Third (Soft Machine album)

Infobox Album | Name = Third
Type = Album
Artist = Soft Machine


Released = June 6, 1970
Recorded = April-May 1970 at IBC, London ("Facelift" live in Croydon and Birmingham, January 1970)
Genre = Progressive rock, Canterbury scene, jazz fusion, free jazz
Length = 75:15
Label = Columbia Records
Producer = Soft Machine
Reviews =
*Robert Christgau (B) [http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?id=1277&name=Soft+Machine link]
*Allmusic Rating|4.5|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:u9kxlfde5cqu link]
*Piero Scaruffi rating-10|9 [http://www.scaruffi.com/vol2/softmach.html link]

Last album = "Volume Two"
(1969)
This album = "Third"
(1970)
Next album = "Fourth"
(1971)

"Third" is a 1970 double LP by Soft Machine, with each side of the original vinyl consisting of a single long composition.allmusic|id=10:u9kxlfde5cqu|label=Kurtz, Peter: "Third > Review". Retrieved on 2008-07-24] Its music explores the emerging jazz fusion of the type present on Miles Davis' "Bitches Brew", which was released in the same year. Third is considered by many to be the seminal recording to emerge from the Canterbury scene, featuring incredible interplay between the band's members, led by keyboardist Mike Ratledge, Elton Dean on woodwinds, Robert Wyatt on drums and Hugh Hopper on bass. The track "Slightly All The Time" was used as the background for the syndicated "Realities" news program distributed by many 1970s-era "underground" radio stations. The album remained in print in the Columbia U.S. catalog throughout the 1970s and into the '80s despite its unusual format, based largely on word of mouth reviews.

Track listing

#"Facelift" (Hugh Hopper) – 18:45 (Live at the Fairfield Hall, Croydon, 4/1/70, and at Mother’s Club, Birmingham 11/1/70)
#"Slightly All The Time/ Noisette/ Backwards/ Noisette (Reprise)" (Mike Ratledge, "Noisette" by Hopper) – 18:12
#"Moon in June" (Robert Wyatt) – 19:08
#"Out-Bloody-Rageous" (Mike Ratledge) – 19:10

Bonus tracks on the remastered 2007 Sony/BMG release

Recorded at the Promenade Concert at the Royal Albert Hall for BBC Radio Three on 13th August 1970. This recording was previously released as "Live at the Proms 1970". cite web |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/release/dw8c/ |title="Classic Pop/Rock Review - Soft Machine, Third / Fourth / Fifth / Six / Seven" |accessdate=2008-08-05 |last=Smith |first=Sid|date=26 February 2007|publisher=BBC] [ cite web |url=http://www.hulloder.nl/sm-new.html|title="Soft Releases 2007" |accessdate=2008-08-05|date=23 March 2007|publisher=www.hulloder.nl] [ cite web |url=http://www.babyblaue-seiten.de/index.php?albumId=6223&content=review|title="Soft Machine: Live at the Proms 1970: Review" |accessdate=2008-08-05 |last=Breiling |first=Achim|publisher=Babyblaue Seiten]
#"Out-Bloody-Rageous" (Ratledge) - 11:54
#"Facelift" (Hopper) - 11:22
#"Esther's Nose Job" (Ratledge) - 15:39
##Pig
##Orange Skin Food
##A Door Opens and Closes
##Pigling Bland
##10:30 Returns to the Bedroom

Personnel

* Mike Ratledge - Hohner Pianet, Lowrey organ & piano
* Hugh Hopper - bass guitar
* Robert Wyatt - drums, vocals, plus (uncredited) Hammond Organ, Hohner Pianet & piano (3)
* Elton Dean - alto saxophone & saxello (except 3)
* Lyn Dobson - soprano saxophone & flute (1)with
* Jimmy Hastings - flute & bass clarinet (2)
* Rab Spall - violin (3)
* Nick Evans - trombone (4)

References