Soft Machine - Soft Machine's Little Red Records (1970)

johntest has been busy recently upgrading the artwork for some of the posts on the excellent Soft Machine alternate universe blog https://softmachinerigamarole.blogspot.com, and I think that this one is such an improvement that I'm replacing the original cover on the post and in the album file with this one. If you already have the album then just save it from this page. The illustration of Kevin Ayers is by Neal Anderson. 

Allan Holdsworth - ...and on guitar (2017) EXPANDED EDITION

The premise of this series is to showcase famous guitarist's guest appearances on other people's records, but Allan Holdsworth had such an individual career that for this post it will be slightly different. Holdsworth is a unique musician, who is held in high regard by both his fans and his peers, and yet his career is quite fragmented, in that he tended to join a band, record one album with them, and then leave to move on, in effect becoming the guest musician in his own life. This expanded edition takes his career beyond his short-lived membership of those bands of the 70's, and into a 30 year period of solo albums, collaborations, and what turned out to be a multitude of guest appearances.
Allan Holdsworth was born in Bradford on 6th August 1946, where he was raised by his maternal grandparents. His grandfather Sam Holdsworth was a jazz pianist who had previously moved to London to pursue a career in music, but he eventually returned to Bradford. Holdsworth was given his first guitar at the age of 17, receiving his initial music tuition from his grandfather, and his professional career began when he joined the Glen South Band, which performed on the Mecca club circuit across Northern England. His first recordings were in 1969 with the band 'Igginbottom on their lone release, ''Igginbottom's Wrench', on which he also sang and wrote most of the music. In 1971 he joined Sunship, an improvisational band featuring keyboardist Alan Gowen, future King Crimson percussionist Jamie Muir and bassist Laurie Baker, but although they played live, they never released any recorded material. The following year he teamed up with Nucleus leader Ian Carr, and played on Carr's solo album 'Belladonna', before moving on to join progressive rock band Tempest, contributing to their self-titled debut studio album in 1973. Leaving Tempest, he then joined Soft Machine, playing on their 'Bundles' album, then leaving them to join The New Tony Williams Lifetime while they were recording their 'Believe It' album. Another move in 1976 found him in Gong, and recording their progressive jazz/fusion album 'Gazeuse!', before joining Jean-Luc Ponty to play on his 'Enigmatic Ocean'. In 1978 he was off again to team up with Bill Bruford for his 'Feels Good To Me' record, before Bruford formed the progressive rock supergroup U.K. with John Wetton and Eddie Jobson, and invited Holdsworth to join them, where he played on their first album before leaving them. 

Whilst U.K. continued with different musicians, Bruford returned to the core line-up of his solo band ,now simply named Bruford, with Holdsworth retained as guitarist, and their second album 'One Of A Kind' was released in 1979. At this point Holdsworth was ready to pursue his own musical aspirations and soon left the group, teaming up first with Gordon Beck, and then Gary Husband, and by 1982 he'd released his first album as bandleader, with his group I.O.U.'s self-titled record. This was the start of along and illustrious career for him, releasing numerous critically acclaimed albums over a 30 year period. His 1986 album 'Atavachron' was a landmark release in that it was the first to feature Holdsworth's work with a brand new instrument named the SynthAxe. This unusually designed MIDI controller (different from a guitar synthesizer) would become a staple of Holdsworth's playing for the rest of his recording career, during which he would effectively become the public face of the instrument. The next year saw the release of a fourth album, 'Sand', which featured no vocals and showcased further SynthAxe experimentation. This was also the year which saw him back in the studio as a jobbing musician, as after releasing an album a year for five years he answered the call to provide his inimitable guitar-work to an album being recorded by Swiss hard-rockers Krokus. It was a departure from his usual style, but it must have provided the impetus to do more session work, as from 1988 onwards he was hardly ever out of the studio. Firstly there was a second collaboration with Gordon Beck, 'With A Heart In My Song', in 1988, followed by his contribution to a track on Stanley Clarke's 'If This Bass Could Only Talk' album, and also appearing on the title track of 'Radio Free Albemuth' by Stuart Hamm. 

