Mike Ratledge reminisces about Soft Machine
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- čas přidán 26. 08. 2024
- Obviously, and unfortunately, NOT a recent interview, and NOT by me... But I thought it would be fun to make a little film out of Mike's interview for WMSN radio in 1974. All credit to them for getting Mike to tell a potted history of Soft Machine from the early days to the time of the interview.
Fantastic. I agree Third was genius. The Lowry organ fuzz set up is an iconic sound.
Ratledge is the best organist of the entire 20th century. Absolutely phenomenal and so tragic that he never got the respect that he deserved.
Great musician - but you need to calm down on the fanboy rubbish. Just appreciate what he did without blowing things all out of proportion, mate.
yeah he was like Hendrix
he was a great player for Soft Machine - but, you really need to calm down about the rest, LOL!
Totally agree he didn't get his due, he was really the only rock/prog keyboard player on the border pushing an advanced jazz approach within the prog/psych rock (soon to become fusion) with his wild outside sheets of sound ala coltrane, and modal and/or atonal soundscapes at a time when most all others stuck to classical mixed w rock (emerson, wakeman, banks, lord, etc). Mike took neither route and was far ahead of his time...too far for most. Classical based prog, which was most bands then, was far easier for most listeners to grasp than jazz mixed with rock, at a time when jazz rock and/or fusion barely existed. It went over most people's heads...too jazz for rockers, to rock for jazzers.
I am a keyboard player and Ratledge was almost inimitable as a player; I think he really was more distinctly original than any of his contemporaries, in rock or jazz. The only one as unique and individualistic was Khalid Yasin (Larry Young) (after he went modal); I never heard any precedent for either player. With the great keyboardists of the day, I could always nail their influences. I didn't have a clue as to how he played what I did until I saw videos of him playing. His approach is really one of a kind. He really was brilliant. I will say it straight up...I am a fan and am not ashamed of that all. He was a one of a kind player.
This is fantastic! One almost never hears Mike talk.
Third. Still my favourite album ever. I’m 70.
It's a wonderful record.
idem
Kicking out Robert was their worst mistake/
'Third' remains an utter masterpiece. Mike Ratledge wrote some amazing music. What happened to him I wonder?
Works for Karl Jenkins
He created some advertisement music! In the late 1970s he recorded a great album called Riddles Of The Squinx, which you can find on YT
@@yellowclouds3722 Sphinx
Thanks, Aymeric. I feel like *any* recording of Mike talking about Soft Machine should be preserved behind heavy glass with armed guards!
Ayméric: born MoonJunista - thanks, and To Leo P
The friction between Robert Wyatt and Mike Ratledge, one with the desire to focus on pop and the other on jazz (additionally with the influence of psychedelic rock at that time), is what makes their music absolutely unique and -honestly, to me- perfect. (I'm 32)
Very special piece of music history
My favourite piece is All White from the album Five.
Wow. To pass up the material on Thirds for Soft Machine's Fifth album - my mind, it reels ...... not to mention their first and second albums being infinitely superior to Fourth and Fifth and Six ...
Thanks for sharing !
I used to think that Chick and Herbie were the ultimate Fender Rhodes players. Then I heard Mike. 🤯
Totally different players all three… therefore no comparison should be made
Mike, al piano elettrico, era un accompagnatore, non un solista.
Thanks
Thank you for this
I saw Soft Machine three times in the 70’s. They were a very heavy and tight band. None of the records do justice to Mike’s fuzzed Lowery organ.
4 times -and every time before 1975
@@stevegardner1321 I must have seen them four times, it was after Elton Dean had left, once at Malvern Winter Gardens and again at the Belfry. This was the four piece before Alan joined. Then I saw them at Birmingham University with Alan Holdsworth and then once more with John Etheridge before Mike left but I forget then venue.
disagree, he was finely recorded on their studio and live albums - time for different stereo set-up, mate?
@@7777Scion You obviously never saw Soft Machine live.
@@johnayres2303 Sure did - with Wyatt!
