One may argue the point, yet it was between 1970 and 1974 that SOFT MACHINE became the force everybody associates the ensemble with. This is why there are plenty of concert recordings made between the band’s “Third” and “Seven” albums, with some tapes released officially, others circulating as bootlegs, and a few remaining unissued. Fortunately, many of those – plus previously concealed studio sessions for “Fifth” – have been collated into a 17-disc box set titled “Slightly All The Time” and slated to see the light of day on October 30th.
Comprising 14 CDs and three Blu-rays with video material, all painstakingly restored, it can be compared in terms of exhaustiveness only to similar KING CRIMSON sets. It’s no wonder, then, that Sid Smith was the pundit who researched the subject and penned the sleeve notes for this box. Not for everyone, of course, but connoisseurs are bound to feel dizzy.
Slightly All The Time:
Recordings 1970-1974
CD 1 – Third:
1. Facelift
2. Slightly All The Time
3. Moon In June
4. Out-Bloody-Rageous
CD 2 – London – May 1970:
1. Facelift
2. Moon In June
3. Esther’s Nose Job
CD 3 – BBC Radio Sessions 1970
May 4th:
1. Slightly All The Time
2. Out-Bloody-Rageous
3. Eamonn Andrews
“In Concert” – May 31st:
1. Facelift
2. Esther’s Nose Job
December 15th:
1. Virtually
2. Fletcher’s Blemish
CD 4 – The Promenade Concert, Royal Albert Hall – August 13th, 1970:
1. Out-Bloody-Rageous
2. Facelift
3. Esther’s Nose Job
4. Pig
5. Orange Skin Food
6. A Door Opens And Closes
7. Pigling Bland
8. 10:30 Returns To The Bedroom
CD 5 – Fourth:
1. Teeth
2. Kings And Queens
3. Fletcher’s Blemish
4. Virtually Part 1
5. Virtually Part 2
6. Virtually Part 3
7. Virtually Part 4
CD 6 – BBC Radio 1 “In Concert” – March 11th, 1971:
1. Blind Badger
2. Neo Caliban Grides
3. Out-Bloody-Rageous
4. Eamonn Andrews
5. Pigling Bland
6. Kings And Queens
7. Teeth
8. All White
CD 7 – Gondel Filmkunsttheater, Bremen, Germany – March 23rd 1971:
1. Facelift
2. Virtually
3. Slightly All The Time
4. Fletcher’s Blemish
5. Neo-Caliban Grides
6. Out-Bloody-Rageous
7. Eamonn Andrews
8. All White
9. Kings And Queens
10. Teeth
11. Pigling Bland
CD 8 – BBC Radio Sessions
June 1st, 1971:
1. Neo-Caliban Grides
2. Dedicated To You But You Weren’t Listening
3. Eamonn Andrews / All White
November 15th, 1971:
1. As If
2. Drop
3. Welcome To Frillsville
July 11th, 1972:
1. Fanfare
2. All White
3. M C
4. Drop
CD 9 – Fifth:
1. All White
2. Drop
3. M C
4. As If
5. L B O
6. Pigling Bland
7. Bone
The Alternative Fifth Sessions:
1. As If
2. Untitled Blow
3. Pigling Bland
4. (Coda) Esther’s Nose Job
5. All White (Take Two)
6. As If
7. Drum Solo
8. Pigling Bland
CD 10 – BBC Radio 1 “In Concert” – July 20th, 1972:
1. Fanfare
2. All White
3. Slightly All The Time
4. M C
5. Drop
6. Stumble
7. L.B.O.
8. As If
9. Riff
10. Gesolreut
CD 11 – Six:
The Live Record
1. Fanfare
2. All White
3. Between
4. Riff I
5. 37 ½
6. Gesolreut
7. E.P.V.
8. Lefty
9. Stumble
10. 5 from 13 (for Phil Seamen with Love & Thanks)
