Soft Machine: Slightly All The Time (Recordings 1970 - 1974 / Box Set with 14 CD) [Blu-ray]

Slightly All The Time: Recordings 1970 - 1974 (Box Set / 14 CD + 3 Blu-ray)

Between 1970 and 1973, Soft Machine recorded five albums for CBS, and over the course of those five albums, the band changed almost beyond recognition. On *Third*, Robert Wyatt still sang on one track; by *Seven*, there were no more vocals—no Wyatt, no Elton Dean, and no Hugh Hopper—and the group played a dense, composed, riff-driven style of music that had more in common with Miles Davis’s electric bands than with anything else coming out of England at the time. This box set traces this evolution in detail. All five albums are included here, remastered from the original quarter-inch tapes, along with twelve additional CDs featuring sessions, concerts, and film footage.

The discovery is a completely different set of recordings from *Fifth* that had previously been unreleased, recorded by the same lineup and then shelved. It appears on the same CD as the released album. The BBC material is the other major addition: all of the band’s surviving sessions, as well as the “In Concert” broadcasts from 1970 to 1974—about half of which had never been released—and the previously released segments have been restored to complete performances for the first time.

Three CDs are devoted to the concert recordings. The performance at the Proms at the Royal Albert Hall on August 13, 1970, recorded by BBC Radio 3, showcases the quartet of Wyatt, Mike Ratledge, Dean, and Hopper at their very best on “Out-Bloody-Rageous” and “Esther’s Nose Job.” Bremen, March 1971, is a long set licensed by Radio Bremen. Montreux, July 1974, features Allan Holdsworth in the band alongside Karl Jenkins, John Marshall, and Roy Babbington, playing material from *Bundles*—a year before its release.

The three Blu-rays comprise over six hours of television footage, most of which has been unreleased since it aired and comes from French, Belgian, and German archives: Théâtre de la Musique in Paris (March 1970, INA), Théâtre 140 in Brussels (January 1971, SONUMA), “Beat Club” on Radio Bremen (March 1971), the Berlin Jazz Days at the Philharmonie (November 1971), the “Rockenstock” session, filmed at CBS Studios in London (November 1972), the BBC’s “Full House” (February 1973), the Jazz Workshop in Hamburg (May 1973), the Bataclan (May 1973), and Montreux once again.

Compiled by Mark Powell. Presented in a 12x12-inch slipcase containing a hardcover book with rare photos and notes by Sid Smith.

Треклист:
CD 1: “Third” – Released in June 1970
1. Facelift
2. Slightly All the Time
3. Moon in June
4. Out-Bloody-Rageous

CD 2: London – May 1970
1. Facelift
2. Moon in June
3. Esther’s Nose Job

CD 3 
BBC Radio Sessions – 1970
1. Slightly All the Time
2. Out-Bloody-Rageous
3. Eamonn Andrews

BBC Session – 4th May 1970
1. Facelift
2. Esther’s Nose Job

BBC Radio 1 “In Concert” – 31st May 1970
1. Virtually
2. Fletcher’s Blemish

BBC Radio 1 session – 15th December 1970

CD 4 
The Promenade Concert - Royal Albert Hall 13th August 1970. Recorded and broadcast by BBC Radio Three
Out-Bloody-Rageous
Facelift
Esther’s Nose Job
Pig
Orange Skin Food
A Door Opens and Closes
Pigling Bland
10:30 Returns to the Bedroom

CD 5
“Fourth” – Released in February 1971
Teeth
Kings and Queens
Fletcher’s Blemish
Virtually Part 1
Virtually Part 2
Virtually Part 3
Virtually Part 4

CD 6
BBC Radio 1 In Concert – 11th March 1971
Blind Badger
Neo Caliban Grides
Out-Bloody-Rageous
Eamonn Andrews
Pigling Bland
Kings and Queens
Teeth
All White

CD 7
Gondel Filmkunsttheater, Bremen – Germany 23rd March 1971
Facelift
Virtually
Slightly All the Time
Fletcher’s Blemish
Neo-Caliban Grides
Out-Bloody-Rageous
Eamonn Andrews
All White
Kings and Queens
Teeth
Pigling Bland

CD 8
BBC Radio 1 session – 1st June 1971
Neo-Caliban Grides
Dedicated to You But You Weren’t Listening
Eamonn Andrews / All White

