Soft Machine: Middle Earth Masters

[GovernorSilver]

Confirmed: Organist Mike Ratledge was a madman on this album

 

https://cuneiformrecords.bandcamp.com/album/middle-earth-masters

[marino]

Wow, thanks!

Also, I hadn't checked Cuneiform for a while... somewhat I assumed they weren't around anymore. Yumm!!

[synthizen2]

I have been a bit stumped on how Ratledge got the fuzz/distortion tone on his Lowrey as early as late-1967.

 

The story that ex-members of the band now tell (those that are still alive)... is that Ratledge and band got the idea from Jimi Hendrix, while on tour with him in 1968 (opening for Jimi). Hendrix showed them his distortion pedal, and then Ratledge bought one and hooked it up to his Lowrey, and the rest is history. I suspect that is probably a bit of "urban legend". But in any case, this is when the "Canterbury keyboard tone" was born.

 

Ratledge was probably the first known keyboard player to do this. Without a regular guitarist (Daevid Allen already departed mid-'67, and Andy Summers, later of The Police, joined for a brief period in '68)... there was nothing else to hook the pedal up to (except maybe the bass)... Hugh Hopper, who replaced Kevin Ayers, used one on his bass in later incarnations of Soft Machine.

[GovernorSilver]

Wow, thanks!

Also, I hadn't checked Cuneiform for a while... somewhat I assumed they weren't around anymore. Yumm!!

 

Glad you enjoyed!

 

Steve Feigenbaum effectively runs Cuneiform and lives here in the DC area. I see him at shows every now and then - outdoor shows anyway. He's facilitated appearances here by artists who might not otherwise come play here, and a great supporter of live music.

[Shamanczarek]

I still have my vinyl copy of Third but being a two record set it was a lot to absorb in my younger years. Have grown to appreciate it more over the years.

 

As for the first to use a fuzz pedal on an organ that honor may go to Daryl Hooper of The Seeds. This is from their first album in 1966. Hooper used a Farfisa Compact and Wurlitzer EP on stage so he was also one of the first multi-keyboardists. I was a fan of The Seeds in the 60s and hooked up a fuzz box to my Wurlitzer spinet which got a similar sound.

 

[video:youtube]

 

Second album also from 1966.

 

[video:youtube]

[NewImprov]

I love Soft Machine, especially the 3rd-Bundles era. Ratledge is really under-appreciated as a keyboardist, he has one of the most unique solo sounds of the progressive era, and he has a great sense of melody, even in their most out moments.

 

I have a very tenuous Soft Machine connection, I once filled-in for Hugh Hopper on a gig, playing his tunes. My friends in the Portland, OR-based trio Caveman Shoestore did an album of Hopper's tunes, where they recorded arrangements of his tunes, then sent the master tapes to him in England to play over. When the album came out, under the name Caveman Hughscore, at their Portland record release show, I was drafted to cover Hopper's parts, largely because I was a bass player who could read music (sort of) and owned a fuzzbox. As a lifelong fan, it was a blast to play his tunes, especially from his hand-written scores. I had a blast on the gig, I got to do mostly the crazy fuzz bass solos, while their bassist (the amazing, and, sadly, now-deceased Fred Chalenor), played the complicated parts. The band then flew to Europe to tour the album, with Hopper, and recorded several more albums with him.

[Al Coda]

My affinity to keyboards started by hearing Soft Machine w/ Mike Ratledge when I was a teenager somewhere 60s.

 

Even we had a piano at home and I had lessons, I started w/ drums in amatuer beat bands,- but then I wanted a (combo-) organ.

So, I bought a used VOX and got a very small (size of a transistore radio) tube amp father´s guitarist formerly used.

It distorted very quick and that was the 1st overdriven sound I experimented with.

Ratledge became my hero for a long time.

 

 

A.C.