Soft Machine, The
Jet Propelled Photographs
Soft Machine formed in August 1966, although gigs under the name of Mister Head had been underway since May of that year. The band split up in December 1968, re-formed again in February 1969 and continued to perform throughout the 70s. The original line-up (1966) consisted of Robert Wyatt on drums and vocals, Mike Ratledge on keyboards, Daevid Allen on guitar and Kevin Ayers on bass and vocals. For a brief time, American guitarist Larry Knowlin was also a member, but left after only a handful of gigs. The album Jet Propelled Photographs compiles demos recorded in De Lane Lea Studios, London, April 1967. Though these tracks are demos, producer Giorgio Gomelsky claims they were intended to be the basis of a full album. These Gomelsky recordings are important as demo recordings, because most of the tracks were used again for later recordings. Shes Gone was re-recorded and released as a single in 1967, and two songs Thats How Much I Need You and You Dont Rememberwere re-written by Wyatt and used in some way for Moon in June. I Should Have Known was also re-written with a new title Why Am I So Short. Almost every one of these songs were used again, but most of them in the future and not on Soft Machine records. After this demo recording session the band went on to tour with the Jimi Hendrix Experience.