Soft Machine - 'Switzerland 1974' Official Trailer

Album 'Switzerland 1974' by Soft Machine (Cuneiform Records)
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Album Personnel:
Roy Babbington (electric six string bass)
Allan Holdsworth (guitar)
Karl Jenkins (oboe, soprano sax, electric piano)
John Marshall (drums)
Mike Ratledge (electric piano, organ, synthesizer)
Soft Machine's 'Switzerland 1974' (CD/DVD), released on Cuneiform Records, feature Soft Machine's July 4, 1974 concert at the Montreux Jazz Festival, and are officially licensed from the Montreux Jazz Festival. These audio and video recordings feature Roy Babbington (electric six string bass), Karl Jenkins (oboe, soprano sax, electric piano), John Marshall (drums), Mike Ratledge - and the earliest available performance footage of guitarist Allan Holdsworth.
[The official trailer features Soft Machine performing excerpts of "Hazard Profile" and "Riff II."]
For more information:
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[@rosskolnikov]

Allan Holdsworth is a gift to humanity.

[@pistonpistache]

was.... sadly. Incredibly good on that track.

[@ThrashRoC]

God has to be Good ...he send us Allan Holdsworth ...

[@romo2674]

@@ThrashRoC Stop making God responsible of things made by humans

[@betterthantelly2993]

@@ThrashRoC and he sent us Jimi. The poor magic boy.

[@estebanmorales5720]

👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏

[@dsvelazquez]

Allan Holdsworth's playing should be declared UNESCO world heritage.

[@tommyrawlings3046]

Ratledge on key boards too

[@bmclaughlin01]

Brilliant comment 🙂🙂👍

[@Nedwin]

Allan was literally a complete guitarist. Handsome, tall, full of charisma, and stellar playing. What a perfect package! We all miss him.

[@mannyzorgan6324]

...and Allan was always up for a pint and a chat at the bar after the show! Yorkshire did well to bring us both Allan and John McLaughlin - maybe it's something in the water they use there to brew ale! I think drummer/keyboardist Gary Husband is also from there - he who played drums with Allan on several of his solo albums and "reinterpreted" his music on one of HIS solo albums AND played keys with Billy Cobham a while ago and also with John McLaughlin. Hrumph, baah, how dare they all be so amazing!? Allan will never be forgotten!!! Soft Machine are STILL out there, still fabulous line-up, still the ground-breaking and exciting band they always have been!!

[@lopezpresentsthestories8624]

And he was packing you forgot to mention

[@tritter70]

He wasn’t much of a rhythm player…just wasn’t his style

[@jefffelderman2409]

R.I.P. John Marshall and Allan Holdsworth! 2 otherworldly masters of their craft!

[@hewhan]

Alan Holdsworth was one of the few guitarists that Zappa ever had a good word about. That says alot!

[@ADITYASINGH-vc4gm]

That actually says a lot about Zappa.

[@donkeyshot8472]

@@ADITYASINGH-vc4gm perhaps it simply says that zappa knew when to keep his mouth shut?

[@donkeyshot8472]

zappa must have sort of liked steve vai, too, then. in all seriousness, I think that the above claim is probably a bunch of cr@p.

[@ADITYASINGH-vc4gm]

@@donkeyshot8472 no

[@user-xf3cv6xd1z]

Killer comment ! I was about to write the same when I saw yours :) Congrats (even if I like FZ). @@ADITYASINGH-vc4gm

[@peterberge8772]

There is only one Alan Holdsworth in a century.His melodic and rhythmic creation is mindblowing.

[@dynamo5326]

Allan is the embodiment of the ideas I have in my head but cant express

[@THESTIG-cc7fq]

Please we all love Allan but let's also give credit to the rest of the band. John Marshall absolutely throwing it down on the Drums brilliant.

[@dr.juerdotitsgo5119]

John Marshall!! Yes!

