"Best" starting point with Soft Machine?

[Steve F.]

I also think the Montreux fest people would have a better shot at marketting (and making money out of it) this rather than Steve.

Montreux doesn't release or market anything; the fest has an exclusive license with Eagle Rock, who are obviously larger than us and can do more than us and also thereby have higher costs than us would not be able to consider issuing something with as 'low interest' as a Soft Machine show.

[Trane]

Montreux doesn't release or market anything; the fest has an exclusive license with Eagle Rock, who are obviously larger than us and can do more than us and also thereby have higher costs than us would not be able to consider issuing something with as 'low interest' as a Soft Machine show.

Thx...

Yup, I'd guess Soft Machine is pretty low on their (Eagle) priority list... but who knows one day...

[Mister Triscuits]

Man, outside Babs and Holdsworth, these guys had atrocious haircuts

Jenkins looked like Buster Brown with a mustache.

[arturs]

Montreux doesn't release or market anything; the fest has an exclusive license with Eagle Rock, who are obviously larger than us and can do more than us and also thereby have higher costs than us would not be able to consider issuing something with as 'low interest' as a Soft Machine show.

Sadly it is a missed opportunity. Back in 2003 or 04 when Eclectic was trying to release the SM Montreux show, it certainly wasn't all over the net yet (did Youtube even exist then? can't remember...) and at the time Jenkins was still selling millions of Adiemus CDs, which are now mostly in dollar bins at used CD stores from what I can tell. So there may have been an opportunity to market this to a much broader audience than would be possible now.

The good news for fans is that, in addition to YT, the show has been on Dimeadozen forever in reasonably good DVD quality. To get back to the original thread theme, this show would be a great place to "start" for anyone interested in the high-power fusion of the Bundles era.

[calyx]

Sadly it is a missed opportunity. Back in 2003 or 04 when Eclectic was trying to release the SM Montreux show, it certainly wasn't all over the net yet (did Youtube even exist then? can't remember...)

Didn't know Eclectic tried to license it. As far as I know, it was MoonJune who tried really hard.

The good news for fans is that, in addition to YT, the show has been on Dimeadozen forever in reasonably good DVD quality.

It's certainly a good thing that people can see/hear this footage after the Montreux people did nothing towards an official release, but better still would have been an official release which would benefit the people who created it, first and foremost the musicians involved - who, in this case, are still alive (and not all of the millionaires).

Note that the footage appeared online AFTER MoonJune's fruitless attempts at licensing it. At least in this case it can't be said that the "youtubing" of the footage killed a potential release, which can't be said of other instances.

[arturs]

Didn't know Eclectic tried to license it. As far as I know, it was MoonJune who tried really hard.

You are correct. I had confused the two companies. At around the same time as MJ were trying to license Montreux, Eclectic were rumored to be putting together an SM DVD of their own, hence the confusion. I don't think I ever heard what was supposed to be on the Eclectic DVD.

I also remember at the time (I probably read it on What's Rattlin') MJ's Leonardo complained about someone who owned a beautifully shot 60 minute show of SM with Phil Howard. Now that would have been something to see! But the film owner was demanding 60,000 Euros or something ridiculous like that.

Really a shame that all these great SM video projects (the above two plus Steve F's heartbreaking stories of negotiation with the French TV network) have fallen apart because of overvaluation by their ignorant owners! So frustrating.

It's certainly a good thing that people can see/hear this footage after the Montreux people did nothing towards an official release, but better still would have been an official release which would benefit the people who created it, first and foremost the musicians involved - who, in this case, are still alive (and not all of the millionaires).

I very much agree. I always try to buy all the official releases, even if I already own boots that are virtually identical in content. Most recently the 4 DVD Jethro Tull box, where the creator in question is a multi-multi-millionaire. It is my small way of saying "thanks" for the great music.
.

[Scrotum Scissor]

Jenkins looked like Buster Brown with a mustache.

I once had a buddy who would sit and stare at the cover of my Soft Machine Four copy, just going "[...] He... He's got his... His spectacles on the outside of his hair...! How can anyone wear his spectacles on the outside of one's hair?"

Ratledge was king.

[Progbear]

Was that made during Ratledge’s Dorothy Hammill/Toni Tennille hair phase?



-------------
MIKE (a.k.a. "Progbear")

"It is not an obscenity to be free. It is a divine right." --Annette Peacock

N.P.:“Rudy”-Supertramp/Crime of the Century

[PeterG]

Third - 'cos Third is the album that consolidates their classic sound....if that it what you want of course. The stuff before Third is more British underground pop-psyche-jazz mix and as such I only like the first two. Third was when I went "hhmmm...too much jazz for me"

[Trane]

Sadly it is a missed opportunity. Back in 2003 or 04 when Eclectic was trying to release the SM Montreux show, it certainly wasn't all over the net yet (did Youtube even exist then? can't remember...) and at the time Jenkins was still selling millions of Adiemus CDs, which are now mostly in dollar bins at used CD stores from what I can tell. So there may have been an opportunity to market this to a much broader audience than would be possible now.

Boy, that was one of the biggest "prog" sell-out ever, wasn't it...
Though one tends to think about selling out in pop ....
Oh wait... ... I suppose Adiemus is pop in some ways

I very much agree. I always try to buy all the official releases, even if I already own boots that are virtually identical in content. Most recently the 4 DVD Jethro Tull box, where the creator in question is a multi-multi-millionaire. It is my small way of saying "thanks" for the great music.
.

that's what I was getting at in the Circus thread about boot labels... I usually (90% of the time) do buy the official... unless the I didn't like the album

I once had a buddy who would sit and stare at the cover of my Soft Machine Four copy, just going "[...] He... He's got his... His spectacles on the outside of his hair...! How can anyone wear his spectacles on the outside of one's hair?"

Ratledge was king.

Well, he does look very awkward, but then again, only Wyatt looked "rock" on the sleeve of 4

[Octavio Trimmingham]

I always suggest Volume Two as a good starting point. This way if the listener likes the jazzy side of their sound, they can go forward. Or, if the listener like the psychedelic side of their sound, they can go backward. Overall, Volume Two has the heaviest concentration of what I love about the band and it is a good mix of all their early sound elements...and that sequence of "Pig / Orange Skin Food / A Door Opens and Closes", my very favorite 5 minutes of Soft Machine's music.

I once had a buddy who would sit and stare at the cover of my Soft Machine Four copy, just going "[...] He... He's got his... His spectacles on the outside of his hair...! How can anyone wear his spectacles on the outside of one's hair?"

Lmao!!