A collaboration in 1990 with fusion guitarist Frank Gambale came about in the form of 'Truth In Shredding', an ambitious collaborative project put together by Mark Varney (brother of Shrapnel Records founder Mike Varney) through his Legato Records label. In December of that year, following the death of Level 42 guitarist Alan Murphy in 1989, Holdsworth was recruited by the band to play as a guest musician during a series of concerts at London's Hammersmith Odeon, and with former band-mate Gary Husband now being the drummer for Level 42, these circumstances all led to him contributing guitar work on five tracks for their 1991 album, 'Guaranteed'. The same year he played on Chad Wackerman's first studio album, 'Forty Reasons', returning a favour as Wackerman was Holdsworth's drummer for most of their 30 year career. The 2000's began positively with the release of 'The Sixteen Men Of Tain' in 2000, but it turned out to be the last album he recorded at his Brewery studios, as immediately afterwards he abruptly slowed down his solo output due to events within his personal life. He did, however, tour extensively around both North America and Europe, and played as a guest on albums by numerous artists, most notably on keyboardist Derek Sherinian's 2004 album 'Mythology', as well as with the latter's progressive metal supergroup Planet X, on their 2007 album 'Quantum', and on K²'s 'Book Of The Dead' from 2005. In 2006 he performed with Wackerman, keyboardist Alan Pasqua, and bassist Jimmy Haslip as part of a live tribute act in honour of the late Tony Williams, with whom Holdsworth and Pasqua had played in the mid-1970's. His final contribution to a record was probably his appearance on a couple of tracks from MSM Schmidt's 'Life' album, and his 'Endomorph' was sampled by Playboi Carti on his track 'Location', both in 2017, the year in which Holdsworth passed away at the age of 70, with his death being attributed to high blood pressure. 

Holdsworth's mercurial career has covered many bands, sometimes going back to play with them again years later, but the one thing they all have in common is that their music was enhanced by his inventive guitar playing. Holdsworth was known for his highly advanced knowledge of music theory, through which he incorporated a vast array of complex chord progressions, often using unusual chord shapes in an abstract way based on his understanding of 'chord scales', and intricate improvised solos, frequently across shifting tonal centres. He used a myriad of scale forms often derived from those such as the lydian, diminished, harmonic major, augmented, whole tone, chromatic and altered scales, among others, often resulting in an unpredictable and dissonant 'outside' sound. His unique legato soloing technique stemmed from his original desire to play the saxophone, but unable to afford one, he strove to use the guitar to create similarly smooth lines of notes. His guitar style really was unique, and he continues to be cited as an influence by other musicians to this day. 

Track listing

Disc I - 1969-1978
01 Golden Lakes (from ''Igginbottom's Wrench' by 'Igginbottom 1969)
02 Hector's House (from 'Belladonna' by Ian Carr 1972)
03 Up And On (from 'Tempest' by Tempest 1973)
04 Land Of The Bag Snake (from 'Bundles' by Soft Machine 1975)
05 Proto Cosmas (from 'Believe It' by The New Tony Williams Lifetime 1975)
06 Expresso (from 'Gazeuse!' by Gong 1976)
07 Enigmatic Ocean Part III (from 'Enigmatic Ocean' by Jean-Luc Ponty 1977)
08 If You Can't Stand The Heat...' (from 'Feels Good To Me' by Bruford 1978)
09 Nevermore (from 'U.K.' by U.K. 1978)

Disc II - 1986-1991
01 Long Way From Home (from 'Change Of Address' by Krokus 1986)
02 The Grand Pajandrum (from 'Soma' by Soma 1986)
03 Stories To Tell (from 'If This Bass Could Only Talk' by Stanley Clarke 1988)
04 Radio Free Albemuth (from 'Radio Free Albemuth' by Stuart Hamm 1988)
05 Obsession (from 'A Question Of Time' by Jack Bruce 1989)
06 Under Fire (from 'Attack Of The Neon Shark' by Alex Masi 1989)
07 Bathsheba (from 'Truth In Shredding' by The Mark Varney Project 1990)
08 You Came Along (from 'Forty Reasons' by Chad Wackerman 1991)