Oh well, the back and forth in bands, some deal with it more gracefully than others. Soft Machine opened me up to Sun Ra, Terry Riley, Coltrane and many more. Music way beyond the usual blues rock and standard prog from back then. To me the first four albums are all tops for different reasons, Fifth was disjointed, the rest all had their moments, but Karl Jenkins and John Marshall brought in a workmanlike regularity. Technically proficient for sure, but much less original than before.
True, but Fourth also had some problems; Seven and Bundles had their moments of freshness - sorely needed
England's best prog-rock keyboard player -- nobody else came remotely close. The Softies were obviously constrained by the rock format and moved steadily in more experimental directions. And that's where we parted company. I need that back beat.
Certainly unique and undefinable style. I found his approach to be wildly different from most prog keyboardist. Only Eno was as original, and that was loose comparison. BTW wonderful rare interview from MR.
I believe the most experimental record they have made is Volume II.
Oh, rubbish. He was a fine player and wrote some fantastic music, but to dismiss others so casually like David Sinclair, Keith Emerson, Rick Wakeman etc etc is just silly, not to mention stupid.
@@brianhammer5107 Credo che la cultura musicale di Ratledge, principalmente jazzistica (Cecil Taylor, Monk, Coltrane), fosse decisamente superiore. Peccato che il mestiere di musicista lo abbia stancato presto.
@@theloniousratledge8835 Praeclarum lusor erat. Magni momenti est non solum prog-saxum, sed etiam musica in genere. Fecit quantum Emerson aut Wakeman? Nec.
Looks like Jon Lord from Deep Purple, that's who I thought at first glance
Was nice no one said after Moon in June they were utter shite.
初めて声を聞いたかもしれない。ありがとうございます。
very good.............
why does he look like jon lord
Had a primary school music teacher his name was ratlidge, he looks and sounds just like him not sure if it was him!
3:04 I can see an EMS Synthi-A! Were there any records where Ratledge actually played it, or was it strictly for live use?
Yes, on Seven, Bundle and Softs there's plenty of it. In the DVD Live "Switzerland 1974" with Allan there's live footage of Mike using it
The Synthi-A was a great instrument. We had one with the band I played in the late70. Remember it came in its own suitcase. You had to insert pins in a matrix to interconnect the components.
One of the stills caught my eye of back stage view looking forward and there appears to be chains / hanging decorations in front of the band ! Anyone know where and what this show was ?
That pic and many others I saw of them there were from the Actuel Jazz Festival in Amougies, Belgium October 28 1969, recorded outside in a tent Also called Amougies Festival or Festival Actuel. The whole show recording is on YT and elsewhere and is great! One of their best of the era, very loud, high energy, crunchy fuzz solos, new parts written, expanded song sections, Mike at his best! great drumming too, it's got it all, probably the best live softs of that period I have ever heard so far, insanely good, go find it and thank me later. Thanks for asking as I knew the pictures and venue but until looking for the exact details for you now, I didn't know it was recorded! So we both get a treat to listen to it now. There is also posters of the festical saying all the bands, it was 5 days oct 24-28 1969.
The festival was organized by the French record label Byg Actuel and sponsored by Actuel, the flagship magazine of the underground culture belonging to Byg. There were several major artists, including Pink Floyd, The Nice, Art Ensemble of Chicago, Yes, Gong, Soft Machine and tons more. Frank Zappa acted as master or ceremonies and jammed with Floyd on interstellar overdrive for 20 mins. The festival counted 80,000 visitors in a tent, which was raised on a field covering an area of 5500 m². The stage was about 200m². The weather was mostly wet and cold. There is film of it somewhere too but is said to be unreleased even at the time since film makers did not get permission to film or something. So there you go. I'm listening to it right now, it sounds much like the 3rd album but TONS better! Many new parts and players (they have the horn guys like Charig, etc soloing over totally new sections, it is like brand new takes on these songs I never heard! I'm gonna grab the whole thing and really dig into it.
Mike gave it all up in 1977 interesting choice but Softs weren't your ordinary band
the situation with Wyatt was much more complex than that - he's skirting around it - without Wyatt they went on to often make good stuff, but as many English writers have commented, when he was let go by the band, the wit and profundity went with him - some of the jamming on Fourth and Fifth was meandering noodling ...
