Soft Machine - Six

After cutting Fifth with the Soft Machine, Elton Dean, who was dissatisfied with replacement of Phil Howard with John Marshall on drums, quit and Marshall ushered in Karl Jenkins (keyboards, oboe, saxophones). This double album, consisting of live and studio disks, continues in spades with the austere jazz improvisations on Fifth, but the sense of free-form is vanishing, as Jenkins' approach to playing and composing is far more slicker and sedater than improvised madness of Dean. While listening to the live rendition of "All White", it is noticeable how mild and unassertive Jenkins' oboe soloing sounds. He certainly sounded nothing like Elton Dean.

With Dean and eccentric drummer Robert Wyatt (who quit in 1971) gone, and Jenkins+Marshall in their places, the Soft Machine's jazz-fusion sound is lacking the same free-form mania prominent on other Softs live sets like Noisette or Virtually. Having said that, there's a lot of worthwhile material. "Riff" is indeed one of the catchiest and most arresting moments on the live disk, with Hugh Hopper playing a tricky bass-line and Marshall showing how the most difficult time signatures could groove and Mike Ratledge contributing an acidic organ solo. "37 1/2" is another fine odd-metered groove, although Jenkins' oboe soloing is an acquired taste, especially considering he plays the head on baritone sax, but switches to oboe on some reason for his solo. "Gesolreut" gets real funky and this tune is reminiscent of some of the groovier jazzy moments to be heard on Hopper's 70s solo albums. "Stumble" is possibly one of the most rock-oriented moments on the whole album. Marshall gets a drum solo ("5 from 13...") lasting for five minutes and as such is a filler.

The studio disc is even more interesting than the live one. "Soft Weed Factor" sounds very ambient and hypnotic, a genuine slow Riley inspired trance-rock piece. "Stanley Stamps Gibbon Album" is a fast-paced vehicle for Ratledge's organ soloing. "Chloe and the Pirates" again fuses ambient and jazz-rock, even recalls In a Silent Way era Miles.

But the most intriguing and the best composition is the final composition by Hugh Hopper who would leave the band soon because "Softs had became a rather ordinary jazz-rock group without enough quirks or weirdness". "1983" indeed is the last time one could hear real weirdness on a Soft Machine album. It is similar to Hugh Hopper's first solo LP 1984 with hypnotic loops, manipulated and angular bass motifs plus weird sound effects.

In conclusion, while it lacks the impact of the earlier works of Soft Machine, Six has its moments and proves one need not write all Jenkins-era material off as garbage, although some of it most certainly sounded a bit dull and it's questionable whether the Soft Machine deserved to go on with that name even when Hopper and Ratledge were both out. Jenkins-era Soft Machine is a classic case of a band that did not know when to quit.