lets discuss soft machine

[Guest]

im not too articulate or well versed in my analysis, but ill try n spit this out.

my intepretation .... Brad (Marc or Andrew) would give to his love/girlfriend/wife/soulmate ect, his daggers; his weapons, his means/desire to fight. Long relationships have a tedency to grow cold, get real nasty- like when you really know someone well, you have the power to rip them apart... perhaps he's expressing that, in love, you have to "give up your daggers"

and as for "proof that love is death" I always thought about it as, like, when you're in a relationship, you give up a lot of yourself for the other person- sometimes, lost in the blindness of love, not even realizing it. you get married, and you grow old together, less independently...

perhaps he's expressing that if he's going to love someone, he gonna do it the right way- gonna love fully, deeply, with patience and tender care, with alll his bleedin heart. But, of course, that would require taking some focus off of individual dreams, which is in a way a death of self. Especially for guys like them, in a band, chasing a dream, trying to find themselves musically. For example, if the boys god married and had babies, touring and making new music would probably take a back seat to things like, oh you know, changing diapers

[appleofmyeye]

well, ok I like your analysis of soft machine guest. i think there may be some truth to that but it may be that way one minute and change completely the next. fickle beings we are. the dagger reference could also be about some thing totally sexual as well....don't ya think? As for love being death....maybe if death didn't exist, yeah. but to say that being in love is like death, that's kinda sad, no?

anyhow, nice topic. oh and BTW i love this song old or new...nice to have a song that raises so many different emotions. i do miss tinderbox though. oh will we ever hear that one live again? i certainly hope so.

[Katie]

I was thinking about this discussion before the show in Burlington last week. But to be honest, I guess it's not a song I have strong opinions about. I like the album version, but personally feel like I'm not hearing anything new in it when I hear it live. I've heard it played the same way, so many times, that it just doesn't hold my interest as much live as it used to.

One random Soft Machine that stood out in my mind: 04/18/04 at The Axis (of all places) in Boston. It has this jam in the middle that's very uncharacteristic of Soft Machine... much farther out there than I think I'd ever heard it go before. (I remember hearing it live and questioning myself 'Is this still The Slip? Is this still Soft Machine?' but sure enough, they took went back into it...)

And hoby, if you can't find a download of ICT, pm me... I'll b&p it for you.

[Big Bob]

One random Soft Machine that stood out in my mind: 04/18/04 at The Axis (of all places) in Boston.

This was my favorite performance of The Soft Machine. It was an extended version that got real quiet and trippy before exploding into a jam led by some heart thumping drumming (heart thumbing drumping?) and then fades back into the recognizeable Soft Machine. That whole show was stellar.

[SpaceIsThePlace]

early to mid '04 is extremely underrated imho.

[nigel]

I have to put in my two cents..... Soft Machine is my favorite Slip song and to me really embodies the new sound that they have been going after, harmonicly speaking. The new approach to melody, being the simple yet subtly syncopated vocal lines, is a little less apparent than in other tunes, but still there.
Yes, the ICT is the be all end all version. What Marc does in the middle is just some of the most goose-bumpy playing I've ever heard. Moving that part to the beginning for the studio was a great idea, for the only alternative was to strike it from the arraingement altogether. The ICT truck version or a studio cut of a song that long would never have flown on a product release.
The studio version played live, before IKE'S release really reminded me a bit of what Phish was ATTEMPTING to do in the tune Piper. They are demonstrating that age-old description of how art is always there, and the musicians are merely conduits interpreting or tuning in to that perpetual playback of a piece of music. You know: "the statue was always there in the stone, I just liberated it." who said that??? Anyway, a few times the boys have "Slipped" into the soft machine by Marc meandering into the changes of the song like he's tuning in, the way I described above. Before IKE, I thought that they were going to leave the form totally up in the air, as if thay were going to tune in any way they saw fit, as if it was this ABABABABABABABABAB......... form form the Gods that could be tapped into, like whenever, BRAH. Piper was one of my least favorite tunes. They did the intro like that and then tried to prove that resolve isn't necessary when your in this band. The Soft Machine is quite the opposite, with the ICT version delivering one of the most powerful explosions of musical cohesion I've ever heard. How about that pick scrape right before they hit the top at the end of that jam. Nearly right after that, Marc lets the energy get the best of him and just starts beating the bass, and what comes out totally works.
As much as I would love to hear a return back to the old version, the new one yields a clasic theory on how art exists, and that wouldn't have happened without a somewhat abridged, studio cut.
By the Way, who made off with my Pharmer with Wings costume??
C U @ NYE
-Nigel

[Phrazz]

By the Way, who made off with my Pharmer with Wings costume?? C U @ NYE -Nigel

Yo' NigelFelony! You left that get-up in my ride, silly cow! I'll see if I can find all the bits for NYE (assuming you're looking to have that back). Classic. Just talked to the real landlord, too. He might hit up NoHo, maybe not Brooklyn. Drop me an email so we can coordinate plans.

-Phrazz

[Big Bob]

nigel wrote:

They are demonstrating that age-old description of how art is always there, and the musicians are merely conduits interpreting or tuning in to that perpetual playback of a piece of music. You know: "the statue was always there in the stone, I just liberated it." who said that???

Discovery rather than creation? I think you would get along with Plato right well. But watch out for Artistotle.

[Colin]

what a dilemna. i have no idea which way to go
i love the new things about it but miss some old parts. on a bonaroo recording they do and and theyt go into a crazy break where andrew plays a breakbeat-like-rhythym with one his caxixi shakers. i think the way it is is nearly perfect for an album recording but i miss some older aspects of the songs live performance