Soft Machine - "All White" On French TV, 1972

[@TheGenreman]

John Marshall looking cool in this.

[@osarenigglet]

All waysss!

[@oobenoob]

Rest in peace.

[@homersimpson8561]

He is a man of many talents.

[@NeilThompson30]

At the end you can see that this is a really big venue - and there's only three girls sitting there! - mind you, when I saw them at Newcastle City Hall in 1975 there wasn't many more people there - shame cause they were incredible

[@yellowclouds3722]

i think this is footage from rehearsals before the upcoming show...

[@hybridgarden]

haha Mike just whispering ''fucking hell'' when trying to find a word in French

[@alexludeman7613]

2:14 lmao good ear!

[@Dogdrum]

The sound, spirit, and core of Soft Machine: Mike Ratledge, Robert Wyatt, Hugh Hopper, Kevin Ayers. Period.

[@Hal9000ize]

Don't forget Daevid Allen

[@hybridgarden]

Don’t forget Elton Dean as well

[@yellowclouds3722]

Great music! i find it pretty difficult to play such chords/notes like Ratledge did. When i have to describe Soft Machine with one word, then it would be SERIOUS - in the most positive meaning...

[@theloniousratledge8835]

Ratledge era un uomo estremamente preciso, con una concezione musicale tipicamente freejazzistica. Come ha detto Pur11zz, è un grande peccato che si sia ritirato dalla musica.

[@andreasschneider8556]

Karl Jenkins oboe gave the Soft Machine a fresh new colour in 1972. But he eventually was more long lasting in his role as a composer.

[@Baribrotzer]

Interesting: Jenkins's approach of very long unbroken lines on the oboe follows Ratledge's older approach on the organ - that being a hallmark of the Soft Machine sound. Ratledge, though, developed that out of necessity - if he didn't keep playing nonstop, his Lowery organ fed back uncontrollably.

[@jillsandwitch67]

@@Baribrotzer Would you happen to know the source for this fact about his Lowery? I saw it on Wikipedia as well but nothing was cited.

[@hybridgarden]

@@Baribrotzer that’s true! Electric organs weren’t designed to have fuzz pedals haha

[@ricardog.sanchezsierra989]

I prefer the version from the 5th album, with Elton Dean on saxello, but anyhow, All White is one of my Soft Machine favs.

[@heavenlymusiccorporationultd]

Soft Machine was only existing as long as Hugh, Mike & Robert (Kevin ..too, at the early stage) played together .. everything else is still nice or even better but it's something else

[@ECKMABOHM]

Jawoll Herr Kayser !!! SM ist herausragend ( phasenweise Fifth ) von Volume two bis Nummero 4 .Diese Nucleus-Ödlinge , wie konnte das geschehen !!!!!

[@Bucky315]

Mike speaks French! Cool!

[@lucigaiah]

✨

[@obelvs]

los patrones

[@theloniousratledge8835]

Whiskey River, Ratledge was rather tired, I think. Shortly after this, from 1974, Soft Machine were a "Karl Jenkins Project".

[@carladiratz7090]

I love your pseudo ! (just saying)

[@theloniousratledge8835]

@@carladiratz7090 Perché mi piace la musica jazz, e gli assoli (solos) di Ratledge mi hanno fatto innamorare del jazz.

[@adewolf]

Mike parlez Francaise tres bien. Plus bien que moi ;)

[@toddlittle9095]

anyone know the date of this performance?

[@gilouseb]

Wiskey River is right. Elton Dean's departure was Soft Machine's act of death. After 5th album, they only did one good number: Hazard Profile part 1, thanks to Allan Holdsworth. Karl Jenkins ' compositions and solos are sad and boring. So is this version of "All white", such a good number when Dean is blowing. There is a video of that piece on youtube with Dean AND Robert Wyatt, nothing to compare.

[@BassLudeman]

gilouseb gotta disagree - while i do prefer Wyatt and Dean in general, Elton was not sounding particulary good by the end of his time in the band. imo, jenkins, while not really being the satisfying soloist or writer the band really needed, brought a timbral improvement that made up a little bit for their having run out of substantial ideas. my favorite version of All White is the Six version, done by this lineup, but on the official recording the out head has this crazy proto-hip hop feel to it thats really great, thanks to John Marshall being a monster. Seems like this was early in this lineup's life, maybe before they really got tight on the feel of their rep

[@theloniousratledge8835]

L'inizio della fine dei SM è il 1973, con Ratledge che si era stancato di comporre e di suonare. È stato per questo motivo che MR chiamò Jenkins.

[@andreasschneider8556]

I respect Jenkins more as a composer. As a soloist on the oboe he had a good time until 1972. I think you can't maintain a high playing quality on the oboe for many years. It's physically not possible. True his solos on Seventh and Bundles are not really as good as before. Soft Machine in the mid Seventies were excellent instrumentalists but rather average composers. True they lost the vital factor of the earlier years.

[@codfishcore]

Does every member of soft machine speaks french?

[@hybridgarden]

I believe every founding member does, they’re all fluent

[@bigbreadeaterellis]

John Marshall is quite cocky judging by the way he answers that French man's question about the name of the band.

[@jasonpp1973]

bigbreadeaterellis Notice he was smiling, I don't believe he was trying to be mean or anything. I've seen other interviews with Marshall, he seems like a nice bloke.

[@klaus8456]

I find John Marshall to be rather annoing and cocky in this footage, as if he was, "invading" soft machine. Not to say he isnt a Amazing drummer.

[@gilouseb]

That's what I think. One can't breathe.

[@whiskeyriver4322]

The beginning of the end……. shortly after this, Jenkins screwed the whole concept of what the Softs were all about.

[@ECKMABOHM]

I agree !! The Special touch of Soft Machine was gone . Karl Jenkins compositions have a lack oforiginallity , may be he has never heard of 7/4 Metrum and he is a boring soloist !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@gimmehendrix]

In truth they were finished when Wyatt left. Marshall could never compete.

[@Hal9000ize]

@@gimmehendrix How would they have been if Kevin Ayers stayed with the group though?

[@theloniousratledge8835]

@@Hal9000ize Con Ayers, i SM avrebbero continuato con canzoni e testi, e poca improvvisazione.