Third is a live and studio album by the English rock band Soft Machine, released as their third overall in June 1970 by CBS Records. It is a double album with a single composition on each of the four sides, and was their first album recorded with a four-piece line-up of keyboardist Mike Ratledge, and drummer and vocalist Robert Wyatt, saxophonist Elton Dean, and bass guitarist Hugh Hopper. Third marks a shift in the group's sound from their psychedelic origins towards jazz rock and electronic music. Lyn Dobson appears on saxophone and flute on "Facelift", recorded while he was a full member of the band (then a quintet), although he is credited as an additional performer. Jimmy Hastings (brother of Pye Hastings from Caravan) makes substantial contributions on flute and clarinet on "Slightly All the Time", free-jazz violinist Rab Spall (then a bandmate of Wyatt's in the part-time ensemble Amazing Band) is heard on the coda to "Moon in June", and Nick Evans (a member of the band during its short-lived septet incarnation) makes brief appearances on trombone in "Slightly All the Time" and "Out-Bloody-Rageous". According to Paul Stump's The Music's All that Matters: A History of Progressive Rock, Third was "unanimously acclaimed as the band's zenith." A retrospective review in Allmusic praised the exotic instrumentation and fusion of genres, and concluded, "Not exactly rock, Third nonetheless pushed the boundaries of rock into areas previously unexplored, and it managed to do so without sounding self-indulgent. A better introduction to the group is either of the first two records, but once introduced, this is the place to go." In the Q & Mojo Classic Special Edition Pink Floyd & The Story of Prog Rock (2005), the album came #20 in its list of "40 Cosmic Rock Albums".
- DO NOT LISTEN TO TRACK 1 FIRST - It was alright, but nearly lost the will to live after the opening minutes of track 1, and this is coming from someone who usually rates prog rock quite highly. Quite an enjoyable listen once I got past that.
A sometimes bracing sometimes beautiful prog/jazz fusion album. It was honestly a little exhausting listening to the entire thing, but I can't deny that it was NOT BORING (my most important metric!). I can see why some people would give it a 5 for sure, but it's not quite there for me yet. 4 it is.
A little noise, a little jazz, a little avant garde minimalism, all prog. Though I like their first two albums a bit more, this is bold stuff, and holds up well alongside other prog rock and jazz fusion of the era.
I HATE PROG ROCK I DONT WANT TO LISTEN TO 18 MINUITE TRACKS ONE AFTER THE OTHER I DON'T WANT TO SIT THROUGH SEVEN MINUITES OF A GUITAR SOLO Actually this isn't bad tbh
I would have run a bloody mile from this in years gone by. These days I'm the one making all the moves. You grow old, you listen to jazz, innit. Life 101. Even better if it's on the cusp of psychedelic shit fusing it with freestyle jazz and drugs are involved - participants, not the listener. I love how the songs build up throughout ten minutes or so. You aren't going to hear these on Heart FM anytime soon. There's also a soft approach to all the jazz shit. The horns won't blow your arse off. If you make it through all four sides then you have done very well. It takes you on a journey. Gawd knows where to. I became lost on side 3. That's half the fun, right?
Really phenomenal spacey electronic stuff, big fan of this sound and can see where it launched them in the future as well.
The field recording of an alien swingers party that ends in communal astral projection.
Wow, this album is a wild trip. I ignored first track - it is unbearable to listen to from first second. But rest of it is just crazy. During one 20 minute track it can go from perfect harmony to totally dreadful chaos and go back to great harmony. And this album is doing this many times this process is so smooth that I can't wrap my head around it. I have never heard other song with part that was monotonous and not interesting just to use it as a base to build more on it and turn it great and fascinating. Avoid first track.
I really liked this; a mix of pop, avant garde, psychedelic, jazz, progressive all wrapped in that late 60s lofi sound. Lovely.
