The Soft Machine Legacy has recorded several of their shows including The 40th Year Jubilee Celebration performance at the “New Morning” club in Paris, France on December 12th 2005. Sadly months later, member Elton Dean passed away. The Paris gig was released onto dvd, as a fitting tribute to a great musician and as a man for those that knew him best. It’s very sad that he’s gone but he will always be with his fans on this and other recordings. So in essence, he’s immortal as well as a legend especially by his legions of fans.
Soft Machine Legacy is basically a band of musicians that graced various line-ups of legendary band Soft Machine. It could be looked upon as the best of all eras rolled up into one.
Aside from the main concert John Etheridge is featured in the twenty-minute interview also every member of the band reflects on what it was like to be in Soft Machine as well as the formation of Soft Machine Legacy.
Soft Machine Legacy revisits songs such as “Kings & Queens” as well as a reworked version of “As If” retitled “Has Riff”.I’m no expert but I do believe that this DVD is an essential buy for fans of Soft Machine and the individual musicians. The nearly two-hour performance is worth the price of the admission alone. It’s something wonderful for those that weren’t able to see them in concert and equally wonderful for those that were there.
The concert has also been released onto a 2cd set for thsoe that only want the audio portion of the show. If you’re a fan of any era of Soft Machine than this is a no brainer as a purchase of either the DVD and or the CD. In fact get both!.
Reviewed by Ron Fuchs on August 1st, 2006
