Soft Machine Legacy: Burden Of Proof
Author: Andy Robson
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Musicians: |
John Etheridge (g) |
Label: |
Esoteric Antenna |
Magazine Review Date: |
June/2013 |
Catalogue Number: |
EANTCD1015 |
RecordDate: |
August 2012 |
All hail to these vets of jazz and prog rock, we can only salute you. The most obvious expression of all things Softs here is the elegiac re-visioning of Hugh Hopper's ‘Kings & Queens’, replete with a yearning Etheridge solo and Travis' signature echo-rich flute. But this illustrious foursome can draw on legacies beyond the Canterbury scene: ominous Mahavishnu chords lurk beneath ‘Black and Crimson’, the Crims pop up on a familiar riff on ‘Fallout’, and there's a dash of Etheridge's Zappatistas on the lumbering but ecstatic ‘Pump Room’. Marshall and Travis' clattering ‘The Brief’ looks back to Bodywork, their collection of free improvisations and Etheridge even has an overpowering attack of Jimmy Page-itis on the ‘Dazed and Confused’-edged ‘Green Cubes’. But let's not look back: whether it's on a dirty blues like ‘Pie Chart’ or the ambient ambling of ‘They Landed On A Hill’, Legacy remain a band who dish it up hot and fresh today, and hopefully tomorrow.

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