HØVIKODDEN 1971 is a 4CD or 4 vinyl set with Soft Machine in their quartet lineup (Elton Dean: alto sax, saxello, Hohner pianet, Hugh Hopper: bass, Mike Ratledge: Hohner pianet, Lowrey Holiday Deluxe organ, Fender Rhodes, Robert Wyatt: drums, vocals) recorded in Norway in two consecutive nights on February 27 and 28 1971 for a total of about 3 hours of music.
The recording of the first night has never been published before, while the recording of the second night was published in 2010 with the title Live at Heine Onstand Art Centre 1971 (Reel Recordings) but, as the liner notes inform us, the sound quality has been improved:
This is a excellent, stereo recording of the band performing in a relatively small hall; the balance between the instruments is not perfect, but there is no other recording by Soft Machine that sounds as much like the band are performing *right* in front of you! Additionally, we were able to improve in a modest but definitely noticeable way the not-perfect balance between the instruments on this complete presentation of both night’s performances!
At that point in time Soft Machine live shows were split into two sets and these two nights follow the scheme displaying each night the same song list (with the exception of the reprise of 'Slightly All The Time' in the second set of the second night) – for fans it is an occasion to appreciate differences and variations that a 24 hours span produces in the execution; for everyone else an occasion to consider the role and weight of improvisation in the music of the band
So music - it is just in between the Soft Machine albums Three and Four with Robert Wyatt restraining himself from singing (apart for some brief interludes) and sometimes also from playing (he would have left the band a few months later) but anyway, the music is absolutely magnificent. Maybe this is just a release for those who already like Soft Machine but given the fact that this was (and still is) a band that gives its best in live shows, it can also represent a good starting point to explore their music. Here the band is on the divide between the psychedelic music of the two first records and the jazz-rock (fusion?) that will characterize their future developments. It marks out a (European) way to jazz rock much more inclined to free jazz, experimental music and prog than its American counterpart, a mixture that gives this quartet its absolute originality and produces a music well worth listening even 50 years later… even if you’re not a fan.
On bandcamp you can listen buy and download it :
Høvikodden 1971 [HD 24/96] by Soft Machine