Disc III - 1991-2004
01 A Kinder Eye (from 'Guaranteed' by Level 42 1991)
02 You Have To Wait (from 'Oneness' by Andrea Marcelli 1992)
03 Forest Of Feeling (from 'Lone Ranger' by Jeff Watson 1992)
04 Allan Qui? (from 'Suffer' by Gongzilla 1995)
05 Wring It Out (from 'From Your Heart And Your Soul' by Steve Hunt 1997) 
06 Day Of The Dead (from 'Mythology' by Derek Sherinian 2004)
07 Long Voyage Home (from 'Sonic Undertow' by Riptyde 2004)

Disc IV - 2005-2017
01 Aten (Window Of Appearances) (from 'Book Of The Dead' by K² 2005)
02 Skippy (from 'Nebula' by David Hines 2005)
03 Tsunami (from 'The State Of Things' by David Garfield & Friends 2005)

04 El Gato Fandango (from 'Prowlin' by Dan Carlin 2007)
05 The Thinking Stone (from 'Quantum' by Planet X 2007)
06 Fred 2011 (from 'Dirty & Beautiful - Volume 2' by Gary Husband 2012)
07 Location (from 'Playboi Carti' by Playboi Carti 2017)
08 Vista (from 'Life' by MSM Schmidt 2017)

Soft Machine - Soft Machine's Little Red Records (1970)

After touring the first half of 1972, Soft Machine got back together in CBS Studios around the summertime to record their next album. With Robert Fripp at the production helm, the album was conceived as a "musical adaptation of The Little Red Book". Originally the double album was set to be titled 'Soft Machine's Little Red Records' with an accompanying cover parodying a piece of Chinese propaganda artwork. The title and artwork, however, was turned down by Harvest, who feared the potential controversy. "I honestly don’t blame 'em", said Kevin Ayers, "I doubt our original cover would have done us any favours in the US, what with the Cold War and Red Terror and all that. Personally I never really cared that much for Rob's politics either way, so I was sort of unphased by it." The album was then retitled after one of Ayers' songs, 'Stranger in Blue Suede Shoes', and was preceded by the single 'Stranger in Blue Suede Shoes' / 'God Song', which failed to reach the top 40 everywhere except New Zealand. While the album was critically acclaimed, it failed to make a significant commercial impact, reaching only #80 in the US and #16 in the UK. "I think that album, in particular, was very contrasting terms of our songwriting", said Robert Wyatt, "yet that made it work so well. They oddly balance each other a bit, mine being more political nonsense, and Kevin’s being somewhat bohemian and carefree. It almost forms this narrative of sorts, contrasting the complicated matters of politics with the simple pleasures of life." 

I actually preferred the original title and sleeve, so have reinstated them for this pared-down version of the original double album. I omitted 'Nan's True Hole' as a version of that had already appeared on my previous Hatfield And The North post, and I felt a couple of Ayers' songs sounded a bit out of place, so left them off as well, although he is still very well-represented on here. I've also used an alternate, extended take of 'Flora Fidget', and cross-faded and edited where I thought it would improve the flow. The result is a great 50-minute album, so enjoy this new Soft Machine record from an alternate universe where the band never broke up.

  

Track listing

01 Starting in the Middle of the Day We Can Drink Our Politics Away 
02 Marchides
03 Butterfly Dance
04 Righteous Rhumba 
05 Brandy as in Benj 
06 Song From The Bottom Of A Well 
07 God Song
08 Smoke Signal

09 Stranger In Blue Suede Shoes
10 Flora Fidget
11 Hymn

Enormous thanks to The Soft Machine Rigmarole for their notes, and for putting together the original double album from which this abbreviated version is taken. Hope they don't mind me posting this, but I love their site and want to publicise it as much as I can. 

