After leaving Soft Machine, Elton Dean and Hugh Hopper tried to recreate groups in the same spirit like Soft Head or Soft Heap. All of these groups were interesting but none of them managed to reach the level of energy and creativity of Soft Machine Third. When I first listened to Soft Mountain I immediately felt that the energy of this band and its power was clearly close to the great era of Soft Machine even though the music is different. Tatsuya Yoshida and Hugh Hopper are particularly impressive during this powerful session.
-Part 1 : 30.40 mn
-Part 2 : 27.55 mn
-Hugh Hopper : bass
-Tatsuya Yoshida : drums
-Hoppy Kamiyama : keyboards
-Elton Dean : alto saxophone, saxcello
Recorded in Tokyo august 10, 2003
Hux records hux084 cd rip
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ReplyDeleteWECOME BACK c.s.!...and
ReplyDeleteHUGE THX!...
Thank-you very much
ReplyDeletehttp://www.themusicindex.com/store/hux.htm
ReplyDeleteObviously this cd is finally still available. In preparation of this post I checked on eBay, Discogs and Amazon and I saw just two or three copies for a crazy price (from 80$ to more than 600$. I thought that the label have disappeared but the link posted on the comment over mine is driving to a website where it is possible to order this cd for a normal price. Please accept my apologies, I leave the post as a strong recommandation to buy this great cd.
ReplyDeleteThank you.... I didn't know this one. Third is a desert island disc for me, and I've ordered Soft Mountain from your link (Hux).
ReplyDelete@John
ReplyDeleteI would be interested to have your impressions when you will listen to Soft Mountain. As I said the music is quite different, on this set it is mostly improvised but on "Third" there were compositions. Also for example Hoppy Kamiyama's sound and way of playing is totally different than Mike Ratledge because the context is different. But as a eternal fan of Soft Machine Third I thought that this set of Soft Mountain could have been what the original Soft Machine could play if they were still in activity. Tatsuya Yoshida have a powerful drumming like Robert Wyatt on Third.
SO welcome to tell your thought about Soft Mountain.
hi correct silence
ReplyDeletethank you, I'd be glad to share my thought on the album. I did place an order using the link in the comments, but my order was refunded, and the label has confirmed that the disc is deleted, so I haven't heard it yet! Here's hoping.....
1fichier
ReplyDeleteMany thanks EGH, I look forward to listening over the next few days.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Ernst! I've missed it the first time!
ReplyDeleteHi correct silence
ReplyDeleteapologies for taking several weeks to respond to your thoughts. Soft Mountain (2003) is indeed an excellent record and will be enjoyed by anyone who liked Elton Dean's work on 'Cruel but Fair'(1976) in particular. Elton plays in his most forceful and sometimes Coltrane-influenced mode, and I was interested that this should be so 27 years after that earlier record, because we can hear (mainly thanks to this wonderful site) many different examples of his playing in various other settings after he left Soft Machine. Like 'Cruel But Fair', and also Soft Machine Fifth (1972), the Soft Mountain music is dense, jazzy (not 'funky'), quite dark in its mood, thoughtful and often very exciting, with Elton Dean dominant. The drumming is also generally tumultuous, not unlike a place somewhere between the two drummers on Fifth; there is what I would call 'textural' (rather than melodic) keyboard work (very reminiscent of Soft Machine when using the electric piano) and a lot of of lovely bass work in typical style from Hugh Hopper.
To answer your interesting question: I think Soft Machine may not have evolved to sound like quite this, because their music seems to be basically always strongly melodic and compositional, whereas this Soft Mountain recording, whilst definitely being a development further out from say side 1 of Fifth (Phil Howard on drums), is much more freely structured (although this may be because this gig was conceived in exactly that way). But, interesting to consider how Soft Mountain might have sounded using more 'arranged' melodic material...... quite possibly like Soft Machine of the 'Fifth' era, as you hinted.