Soft Machine
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| - | [[The Soft Machine]] | + | The '''Soft Machine''' was a pioneering [[England|English]] [[psychedelic]], [[progressive rock]] and [[jazz fusion]] band from [[Canterbury]], named after the book ''[[The Soft Machine]]'' by [[William S. Burroughs]]. They were one of the central bands in the [[Canterbury scene]]. |
| - | [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/{{PAGENAMEE}}] [Apr 2007] | + | ==Discography== |
| - | :''For the rock band named after this book, see [[Soft Machine]]'' | + | ===Studio Albums=== |
| - | '''''The Soft Machine''''' is the title of a [[novel]] by [[William S. Burroughs]], first published in [[1961]] and was Burroughs' first novel after the groundbreaking publication of ''[[Naked Lunch]].'' It was originally composed using the [[cut-up technique|cut-up and fold-in techniques]] from manuscripts belonging to ''[[The Word Hoard]]''. It is part of ''[[The Nova Trilogy]]''. | + | *''[[The Soft Machine (album)|The Soft Machine]]'' (ABC/Probe, 1968) |
| + | *''[[Volume Two (Soft Machine album)|Volume Two]]'' (ABC/Probe, 1969) | ||
| + | *''[[Third (Soft Machine album)|Third]]'' (Columbia, 1970) | ||
| + | *''[[Fourth (Soft Machine album)|Fourth]]'' (Columbia, 1971) | ||
| + | *''[[5 (Soft Machine album)|Fifth]]'' (Columbia, 1972) | ||
| + | *''[[Six (Soft Machine album)|Six]]'' (Columbia, 1973) | ||
| + | *''[[Seven (Soft Machine album)|Seven]]'' (Columbia, 1973) | ||
| + | *''[[Bundles (album)|Bundles]]'' (Harvest, 1975) | ||
| + | *''[[Softs]]'' (Harvest, 1976) | ||
| + | *''[[Alive & Well: Recorded in Paris]]'' (Harvest, 1978) | ||
| + | *''[[Land of Cockayne]]'' (EMI, 1981) | ||
| + | ===Live albums and compilations=== | ||
| + | *''Rock Generation Vol. 7'' (one side only, 1967 [[Demo (music)|demo recordings]]) (BYG, 1972) | ||
| + | *''Rock Generation Vol. 8'' (one side only, 1967 demo recordings) (BYG, 1972) - This and the preceding entry were combined on subsequent releases, under such titles as ''[[Jet Propelled Photographs]]'' or ''Faces & Places Vol.7'' (BYG Records). A 1976 release on Charly records was entitled ''At the Beginning''. | ||
| + | *''Triple Echo'' (3 record compilation, 1967–1976) (Harvest, 1977) - Notable for containing both the rare big-band arrangement of ''Esther's Nose Job'' and the completely reworked "here at the BBC" version of the ''Moon in June'' lyrics. | ||
| + | *''[[Third_(Soft_Machine_album)#2007_re-issue|Live at the Proms 1970]]'' (Reckless, 1988) | ||
| + | *''Turns On Paradiso'' (Amazing Discs, 1988) (recordings of 1969 - bootleg?) | ||
| + | *''The Untouchable'' (compilation from ''Bundles'', ''Softs'', and ''Alive and Well'') (Castle Communications, 1990) | ||
| + | *''The Peel Sessions'' (recorded 1969-1971) (Strange Fruit, 1990) | ||
| + | *''BBC Radio 1 Live in Concert 1971'' (Windsong, 1993; also issued as ''Soft Machine & Heavy Friends'' by Hux, 2005) | ||
| + | *''BBC Radio 1 Live In Concert 1972'' (Windsong, 1994; also issued as ''Softstage'' by Hux, 2005) | ||
| + | *''[[Live at the Paradiso]] 1969'' (Voiceprint, 1995) | ||
| + | *''Live in France'' (recorded 1972; also issued as ''Live in Paris'' by Cuneiform, 2004) (One Way, 1995) | ||
| + | *''Spaced'' (recorded 1969) (Cuneiform, 1996) | ||
| + | *''Virtually'' (recorded by [[Radio Bremen]] 1971) (Cuneiform, 1998) | ||
| + | *''Noisette'' (recorded 1970) (Cuneiform, 2000) | ||
| + | *''Backwards'' (recorded 1968-1970) (Cuneiform, 2002) | ||
| + | *''Facelift'' (recorded 1970) (Voiceprint, 2002) | ||
| + | *''BBC Radio 1967-1971'' (Hux, 2003) | ||
| + | *''BBC Radio 1971-1974'' (Hux, 2003) | ||
| + | *''Somewhere In Soho'' (recorded 1970) (Voiceprint, 2004) | ||
| + | *''Breda Reactor'' (recorded 1970) (Voiceprint, 2005) | ||
| + | *''Out-Bloody-Rageous'' (compilation, 1967–1973) (Sony, 2005) | ||
| + | *''Orange Skin Food'' (2 cd compilation of released live recordings) (Membran/EagleRock, 2005) | ||
| + | *''British Tour'75'' (Major League, 2005) | ||
| + | *''Floating World Live'' (recorded 1975) (MoonJune Records, 2006) | ||
| + | *''Grides'' (CD/DVD Recorded 1970) ([[Cuneiform Records]], 2006) | ||
| + | *''Middle Earth Masters'' (CD Recorded 1967) (Cuneiform Records, 2006) | ||
| + | *''Drop'' (with [[Phil Howard]], recorded 1971) (MoonJune Records, 2008) | ||
| + | *''Live at [[Henie-Onstad Art Centre|Henie Onstad Art Centre]]'' (recorded 1971) (Reel Recordings, 2009) | ||
| + | * ''NDR Jazz Workshop (Hamburg, Germany, May 17, 1973)'' ([[Cuneiform Records]], 2010) | ||
| + | * ''At The Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club'' (vinyl re-release of Somewhere In Soho - 2lp)(2011) (Lilith Records) | ||
| - | ==Title and structure== | + | ===Notable Singles=== |
| - | The title ''The Soft Machine'' is a name for the [[human anatomy|human body]], and the main theme of the book (as explicitly written in an appendix) concerns how control mechanisms invade the body. | + | *"[[Love Makes Sweet Music]]" (Polydor UK, 1968) |
| - | + | *"[[Joy of a Toy (song)|Joy of a Toy]]" (ABC Probe USA, 1968) | |
| - | The book is written in a style close to that of ''Naked Lunch'' utilizing the cut-up method to an even greater degree. | + | {{GFDL}} |
| - | + | ||
