Chapter Seven - A Most Prolific Year (1973)
Soft Machine, 1973
After touring the first half of 1972, the band got back together in CBS Studios around the summertime to record their next album. With Robert Fripp at the production helm, the album was conceived as a “musical adaptation of The Little Red Book”.
Robert Fripp, 1973
Originally the double album was set to be titled Soft Machine’s Little Red Records with an accompanying cover parodying a piece of Chinese propaganda artwork. The title and artwork, however, was turned down by Harvest, who feared the potential controversy.
“I honestly don’t blame ‘em, I doubt our original cover would have done us any favours in the US, what with the Cold War and Red Terror and all that. Personally I never really cared that much for Rob’s politics either way, so I was sort of unphased by it.”
Kevin Ayers, 1980
Initial cover art for Little Red Records
The album was then retitled after one of Ayers’ songs, Stranger in Blue Suede Shoes. Unlike their former record, where most of the songs were written by Wyatt, Stranger in Blue Suede Shoes was more of a team effort, featuring compositions from every member, including two songs written by people outside the band, Among Us by David Bedford, and Champagne Cowboy Blues by Mike Oldfield (which was erroneously credited to Ayers in initial pressings). The album was preceded by the single Stranger in Blue Suede Shoes / God Song, which failed to reach the top 40 everywhere except New Zealand. While the album was critically acclaimed, it failed to make a significant commercial impact, reaching only #80 in the US and #16 in the UK.
Stranger With Blue Suede Shoes [sic] / God Song - Harvest 1973
“I think that album, in particular, was very contrasting terms of our songwriting, yet that made it work so well. They oddly balance each other a bit, mine being more political nonsense, and Kevin’s being somewhat bohemian and carefree. It almost forms this narrative of sorts, contrasting the complicated matters of politics with the simple pleasures of life.”
Robert Wyatt, 1986
Front Cover Back Cover
Gatefold
Side A:
Among Us (0:53) (David Bedford) [1]
Starting in the Middle of the Day We Can Drink Our Politics Away (2:30) (Dave MacRae, Robert Wyatt) [2]
Marchides (8:25) (MacRae) [2]
Nan’s True Hole (3:36) (Phil Miller, Wyatt) [2]
Butterfly Dance (2:50) (Kevin Ayers) [1]
Side B:
We Got An Arts Council Grant (1:33) (Wyatt) [3]
Righteous Rhumba (2:50) (Miller, Wyatt) [2]
Brandy as in Benj (4:18) (MacRae) [2]
Oh My! (2:56) (Ayers) [4]
Gloria Gloom (8:04) (Bill MacCormick, Wyatt) [2]
Side C:
There is Loving - Among Us (reprise) - There is Loving (7:16) (Ayers, Bedford) [4]
Stranger in Blue Suede Shoes (3:22) (Ayers) [4]
God Song (2:56) (Miller, Wyatt) [2]
Song from the Bottom of a Well (4:37) (Ayers) [4]
Side D:
Hymn (4:34) (Ayers) [5]
Flora Fidgit (3:27) (MacCormick) [2]
Smoke Signal (6:34) (MacRae) [2]
Champagne Cowboy Blues (6:11) (Mike Oldfield) [4]
Released: January 1973
Top position in UK charts: #16
Top position is US charts: #80
Track sources:
[1] - Kevin Ayers - Odd Ditties, 1976
[2] - Matching Mole - Little Red Record, 1972
[3] - Robert Wyatt - Solar Flares Burn For You, 2003
[4] - Kevin Ayers - Whatevershebringswesing, 1971
[5] - Kevin Ayers - Bananmour, 1973
Tanglewood Tails, 1973
After the departure of founding member Elton Dean, Tanglewood Tails brought along former Nucleus member Karl Jenkins, a bandmate of John Marshall. The new lineup recorded their third album, Gesolreut, a double album where one record was recorded live and the other was recorded in studio. After the release of Gesoreult, Hugh Hopper left the group due to personal differences.
“As early as 1972, Tanglewood Tails had become a rather ordinary British jazz-rock outfit. Not enough quirks or weirdness! I was very influenced by Uncle Meat and Hot Rats-period Zappa, but that whole jazz-rock territory subsequently became very devalued. For me, the best stuff was a mixture of real weirdness and good writing, sort of like what we had going with Soft Machine, who I was admittedly jealous of when they reformed. I really wasn't interested in the music Jenkins, Ratledge and Marshall were interested in. And they weren't particularly friends of mine anyway. So the two reasons for being in a band had disappeared. I mean, you can play great music with people and you can put up with not being friends with them... or not liking someone. Or vice versa. If you're a great friend of someone you can put up with the fact that he and you aren't playing the same way. Or maybe, they aren't the greatest musician or you're not interested in the same music. For me, the two reasons had dropped out... I wasn't interested in those people and I wasn't interested in the music they were.”
