Monday, 10 February 2025

Monday Long Song

Soft Machine founding member, keyboard player Mike Ratledge passed away last Wednesday at the age of 81. Although he left the band as long ago as 1976, his contributions to their first eight studio albums and countless subsequently released live sets are immense and the stuff of legend. Here's the short lived 1969 version of Soft Machine consisting of Ratledge, Hugh Hopper, Brian Hopper and Robert Wyatt, performing on John Peel's Top Gear. Within months Brian Hopper was out, to be replaced by Elton Dean, thus completing what many consider to be the classic line-up of the band.

Soft Machine - Facelift / Mousetrap / Noisette / Backwards / Mousetrap Reprise
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