Soft Machine - The Dutch Lesson

Roy Babbington - Electric 6-string bass Karl Jenkins - Soprano sax, baritone sax, oboe, electric piano John Marshall - Drums Mike Ratledge - Electric piano, organ As far as Soft Machine liverecordings go, the second half of 1973 has until nowbeen poorly documented. Wehave theNDRJazz Workshopperformance in Hamburg fromMay 1973 (Cuneiform Rune 305/306), but having beentaped just after RoyBabbingtonhad joined, it is greatly of interest tofollowers to hear how the line-up wouldhave gelled after a few months on theroad. Shortly after the perioddocumented here, the band would swell to a quintet, inorder to accommodate aguitarist (first AllanHoldsworth and then John Etheridge,who remains in theband to this day), an instrument that the band had not featuredsincefall,1967! Recorded at De Lantaren,Rotterdam, The Netherlands, on October 26, 1973, thispreviously unknown andnever-beforereleased recording showcases the band as aroad-tested powerhouse.TheDutch Lessonis the 11th release in Cuneiform's on-going series ofarchival releases documenting the work of Britain's restlesslycreativeSoft Machine. Disc One 1. Stanley Stamps Gibbon Album (Ratledge) 7:16 2. Between(Jenkins/Ratledge) 2:12 3. The Soft Weed Factor (Jenkins) 11:05 4. Lefty (Soft Machine) 1:58 5. Gesolreut(Ratledge) 9:30 6. EPV(Jenkins) 4:33 7. Down The Road (Jenkins) 10:40 8. Ealing Comedy (Babbington) 5:33 9. 371/2(Ratledge) 7:17 10. J.S.M.(Marshall) 4:39 11. Riff II (Jenkins) :41 Disc Two 1. Chloe and the Pirates (Ratledge) 9:57 2. Hazard Profile (Jenkins) 13:56 3. Improvisation (Soft Machine) 5:20 4. Gesolreut Jam (Ratledge) 7:41