Summary
The Canterbury school of British progressive-rock (one of the most significant
movements in the history of rock music) was born in 1962 when
Hugh Hopper, Robert Wyatt, Kevin Ayers, Richard Sinclair and others
formed the Wilde Flowers.
Wyatt, Ayers, Hopper and their new friends Daevid Allen and
Mike Ratledge formed the
Soft Machine (1966), whereas Sinclair and the others went on to form Caravan.
Soft Machine, one of the greatest
rock bands of all time, started out with albums such as Volume Two (1969)
that were inspired by psychedelic-rock with a touch of Dadaistic
(i.e., nonsensical) aesthetics; but, after losing Allen and Ayers, they
veered towards a personal interpretation
of Miles Davis' jazz-rock on Three (1970), their masterpiece and one of the essential jazz, rock and classical albums of the 1970s.
Minimalistic keyboards a` la Terry Riley and jazz horns highlight three of
the four jams (particularly, Hopper's Facelift). The other one,
The Moon In June, is Wyatt's first monumental achievement, blending a
delicate melody, a melancholy atmosphere and deep humanity.
The Moon In June will remain in the essential canon of music well after
rock music has disappeared.
A vastly revised line-up,
heavily influenced by Ian Carr's and
Keith Tippett's jazz ensembles,
that in october 1969 added a four-piece jazz horn section (notably Elton Dean),
continued the experiment in a colder, brainy, austere manner,
for example with the
four-movement suite Virtually (1971), on their fourth album,
and the futuristic 1983 (1972), on their sixth album.
Members such as
Kevin Ayers,
Daevid Allen and
Robert Wyatt went on to carve some of the most
influential and creative solo careers in the entire history of rock music.
Full bio.
(Translated from the Italian by Troy Sherman)
The legend of the Canterbury scene began in a cellar. Robert Wyatt, born in 1945 in
Bristol, emigrated to Dulwich (a suburb of London) and settled down in 1956 in
Canterbury. At the beginning of the 1960s, he spent his days attending the
local "Simon Langston School," while his evenings were spent with
classmates Pye Hastings and Richard Coughlan; with them, he played music in the
basement of his house. Born from these basement jams were the Wilde Flowers, an
amateur group whose sound reflected the leader’s passion for rhythm and blues
and jazz.
The Wilde Flower’s lineup would stabilize in 1962 with Wyatt
on drums, brothers Brian and Hugh Hopper, and Richard Sinclair. Meanwhile,
Daevid Allen (born 1938),
already a poet and playwright in Melbourne, arrived in England from Australia.
He was an art student that wandered aimlessly for a year around the country. He was fresh with Parisian
experience as well; he had played jazz and composed music for William Burroughs
in France. He found a room
to rent with Wyatt and his “Canterbury College of Art” roommate Kevin Ayers. Misled by the
experienced and astute Allen, still teenaged Robert Wyatt decided to follow him
on one of his episodes in Paris, leaving the Wilde Flowers in the hands of
Ayers.
1963 dates at the “Marquee” by the Daevid Allen Trio (which
was comprised of Allen, Hopper, and Wyatt) would eventually surface on Live (Voiceprint, 1993).
The members of the Wilde Flowers at this point were: Ayers,
Sinclair (bass), his cousin David (keyboards), Hastings (guitar) and Coughlan
(drums). Ayers, born in 1944 in a small village around the area, had grown up
in Malaysia, and at sixteen years of age returned to his native Kent, England.
Meanwhile in Paris, Wyatt and Allen were haunting the
underground expatriated beatniks. The enterprising Allen, during this time,
organized multi-media performances, played piano in bars with Terry Riley, performed with jazz big bands,
and eventually fell in love with a poet and journalist named Gilly Smith. It
was not long before they reached Hugh Hopper in France. When the three
Parisians did return, they were readmitted into the Wilde Flowers, bringing to
the band a refined, intellectual style of improvisation and dada-rock. Allen in
1964 also published his first book of poems.
