (line-up: Marshall, Jenkins, Etheridge, Sanders, Steve Cook)
Related bands, projects & tributes discography
Discography
The following are either albums which include contributions from at least two members of Soft Machine or are Soft Machine tribute albums featuring contributions from at least one member.
