Soft Machine

Soft Machine

Soft Machine is a British rock band from Canterbury, England, active from 1966 to the present. It forms part of the Canterbury scene and is associated with progressive rock, psychedelic rock, jazz, jazz fusion, acid rock, art rock and experimental music.

Formation and name

The group takes its name from The Soft Machine, a book by William S. Burroughs. It begins with Robert Wyatt, Kevin Ayers, Daevid Allen and Mike Ratledge, the core line-up drawn largely from former members of The Wilde Flowers. The band becomes one of the central groups linked to Canterbury.

Line-up changes and later members

Soft Machine continues under the same name after the original founders move on, with Mike Ratledge leaving last in 1976. Later members include Hugh Hopper, Roy Babbington, Elton Dean, John Etheridge, Karl Jenkins, John Marshall and Allan Holdsworth. Other musicians who appear in later periods include Percy Jones, Steve Cook, Alan Wakeman, Ray Warleigh and Ric Sanders.

Offshoots and related projects

The name Soft Machine gives rise to a number of related projects and offshoots, including Soft Heap, Soft Head and Soft Works. Matching Mole is also connected to this circle of musicians and is a wordplay on the French phrase for Soft Machine, meaning “soft machine”. Soft Machine Legacy is active as a working project by 2005.

Recordings and later activity

The band’s performances in 1977 and the live recording Alive and Well: Recorded in Paris are among its last appearances as an active working band. The Soft Machine name is also used for the 1981 album Land of Cockayne, which features Jack Bruce and Allan Holdsworth, along with Ray Warleigh and Dick Morrissey on saxophones and John Taylor on electric piano. A final run of dates at Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club in London follows in 1984, with Karl Jenkins and John Marshall leading a line-up that includes John Etheridge, Ray Warleigh, Dave MacRae and Paul Carmichael.