This could just as well be titled Very Much Alive In Paris since the DVD captures for posterity a couple of Soft Machine performances first broadcast on French television's POP 2 program on March 2, 1970. It features the short-lived five-piece incarnation of the group that comprised Lyn Dobson on soprano sax, flute, vocal and harmonica in addition to the potent quartet of Elton Dean, Mike Ratledge, Hugh Hopper and Robert Wyatt. As such, it has that moment-in-time feel for a number of reasons, not the least which is the potent, iconoclastic music actually being deemed worthy of televisual exposure. The enduring impression that this group never played the same set the same way twice is evident from the git-go here, with “Facelift” living up to its title in the way that Dean and Dobson duet with the melody without actually fully stating it before the familiar theme emerges properly. Continue reading at ALLABOUTJAZZ.COM. |