Fourth (Soft Machine album)

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Fourth
Studio album by Soft Machine
Released	February 1971
Recorded	October-November 1970 at Olympic Studios, London
Genre	Jazz
Length	39:13
Label	Columbia
Producer	Soft Machine
Professional reviews
All Music Guide link
Soft Machine chronology
Third (1970) Fourth (1971) Fifth (1972)
1999 re-release of combined Fourth and Fifth

Fourth is a 1971 studio album by the Canterbury band Soft Machine. This was the last of their albums to include drummer and founding member Robert Wyatt who afterwards left the band to found Matching Mole.

In 1999, Soft Machine albums Fourth and Fifth were re-released together on one CD.

Contents 1 Review 2 Track listing 3 Personnel 4 References

[edit] Review

At the time the band's music was moving away from their original brand of psychedelic and progressive rock towards jazz fusion; Fourth is the first of their purely instrumental albums.^[1]

[edit] Track listing

LP Side one

1. "Teeth" (Mike Ratledge) 9:15

2. "Kings and queens" (Hugh Hopper) 5:02

3. "Fletcher's blemish" (Elton Dean) – 4:35

LP Side two

4. "Virtually part 1" (Hugh Hopper) – 5:16

5. "Virtually part 2" (Hugh Hopper) – 7:09

6. "Virtually part 3" (Hugh Hopper) – 4:33

7. "Virtually part 4" (Hugh Hopper) – 3:23

[edit] Personnel

• Mike Ratledge - Lowrey organ & Wurlitzer piano
• Hugh Hopper - bass guitar
• Robert Wyatt - drums
• Elton Dean - alto saxophone & saxello

plus

• Nick Evans - trombone (1,2,4)
• Jimmy Hastings - bass clarinet (1,6), alto flute (6)
• Alan Skidmore - tenor saxophone (1,6)
• Roy Babbington - double bass (1,3,4,6)
• Mark Charig - cornet (2-4)

[edit] References

v • d • e Soft Machine Kevin Ayers • Elton Dean • Hugh Hopper • Mike Ratledge • Robert Wyatt Daevid Allen • Roy Babbington • John Etheridge • Karl Jenkins • John Marshall Steve Cook • Marc Charig • Lyn Dobson • Nick Evans • Jimmy Hastings • Allan Holdsworth Brian Hopper • Ric Sanders • Alan Skidmore • Rab Spall • Andy Summers • Alan Wakeman Studio Albums The Soft Machine (1968) • Volume Two (1969) • Third (1970) • Fourth (1971) • Five (1972) • Six (1973) • Seven (1973) • Bundles (1975) • Softs (1976) • Land of Cockayne (1981) Singles "Love Makes Sweet Music" (1967) • "Joy of a Toy" (1968) Live Albums Alive & Well: Recorded in Paris (1978) • Live at the Proms 1970 (1988) • BBC Radio 1967-1971 (2003) • BBC Radio 1971-1974 (2003) • Soft Machine and Heavy Friends (2005) • Softstage (2005) Cuneiform albums Spaced (1996) • Virtually (1998) • Noisette (2000) • Backwards (2002) • Live in Paris (2004) • Grides (2006) • Middle Earth Masters (2006) Related articles Canterbury sound • Jazz fusion • The Wilde Flowers