Allan Holdsworth - ...and on guitar (1978)

The premise of this series is to showcase famous guitarist's guest appearances on other people's records, but Allan Holdsworth had such an individual career that for this post it will be slightly different. Holdsworth is a unique musician, who is held in high regard by both his fans and his peers, and yet his career is quite fragmented, in that he tended to join a band, record one album with them, and then leave to move on, in effect becoming the guest musician in his own life.

Allan Holdsworth was born in Bradford on 6th August 1946, where he was raised by his maternal grandparents. His grandfather Sam Holdsworth was a jazz pianist who had previously moved to London to pursue a career in music, but he eventually returned to Bradford. Holdsworth was given his first guitar at the age of 17, receiving his initial music tuition from his grandfather, and his professional career began when he joined the Glen South Band, which performed on the Mecca club circuit across Northern England. His first recordings were in 1969 with the band 'Igginbottom on their lone release, ''Igginbottom's Wrench', on which he also sang and wrote most of the music. In 1971 he joined Sunship, an improvisational band featuring keyboardist Alan Gowen, future King Crimson percussionist Jamie Muir and bassist Laurie Baker, but although they played live, they never released any recorded material. The following year he teamed up with Nucleus leader Ian Carr, and played on Carr's solo album 'Belladonna', before moving on to join progressive rock band Tempest, and recording their self-titled debut studio album in 1973. Leaving Tempest, he then joined Soft Machine, playing on their 'Bundles' album, then leaving them to join The New Tony Williams Lifetime and playing on their 'Believe It' album. 

Another move in 1976 found him in Gong, and recording their progressive jazz/fusion album 'Gazeuse!', before joining Jean-Luc Ponty to play on his 'Enigmatic Ocean', and in 1978 he was off again to team up with Bill Bruford for his 'Feels Good To Me' record, before Bruford formed the progressive rock supergroup U.K. with John Wetton and Eddie Jobson, and invited Holdsworth to join them, where he played on their first album before leaving them. Whilst U.K. continued with different musicians, Bruford returned to the core line-up of his solo band now simply named Bruford, with Holdsworth retained as guitarist, and their second album 'One Of A Kind' was released in 1979. At this point Holdsworth was ready to pursue his own musical aspirations and soon left the group, teaming up first with Gordon Beck, and then Gary Husband, and by 1982 he'd released his first album as bandleader, with I.O.U.'s self-titled record. After eleven solo albums, and constant touring to promote them, he passed away on 15th April 2017, with his death attributed to high blood pressure. 

Holdsworth's mercurial career has covered many bands, sometimes going back to play with them again years later, but the one thing they all have in common is that their music was enhanced by his inventive guitar playing. Holdsworth was known for his highly advanced knowledge of music theory, through which he incorporated a vast array of complex chord progressions, often using unusual chord shapes in an abstract way based on his understanding of 'chord scales', and intricate improvised solos, frequently across shifting tonal centres. He used a myriad of scale forms often derived from those such as the lydian, diminished, harmonic major, augmented, whole tone, chromatic and altered scales, among others, often resulting in an unpredictable and dissonant 'outside' sound. His unique legato soloing technique stemmed from his original desire to play the saxophone, but unable to afford one, he strove to use the guitar to create similarly smooth lines of notes. His guitar style really was unique, and he continues to be cited as an influence by other musicians to this day. 