[@jazznotes3802]

THESTIG5954 True, but let’s be honest, this is all about Allan. He was on another level and way ahead of his time!

[@THESTIG-cc7fq]

@@jazznotes3802 l agree but the rest of band deserve credit too. Trust me l am 100%Holdsworth saw in Manchester great gig l also appreciate other musicians that add to the mix.

[@TheNavalAviator]

And look how Jenkins teleported from standing with an oboe to sitting at the piano :P

[@papa_gummybear]

Yeh the drums are sick. Great 70s tache. Thought it would be shit having never bothered to check out later soft machine, definitely is not the og soft machine sound but our man Holdsworth shreds. Doesn't he sound exactly like Frank Zappa but sped up a little bit...

[@Seansaighdeoir]

John Marshall breaks sweat! A fantastic drummer with such a cool groove.

[@hannahstaelens6873]

1974 I was 12 and just starting my life and how lucky I was to grow up in the 70's when music was at its best. Arguably the best decade of music ever, and will ever be. The 70's, I wish I could go back in time and experience it all over again.

[@brianwolle2509]

no, no. the seventies generally SUCKED. except for bowie. which gave us the eighties.

[@marianom125]

Me too! We were raised in the '60s. and get ripped in the '70s. And here we are... Cheers my fellow sister! 👏🏻🤗👍🏻

[@charlytaylor1748]

civilisation ended when gatefold LP covers stopped

[@Baltihunter]

Born in 64. I’m being fussy but I was a bit too young to go to concerts until about 77 so I missed a lot of good early seventies rock blues concerts. Thank the lord I wasn’t born later 👍🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇬🇧

[@abc12369317]

Io ne avevo 14 e sono completamente d' accordo con te ....un decennio fantastico sotto tutti i punti di vista....viverlo una volta sola non basta! Vorrei il remake di quegli anni strepitosi!

[@stupidusername38]

the 70s had some amazing guitar players, Holdsworth, Di Meola, Steve Morse, Larry Coryell. They were ripping it up before shred was even a term.

[@angius11]

And the great John McLaughlin.

[@davidhenrylake2047]

Huw Lloyd, Brian May, Todd Rundgren, Alex Lifeson, Johnny DuCann

[@conradmason87]

Frank Zappa.🎶

[@davidhenrylake2047]

@@conradmason87 Fuck Zappa

[@mikehahaha2962]

@@davidhenrylake2047 How can you be so stupid zappa is a genius and everyone who knows music knows that, but it's surely not for everyone: kzbin.info/www/bejne/r6amZ3qwerVpbZY

[@shrikramalei9091]

Saw them in concert, as a young drummer, I was blasted by Wyatt at the drums, and remember the hypnotic feel that finally let the whole public in a state of chock for hours afterwards ! I realize now, that the 70s were an incredible time , period !

[@gerardotejada2531]

Wyatt left in 71 because he missed the 60s. Grass is always greener in days past.

[@donkeyshot8472]

@@gerardotejada2531 robert wyatt left soft machine because he was asked to leave due to "musical differences", not because he "missed the 60s".

[@AlexHand]

1974, barely any overdrive or compression and he's still playing stuff more acrobatic and inventive than any jazz or rock guitarist would play until 5 years later when the Randy Rhoads/Van Halen style started, but by the mid 80s Holdsworth was doing stuff those guys would never be able to come up with in their lives. It'll take a while for music history to let it sink in how great he was. He was just too individualistic to get famous in the pop world.

[@portlavacaboy]

Listen to some Ollie Halsall - another early 70's guitar wizard no one seems to know about.kzbin.info/www/bejne/goC1k2pnpcipbbM

[@dcuss7294]

What? As much as I love those other players ( and yes, Eddie Van Halen was no joke when he hit the scene ) they were never at the level Holdsworth was, even then!

[@AlexHand]

@@dcuss7294 They were never as harmonically advanced or free in their improvisations but they did play as fast. They just stuck to a smaller palette of what they knew.