2.5/5 I liked the part when they sang. Fav: Moon In June
I enjoyed this to begin with, as it was different to what I was expecting, but after a while - probably during the first tune, as it's nearly 20 minutes long - my interest started to wane. A lot of jazz leaves me cold, and prog makes me feel a bit queasy, so prog jazz is not really going to float my boat. Too much showing off, and for far too long.
I knew from the first track that I was going to hate this album. An 18 minute track where it takes more than half the duration to get going. Even after that it just sounds like noise. The rest of the album isn't much better and I gave up before the end.
Way way too much prog, disappeared up its own arse before the first two minutes of ambient nonsense had finished. Pointless, annoying, way too long. Its not big or clever to make music like this. The most jazzy parts reminded me of cheap tickets I got to the proms where we left after forty minutes. Wish I left this after forty minutes. Bad.
5. I really like this album. It is a new sound for me with jazz that I really like and wouldn't mind hearing more of
Totalement et absolument ma came, je connaissais pas Soft Machine mais je kiffe, la découverte de cet album vaut tout à fait l'ensemble du projet des 1001 albums tructrucs
Hell yeah. This is sick.
Jazz. Experimental. Interesante, pero demasiado largo.
very interesting album, enjoyed it a lot.
I got a softspot for these guys. It's not really rock at all- more jazzy prog but it's really good for putting on late at night and chilling with a stick of incense...
4.5
For the era, I think this was super impressive
Maybe im a bit biased from other prog rock but i wish this was a bit more technical. The first track threw me off originally but as another reviewer recommended on second listening i put it off until last and i enjoyed this a bit better. Still pretty nice though.
Through two songs, both of them have some really great moments. I generally like this style of music - the experimental rock, so I'm a little biased. Lots of really good stuff. There weren't any parts, really, that felt like it didn't belong in the song.
Jazz with prog rock segments. Out-Bloody-Rageous and Slightly All the Time were the tracks I enjoyed most. Cool stuff.
Heavy does of Jazz with a touch of some prog/avant-garde rock. Probably the the 5th or 6th time listening and it keeps getting better.
Vibe I looooove die jaren 70 achtige nergeuze king crimson ass Horns
Hey cool, more Robert Wyatt! I liked this a lot, as far out as it got at times. Reminded me at times of an album's worth of Mr. Bungle interludes. Kind of crazy this is considered jazz rock, as it seemed like 95% jazz with only occasional rock elements.
There were a couple of times I could have turned this off but mostly I thought it was pretty amazing, the good kind of jazz fusion.
This is a very cool ride, it spans jazz/psychedelic/prog/noise rock and conjures images of early King Crimson, Pink Floyd and maybe even some Zappa and Kraut rock/electronic music. I'm still not a fan of Robert Wyatt's voice but it's undeniable that he's a great musician and has teamed up with A-list musicians of the era with Kevin Ayers, Elton Dean and Hugh Hopper. The first track, Facelift gets a lot of grief from the reviewers on this site, but I didn't think it was too bad. Experimental yes, but never boring. The stand-out track for me was the closer, Out-Bloody-Rageous and I learned from Wiki that the tape loops on this song were inspired by Terry Riley hence its repetitive minimalist sound. Disc 2 (which is not available for listening on Spotify) was apparently part of a subsequent CD released in 2007 so technically not part of this album so its not graded here.
It seems they may have taken a page from Bitches Brew, with one song per side. Side 1 is too noisy for me and poorly recorded. Side 2 is great, very Weather Report-ish. I don’t know how a jazz critic would rate it, though. Side 3 is maybe the most interesting and the least jazzy, though Robert Wyatt’s lyrics are silly at times. Side 4 has a great intro. I think I read of a Terry Reilly influence and it sure sounds like it. I just wish the minimalist segments weren’t dragged out for so long.
Jazz rock / prog / Canterbury Scene of the highest order.
fook me that’s some weird shit
Interesting album. Reminds me at times of Miles Davis In A SIlent Way and Ornette Coleman The Shape of Jazz to Come. Not really finding the rock part of the equation. Seems to me like a collection of 4 jazz suites. All 4 have something to offer. 3.5 stars
Surprisingly, I was kind of in the mood for this.
