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Soft Machine — The Dutch Lesson
(Cuneiform Rune 490/491, 1973/2023, 2CD / DL)

by Jon Davis, Published 2023-05-07

The Dutch Lesson Cover art

With each archival Soft Machine live album that comes out, I basically have only one question: “Is the sound quality good enough to be listenable?” I don’t need to consider the quality of the performance or the time period of the recording or the personnel involved — none of these will be an indicator of how much I’ll enjoy the album. I have yet to hear a live recording of the band from the 70s that wasn’t outstanding, as long as the recording was decent on a technical level. Was it Hugh Hopper or Roy Babbington on bass? Was there a guitar, and if so, was it Allan Holdsworth or John Etheridge? Robert Wyatt or John Marshall on drums? None of these matter, since all of the variations of the band featured amazing musicians. At hand we have a show from October 26, 1973 at a club in Rotterdam called De Lantaren. It was recorded on a portable tape deck in the audience by Bert Boogaard, and it captures the band with remarkable fidelity considering the technology used. Soft Machine at that time consisted of Mike Ratledge (electric piano, organ), John Marshall (drums), Roy Babbington (electric 6-string bass), and Karl Jenkins (soprano sax, baritone sax, oboe, electric piano). This places the band right around the release of their seventh album, not long after the departure of Hopper but before the addition of Holdsworth. The material on Seven had been realized using a number of overdubs to fill out the quartet’s sound, so it’s probably no surprise that the Rotterdam show draws more heavily on tunes from Six. Only “Down the Road” appears from Seven. The real treat on The Dutch Lesson is a very early version of “Hazard Profile,” which would appear on Bundles (1975) and feature Holdsworth extensively. Here the famous riff is primarily handled on electric piano. And there’s plenty of room for spirited improvisation, especially towards the end of the set, where “Hazard Profile” leads into a funky jam, and they finish with a jam on the riff from “Gesolreut” (which appeared earlier in the set in its more arranged form). It’s a powerful and energetic cap to a stellar performance, and we’re fortunate that it was preserved in such fidelity for us to enjoy 50 years after the fact.

Filed under: New releases, 2023 releases, 1973 recordings

Related artist(s): Soft Machine, John Marshall

More info
http://cuneiformrecords.bandcamp.com/album/the-dutch-lesson

 

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