VOLUME 2

Soft Machine: Robert Wyatt (vocals, drums); Hugh Hopper (acoustic guitar, alto saxophone, bass); Mike Ratledge (flute, piano, harpsichord, organ). Additional personnel: Brian Hopper (soprano & tenor saxophones). Recorded at Olympic Sound Studios, London, England in February and March, 1969. The Soft Machine's VOLUME TWO, which was recorded after Kevin Ayers left for a solo career, reintroduces the band in all its eccentric glory. VOLUME TWO is the first Soft Machine album to feature the classic trio lineup of Mike Ratledge, Hugh Hopper, and Robert Wyatt. It is made up of 17 tracks the range in length from 10 seconds to six minutes which are grouped into two side-long suites, "Rivmic Melodies" and "Esther's Nose Job" (the latter's title is courtesy of Thomas Pynchon). The trio's wide-ranging jazz, folk, and pop explorations lend every track its own unique character, with the pastoral acoustic guitar of Hopper's "Dedicated To You But You Weren't Listening" running smack into Ratledge's aptly titled "Fire Engine Passing With Bells Clanging." Yet somehow, the whole thing works, especially on the remarkable first side, a wild series of seamless improvs that points toward the lengthy compositions of the Soft Machine's classic THIRD, a double-album consisting of four side-long compositions.