It's funny because he leaves any time you would mention it to him now afaik
Soft Machine's 1-3 albums are just fantastic. 10/10, despite all being different. Now I'm 25, I absolutely love Modal Jazz and Fusion but I still can't stand Fourth... Soft Machine were far too good musicians to go back to 60s hard-bop noodling.
110% agree. 4th started a slide, 5th was crap then - to me - they seemed to buck up a bit with 6th. Third was worn out three times over when I first bought it - I'd better be careful how many times I play the CDs!
Fourth is their best in my book. 1-3 have their moments but lots of substandard filler. SM were far too good to be stuck doing odd pop psych and not advance their jazzier aesthetic which is a natural progression.
Per me, i SM sono stati un grande complesso fino a Six.
@@RocknJazzer "4th" is a good album and "5th" (they seem to have dropped the "th" from titles after that) has its moments such as "Drop" and "Pigling Bland". One problem is the album features two different drummers who have very different musical styles and sounds disjointed. Then after "6" Karl Jenkins (sorry Sir Karl William Pamp Jenkins) joined and gradually started taking over. This changed the nature of the band which moved towards fusion with guitars becoming more prominent. By the time "Bundles" was released in 1975 you hardly noticed Mike was in the group, his sole credit on that is for the track "The Man Who Waved At Trains" which is less than two minutes long. As for Mike, post Soft Machine he did collaborate with Jenkins on some other projects such as early works by Adiemus (credited with programming the percussion !) , wrote the soundtrack music for the film "The Riddles Of The Sphinx" which was released in 2013 and recorded various bits of library music. The Calyx site sums up his later career as "he has since embarked on a reclusive career as composer, arranger and producer for advertisements and theatre plays". At the age of 79 I would guess he may now be retired.
@@kevinlee4179 you are understimating the real masterpiece Seven! That's the only perfect sounding soft machine album
This seems to be cut at certain points. Do you know where the full interview is?
Yes, this is edited. I only cut the questions to leave only Mike's answers. The full version also has Allan Holdsworth saying a few things.
@@aymericleroy8500 I'd love to hear the whole thing if you can point me to where to find it.
@@N0rmad It took me about 2 seconds with Google to find it... soundcloud.com/ron-casey/ratledge-holdsworth-interview
I'd be somewhat better prepared to accept Mike's version of how and why he and Hugh tossed Robert from HIS OWN BAND had they stuck with the genius Phil Howard instead of moving him out for the more "dependable" John Marshall, whom I like, but was not--AND NEVER WILL BE--Phil Freaking Howard. Listen to FIVE and the live recordings with Phil and the difference between him and Marshall's subsequent work beginning with SIX is almost embarrassing. Either it's Robert or it's Phil, but no explanation accounts for John. Sorry. Thumbs down to this.
Democracies work well for countries, but unfortunately, seldom does great music come out when every member truly likes what they are doing. So, while members can be simpatico on one album's music, they may well drift apart in musical tastes on subsequent ones. And when you're a young, ambitious and SERIOUS musician, you want to follow your heart in what tastes you wish to immerse yourself in - and multiple personalities and tastes in a four or five-piece simply make that challenging!
Man Phil is a great drummer but he was a mess, the only performance where he sounds kinda right is on the album but if u listen to EVERY SINGLE SHOW recorded and released recently like "Drop" it's unbereable and after hearing two shows I understand completely the decission to replace him
@@jamaicmalic Sono d'accordo, Phil Howard, dal vivo era totalmente inascoltabile.
phil howards too much for me
Do you have the unedited footage from the interview? If so could you upload it?
The footage I used is unrelated to the interview excerpts which come from a radio interview.
I share the entire unedited interview from 1974 on my channel !
U have the footage of 4:44 ? I can only find gesolreut from that show on yt
czcams.com/video/DKsdMfJ_MYE/video.html
Is this man alive nowadays?
Yeah he is. Quite the quiet guy though. I hope he’s doing well.
Nothing "chaotic" about the SM larger groups - fantastic prog. Maybe Ratledge missed relistening to the recordings.
Liked the softs from 3 to 5 with 4 being their pinnacle for me. Arrival of Karl Jenkins all went downhill. Am I alone? Thanks for sharing.
