Soft Machine - Hovikodden 1971 (CD) - CD

Details: 4 x CD clamshell box set with booklet. This well recorded and carefully mastered set captures the most famous version of the band (the 'classic quartet') on their final European tour on two consecutive nights on February 27 and 28, 1971. While the two sets from the second night have been released before, this is the first time that the entire two- night stand has been released. So half of this is previously completely unreleased. This is a excellent, stereo recording of the band performing in a relatively small hall; the volume balance between the instruments is not perfect, but there is no other recording by Soft Machine that I know of that sounds as much like the band are performing right in front of you! Additionally, we were able to improve in a modest way the not-perfect balance between the instruments on this edition. The result is, in the words of the late Michael King, who released the Sunday concert on his Reel Recordings label in 2009, "demonstrably the finest recording of the classic Soft Machine quartet ever committed to tape."