Hugh Hopper, date unknown
Front Cover
Gatefold
Live Disc
Side A:
Fanfare (0:42) (Karl Jenkins) [1]
All White ( 4:46) (Mike Ratledge) [1]
Between ( 2:24) (Jenkins, Ratledge) [1]
Riff I (4:36) (Jenkins) [1]
37½ (6:51) (Ratledge) [1]
Side B:
Gesolreut (6:17) (Ratledge) [1]
E.P.V. (Jenkins) (2:47) [1]
Lefty (4:56) (Tanglewood Tails) [1]
Stumble (1:42) (Jenkins) [1]
5 from 13 (for Phil Seamen with Love & Thanks) (5:15) (John Marshall) [1]
Riff II (1:20) (Jenkins) [1]
Studio Disc
Side A
The Soft Weed Factor (1:18) (Jenkins) [1]
Stanley Stamp's Gibbon Album (for B.O.) (5:58) (Ratledge) [1]
Side B
Chloe and the Pirates (9:30) (Ratledge) [1]
1983 (7:54) (Hugh Hopper) [1]
Released: February, 1973
Top position in UK charts: N/A
Top position in US charts: N/A
Track sources:
[1] - Soft Machine - Six, 1973
Daevid Allen, Kevin Ayers, Karl Jenkins, John Marshall, Bill MacCormick, Mike Ratledge, Robert Wyatt, Elton Dean and Francis Monkman, 1973
After the albums release, both Soft Machine and Tanglewood Tails (under agreement of CBS and Harvest) would embark on a joint European tour, with Roy Babbington (another Nucleus alumni) replacing Hugh on bass. After the tour, Tanglewood Tails would go on to record their next album Think Tank at CBS studios in July of that year.
Front Cover
Gatefold
Side A:
Nettle Bed (4:47) (Karl Jenkins) [1]
Carol Ann (3:48) (Jenkins) [1]
Day's Eye (5:05) (Mike Ratledge) [1]
Bone Fire (0:32) (Ratledge) [1]
Tarabos (4:32) (Ratledge) [1]
D.I.S. (3:02) (John Marshall) [1]
Side B:
Snodland (1:50) (Jenkins) [1]
Penny Hitch (6:40) (Jenkins) [1]
Block (4:17) (Jenkins) [1]
Down the Road (5:48) (Jenkins) [1]
The German Lesson (1:53) (Ratledge) [1]
The French Lesson (1:53) (Jenkins) [1]
Released: October 1973
Top position in UK charts: N/A
Top position in US charts: N/A
Track sources:
[1] - Soft Machine - Seven, 1973
Meanwhile, Phil Miller would depart with Soft Machine after the tour to form the successful Hatfield and the North with Pip Pyle, Richard Sinclair, and Dave Stewart. Soft Machine would go on to plan their next record, with a line up consisting of Wyatt on drums Ayers back on electric guitar, MacCormick on bass ex-Curved Air keyboardist Francis Monkman and jazz saxophonist Gary Windowhich. Sadly, those plans were cut short following an incident on June 1st, 1973, during a birthday party for Gong’s Gilli Smyth and June Campbell Cramer (also known as Lady June) at the latter’s Maida Vale home.
“I remember I was talking to Daevid Allen about the next Soft Machine record. I clearly remember having a glass of wine in my hand. That’s when I heard a loud thud outside, which made me jump and drop my glass. People were gathered around a particular window so I went then to see what it was. And to my horror, Rob was down there. He fell from the fourth-floor window and was paralyzed from the waist down from that point on. We broke up the band after that, I just felt so bad seeing him like that. For the first few months, it was almost like he had his life sucked out of him.”
Kevin Ayers, 1977
With the band's untimely seperation, Ayers and Wyatt went on to record solo albums. Ayers’ second solo album, Bananamour, was recorded between August and September of 1973 with a new band primarily consisting of bassist Archie Legget and drummer Eddie Sparrow.
Front Cover Back Cover
Gatefold
Side A:
Don’t Let It Get You Down (4:04) (Ayers) [1]
Fake Mexican Tourist Blues (4:38) (Ayers) [2]
Shouting in a Bucket Blues (3:45) (Ayers) [1]
When Your Parents Go To Sleep (5:46) (Ayers) [1]
Interview (4:43) (Ayers) [1]
Internotional Anthem (0:43) (Ayers) [1]
Side B:
Decadence (8:05) (Ayers) [1]
Take Me to Tahiti (3:37) (Ayers) [2]
Oh! Wot a Dream (2:48) (Ayers) [1]
Caribbean Moon (3:05) (Ayers) [2]
Don’t Sing No More Sad Songs (3:46) (Ayers) [2]
Beware of the Dog (1:27) (Ayers) [1]
Released: December 1973
Top position in UK charts: N/A
Top position in US charts: N/A
Track sources:
[1] - Bananamour, 1973
[2] - Odd Ditties, 1976
Interesting chapter. I'm presuming the trajectory of the story will now simply follow like the AH TL, with Soft Machine reuniting a few times over the years but never full-time again?
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