BBC Radio 1 session – 15th November 1971
As If
Drop
Welcome to Frillsville

BBC Radio 1 session – 11th July 1972
Fanfare
All White
M C
Drop

CD 9: “Fifth” – Released in July 1972
All White
Drop
M C
As If
L B O
Pigling Bland
Bone

Bonus tracks: The Alternative “Fifth” Sessions
As If
Untitled Blow
Pigling Bland
(coda) Esther’s Nose Job
All White (Take Two)
As If
Drum Solo
Pigling Bland

CD 10: BBC Radio 1 In Concert – July 1972
Fanfare
All White
Slightly All the Time
M C
Drop
Stumble
B.O.
As If
Riff
Gesolreut

CD 11: “Six” – Released in February 1973
The live record:
Fanfare
All White
Between
Riff I
37 ½
Gesolreut
P.V.
Lefty
Stumble
5 from 13 (for Phil Seamen with Love & Thanks)
Riff II

The studio record:

The Soft Weed Factor
Stanley Stamp’s Gibbon Album (for B.O.)
Chloe and the Pirates
1983

CD 12: “Seven” – Released in October 1973
Nettle Bed
Carol Ann
Day’s Eye
Bone Fire
Tarabos
I.S.
Snodland
Penny Hitch
Block
Down the Road
The German Lesson
The French Lesson

CD 13
BBC Radio 1 John Peel session – 20th November 1973
Stanley Stamps Gibbon Album
Hazard Profile (Part 1)
Sinepost
Down the Road

BBC Radio 3 Jazz in Britain session – 26th August 1974
North Point
The Man Who Waved at Trains
Hazard Profile (Parts 1 – 4)

CD 14: Montreux Festival – 4th July 1974
Hazard Profile
The Floating World
Ealing Comedy
Bundles
Land of the Bag Snake
Joint
The Man Who Waved at Trains
Peff
The Man Who Waved at Trains (reprise)
LBO
Riff II
Lefty
Penny Hitch (coda)

Blu-ray #1 – The Video vaults 1970 – 1971
Theatre de la Musique, Paris. 2nd March 1970. Recorded for French television
Eamonn Andrews
Backwards
Mousetrap
Out-Bloody-Rageous
Facelift
Vocal improvisation
Esther’s Nose Job / Pigling Bland

Pop Deux 12 December 1970. The Recording of Soft Machine Fourth – BBC TV – Anatomy of Pop 10th January 1971
Neo-Caliban Grides

Theatre 140, Brussels 14th January 1971. Filmed for “Pop Shop” – Belgian TV
Improvisation
Neo-Caliban Grides
Out-Bloody-Rageous
Kings and Queens
Teeth
Pigling Bland
Esther’s Nose Job (excerpt)
….It’s Nothing
Mousetrap
Noisette

Blu-ray #2: The Video vaults 1971 – 1975
‘Beat Club’ Radio Bremen TV Session 23rd March 1971
Neo-Caliban Grides
Out-Bloody-Rageous
Vocal improvisation
Eamonn Andrews / All White

Berliner Jazztage Philharmonichalle, West Berlin 7th November 1971
Neo Caliban Grides
Slightly All The Time
Drop
M C
Out-Bloody-Rageous
As If
Dark Swing
Pigling Bland
Esther’s Nose Job (Outro)

Filmed 5th November 1972 at CBS Studios, London for “Emission Rockenstock”. Broadcast 30th January 1973 ORTF French Television
The Soft Weed Factor
LBO
Gesolreut

BBC TV – FULL HOUSE 17th February 1973. Soft Machine interviews and the band perform
Gesolreut
Fanfare / All White

Blu-ray #3: The Video Vaults 1973 – 1974
Soft Machine & Friends ‘Jazz Workshop’. Congresszentrum, Hamburg, Germany on May 17, 1973
Fanfare
All White
Link 1
The Soft Weed Factor
Link 2
37 ½
Link 3
Riff
Stanley Stamps Gibbon Album
Chloe and the Pirates
Gesolreut
E.P.V.
Link 4
Stumble
One Across
Riff II

Bataclan, Paris 29th May 1973. Broadcast on “Pop Deux” – French TV 30th June 1973.
Riff / Down The Road
Gesolreut / Chloe And The Pirates

Montreux Jazz Festival 4th July 1974
Hazard Profile
The Floating World
Ealing Comedy
Bundles
Land of the Bag Snake
Joint
The Man Who Waved at Trains
Peff
The Man Who Waved at Trains (reprise)
LBO
Riff II
Lefty
Penny Hitch (coda)