Soft Machine

i made it to 1min 10sec anybody beat that? the guitarist looks like he's the kid brother of one of the guys in kiss and when they wouldn't let him in he said, 'screw you guys i'll put on some make up and start my own band!' but without the talent unfortunately.

Ummm, Patty? The Soft Machine was considered to be one of the most influential Psychedelic bands of its time, equally as influential as Pink Floyd but without that bands later aiming at the pop charts.

The bassist with the eye make-up you didn't like was Kevin Ayers, who was later on the short list to play with the Hendrix Experience, but he was tired of playing Bass in someone else's band and sold his bass to Mitch Mitchell. The drummer & singer was Robert Wyatt, who later fell out of a window & became a pop singer (one didn't lead to the other, it just happened that way). The guy playing a Lowrey Organ through a fuzzbox & Marshall stack was Mike Ratledge. Other members to pass through the Softs include Daevid Allen, who later formed the influential band Gong, and Andy Summers, who later joined a little band called the Police.

Some of the bands the Softs directly influenced, besides the aforementioned Gong & Police, are Caravan, Hatfield & the North, Egg, the National Health, Henry Cow, and Matching Mole. Yes, I know you don't know who they are, you can look them up on AllMusic.com or Last.fm if you want. 😉 Some of the bands that list them as influences you may know: Dixie Dregs, Genesis, Chick Corea & Return to Forever, Mike Oldfield, Frank Zappa, Yes, King Crimson, and David Bowie.

Wyatt & Ayers are still releasing records today, and last I heard Mike Ratledge was happy writing music for commercials.

sorry, not my type of music sam. you are right, i don't recognise a number of those names. music is kind of subjective, in that if you don't like a particular genre you aren't going to like the best of it any better than the rest of it. 😊

I've got this funny rule about music and songs: they must be melodious, contain lyrics consisting of more that 4 or 5 words, and be expressed by people with talent.

I don't expect everyone here to be a fan of psychedelic noodling turning jazz (OK, I don't expect anyone here to be fans of psychedelic noodling turning jazz), but don't dismiss the band's whole oeuvre and the whole of Canterbury Scene Prog Rock along with it, some of it is pretty cool if you like guys who can shred on guitar or keyboards in a modern Jazz-Rock idiom. Here's some other videos of the Soft Machine:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIC-nJRcgeU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gpaMTgBCx0

Jump to 5 minutes into this one to see some guitar shredding:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gpaMTgBCx0

Some other Canterbury Scene Prog bands:

Hatfield & the North:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGjRhhggSFo

Camel:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTVnCyDoQlQ

Egg:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbsZgiy71iQ

Arzachel:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SI7DOCRvdc