[@a-maize-zing]

@Andy Butler only mclaughlin wouldve been able to keep up tbh

[@blindlemon9]

Andy Butler . Wow...Your guitar palette is clearly severely limited. In terms of harmonic sophistication, taste, and brilliant improvisational technique, a number of actual jazz guitarists tower over those that you cited. Just a few examples are Wes Montgomery, Django Reinhardt, Tal Farlow, Jimmy Raney, George Barnes, George Benson, Barney Kessel, Kenny Burrell, Grant Green, Johnny Smith, Karl Kress, Jim Hall, Herb Ellis, Jimmy Ponder, Melvin Sparks, Joe Pass, Mundell Lowe, Rene Thomas, Hank Garland, and Gabor Szabo. Any one of these masters could run circles around the highly competent but limited pop/rock-oriented artists that you named.

[@Vor_Tex_Sun]

Love how the rest of the band are looking at him when he solos, with the expression of what is that! In amazement

[@frankhoulihanfh4972]

Yep. 2:23!

[@lordsong7]

Allan Holdsworth was best back then and he still is. I'm pretty sure he's from another planet.

[@philgarwood4712]

I agree. More fire in his playing

[@jerryvivanco4352]

Planet BADASS GUITAR PLAYER!!!!

[@harveydents]

holdsworth bent alot in the 70s with lifetime,tempest and soft machine. He got more coltraneish with his playing in the 80s

[@petezah4597]

@@harveydents I think you reacted to the wrong comment, the comment about allan bending strings is above this one😅

[@michaelb.42112]

Allan looks SO badass playing a white SG.

[@williamcampbell163]

Dream Theatre in the 70's.😊

[@evansmusic48]

Sir Karl Jenkins on keys and soprano sax folks!!! What a career eh?!! Bravo O great one!.

[@Racosz]

What a band. Allan's most rocker guitar approach ever, going through staccato and legato playing with no pain.

[@markwajdeman7118]

RIP to the drummer John Marshall of Soft Machine, who passed away on 9/16/23 at the age of 82. JM was also a founding member of the jazz-rock band Nucleus & has recorded/toured with the artists... Allan Holdsworth, John Abercrombie, John McLaughlin, Volker Kriegel, Barney Kessel, Alexis Korner, Keith Tippett, Centipede, Jack Bruce, Hugh Hopper, Elton Dean, John Surman, Charlie Mariano, Alan Skidmore, Jasper vant Hof, Gil Evans, Theo Travis, Eberhard Weber's Colours & many others.

[@timothydillow3160]

"Huntington Beach, Ca.@ the Golden Bear, a small club with about a hundred people there, Allan comes out on stage and says that his father had just passed away. I, like everyone, was surprised to see him go on, but what I and everyone in that room saw for the next 2 hours, was indescribable. I was awashed in the most glorious, melodic sound coming from the highest quality equipment possible, it seemed like he was taking out his grief on the neck of the guitar. Any recording I heard before of him seemed like child's play, compared to what I was witnessing. It was the greatest display of musicianship imaginable, that I had ever, or since seen. Allan Holdsworth single-handedly rewrote the language of jazz guitar." td

[@lucianovargas6677]

Soft Machine with Allan Holdsworth at the top of the fusion game.

[@intruder1960]

R.I.P. Allan Holdsworth.

[@ricardobelotto]

amazing Soft Machine will live for ever . 41 years and still fresh .

[@MrGTO-ze7vb]

RIP Allan.. !! Fantastic Music you created that will be enjoyed FOREVER...!!

[@luisfguitar]

I Fucking love this. Allan was already crazy. Love the contrast of the vintage tone with his style that was beginning to form

[@TarnTarn-zv6cp]

So good to see a young Allan, he made that poor SG earn its money that's for damn sure R.I.P Master

[@Happy-Me.]

Strange to see Holdsworth bending a string. Excellent.