| - | It is further quite easy to identify passages borrowed and cut in from the work of two other authors: ''[[The Waste Land]]'' by [[T. S. Eliot]] and ''[[The Tempest (play)|The Tempest]]'' by [[William Shakespeare]]. {{Fact|date=February 2007}} | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | After the main material follow three appendices, the first explaining the title (as mentioned above) and two accounts of Burroughs' own drug abuse and treatment using [[apomorphine]]. Here Burroughs clearly states that he considers drug abuse a [[metabolic disease]] and writes about how he finally escaped it. | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | ==Plot summary== | + | |
| - | {{spoiler}} | + | |
| - | The main plot (which is intermingled with other plots) appears in linear prose in chapter VII, ''The Mayan Caper''. This chapter, which can even be read as a short story on its own, portrays a secret agent (presumably the same Bill Lee who appeared in ''Naked Lunch'') who has the ability to change bodies or metamorphose his own body using "U.T." (undifferentiated tissue). As such an agent he makes a [[time travel]] machine and takes on a gang of [[Maya civilization|Mayan]] priests who use the [[Maya calendar|Mayan calendar]] to control the minds of slave labourers used for planting [[maize]]. The calendar images are written in books and placed on a magnetic tape and transmitted as sounds to control the slaves. The agent manages to infiltrate the slaves and replace the magnetic tape with a totally different message: "burn the books, kill the priests" which cause the downfall of their regime. The techniques used for changing bodies involves several chemical, biological and sexual magic-like practices and many things can go wrong. | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | ==Characters== | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | The characters of ''The Soft Machine'' fall into three categories: | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | * Characters from the previous novel ''[[Naked Lunch]]'': ''Dr Benway'', ''Clem Snide'', ''Sailor'', ''Bill Gains'' and ''Kiki''. | + | |
| - | * Characters associated with [[The Nova Trilogy|the Nova mythology]]: | + | |
| - | ** The Nova Mob: ''Mr Bradley Mr Martin'', ''Johnny Yen'', ''Sammy The Butcher'', ''Green Tony'', ''Izzy the Push'' | + | |
| - | ** The Nova Police: ''Inspector Lee'', ''Hassan i Sabbah'', ''agent K9'', ''The Subliminal Kid'', ''Technical Tilly'' | + | |
| - | *Characters recycled from the work of other authors: | + | |
| - | ** ''Jimmy Sheffields'' from the novel ''Fury'' by [[Henry Kuttner]] | + | |
| - | ** ''Salt Chunk Mary'' from the novel ''You Can't Win'' by [[Jack Black (author)|Jack Black]] | + | |
| - | ** ''Danny Deaver'' from poem with the same title by [[Rudyard Kipling]] | + | |
| - | ** ''Billy Budd'' and ''Captain Verre'' comes from the short-story ''[[Billy Budd (novel)|Billy Budd]]'' by [[Herman Melville]] | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | ==Editions== | + | |
| - | ''The Soft Machine'' has been printed in no fewer than three different editions, each time revised by the author. | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | # The first edition was printed by [[Olympia Press]] in [[Paris]], [[1961]] as number 88 in the Traveller Companion Series and featured 182 pages arranged in 50 chapters of about 8 pages each. This edition was color coded into four different chunks and very fragmentaric. | + | |
| - | # The second edition was printed by [[Grove Press]] in the [[United States]], [[1966]]. In this edition, Burroughs removed 82 pages and inserted 82 new pages, and the remaining 100 pages had been rearranged and restructured using further [[cut-up technique|cut-ups]]. Much of the added material was linear, narrative prose, which is arguably a lot easier to read than the very disorganized first edition. Many chapters were renamed and rearranged in this edition, and the color code from the first edition was removed. | + | |
| - | # The third edition was printed by [[John Calder]] in [[Great Britain]], [[1968]]. This time most chapter titles were intact from the second edition, but will begin at more natural places in the text, whereas the second edition could place them in the middle of a sentence. The chapter ''1920ies War Movies'' has been renamed ''The Streets of Chance''. 20 pages of new material had been added, plus circa 8 pages from the first edition which had previously been removed in the second edition. About 5 pages of material which was present in both the first and second edition was removed. This edition also included an "[[Appendix]]" and "Afterword". | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | Burroughs himself was very displeased with the first edition and this was the main reason for rewriting it so thoroughly: in [[1961]] he wrote to his friend [[Allen Ginsberg]] that he rewrote it extensively while he was working on ''[[Dead Fingers Talk]]'', mostly because he was displeased with bad cut-ups and introduced linear material to replace it. In a letter to John Calder he claims that he intended the appendix to be published in [[Playboy Magazine]] as a promotional device for the book.{{Fact|date=February 2007}} | + | |
Current revision
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Related e |
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Featured: |
The Soft Machine was a pioneering English psychedelic, progressive rock and jazz fusion band from Canterbury, named after the book The Soft Machine by William S. Burroughs. They were one of the central bands in the Canterbury scene.
