Soft Machine - Third (1970)
Soft Machine’s third album appropriately titled Third is an epic journey to the edge of the universe that combines elements of jazz and rock together in a psychedelic experiment of originality and grace. Soft Machine went on to write over seven albums with the respective names of First, Second, Fifth, etc. however, it is their third effort that remains one of the most impressive psychedelic albums ever.
Third is probably one of the only largely instrumental rock albums that doesn’t sound like it lacks vocals. Each of the tracks are composed so dynamically that the music throbs and vibrates like a force of nature, catapulting the listener across the cosmos. Beginning with the nineteen-minute Facelift, jazz and rock become locked into a terrifying groove fusion that sets the dazzling aesthetic of the album. Slightly All The Time is reminiscent of a satellite distress beacon endlessly reverberating through space, while Out-Bloody-Rageous could almost be a soundtrack to the ambiguous climax of 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Aside from these tracks, the grand centrepiece must be the heartfelt Moon In June, the only composition with vocals, where Robert Wyatt sings playfully and introspectively about the microcosm of his life. Touching and off-kilter, it informs the album with a perspective of the everyday that is amazingly effective in this instance. Light years ahead of their contemporaries, Soft Machine is one of the most original psychedelic outfits, and Third is their exceptional rock masterpiece.
- Jim Harris