[@Sunnatism]

He always did it man

[@javiergarcia1244]

Looks like he uses the pick more tlo.

[@evetsnitram8866]

I can't help but sense he's thinking, "damn I wish this SG had two more frets!".

[@tomdecuca3627]

Allan was always a monster player, it doesn't matter how far back you listen. It's like he was fully formed as soon as he started playing.

[@rhizomorph-music]

I don't know. That's a nice image, but if you go back and listen to the super early stuff in bands he was in in like 1962 and 1963 (can be found on KZbin), you will hear a young player who is perhaps a little advanced, but basically typical for that time. Something magical happened with him in the 1970s.

[@tonyd59]

R.I.P. Allan. Absolute genius!

[@Truthinshredding1]

Great album, I only found out about this the other day. I got a copy as it's long been my view that Holdsworth performance with Soft Machine has some of his most inventive playing, and the video really shows how far ahead of the curve Allan Holdsworth was, particularly when you consider the age of this project being 1974. Recommended purchase.

[@LemonJello17]

Soft Machine has never let me down. Every line up has been so unique and interesting.

[@royphillips7435]

Never ever see this level of playing again ! Glad I was not only around then but fortunate enough to play with the likes of these guys !

[@jazilimmer1029]

Just found this on reddit. I'm jamming to this from now on. We'll def check their music.

[@obscurebandfan]

RIP genius, I love his 70s work. You could still hear the pick attack then, and he'd even bend the odd string here and there haha. His later stuff was amazing too, 80s and above is when I feel like he was finally able to get the sounds in his head out of his guitar. But it's neat to here him with a classic rock tone here.

[@MrPyroguru]

It's really wild seeing him progress.... He was awesome here.... Then in the eighties he became untouchable by any guitarist. Makes me wonder could anyone achieve his playing with intense guitar practice? I know you need long fingers and some natural ability. But Allan had to work hard too just like others.

[@jublaim]

I too love his sound here! I wonder what amp and cab he used during this time, always hard to see...

[@hannahstaelens6873]

1974 I was 12 and just starting my life and how lucky I was to grow up in the 70's when music was at its best. Arguably the best decade of music ever, and will ever be. The 70's, I wish I could go back in time and experience it all over again.

[@TheSecondNature]

Rest in Peace Allan, you were one of the greatest pioneers. Very sad to know you're gone

[@Mikegrungejazz]

Outstanding musicianship.

[@m-tetsuo]

My favorite SM line up will always contain Robert Wyatt and Mike Ratledge - but this whole concert used to be on KZbin and I had one of the best shroom trips of my life that got me so infested in this specific show

[@jacktar9567]

great band, one of my favourites of ALL time..... ❤xxx

[@ManfredElsingBielefeld]

Das war wunderbar;es war so eine Aufbruchsstimmung zu was Neuem,Anderen!!!!

[@davids9192]

The full version is one of THE greatest guitar solos. It has everything - fluid, melodic, dynamic, emotion, technique . Pure brilliance and I never tire of listening to it. RIP Allan.

[@howardpittman883]

Very nice, great musicianship, great chemistry in the band...

[@johnlannikk2701]

This is Magnificent!!! It always amazes me that some guitarists early in their life figure it all out real quick

[@CuneiformRecords]

Soft Machine 'Switzerland 1974' (CD/DVD) out now! Grab your copy today! cuneiformrecords.bandcamp.com/album/switzerland-1974

[@hieronymous7]

Bought it as soon as I could! Thank you so much! So amazing, definitely worth every cent.

[@CuneiformRecords]

thank you for the kind note and for the support!

[@THESTIG-cc7fq]

Brilliant track off the Bundles album l can't get enough of this group.

[@davidryan7386]

he is off the hook and charts even in 1974. deep bow. RIP maestro and supreme virtuoso.

[@hallgeirpedersen4331]

Allan Holdsworth = out of this world. Amazing stuff from the 70's.