The Wilde Flowers
(Voiceprint, 1993) would collect recordings of this group (compositions mainly
by the two Hoppers).
In 1965 Ayers migrated to Oxford, where he attended school. Mike Ratledge, at the time, was
his classmate there. Ayers would eventually be what divided the group: on one
side was Soft Machine (their name derived from the title of a book by
Burroughs), with Ratledge (keyboards), Wyatt (drums), Allen (guitar), and Ayers
(bass). The other was Caravan,
comprised of Hastings, Sinclair and Coughlan.
Soft Machine began quietly, with a formation that resembled
that of Nice. In 1966, they came into
the UFO Club in London, together with Syd Barrett’s Pink Floyd. In this place
they discovered the then unknown American record producer Kim Fowley. He introduced the band to the
music industry and (in February 1967) produced their first 45 rpm single:
Feelin' Reelin' Squeelin'/ Love Makes Sweet Music (which, incidentally, was
recorded in the same studio that Jimi Hendrix was training with his rhythm
guitar).
Jet Propelled
Photographs (Charly, 1989) is a 1967 recording by the original line-up of
Allen, Ratledge, Wyatt and Ayers.
The quartet would soon find themselves in France, where they
gained some success with audiences and critics.
After their stay in France, their return to England was
disappointing: Daevid Allen had no valid passport,
and was forced to remain in France. There, he gave life to Gong. The three survivors
(fresh from the triumph of their aforementioned first single) were brought into
the presence of Jimi Hendrix through mutual management. They would end up following him, opening for his
American tour dates in 1968.
With the help of producer Tom Wilson (who had also worked
with Bob Dylan and the Byrds), Soft Machine recorded
their first album, The Soft Machine (Probe,
1968), on foreign American soil. Without the presence of Allen, Ayers is the
dominant force while Wyatt remains timid. The songs obviously have influence
from the Beat Generation, but also draw from psychedelia, the Orient, rosewater
jazz, and, underneath the
surface, there transpires an earnest irony that owes something to Dada in
Paris. This album, in reality, is the embryo of the looming revolutionary
music: in it lies the geometrical keyboard lines of Ratledge; the quiet, high
register singing of Wyatt; Ayers’ Jazz; psychedelic counterpoints; goggled
chants; a forest of endless and percussive drum solos; and intoxicating parts
of cocktail style. The first side of the record, which is much more unified,
contains two suites: The first is the jazz-psychedelic Hope for Happiness, where Wyatt sings a mantra above a
sarabande-driven electric organ. This opening track contains fast passages with
changes in pace on the drums performed as if by extraterrestrials. Ayers fits
in a long bass solo reminiscent of Hendrix’s Third Stone from the Sun. The second of side one’s suites is the
classical So Boot If At All. This
track is pointillist, given to free improvisation. Ratledge takes the role of
dissonance while Wyatt runs away in a sparkling solo. Already in this first
album, they are proving to be one of the most brilliant duets and creative
musical improvisers of all time. The song ends in a final hallucinogenic
thrill. Side two of the record, which is more fragmented than the first,
consists of mostly instrumental songs that take their melodies from the Beats,
soul music, and exotic folk; however, they always degenerate into impromptu
parties where the trio unleashes their joyful and caustic fantasies. In the
second side, Ratledge plays openly, and Wyatt goes wild on drumming sprees,
unleashing various levels of speed, acrobatics, and variety. Never before had a
drummer changed and mangled rhythms to such an insane extent. This facade is
still conceived as a single continuum, where the songs of Ayers (the memorable We Did It Again, the lyric of which is
the title repeated ad infinitum, and the psychedelic Why Are We Sleeping, which is spoken by Ayers with an alternating
mystic chorus) serve as a return to organic music.
Before the release of the album at the very end of 1968, the
members of Soft Machine had time to relax. Ayers deserted to Mallorca with
Allen, Ratledge got homesick and headed for England, and Wyatt became
fascinated by America’s West-coast. When they recovered, they had switched bass
players from Ayers over to Hugh Hopper.