Strangely melodic. Jazz rock is it? I guess, as there's definitely jazz. Not quite sure where the rock is other than side C, but then I don't know what else I'd call it because it's not just jazz. Not the worst thing I've ever heard though side A was a slog. Sides C and D were better.
I remember purchasing "Third" at a music festival. I listened to it once, maybe twice, and sold it back. Listening to it 20 years later, I know why. I also know why people mock "Tales From Topographic Oceans," which I like quite a lot. 4 songs, a double album is quite a lot. And if there isn't a lot of THERE there, it does tend to go on and on. There are some good bits in each of the songs, and some parts where I'm like "this could have been edited out." Easily trim these down to about 10 minutes each and it would have been much better. The songs just meander too much for me. Still, the good bits in each of the songs make me think there's something to them. So I feel like they have something better in them. This isn't it.
I was unable to listen to the live part. Otherwise I really only enjoyed the second track
Interesting
I like this a lot better than most prog, maybe because it's Jazz-adjacent. The instrument choices also helped, but still is a bit of a long play.
This was an interesting listen, somewhat challenging. I didn't fully enjoy it, it felt a bit like listening to someone's half baked manifesto. I liked the moments of prog / jazz.
un album qui commence vraiment mal mais qui s'écoute bien par la suite. du rpog un peu dejanté. 3.25
Impressive but too jammy for my taste
Don’t think be ever heard of them. Very Genesis-Traffic-esque. 3.5/5
What an album for the weekend.
In the end just a bit too unorthodox to be enjoyable
Ahh... Avis plus positif à la fin qu'au début (j'ai même failli abandonner au bout des cinq premières minutes de pur bruit) Pas mal dans l'absolu, j'ai bien aimé les côtés jazz, mais je trouve que ça manque un peu de mélodie par rapport à King Crimson ou autres trucs du même genre, que j'aime mieux.
First Listen. Never heard of Soft Machine. Genre: Jazz Rock, Prog Rock. 1970 Standouts: Out-Bloody-Rageous, Slightly All The Time, Moon in June Tracks: 2/5 1. Facelift 3/5 2. Slightly All The Time 3.5/5 3. Moon in June 3/5 4. Out-Bloody-Rageous Overall: 3/5 This one would take many listens to really get into..
Soft Machine, 1970, Double LP (4 songs) 2nd Listen (3) Genre: Jazz rock, Progressive rock, Electronic The bonus CD ups the song total to 7. The original double album contained one song per side and it is very much a prog rock album. That being said, it is not for everyone. The first song, Facelift, is the most difficult to get through. The rest of the album is better. The first two tracks seems great to put on in the background when you are studying or just want to relax or sleep... The third song, Moon in June, is more progressive rock than jazz. It's probably the best song on the album (to me). Solid 3/5
Weird, but the kind of weird that if you keep listening it pulls you in. Probably won't listen again
This gave me King Crimson vibes. Pretty crazy, music like this was getting created and stayed relatively obscure. I loved it though.
The production on the remastered version is fun. The stereo separation and sub-bass sounded great on my bookshelf speaker system. Overall there are some interesting parts but it is long and I found myself losing interest by the middle of the third track. Better editing could have made this a four-star record for me.
Again, kinda weird but I kinda like it
I felt pretty done with this not long into the opening live piece, but I came around for it somewhat as the album went along. Still a little too much Prog Jazz for me.
Did not enjoy
très instrumental, expérimental. not sure how i felt about it. devrait réécouter pour mieux comprendre le sens de l'album 6.5/10
Jazzy and proggy and would fun to play Risk to
5/10. Not bad as naptime albums go, but can't say it made much of an impression on me.
Cool, instrumental album
Not something I'd put on in my free time, but super interesting. Sort of like if Kraftwerk were into jazz.
