Third

Performer: Soft Machine
Engineer: Andy Knight; Bob Woolford
Producer: Soft Machine
Distributor: Sony Music Distribution (

Notes: Personnel: Robert Wyatt (vocals, drums); Rab Spall (violin); Jimmy Hastings (flute, bass clarinet); Lyn Dobson (flute, soprano saxphone); Elton Dean (alto saxophone, saxello); Nick Evans (trombone); Mike Ratledge (piano, organ); Hugh Hopper (bass). When Kevin Ayers left the band, Soft Machine moved into deep jazz/rock - so deep that they rarely rocked. The mercurial Robert Wyatt became occasional vocalist, although they were now effectively an instrumental unit of great originality. Third is generally regarded as their peak recording, a wandering foray using Elton Dean's soprano saxophone and Mike Ratledge's keyboards as the foundation to their sound. 'Moon In June' features Wyatt's frail, high-pitched voice, and is still talked about by cultists for the fact that he rarely sang the same words from one performance to another. Difficult music, but well worth the effort, especially after a vat of wine.

Rolling Stone (1/7/71, p.48) - "..This album is a godsend...they are fantastic...If you could imagine Traffic with classical training, having absorbed the concept of modal thinking as developed by the likes of John Coltrane.." Uncut (p.102) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "There's a great demonstration of what Wyatt brought to the group. With him, they were an odder fish, straddling jazz, prog and pop." Mojo (Publisher) (p.111) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "From jazz-rock cacophony to a mood song of almost unbearable tenderness, THIRD is the big daddy of post-psych Britain." Mojo (Publisher) (3/01, p.55) - "...Marked their full transformation from pop-psych Pink Floyd understudies to po-faced purveyors of complex jazz-rock epics....Daringly ambitious, catching the progressive inclinations of a new decade..."

A pioneering British psychedelic group in the late 1960s, Soft Machine eventually developed a unique, forward-thinking brand of jazz-rock tinged with progressive/experimental touches. As the leading light of the "Canterbury scene" (a loosely knit collection of like-minded Canterbury, Kent, England-based bands which also included Caravan and Gong), the combo came to define the jazz-rock genre and was hugely influential to the burgeoning jazz fusion and experimental rock scenes. Soft Machine is also notable as a springboard for the successful later careers of several of its members, including Robert Wyatt, Kevin Ayers, Allen Holdsworth, Andy Summers. Originally based around surreal, heady, rhythmic, harmonic, and melodic deconstructions of conventional pop song structures, Soft Machine's music eventually morphed into a much looser, more improvisational style that found favor with fans of American acts such as Weather Report and Return to Forever. After the departure of prime mover Wyatt, Soft Machine continued on in various incarnations for several decades, but to much less acclaim.

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