The second album, Volume
Two (Probe, 1969), is the prerogative of the two surviving founding
members. Wyatt’s touch on this album is pataphysical and impalpable. Ratledge
brings to the table a pleasant collage of tricks and imitations. As of 1969,
they had forgotten the Beats and Psychedelia in the name of rock, and began
preparing for their great leap into the 1970s. As with the first record, this
one was created with some artistic immaturity. There is an almost goliardic
insipidity, which acts as a warning against taking the creators too seriously.
In this record, Wyatt proves that he is still built on the style of the long
melodic fantasy (such as A Concise
British Alphabet Part 2, which is his first practice in melancholy nonsense). The refrains of the melodies are
separated by instrumental sections, which are more or less improvised. The
record seems to be influenced more by Zappa than by Dadaism, which can be seen
on Pataphysical Introduction, and
especially on the shooting festival of Hopper’s winds, side one’s finale, the
hallucinogenic Out Of Tunes. Side two
is owned by a score of Ratledge’s ideas: the realistic special effects of Fire Engine Passing With Bells, the
first hints of their forthcoming excited instrumental jams (Hibou, Anemone and Bear), and the first applications of
the minimalism of Terry Riley (the alto sax and organ of Orange Skin Food and the solo organ and bass on A Door Opens And Closes). On this second
record, the great variety of solo and collective improvisations already places
Soft Machine in the Olympus of the rock world, even if they themselves had not
at that point come to know it.
In 1970, with Allen and Ayers roaming in their own musical
endeavors, Wyatt and Ratledge were still struggling with Soft Machine: the
promising sound of the first two discs had not yet earned them money or fame.
Even so, the live performances from this era, with a cast of six or seven
performers each, were beginning to attract both public and critical attention.
Despite the lack of recorded credibility, Soft Machine were granted the
opportunity to record a double album. This album would be a document of the
great creative period of the three core members, assisted, as on tour since
October of 1969, by saxophonist Elton Dean, clarinetist Jimmy Hastings, and
trombonist Nick Evans, who were all members of Keith Tippett’s pseudo-jazz
orchestras. With these live performances, woodwind and keyboards took the
dominant role, which before were the drums and rhythm. The songs would stretch
and shake off of surreal trappings, and the injection of some seriousness into
the music foreshadowed the assimilation of certain techniques of the improvised
and avant-garde.
Facelift - France & Holland (2022) documents live performances of 1970.
Third (CBS, 1970)
is organized, such as the contemporary Ummagumma
by Pink Floyd, into four long tracks, each taking up one side of the double
album. Ratledge’s signatures are Slightly
All The Time, a nice jazz theme played with a mad gallop from gasping
keyboards and bloody sax progressions, and Out-Bloody-Rageous,
a song inspired by minimalism and structured as a series of variations on a
theme. This track consists of an impeccable,
driving change between keyboards and winds, a manifesto of cold rationality by
an electronic organist. Hopper’s contribution is Facelift, a theme that melts in clouds of orientalism. It is
enlivened by horn players’ interludes: in the first part a disjointed soprano
sax, alto sax, and trombone
are interjected in between sleepy mews. In the second part, a conjuror’s swing
flute raves through a lurking bass, and culminates with a jumble of alto sax at
the end. These three pieces keep the complexities of the earlier music created
by Soft Machine and add a technical leap. The organ of Ratledge is lively, and the music of Hendrix is
transformed into a cool jazz-rock. With this record, the drums no longer
experience fits of pataphysical madness, and an almost aesthetic use of the
wind section is utilized. A sense of maturity hangs over the professional
technique now displayed by the musicians on this record. The new sound
pioneered on Third is rooted in two
major musicians of the avant-garde American era: Riley’s minimalism and the
jazz-rock of Miles Davis.
