Soft Machine - Live In Paris May 2nd, 1972 (2004)

Soft Machine are an English rock and jazz band from Canterbury formed in mid-1966, named after the novel The Soft Machine by William S. Burroughs.Australian poet, guitarist, singer, composer and performance artist Daevid Allen moved to Paris in 1960. Inspired by the emerging 'Beat Generation' of writer's works he'd discovered whilst working in a Melbourne bookshop he moved into a room in Paris's 'Beat Hotel' and spent time around the city's Latin Quarter. There, he rubbed shoulders with Terry Riley and William S. Burroughs, gaining free access to the area's jazz clubs. Influenced by the music philosophies of Sun Ra he formed the Daevid Allen Trio, a free-jazz outfit which performed in Burroughs' theatre pieces based on that writer's novel 'The Ticket That Exploded'.In 1961 Allen travelled to Canterbury, England, where he met 16 year-old Robert Wyatt (who was the son of his landlord). Their mutual interest in jazz resulted in a few gigs, in London in 1963, as the Daevid Allen Trio (with Hugh Hopper on bass and Mike Ratledge occasionally guesting on piano). Around the same time, Wyatt formed the Wilde Flowers with the Hopper brothers, Hugh and Brian Hopper, with Kevin Ayers on vocals.

Track List:
CD1 (47:06)

1. Plain Tiffs (Dean) - 3:30
2. All White (Ratledge) - 6:23
3. Slightly All The Time (Ratledge) - 13:07
4. Drop (Ratledge) - 7:49
5. M.C. (Hopper) - 2:59
6. Out-Bloody-Rageous (Ratledge) - 13:22pic

CD2 (58:00)

1. Facelift (Hopper) - 17:50
2. And Sevens (Dean, Hopper, Marshall, Ratledge) - 8:54
3. As If (Ratledge) - 8:27
4. LBO (Marshall) - 6:07
5. Pigling Bland (Ratledge) - 6:04
6. At Sixes (Dean, Hopper, Marshall, Ratledge) - 10:35