The Latest Breaking News from Soft Machine

17-disc Soft Machine box set, Slightly All The Time Recordings 1970-1974, due in October

Mammoth new Soft Machine box set the most comprehensive anthology of the band ever released

Louder · Aug 26

"The band that knocked me over was the Mahavishnu Orchestra." Prog takes a look inside Bill Oddie's Record Collection

From being wowed by US fusion instrumentalists to being honoured on a Soft Machine album, Bill Oddie's record collection tells some tales...

Louder · Jul 27

“By day they worked on the official record. At night they taped an entirely different record, without the knowledge or approval of the label”: The story of Roxy Music’s Phil Manzanera, Quiet Sun and their sly posthumous album

Guitarist’s mid-70s juggling act proved his previous band’s worth via their LP Mainstream, assembled in a rush while he was tracking solo debut Diamond Head

Louder · May 14

“It was an awful mistake to overlook his album. But you could be excused for not sticking with it”: Fired by King Crimson, this prog poet assembled a group of A-list colleagues and took them on a trip into the unknown. They got lost – or so it seemed

His only solo release merged Genesis, Greenslade and Soft Machine vibes with an additional experimental edge. But the real beauty is that it couldn’t have been made any other time than the early 70s

Louder · Nov 14, 2025

Soft Machine will release new studio album, Thirteen, in March

The new Soft Machine album, Thirteen, features a posthumous cameo from founding member Daveid Allen, recorded before he died

Louder · Nov 13, 2025

"I was blown away!" The greatest prog albums, as chosen by prog legend Geoff Downes

He's been in The Buggles, Yes and Asia – but what does Geoff Downes consider the finest prog albums ever?

Louder · Oct 18, 2025

Street battles, invented languages and gigs in psychiatric hospitals: France’s lost rock revolution of 1968

Bands such as Magma and Art Zoyd provided a soundtrack for the student protests that shook the country. Little remembered now, a new book reveals their decisive influence on later successes such as Air and Daft Punk

The Guardian - UK · Oct 5, 2025

“The sound universe that Soft Machine opened before me was almost unfathomable. It was a revelation, a musical epiphany”: Meet the Canterbury scene’s international next generation

The seeds of The Wilde Flowers have taken root all around the world. Here are just a handful of 21st-century musicians taking inspiration from the 60s and 70s

Louder · Sep 19, 2025

“We were playing things like Chuck Berry. I was just horrified, because I’m a choirboy”: How Richard Sinclair helped build the Canterbury scene with Caravan, Hatfield And The North, Camel and more

He shares memories of Pye Hastings, Robert Wyatt, Kevin Ayers, Andy Latimer and many other collaborators from his rich heritage, soon to be include with his long, long awaited debut solo album

Louder · Aug 26, 2025

“Astonishing and formidable music”: there’s more to British jazz rock than Soft Machine, Brand X, Bruford and Nucleus

Here are six underrated and overlooked albums from the 1970s that will reward investigation

Louder · Aug 8, 2025