Wyatt is the composer and main performer (he plays all the
keyboards) of the beautiful Moon in June,
one of the greatest masterpieces of English rock. This song reveals in Wyatt a
great composer and arranger as well as brilliant drummer and inimitable singer;
in short, he is a very complete musician. His inspiration is unlike Ratledge’s
modern influences. In his major composition there is little jazz, and in some
cases it is even less musically advanced. But,
Wyatt is equipped with an imagination and a humanity that more than makes up
for any other deficiencies. The idea of Moon
in June is melodic and close to the soul. It is a mantra of undulating
psychedelia, but with a languid and resigned tone that suggests mantras and
songs undulating psychedelia, but with a languid tone and resigned that
suggests an anemic or dreamy chansonnier. The sudden changes of rhythm and
ecstatic crescendos of keyboards, faint whispers, and solemn spikes give the
music an almost epic tone, but also desperately sad. Here and there, there is a
resurgence of entertaining dada, exemplified by a soft humming nonsense and a
breakup of the pattern with an irregular rhythm. Moon In June is a free song that keyboards and drums strive to
follow in its magical musical evolution. The end comes after an excited
instrumental intermezzo through keyboard-noise, insistent bass lines, and
minimal notes of a piano on the last dying phonemes of a stentorian falsetto.
This long instrumental finale returns to the seductive grace of the early
pataphysicists, with a surreal and humorous tone that would always be the
fundamental tone of the music of Wyatt.
With this record, Soft Machine built upon the history of
every genre of music to achieve that final peak. Upon filtering the music in
this record, to be found are traces of abused musical styles, but as with all
great works, everything is broken down into a personal vision of art.
Elton Dean, who with this record
became a permanent member, greatly influenced the style of the Soft Machine.
All tracks, except perhaps Wyatt’s, are inspired more by jazz than any of the
previous albums. Following this record, Ratledge took the lead completely, in
part due to Wyatt’s exhaustion. The drummer was about to leave Soft Machine
soon.
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La leggenda di Canterbury ha inizio in una cantina.
Robert Wyatt, nato nel 1945 a Bristol, emigrato a Dulwich (un quartiere
di Londra) e stabilitosi nel 1956 a Canterbury, al principio dei '60
passa le giornate frequentando la locale "Simon Langston School"
e le serate con i compagni
di scuola Pye Hastings e Richard Coughlan a suonare nello scantinato di
casa. Nascono cosi` i Wilde Flowers, gruppo dilettantistico che riflette
la passione del leader per il rhythm and blues e il jazz.
La formazione si stabilizza nel 1962 con Wyatt, i fratelli Brian e Hugh
Hopper e Richard
Sinclair. Dall'Australia intanto e` arrivato Daevid Allen (classe 1938),
gia` poeta e autore teatrale a Melbourn, nonche' studente d'arte,
un folletto che vagabonda da un anno senza meta,
fresco reduce da un'esperienza parigina in cui ha
suonato jazz e ha composto musiche per William Burroughs.
Trova una camera in affitto a casa dei Wyatt e
al "Canterbury College of Art" e` compagno di camera di Ayers.
Traviato dal piu` esperto e smaliziato Allen,
l'adolescente Robert Wyatt
decide di seguirlo in una delle sue puntate su Parigi, abbandonando i
Wilde Flowers nelle mani di Ayers.
A 1963 date at the "Marquee" by the Daevid Allen Trio, i.e. Allen, Hopper and
Wyatt, will surface on Live (Voiceprint, 1993).
I componenti del gruppo sono ora: Ayers, Sinclair (basso), suo cugino David
(tastiere), Hastings (chitarra) e Coughlan (batteria). Ayers, nato nel 1944 in
un paesino della zona, e` cresciuto in Malesia e soltanto a sedici anni ha fatto
ritorno nel nativo Kent.
A Parigi nel frattempo Wyatt e Allen bazzicano l'underground degli espatriati
beatniks.
Allen e` il piu` intraprendente: organizza spettacoli multi-media, suona
piano-bar con Terry Riley, si esibisce con big band di jazz, si innamora di una
poetessa e giornalista di nome Gilly Smith.