Track listing

01 Golden Lakes (from ''Igginbottom's Wrench' by 'Igginbottom 1969)

02 Hector's House (from 'Belladonna' by Ian Carr 1972)

03 Up And On (from 'Tempest' by Tempest 1973)

04 Land Of The Bag Snake (from 'Bundles' by Soft Machine 1975)

05 Proto Cosmas (from 'Believe It' by The New Tony Williams Lifetime 1975)

06 Expresso (from 'Gazeuse!' by Gong 1976)

07 Enigmatic Ocean Part III (from 'Enigmatic Ocean' by Jean-Luc Ponty 1977)

08 If You Can't Stand The Heat...' (from 'Feels Good To Me' by Bruford 1978)

09 Nevermore (from 'U.K.' by U.K. 1978)

Soft Machine - Rivmic Melodies (1969)

Soft Machine were formed in mid-1966 by Robert Wyatt (drums, vocals), Kevin Ayers (bass, guitar, vocals), Daevid Allen (guitar) and Mike Ratledge (organ) plus, for the first few gigs only, American guitarist Larry Nowlin. This first Soft Machine line-up was involved in the early UK underground, performing at the UFO Club, the Speakeasy Club and Middle Earth, and their first single 'Love Makes Sweet Music' / 'Feelin' Reelin' Squeelin' was released in early 1967. They toured the Netherlands, Germany, and the French Riviera, and were highly regarded in Paris, as part of "in" crowd, resulting in invitations to appear on television shows and at the Paris Biennale in October 1967. After their return from France, Allen (an Australian) was denied re-entry to the United Kingdom, so he returned to Paris to form Gong, and the group continued as a trio. The band's first album had been recorded in New York City in April 1968, at the end of the first leg of an American tour with The Jimi Hendrix Experience, and to promote the album another tour of America was arranged, with Andy Summers, formerly of Dantalion's Chariot, joining the band on guitar. During the tour Summers was fired at the insistence of Ayers, who himself departed amicably after the final tour date at the Hollywood Bowl, and for the remainder of 1968 Soft Machine were no more. Wyatt stayed in the U.S. to record solo demos, while Ratledge returned to London and began composing in earnest. 
In December 1968, to fulfill contractual obligations, Soft Machine re-formed with former road manager and composer Hugh Hopper on bass, and recorded their second album 'Volume Two' in 1969, which started a transition toward jazz fusion. However, for this post we're imagining that when Soft Machine reformed in 1969, all three original members agreed to get back together, and so their second album 'Rivmic Melodies' included songs from all three composers, and was a mixture of first album-style songs and the new jazz-fusion direction that the band was experimenting with. There is a fascinating alternate timeline for Soft Machine here https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/the-soft-machine-rigmarole-a-soft-machine-timeline.484978/, from which I've borrowed the album title and cover, but their idea for the 'third' (in their timeline) album was for it to be a double, which included most of 'Volume Two' and Kevin Ayers' 'Joy Of A Toy'. However, on listening to it I felt that a few of Ayers' songs didn't really fit with the more avant garde Soft Machine sound, so I've condensed it down to a single album. It does include his 'Joy Of A Toy' out-take 'Soon, Soon, Soon', renamed for this album by the alternate timeline site as 'Pataphysical Conclusion', as a counterpoint to the opening 'Pataphysical Introduction', and whereas I'd loved to have used the original, slower mix of Ayer's 'The Lady Rachel', the orchestration sounded out of place so I've stuck with the original take. Ayers' 'Song For Insane Times' actually has Hopper, Ratledge and Wyatt as the backing band, so is in effect a Soft Machine recording, and so by adding these to a choice selection of tracks from 'Volume Two', we have the album that the Ayers/Ratledge/Wyatt lineup could have made in 1969. I've edited and cross-faded the tracks, as on the original 'Volume Two', and so enjoy the second album from the original line-up of Soft Machine.     

Track listing

01 Pataphysical Introduction  
02 Hibou Anemone and Bear  
03 Song for Insane Times  
04 Dada Was Here
05 The Lady Rachel
06 Hulloder  
07 Pataphysical Conclusion  
08 As Long As He Lies Perfectly Still  
09 Eleanor’s Cake (Which Ate Her) 
10 Dedicated to You But You Weren’t Listening  
11 Stop This Train (Again Doing It)  
12 A Door Opens and Closes  
13 10:30 Returns to the Bedroom