| Identifier | 6998491 |
| Created At | Tue May 23 2023 23:54:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time) |
| Trades Allowed |
Performance
| Actuel Festival 1969-10-28 Actuel Festival, Amougies, Belgium | |
|---|---|
| Set 1 | Soft Machine: Moon In June Facelift Eamonn Andrews Mousetrap / Noisette / Backwards / Mousetrap Reprise / drumlink Esther's Nosejob (incl. Pigling Bland) (15:15) 6. Hibou, Anemone And Bear Robert Wyatt - Drums & Vocals Mike Ratledge - Lowrey Organ & Hohner Pianet Hugh Hopper - Bass Elton Dean - Alto Sax Lyn Dobson - Soprano Sax Marc Charig - Cornet Nick Evans - Trombone |
| Set 2 | |
| Set 3 | |
| Comment | This is the only performance known to be recorded of a complete concert by the shortlived septet line-up of Soft Machine. Amougies wasn't quite their debut (they played a warm-up gig in Liverpool a few days before) but this is certainly where most people heard them for the first time.
Although a major change in the band's instrumentation, the addition of a brass section didn't actually alter their basic set all that much, the only composition written especially for this line-up being "Pigling Bland", the new coda to "Esther's Nosejob". Everything else (including the rare coda to "Facelift" which shows up on the September trio gig from Amsterdam) had been played by the trio (and quartet with Brian Hopper). Similarly, the fact that Robert Wyatt doesn't sing much was not so much a consequence of the enlarged line-up than one of its causes - apart from Hopper and Ratledge's new compositions being all-instrumental, Wyatt just couldn't cope with his dual role very well. Actually, the Amougies concert has some of his best live singing, particularly the "New York" sequence of "Moon In June". This was in part due to the band's recent acquisition of an Echoplex echo chamber. But most of "Moon In June", alas, is played instrumentally... but it is played very well, particularly by Ratledge who makes expert use of fuzz and wah-wah. All in all, this is a precious document of an exceptional line-up, a welcome complement to what little is available commercially (on "BBC Radio 1967-71" and "Backwards"). Apparently, the first half of this set was broadcast on radio at the time, on either the Belgian RTBF or Luxemburg's RTL |