Non passa molto tempo prima che li raggiunga Hugh Hopper.
Quando i tre parigini fanno ritorno in patria, travasano la loro esperienza
nei Wilde Flowers, improntando
lo stile verso l'improvvisazione e il dada-rock per intellettuali raffinati.
Allen nel 1964 pubblica anche il suo primo libro di poesie.
The Wilde Flowers (Voiceprint, 1993) raccogliera` le registrazioni
di questo gruppo (le composizioni sono prevalentemente dei due Hopper).
Nel 1965 torna da Oxford, dove ha frequentato la celeberrima universita`,
Mike Ratledge, anch' egli compagno di scuola ai tempi della "Langston".
La sua personalita` riesce a dividere il gruppo
in due: da una parte i Soft Machine (nome derivato dal titolo di un libro di
Burroughs), con Ratledge (tastiere), Wyatt (batteria), Allen (chitarra),
Ayers (basso), e dall'altra i Caravan, con Hastings, Coughlan e i Sinclair.
I Soft Machine cominciano in sordina, con una formazione che somiglia a
quella dei Nice. Nel 1966 vengono scritturati dall'UFO Club di Londra,
insieme con gli imberbi Pink Floyd di Syd Barett. In questo locale li scopre lo
sconosciuto (allora come oggi) pirata americano Kim Fowley, un eclettico dai
mille travestimenti, qui nei panni della Provvidenza, che introduce i
Soft Machine nell'industria discografica e (nel febbraio del 1967)
produce il loro primo 45 giri:
Feelin' Reeelin' Squeelin'/ Love Makes Sweet Music (registrato nello stesso
studio dove un giovane di colore, certo Jimi Hendrix, sta allenandosi con la
chitarra ritmica).
Jet Propelled Photographs (Charly, 1989) is a 1967 recording by the original line-up of Allen, Ratledge, Ayers and Wyatt.
Il quartetto torna presto in Francia, dove miete un discreto successo di
pubblico e di critica.
Il rientro si tinge pero` di giallo:
Daevid Allen non ha il passaporto in regola e deve
rimanere in Francia, dove dara` vita ai Gong.
I tre superstiti si aggregano a Jimi Hendrix
(reduce dal trionfo del primo singolo) e ne seguono l'avventura in terra
americana.
Apprezzati dal produttore Tom Wilson (lo stesso che
aveva lavorato con Dylan e i Byrds), i Soft Machine
registrano su suolo straniero il loro primo album,
Soft Machine 1 (Probe, 1968).
Di Allen non c'e` piu` nulla, domina Ayers e il piu` timido
e` Wyatt. Le canzoni profumano di beat, ma anche di psichedelia, di Oriente,
di jazz all'acqua di rose, e sotto sotto trapela
un'ironia seriosa che deve qualcosa ai dada parigini. In embrione e` gia` una musica
rivoluzionaria: le geometrie tastieristiche di Ratledge, il canto in sordina (sui registri alti) di
Wyatt, il basso jazz di Ayers,
i contrappunti psichedelici, le cantilene stralunate, la foresta percussiva
con sterminati assoli di batteria e parti sturmentali
che sono ubriacanti cocktail stilistici.
La prima facciata, piu` unitaria,
contiene due suite: quella jazz-psichedelica di Hope For Happiness,
con il canto quasi mantrico di Wyatt in apertura, una sarabanda elettrica
guidata dai passaggi velocissimi di organo e dai cambi di ritmo marziani
della batteria, con un lungo assolo di Ayers al basso elettrico che ricorda
la hendrixiana Third Stone From The Sun;
e quella classicheggiante di So Boot If At All
(i Nice del Duemila, puntillisti, free e improvvisatori, con Ratledge nei panni di un
Emerson tutto dissonante e Wyatt imbizzarrito in un assolo effervescente:
uno dei duetti piu` geniali e creativi della musica improvvisata di sempre,
con un finale cosmico- allucinogeno da brivido).
