Warthur
Soft Machine decided to record this one as a live album in order to save costs, the band's declining fortunes having started to bite into their budget severely. Unfortunately, the live tapes weren't of a brilliant standard, so extensive overdubs were required anyway. They needn't have bothered - far from proving that the band were alive and well, the album documented a group barely interested in being Soft Machine any more, and divided as to what direction they actually want to go in. At points Karl Jenkins' synths dominate and things drift in an almost Tangerine Dream direction; at other points, as on The Nodder, the band do an unenthusiastic impression of the classic Mahavishnu Orchestra. But at least it doesn't have the spectacle of Mike Ratledge acting as a guest performer in his own band.