[@gerriepieters9033]

We all mis ALLAN HOLDSWORTH...he is so unique and different then other guitarist in the world...I mis him a lot..r.i.p 🙏🎸❤

[@stargate1555]

It's so cool finding this awesome stuff on KZbin. It was almost 50 years ago but it's new to me.

[@lanceedain8617]

Just now listening to these guys, although I'm sure my father had a few of their records.

[@THESTIG-cc7fq]

RIP Allan Holdsworth and by the way John Marshall on drums is just brilliant love his style and effort he puts in...boy does he sweat.

[@magicruss1]

RIP Allan Holdsworth true guitar innovator!

[@GOLFLOG2]

My dad was in the band with john marshall and i used to know him

[@claudebuysse7482]

I saw that band in Cegep Maisonneuve Québec with that personnel. All members were awsome and Holdsworth was a discovery. Great show !

[@laprofeciacj]

Long live Allen holsworth one of the greatest jazz fusion guitarist. of all times.

[@axedrivemusic4774]

my world is a bliss!! thanks for your music.. i dreamt of meeting you Sir allan T_T

[@agapefriend04]

LOVE THIS... wow!

[@dilltdog1158]

My favourite Softs line up.

[@MediaWest]

soft machine 4 is still one of my fav lp's.

[@kamui3477]

懐かしい！　初期のアラン。 70年代のロックはいろいろなタイプのアーティストが現れて面白かったですね。

[@lopezb]

Just wonderful! Such pure inspiration...

[@garytaylor2084]

Thank you for sharing.

[@raulperez2308]

1:55 man that felt good

[@frankgeeraerts6243]

Almost 50 years ago and I still say ................WOAWWWWWWW!

[@talibe801]

I saw them two years later in cascais.fantastic concert.

[@EtArcadiaego]

great arpeggios he certainly the pioneer of modern guitarists!

[@holygroove2]

Damn...people die and then you discover them....and regret that you won't be able to see them live. Rest in peace.

[@lopezb]

So creative, expressive...

[@jeffj9322]

Remembering Allan Holdsworth born on August 6, 1946. he was a British jazz fusion and progressive rock guitarist, violinist and composer. He contributed to numerous bands, including Soft Machine, U.K., The Tony Williams Lifetime, Pierre Moerlen's Gong and Bruford. - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allan_Holdsworth

[@AnthonyMoraca]

amazing guitar ! allan ruled staccato playing then and he rules legato now.

[@cosmicdrifter287]

exceptional.

[@charlesduckettjr.800]

Whole tune videos from this concert were on youtube at one time. I know because I downloaded several. I suppose "Cuneiform Records" got them removed. I can't find the ones I downloaded maybe 6+ years ago, I fear they were on a disk that went bad. Or else they are on some thumb drive.

[@faaizali1]

Hi, do you have the performance of floating world bundles by any chance??

[@FusionHowie]

THANK YOU FOR THIS !!!!

[@eliasrodriues6614]

This vídeo was available complete here. Never before released LOL. What José..

[@wilhelmorangenbaum163]

you know that in the title says "Soft Machine" not "The Allan Holdsworth Band"? Allan was brilliant but you also have other brilliant musicians who were been in that band for years before Allan arrived.

[@theloniousratledge8835]

Fronte 1974 to the end, Soft Machine were "Karl Jenkins Project".

[@hyfowlf]

Allan was something to truly behold

[@BrandonScottFox1]

When Allen starts soloing every other musician on stage is watching him....And Allen? Oh he's just playing with his eyes closed....

[@josephgrossenbacher7642]

what a band ... & , above all , they have Allan ... !!!

[@phildirt3]

Saw a version of soft machine open for hendrix at the arena in Seattle. Thought they were beyond boring. Think they’re great now

[@anniedarkhorse6791]

Wonderful. Alan Holdsworth was amazing.

[@luke125]

RIP Allan.