La seconda facciata, piu` frammentata, e` fatta di
canzoni prevalentemente strumentali che prendono le melodie dal beat,
e dal soul e dal folk esotico, ma degenerano sempre in parti improvvisate
in cui il trio sfoga la propria gioiosa e caustica fantasia. Ratledge si
comporta ormai apertamente come un Hendrix dell'organo e Wyatt si scatena alla batteria dando
diversi numeri di velocita`, acrobazia e varieta` (mai batteria aveva cambiato
e storpiato ritmi cosi` a catinelle).
Anche questa facciata e` comunque concepita come un continuum unico, dove le
canzoni di Ayers (memorabili We Did It Again, il cui testo e` il titolo
ripetuto all'infinito, e la psichedelica Why Are We Sleeping, parlata da
Ayers e alternata a un coro mistico) fungono da ritorni di organicita'.
Prima che l'album esca, nel 1969, i Soft Machine hanno fatto in tempo a
sciogliersi (Ayers disertando per Maiorca con Allen; Ratledge preso da
nostalgia per l'Inghilterra; Wyatt affascinato dalla West-coast) e a
ricostituirsi, senza Ayers e con Hugh Hopper al basso.
Il secondo album, 2 (Probe, 1969),
e` appannaggio dei due membri fondatori
superstiti, una facciata ciascuno: a Wyatt la prima, patafisicamente
impalpabile, a Ratledge la seconda, ameno collage di trucchi e imitazioni.
Il tutto nel nome di un rock, quello del 1969, che ha dimenticato beat e
psichedelia, e si sta preparando al gran balzo (con relativo gran tonfo) degli
anni '70. Come nella prima prova c'e` un fondo di immaturita`, quasi di
goliardica scipitezza, che mette in guardia dal prendere troppo sul serio gli
autori.
Quella di Wyatt e` ancora costruita sullo stile della lunga fantasia
melodica, in cui i ritornelli delle melodie (come A Concise British Alphabet
part 2, primo saggio di malinconia nonsense) sono separati da parti strumentali
(anche un assolo di piatti) piu` o meno improvvisate ("Zappiana" piu` che
dadaista la Pataphysical Introduction, soprattutto la ripresa, festival dei
fiati di Hopper, con il finale allucinogeno di Out Of Tunes).
Quella di Ratledge e` uno spartito di idee a seguire:
il realismo effettistico di Fire Engine Passing With Bells,
e le prime concitate jam strumentali (Hibou Anemone and Bear),
le prime applicazioni del minimalismo di Terry Riley (l'alto sax sull'assolo
d'organo di Orange Skin Food e l'organo sull'assolo di basso di
A Door Opens And Closes).
La grande varieta` di assoli e di improvvisazioni collettive pone gia'
i Soft Machine nell'olimpo del rock mondiale, anche se loro stessi non
lo sanno ancora.
Nel 1970, mentre Allen e
Ayers scorazzano gia` per conto proprio, Wyatt
e Ratledge sono ancora alle prese con la Soft Machine: il suono promettente
dei dischi d'esordio non ha fruttato ne` soldi ne` fama, ma le esibizioni
dal vivo dell'epoca, con un cast di sei-sette elementi, attirano
l'attenzione del pubblico piu` emancipato e della critica. Nonostante la
scarsa credibilita` presso i discografici, i Soft Machine riescono a
registrare un album doppio, documento fedele della grande stagione creativa
dei tre, a cui si sono aggiunti in tournee (a partire dall'ottobre 1969)
personaggi come il sassofonista
Elton Dean, il clarinettista Jimmy Hastings e il trombonista Nick Evans,
membri dell'orchestra pseudo-jazz di Keith Tippett.
Fiati e tastiere prendono il ruolo dominante che era stato della batteria.
I brani si allungano e si scrollano di dosso gli orpelli surreali. L'iniezione
di serieta` s'intravede anche nell'assimilazione di certe tecniche ripetitive
e improvvisate dell'avanguardia.
