idealtypical (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

Clarification: I'm not slamming the music in this clip! I think this is incredible, and this was an amazing period of Soft Machine's career. I wanted to make that clear: I think all of these guys are incredible. I just think that when Robert parted ways with the band, it began to decline. It lost the spark of mad genius that Wyatt contributed, which was a great counterweight to Ratledge's incredible compositions--himself a genius, but a very different kind of genius than Robert.

idealtypical (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

Wyatt's comments toward the end reveal he had wisdom even in his youth. He was right. Many of the people (unfortunately, including the Softs after Robert's departure) who minimized the importance and power of simple rock & pop went down a path of no return: "jazz rock" started getting boring & safe, & before you knew it, it had morphed into something disgraceful: smooth jazz. Meanwhile, Robert continues to this day to release brilliant solo albums with rich, meaningful songwriting.

zortotron (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

Ratledge looks a little like Zappa, eh?

Carlito1988 (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

Perfecto!! Soft Machine was simply an incredible creative band...

cartoonlike (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

Thanks for the info on the Lowrey Organ and fuzz box combo to get that incredible sound. Now I have to find one of those on eBay. Any idea what KIND of fuzz that wuzz?

AstroLogicalBeats (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

sounds like a violin eh

gfunkusarelius (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

yeah, i owned a lowrey organ than a girlfriend got from her grandma and passed to me and it had the exact sound, i loved that damn thing. i should post some tracks we recorded with it. unfortunately the power blew and i never got it fixed.

VDGG94ki (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

A Lowrey combo organ with a fuzz pedal, he picked out some stinging leads with it, and dig the dissonance at the beginning of Virtually... all that instrument. The funny thing is Lowrey organs were cheap and not many people gigged them ever.

bknv2 (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

I'm pretty sure it is just an organ with a distortion effect. It probably just isnt played through a leslie and has some different settings on the drawbars. thats what I think

cartoonlike (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

A most underrated band. I need to see this documentary in its entirety. This is the direction that so-called "fusion" SHOULD have gone. At 3:10, though, what is that keyboard instrument that Ratledge is playing? He used it on many tracks and I always wanted to know. Please tell me. Thanks.