Soft Machine - Live At The Proms 1970

Soft Machine was the first rock band to perform the BBC Proms at Royal Albert Hall. The gig took place on August 13, 1970. Listening to this record, it sounds a pretty decent performance, though its primary importance seems to be that being a historical document. The Softs played three compositions. The version of "Out Bloody Rageous" here is probably the only one that featured the pre-recorded tape loops that were integral to the studio variant, but usually not there in the live context, as the piece was integrated into the continuous medley-like set with other pieces. Here, the number's opener status means that they use the pre-recorded keyboard loops tracks as an intro. The piece itself is played quite nicely, even if a little hurried compared to the other versions. Elton Dean was yet to incorporate the second electric piano thus there's no back-up comping behind Ratledge's organ solo yet. There's an interesting demonic noise section that separates "OBL" from "Facelift", which gets an energetic reading, even if there's some overplaying in that one, such as Elton Dean's occasional aggressive sax spots. Finally they do "Esther's Nose-job". Performed pretty much as usual, the most remarkable spot being Wyatt's psychedelic echo laden scat during the avant-garde section of the piece. Though primarily a historical document, it's still interesting enough to warrant attention. It's fitting that this was re-released as a bonus CD to the remastered Third in 2007.