Third (CBS, 1970)
e` organizzato, come il coevo Ummagumma (parte in studio)
dei compagni di gavetta
Pink Floyd, in quattro lunghi brani. Ratledge firma
Slightly All The Time, bel tema jazz svolto con scalmanate galoppate e
adagi boccheggianti di tastiere e cortei di sax sanguigni;
e Out Bloody Rageous, brano di ispirazione minimalista strutturato come
una serie di variazioni sul tema, con impeccabili cambi di guida fra tastiere
e fiati, manifesto della fredda razionalita` elettronica dell'organista.
Hopper firma Facelift, un tema fortemente ritmato che si scioglie in nuvole di
orientalismi, vivacizzato dagli intermezzi fiatistici:
nella prima parte un disarticolato incrocio di sax soprano, sax alto e trombone,
assonnati e miagolanti, nella seconda un flauto swing incantatore che vaneggia
sul rombo in agguato del basso, una baraonda di sax alto alla fine.
Questi tre brani danno la misura del balzo tecnico compiuto dal complesso. L'organo
vivace ed hendrixiano di Ratledge si e` trasformato in un freddo strumento
jazz-rock, la batteria non ha piu` quegli accessi di follia patafisica,
e un uso quasi estetico dei fiati li integra con classe nelle lunghe
improvvisazioni collettive. Un grigio senso di maturita` aleggia sulla
tecnica professionale messa in mostra in ogni solco dai musicisti.
Il nuovo sound e` radicato nelle due grandi novita` dell'avanguardia
americana dell'epoca: il minimalismo di Riley e il jazz-rock di Davis.
Wyatt e` autore ed esecutore (suona tutte le tastiere) della splendida
Moon In June, uno dei massimi capolavori del rock inglese, il brano che lo
rivela grande compositore e arrangiatore oltre che geniale batterista e
cantante inimitabile, insomma musicista completo.
La sua ispirazione non e` cosi` moderna come quella di Ratledge, poco jazz e
meno ancora avanguardia; ma Wyatt e` dotato di una fantasia e una umanita'
che suppliscono abbondantemente alle deficienze scolastiche.
Lo spunto di Moon In June e` strettamente melodico, vicino al soul, ai
mantra e alle
canzoni ondeggianti della psichedelia, ma con un tono languido e dimesso
che fa pensare a uno chansonnier anemico o trasognato.
I cambi repentini di ritmo e gli estatici crescendo delle tastiere,
i deliqui in fil di voce,
le impennate solenni, conferiscono alla musica un tono quasi
epico, ma soprattutto perdutamente malinconico. Qua e la` riaffiorano i
divertimenti dada, un canticchiare nonsense sommesso e uno spezzettare il motivo con un ritmo
irregolare.
Moon In June e` un canto libero che tastiere e batteria si
sforzano di seguire nelle sue magiche evoluzioni.
La fine arriva dopo il concitato intermezzo strumentale, attraverso rumori
tastieristici, linee di basso incalzanti, le note minimali di un piano
stentoreo sugli ultimi agonizzanti fonemi in falsetto.
Questo lungo finale strumentale riporta alla grazia seducente dei primi
giorni patafisici, col tono surreale e umoristico
che sara` sempre il tono fondamentale della musica di Wyatt.
Con questo brano i Soft Machine escono dalla storia dei generi per entrare
in quello della musica totale. A filtrare il suono si possono trovare tracce
di stili e modi fra i piu` abusati, ma, come nelle migliori opere della
transavanguardia, tutto viene assimilato in una visione personale dell'arte.
Elton Dean, che diventa membro stabile, ha influenzato molto lo stile di questi
Soft Machine. Tutti i brani, meno forse quello di Wyatt, risentono di un'
ispirazione jazzistica piu` marcata rispetto ai dischi precedenti. Ratledge
intanto ha preso il comando, esautorando in parte Wyatt. D'altronde il
batterista e` in procinto di lasciare la "morbida macchina" in balia del
freddo cerebro del tastierista e del sax invadente dell'ultimo arrivato.
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