Slightly All The Time

If you went record shopping with me when I was a teenager I most likely bought tapes and LP's. I did also buy the most unusual things ever to come across the record counter. One thing I bought was The Crazy World of Arthur Brown. Another time I bought Still by Pete Sinfield and one day I bought these gems from the Canterbury scene. At the time I had no idea what this stuff was, but I read in a music book (like I often used to do) that these are gems and also are a rare find. I got both LP's for next nothing back then. If I recall I got these two for $20.00. Now I see them sell for about $40.00 each. I did not rush home to play these, but I decided to read more about this band. The book told me it was an equal to Piper At The Gates of Dawn. Funny looking back on it now I did not explore this band till I was in my early 20's. I had a friend who was a huge Gong nut and she told me to re-listen to these albums. I more then likely never got them then.

I reflect looking back that I liked Gong so much I was afraid to go back this far. I remember taping these and putting them in my cassette player with very little flair. I even attempted to listen and thought the groves where cool and the distortion. I will admit it was over my head. When I went back to re-read the description in the book it even told me that it was the most unusual album that I would place on my turntable. I guess I was expecting a Piper like album and it was avant-rock.



Volume One opens up with them singing about Hope For Happiness the melting of fusion and fuzz and heavy organ is a treat. At 16 I am sure I would have never got what I get now about this album. It is a wonderful time capsule about the time and an era in England that was just a bit different. What is also interesting there is a lot of instrumental stuff that gives a lot of space to jam and when watching a special about Soft Machine they said they had long jams lasting 30 minutes or more. Each member trading off with a solo on the first Soft Machine that is clear with the song So Boot If It All. The Solos are not American Rock solos these are a lot more captivating and engaging.

One of my over played songs on this album is Why Are We Sleeping? I love the spoken word with the band making some kind of chaos behind the vocals and the vocals asking, "Why." Every time I hear it I sing along too. There are other gems too, We Did Again and A Certain Kind are awesome. This is an amazing Volume One.

Volume Two is good as well, but it lacks the the full songs. A few stand out but my favorite is Hibou, Anemone and Bear. The Song is got some great chops and you can see the direction that they were going to when they were working on and ending on Third.


This album is got huge moments of that time period. Mike Ratledge is amazing on keyboards. The band even pays tribute The Jimi Hendrix Experience on a song. At this time Kevin Ayers left the band and the shift in direction is quite clear. They too pay tribute to him on a song. As Long As He Lies Perfectly Still is a great song. This is the one record that effectively assimilates rock, absurdist humor, jazz, and the avant-garde. (allmusic)

It might take a while to adjust to Soft Machine with these two albums but wait till you listen to Third. That will be reviewed later in my blog. The songs on Volume One and Two are short and have vocals, Third stays mostly away from that. Each song on Third is devoted to one side of an LP.

Enjoy one of the True oddities from the late sixties if you like this I will introduce you to The Pretty Things. These two albums are definitely different the anything you will listen to that captures the 1960's.