[@jonjones3958]

Sadly, this full concert used to be up on KZbin

[@ricdale7813]

The inventor of " The Metal Shred" Lead. 1974 and the guy is Sweeping like its water flowing clean....Amazing Man.

[@miguelleidiot]

It maybe noted around the same time, maybe a year or 2 earlier infact, Ollie Halsall was Metal shredding, leggato, before? Allan .... some say yes... infact Ollie predated Allan with his 67 SG white Custom .... coincidence ... perhaps ... infact ended up in the same band Tempest, very briefly ... not to take anything from Allan, impossible .... just throwing Ollies name out there, he wasnt quite as fast or fluid, but certainly more dangerous ... i vouch for Ollie was the inventor of the metal shredder..... but what do i know?.

[@miguelleidiot]

Ric Dale ...... ah i see Ollie Halsalls name coming up from other commentators below .. im not the only one 🤣

[@bertufuxer3737]

Wonderful music.

[@yiggoto]

Goosebump time.

[@sagittarius7569]

🎧 This is my favourite *Amazing* melody 🎼

[@SuperMarioJamesSMJ]

All his legato on a clean tone....really sharp no sloppy runs

[@philnaccarato]

You might have thought (as I did) that seeing AH at this younger age, and maybe in an earlier stage of his development as a musician, that the video would illustrate just a bit of his learning curve and show an even slightly more preliminary approach to the Allan Holdsworth that we all love and admire so much. BUT NO ...... this guy really was from another planet and had those same chops and high level of sophistication in his understanding of harmony and rhythm as he did later in life. In other words - Allan seems to have had this unearthly ability straight out of the womb..! I'd love to hear (or see) him playing at 10 years old. Would his playing seem more rudimentary at 10..? Now I'm not sure. Just unreal..!!!

[@chrischoir3594]

Holdsworth pioneered guitar shredding

[@dudovich13]

I got a Soft Machine album in high school (1975) and I wasn't really impressed. Then I went to see them with a neighbor and they were awesome. Holdsworth is a fluid, creative musician, as were the whole band (but Holdsworth was the only one I knew by name).

[@johntechwriter]

I’m a fan of the original Softies, preferring prog-rock to prog-jazz. As a keyboard player I’ve been in awe of Ratledge since day one. Even playing a shitbox Lowrey spinet, Ratledge absolutely wailed on their first album. This track is my first exposure to this incarnation of the band and wow, their musicality and tightness just soars. With guitar players, a little shredding goes a long way in my book - I’m more into Lenny Breau’s ruminative style - but this guy Allan Holdsworth is something else. Technically he is brilliant of course but more impressive to me is the subtlety with which he intersperses musical figures that echo aspects of the theme among those 16-bar shreds. As one who usually finds modern jazz a little too cerebral, I found ample musicality and passion and yes, beauty, in this performance. The piece’s simple theme and complex percussion seemed the ideal environment for Ratledge to come up with an outrageous keyboard rejoinder to that brilliant guitar work, but alas, it was not to be. Maybe on another track - a new album by the Softies at their peak is a must-have for sure.

[@theloniousratledge8835]

Purtroppo, nel 1974 Ratledge aveva perso il suo ruolo centrale nei Soft Machine, ed era relegato in una funzione marginale.

[@gfx2943]

Man that SG is insane

[@ronnybru1639]

What a intro................. great..... im a Van deer graf fan. ... this is great too

[@ALotOfBottle]

RIP Allan Holdsworth, you will be missed. :(

[@ALotOfBottle]

Shit, I miss Allan Holdsworth so much.

[@user-uq4cx8rt8s]

RIP. Allan holdsworth....

[@michaelpagan3914]

RIP John Marshall

[@nikolaosmosxakis3395]

very very good..................................................

[@themusiccovenant]

Legendary guitarist

[@xianshep]

It's astonishing how much Holdsworth and Halsall sounded alike at this point (same axe, too).

[@johnhrock1009]

these guys are grooving