Classic Prog-Rock Albums From Soft Machine Reissued

Two classic late-'60s albums by the influential British psychedelic prog-rock band, The Soft Machine, have been reissued by the Water label.Canterbury, England's The Soft Machine were initially a trio comprised of Robert Wyatt, Kevin Ayers, and Mike Ratledge.The group first broke onto the English rock scene via Joe Boyd's UFO Club in London, where they performed. When their debut, The Soft Machine, was released, the liner notes described the music like this: "the sound of music updated by the music of sound."Or just imagine a mix of psychedelic rock, jazz, pop and avant-garde made three young men in the late '60s. Wild, weird, strange, trippy, out there...Water has reissued the group's 1968 debut and the follow-up, 1969's Volume Two, recorded after Ayers left. For the second album, Wyatt was in charge and he took things further out to the edge. A more experimental album than the first one, All Music Guide's Peter Kurtz writes that "musically, Volume Two better conveys the Dada-ist whimsy and powerful avant-rock leanings of the band."