Not a fan of the Kevin Ayers - Robert Wyatt stuff?
Yes, the excitement and innovation stopped with Jenkins arrival. Technically proficient, but really rather dull. (Just like Jenkins "classical" music.)
@@difficulttoplease1272 Honestly, I feel like Kevin's lyrics made the band so appealing their first album and Robert's humor carried them on their second
jenkins was good on sm.6, and with linda hoyle,solo lp,but as a veteran of seeing them with jimi hendrix,and at the proms 1970,it was so indicative of the failing creative impetus of the late 60s, that when robert wyattt left, it was the end of groups like soft machine,king crimson,etc.
i like 1 and 2 , but i agree otherwise.
bonjour la traduction!! en fait, en virant wyatt, hopper et ratledge se sont tirés une balle dans le pied avec une longue descente aux enfers jusqu'à the land of cockaine . Quel lamentable gachis!
Bah... oui et non ... en se séparant de Wyatt (qui en avait marre de toute façon de ne pas avoir une place plus importante pour ses compos et son chant) ce dernier a fait une carrière solo remplit d'albums sublimes ! D'autre part les albums 4 à 7 de Soft Machine sont très intéressants côté répétitif, minimaliste, expérimental et précurseurs des jazz fusion. Donc... oui... et non ! 😂
donc soft machine sans wyatt est aussi génial ou "interessant" que soft machine avec ? comment me faire comprendre ? On peut ne pas etre d'accord mais l'engouement pour le groupe baisse tres nettement à partir du 5, indices: la presse specialisée de l'epoque, la popularité du groupe (nous n'etions pas plus d'une centaine à la mjc de creteil pour bundles tour), les ventes de disques...
@@schizoidman4646 Hi . disons, pour moi que Soft Machine 2 & 3 sont des albums majeurs conciliant 3 talents top Wyatt Ratledge er Hooper,mais dans le 3 on sent bien que l'orientation Wyatt se dissocie des deux autres avec le Moon in June (sublime ceci étant) seul titre vraiment marqué de son empreinte. Je trouve donc que la suite de la formation a beaucoup de choses pour elle, sans Wyatt, car elle s'oriente vers des trucs très conceptuels qui m'ont énormément plu. De son côté Wyatt a pu concrétiser pleinement ses aspirations et pondre des Ovni (les deux premiers solo LP notamment) qui sont, à mon goût dans les sommets de la zic pop au sens large. Suis pas sûr qu'en restant ensemble, le groupe aurait produit autant de bijoux... Pour info j'ai vu la formation à l'époque du 3 et j'en garde un souvenir incommensurable 😉
Bundles is a great record................... Because Allan Holdsworth is on it ... End of story ..... What about Gong that french drummer good lord thank god for that 1990 TV show .... But then Bruford and Holdsworth were in Gong for like a month ....
What on earth has Ratledge been doing for the past 40+ years? Seems to have become a recluse or something. Kinda weird that he just walked away from the band he'd founded and led, allowing others to use the SM name to this day.
Kevin wasn't around and Hugh reads music...well Kevin couldn't stand the touring and he sold his bass.... and who cares if he can read music, he is his ouwn music...and SM was at his top with him...MR is an A*****
Salty daniel
Ratledge killed the spirit of The Soft Machine and he killed the music quickly...and he kicked out RW out of it...he is a disaster to the music of the band....
He did not, Karl Jenkins and John Marshall did, not to say that Six (Especially the live Album) and Bundles are bad but Ratledge brought the music life and excitement as wel as Robert Wyatt, Hugh Hopper and Elton Dean, that lineup was out of this world in the studio and live.
With Lyn Dobson ofcourse
That comment implies that Ratledge "joined" Soft Machine. He was there from the start and the whole of the band hung off his input and innovation. Agree with Klaus, Karl Jenkins and John Marshall ruined it - too many ego's
@@klaus8456 imagine that line up with Kevin Ayers songwriting tho
The guy wrote Slightly all the time and Out bloody rageous. He's easily the best member of the band. Moon in June is easily the worst piece on the Third masterpiece