Contents |
[edit]
Discography
[edit]
Studio Albums
- The Soft Machine (ABC/Probe, 1968)
- Volume Two (ABC/Probe, 1969)
- Third (Columbia, 1970)
- Fourth (Columbia, 1971)
- Fifth (Columbia, 1972)
- Six (Columbia, 1973)
- Seven (Columbia, 1973)
- Bundles (Harvest, 1975)
- Softs (Harvest, 1976)
- Alive & Well: Recorded in Paris (Harvest, 1978)
- Land of Cockayne (EMI, 1981)
[edit]
Live albums and compilations
- Rock Generation Vol. 7 (one side only, 1967 demo recordings) (BYG, 1972)
- Rock Generation Vol. 8 (one side only, 1967 demo recordings) (BYG, 1972) - This and the preceding entry were combined on subsequent releases, under such titles as Jet Propelled Photographs or Faces & Places Vol.7 (BYG Records). A 1976 release on Charly records was entitled At the Beginning.
- Triple Echo (3 record compilation, 1967–1976) (Harvest, 1977) - Notable for containing both the rare big-band arrangement of Esther's Nose Job and the completely reworked "here at the BBC" version of the Moon in June lyrics.
- Live at the Proms 1970 (Reckless, 1988)
- Turns On Paradiso (Amazing Discs, 1988) (recordings of 1969 - bootleg?)
- The Untouchable (compilation from Bundles, Softs, and Alive and Well) (Castle Communications, 1990)
- The Peel Sessions (recorded 1969-1971) (Strange Fruit, 1990)
- BBC Radio 1 Live in Concert 1971 (Windsong, 1993; also issued as Soft Machine & Heavy Friends by Hux, 2005)
- BBC Radio 1 Live In Concert 1972 (Windsong, 1994; also issued as Softstage by Hux, 2005)
- Live at the Paradiso 1969 (Voiceprint, 1995)
- Live in France (recorded 1972; also issued as Live in Paris by Cuneiform, 2004) (One Way, 1995)
- Spaced (recorded 1969) (Cuneiform, 1996)
- Virtually (recorded by Radio Bremen 1971) (Cuneiform, 1998)
- Noisette (recorded 1970) (Cuneiform, 2000)
- Backwards (recorded 1968-1970) (Cuneiform, 2002)
- Facelift (recorded 1970) (Voiceprint, 2002)
- BBC Radio 1967-1971 (Hux, 2003)
- BBC Radio 1971-1974 (Hux, 2003)
- Somewhere In Soho (recorded 1970) (Voiceprint, 2004)
- Breda Reactor (recorded 1970) (Voiceprint, 2005)
- Out-Bloody-Rageous (compilation, 1967–1973) (Sony, 2005)
- Orange Skin Food (2 cd compilation of released live recordings) (Membran/EagleRock, 2005)
- British Tour'75 (Major League, 2005)
- Floating World Live (recorded 1975) (MoonJune Records, 2006)
- Grides (CD/DVD Recorded 1970) (Cuneiform Records, 2006)
- Middle Earth Masters (CD Recorded 1967) (Cuneiform Records, 2006)
- Drop (with Phil Howard, recorded 1971) (MoonJune Records, 2008)
- Live at Henie Onstad Art Centre (recorded 1971) (Reel Recordings, 2009)
- NDR Jazz Workshop (Hamburg, Germany, May 17, 1973) (Cuneiform Records, 2010)
- At The Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club (vinyl re-release of Somewhere In Soho - 2lp)(2011) (Lilith Records)
[edit]
Notable Singles
- "Love Makes Sweet Music" (Polydor UK, 1968)
- "Joy of a Toy" (ABC Probe USA, 1968)
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