''Bundles'' is the eighth studio album by the

jazz rock Jazz fusion (also known as fusion and progressive jazz) is a music genre that developed in the late 1960s when musicians combined jazz harmony and jazz improvisation, improvisation with rock music, funk, and rhythm and blues. Electric guitars, ...

band

Soft Machine Soft Machine are a British rock band from Canterbury formed in mid-1966 by Mike Ratledge (keyboards, 1966–1976), Robert Wyatt (drums, vocals, 1966–1971), Kevin Ayers (bass, guitar, vocals, 1966–1968) and Daevid Allen (guitar, 1966–196 ...

, released in 1975.

Overview

By ''Bundles'', only

keyboardist A keyboardist or keyboard player is a musician who plays keyboard instruments. Until the early 1960s musicians who played keyboards were generally classified as either pianists or organists. Since the mid-1960s, a plethora of new musical instr ...

and founding member

Mike Ratledge Michael Roland Ratledge (born 6 May 1943) is a British musician. A part of the Canterbury scene, he was a founding member of Soft Machine. He was the last founding member to leave the group, doing so in 1976. Biography and career Ratledge was ...

was left from the early Soft Machine line-ups; the other members had all previously been in the jazz-rock band

Nucleus Nucleus ( : nuclei) is a Latin word for the seed inside a fruit. It most often refers to: *Atomic nucleus, the very dense central region of an atom *Cell nucleus, a central organelle of a eukaryotic cell, containing most of the cell's DNA Nucle ...

. Guitarist

Allan Holdsworth Allan Holdsworth (6 August 1946 – 15 April 2017) was a British jazz fusion and progressive rock guitarist and composer. Holdsworth was known for his esoteric and idiosyncratic usage of advanced music theory concepts, especially with respe ...

's prominent contributions set the album apart from previous Soft Machine recordings, as guitar was an instrument ignored by Soft Machine since 1969's '' Volume Two''. This is the last studio album featuring Ratledge listed as a full band member. Only two compositions by him are included, one of which is less than two minutes long.

Track listing

All compositions by

Karl Jenkins Sir Karl William Pamp Jenkins (born 17 February 1944) is a Welsh multi-instrumentalist and composer. His best known works include the song " Adiemus" and the ''Adiemus'' album series; '' Palladio''; ''The Armed Man''; and his ''Requiem''. J ...

except where indicated.

Side one

# "Hazard Profile Part One" – 9:18 # "Hazard Profile Part Two ( Toccatina)" – 2:21 # "Hazard Profile Part Three" – 0:33 # "Hazard Profile Part Four" – 1:25 # "Hazard Profile Part Five" – 5:29 # "Gone Sailing" (

) – 0:59

Side two

# "Bundles" – 3:14 # "Land of the Bag Snake" (Holdsworth) – 3:35 # "The Man Who Waved at Trains" (

) – 1:50 # "Peff" (Ratledge) – 3:37 # "Four Gongs Two Drums" (

John Marshall John Marshall (September 24, 1755July 6, 1835) was an American politician and lawyer who served as the fourth Chief Justice of the United States from 1801 until his death in 1835. He remains the longest-serving chief justice and fourth-longes ...

) – 2:31 # "The Floating World" – 7:07

Personnel

;Soft Machine *

– oboe, soprano saxophone, acoustic & electric piano *

– electric, acoustic and 12-string guitars *

–

Fender Rhodes The Rhodes piano (also known as the Fender Rhodes piano) is an electric piano invented by Harold Rhodes, which became popular in the 1970s. Like a conventional piano, the Rhodes generates sound with keys and hammers, but instead of strings, th ...

electric piano, Lowrey Holiday Deluxe organ,

EMS Synthi AKS The EMS Synthi A and the EMS Synthi AKS, is a portable modular analog synthesiser made by EMS of England. The Synthi A model debuted in May 1971, and then Sythni AKS model appeared in March 1972 a with a built-in keyboard and sequencer. The EMS ...

synthesizer *

Roy Babbington Roy Babbington (born 8 July 1940 in Kempston, Bedfordshire, England) is a rock and jazz bassist. He became well known for being a member of the Canterbury scene progressive rock band Soft Machine. Biography Babbington started his musical career ...

– bass guitar *

– drums, percussion ;Future Soft Machine personnel *

Ray Warleigh Raymond Kenneth Warleigh (28 September 1938 – 21 September 2015) was an Australian alto saxophonist and flautist. Biography Ray Warleigh was born in Sydney, Australia, and migrated to England in 1960, where he quickly established himself as a ...

– alto flute and bass flute on "The Floating World"

References

External links

Soft Machine - ''Bundles'' (1975) album review by Dave Lynch, credits & releases
at

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

Soft Machine - ''Bundles'' (1975) album releases & credits
at

Discogs Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the la ...

Soft Machine - ''Bundles'' (1975) album credits & user reviews
at ProgArchives.com
Soft Machine - ''Bundles'' (1975) album to be listened
on

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...

Soft Machine - ''Bundles'' (1975) album to be listened
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YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

Soft Machine discography (info about the albums)
a
Calyx
{{Authority control Soft Machine albums 1975 albums Harvest Records albums