11. Riff II
The Studio Record
1. The Soft Weed Factor
2. Stanley Stamp’s Gibbon Album (for B.O.)
3. Chloe And The Pirates
4. 1983
Slightly All The Time:
Recordings 1970-1974
CD 12 – Seven:
1. Nettle Bed
2. Carol Ann
3. Day’s Eye
4. Bone Fire
5. Tarabos
6. D.I.S.
7. Snodland
8. Penny Hitch
9. Block
10. Down The Road
11. The German Lesson
12. The French Lesson
CD 13 – BBC Sessions
Radio 1 John Peel Session – November 20th, 1973:
1. Stanley Stamps Gibbon Album
2. Hazard Profile (Part 1)
3. Sinepost
4. Down The Road
Radio 3 “Jazz In Britain” Session – August 26th, 1974:
1. North Point
2. The Man Who Waved At Trains
3. Hazard Profile (Parts 1-4)
CD 14 – Montreux Festival – July 4th, 1974:
1. Hazard Profile
2. The Floating World
3. Ealing Comedy
4. Bundles
5. Land of The Bag Snake
6. Joint
7. The Man Who Waved At Trains
8. Peff
9. The Man Who Waved At Trains (reprise)
10. LBO
11. Riff II
12. Lefty
13. Penny Hitch (coda)
Blu-ray 1 – The Video Vaults 1970-1971
Theatre de la Musique, Paris – March 2nd, 1970:
1. Eamonn Andrews
2. Backwards
3. Mousetrap
4. Out-Bloody-Rageous
5. Facelift
6. Vocal improvisation
7. Esther’s Nose Job / Pigling Bland
Pop Deux – December 12th, 1970 – The Recording of Fourth
BBC TV – “Anatomy of Pop” – January 10th, 1971:
1. Neo-Caliban Grides
Theatre 140, Brussels – “Pop Shop” – January 14th, 1971:
1. Improvisation
2. Neo-Caliban Grides
3. Out-Bloody-Rageous
4. Kings And Queens
5. Teeth
6. Pigling Bland
7. Esther’s Nose Job (excerpt)
8. ….It’s Nothing
9. Mousetrap
10. Noisette
Blu-ray 2 – The Video Vaults 1971-1975
“Beat Club” Radio Bremen TV Session – March 23rd, 1971:
1. Neo-Caliban Grides
2. Out-Bloody-Rageous
3. Vocal Improvisation
4. Eamonn Andrews / All White
Berliner Jazztage Philharmonichalle, West Berlin – November 7th, 1971:
1. Neo Caliban Grides
2. Slightly All The Time
3. Drop
4. M C
5. Out-Bloody-Rageous
6. As If
7. Dark Swing
8. Pigling Bland
9. Esther’s Nose Job (Outro)
CBS Studios, London – “Emission Rockenstock” – November 5th, 1972:
1. The Soft Weed Factor
2. LBO
3. Gesolreut
BBC TV – “Full House” – February 17th, 1973:
1. Gesolreut
2. Fanfare / All White
3. Interviews
Blu-ray 3 – The Video Vaults 1973-1974
“Jazz Workshop'” – Congresszentrum, Hamburg, Germany – May 17th, 1973:
1. Fanfare
2. All White
3. Link 1
4. The Soft Weed Factor
5. Link 2
6. 37 ½
7. Link 3
8. Riff
9. Stanley Stamps Gibbon Album
10. Chloe And The Pirates
11. Gesolreut
12. E.P.V.
13. Link 4
14. Stumble
15. One Across
16. Riff II
Bataclan, Paris – “Pop Deux” – May 29th, 1973:
1. Riff / Down The Road
2. Gesolreut / Chloe And The Pirates
Montreux Jazz Festival – July 4th, 1974:
1. Hazard Profile
2. The Floating World
3. Ealing Comedy
4. Bundles
5. Land of The Bag Snake
6. Joint
7. The Man Who Waved At Trains
8. Peff
9. The Man Who Waved At Trains (reprise)
10. LBO
11. Riff II
12. Lefty
13. Penny Hitch (coda)
