Somewhere In Soho

The sheer ubiquity of Soft Machine live recordings ensures that most fans look askance at any new arrivals to the collection. Too many poorly recorded, badly annotated, and, quite honestly, just plain boring CDs have crept out over the years -- hey, is another one really necessary? In this case, yes. Somewhere in Soho was recorded during the band's residency at Ronnie Scott's in London in late April 1970, with the classic Softs lineup of Mike Ratledge, Hugh Hopper, and Robert Wyatt joined by saxophonist Elton Dean -- the sole survivor from an earlier experiment with a brass section. The sound quality is not superb, but it's certainly eminently listenable, and the bandmembers themselves sound as relaxed as they ever could be, basically improvising around the contents of their second and third albums (Volume Two and Third) and taking some familiar material to fascinating places. Even Wyatt's "Cymbalism" showcase sounds fresh and exciting and, truly, how many times can you say that about an early-'70s drum solo? ~ Dave Thompson