Our favorite—make that, FAVOURITE!—Renaissance man and all-round raconteur holds forth on a new, heretofore unreleased, collection of almost-solo tracks hailing from his Softs tenure and recorded under the spell of Jimi Hendrix. (Above: Wyatt, center, flanked by Kevin Ayers, L, and Mike Ratledge.)
Upon finishing their second U.S. tour with the Jimi Hendrix Experience in 1968, Soft Machine broke up. The lineup (drummer/vocalist Robert Wyatt, keyboardist Mike Ratledge, bassist Kevin Ayers) had recorded their first album, but it still had not been released. Wyatt stayed in the U.S., living with members of the Experience in Los Angeles. He also went into TTG studios to record some tracks on which he played nearly all instruments.
The results, never heard until now, included: “Rivmic Melodies,” the suite that would appear on the second Softs album; “Moon In June” a blueprint of another suite that included early Softs songs, combined with newer sections, and later appeared on Third; and two lost songs, “Slow Walking Talk” from the pre-Soft Machine band Wilde Flowers and “Chelsea,” which he would rewrite as “Signed Curtain” in Matching Mole. The former song also features which finds Hendrix on bass, nailing the song in one take. Eventually Wyatt returned to England and Soft Machine reformed (with Hugh Hopper replacing Ayers) and the recordings were thought to be lost.
Cuneiform has released these tracks on CD (with an extended interview in the booklet) and limited edition LP as’68, so we spoke to Wyatt by email. “Old European that I am, I prefer having a bit of time to think,” he confesses. “But prolonged moments of silence on the telephone are expensive and sort of weird.” Clearly the medium doesn’t sacrifice any of his wit.
BLURT: What were you thoughts when you heard about these recordings getting uncovered?
WYATT: I was amazed but nervous. Amazed that I couldn’t remember most of it, nervous about being reminded of my youthful recklessness. But mostly, very grateful that [Cuneiform’s Steve Feigenbaum] was interested in releasing it. And then, whenever the track I remembered [“Slow Walking Talk”] became perfectly cleaned up by Mike King, it all sounded so fresh. Like I say, amazing, considering the poor state the recordings were in when found.
No comments:
Post a Comment