This was fine. Nothing particularly good jumped out at me. It was a little noisy sometimes—if there's noise rock, can there be noise jazz?
Somewhere between ethereal and jazz.
Chill.
3/5. I listened to this for another list and it has no notes, but I gave it 3/5 then and I'll just stick with that.
I thought the songs were a bit long but pretty enjoyable as background music especially while driving. I really enjoyed moon in June probably a 3.5 album for me
It was good in parts
The first song got the album off to a bad start. The first 7 minutes of avant- guard intro was hard to take. It was better when it got into the psychedelic stuff and the later songs that were more jazz were quite good.
El màxim que s'ha apropat el rock al jazz. Costa de pair, però la digestió es disfruta
interesting stuff 3 stars
Maybe I wasn't in the best mood but this album didn't do much for me
Not my style
Imagine going to see this live and waiting about 10 minutes for something to happen in a song...... I don't mind progressive music but that opening track was too much of nothing but noises. Second track was better, quite jazzy. I dunno, rest of it passed me by a bit. Not horrible, but certainly won't be back
The first track is bad. The second track, Slightly All The Time, is pretty good ambient music for a metropolitan city. I enjoyed the surprising directions the track went in. The third track is bad. The fourth track is bad. 1.5 stars.
Fuck this. I hate when the artist has no damn respect for the listener to make their music even a little enjoyable. There are so few bits to latch on to in this project that they may as well not exist entirely. There are barely any enjoyable aspects to this whole album. 2/5
It's jazz noodling. They've got skills, but who cares? Best track: Slightly All the Time
Get a big plate of drugs in you and stick this on. They're playing it at RadioSHACK in La Paz. Half man/half fly Scott Kelly is being sick in there as we speak.
EATING CHOCOLATE CAKE IN THE SHOWER EVERY MORNING HAS TAUGHT ME HOW TO FEEL LIKE A REAL MAN. I CAN USE IT TO DISGUISE WHEN I SHIT MYSELF. CAKE AND SHIT, CAKE AND SHIT, CAKE AND SHIT. SHOWERING WITH CAKE AND SHIT. SHITTING IN THE SHOWER, SHITTING IN THE SHOWER. CAKE AND SHIT. I'M A REAL MAN. EAT MY SHIT.
i reckon this would only make much sense if you had a monstrous bowl of narcotics. might buy it on vinyl and head to La Paz to get on it with Manny Pacquaio.
Heel erg jazzy-chaotisch. Maar net georchestreerd genoeg dat het niet stoort.
Didn’t love it didn’t hate it.
Almost jazz prog rock. Interesting as background music, cool horn section.
Un disco densooooo AF. Malditas drogas.
When I saw 4 tracks and 1 hour and 20 minutes I groaned. The groan was warranted but at the same time it wasn’t horrible. But I was also high. So take that for what it’s worth.
At its best, it reminded me of Traffic, which is a good thing. I'm a fan of prog rock overall, but this was too much pointless canoodling for me. 2 stars.
I'm so tired
Had trouble staying awake during this one
First song i found hard to listen ro Song 2 and 3 are quite nice but they dont exactly grab me I honestly expected better of what i read... not for me
I didn't really care much for this. It started off pretty terrible and although it did get better, it didn't ever redeem itself, in my opinion.
Noisy musical experimentation that periodically reveals beauty, but not often enough…
There's some cool stuff in here. An atmospheric proggy jazz fusion album utilizes heavy synths, atonality, and minimalism to draw out four 20-minute tracks without it becoming too grating. It sounds dated, with a lot of moments feeling like gimmicks you could use with technology at the time that has become overshadowed with what the 80s could offer. It takes half of "Facelift" to get to the point, where it becomes something that vaguely resembles Bitches Brew with how some instruments screech and class while others remain constant. It tries to be as weird and abrasive as possible, and it's pretty good at this. It does have a natural progression. "Slightly All the Time" is chill and groovy, feels like a more low-key Chicago song. Goes through a lot of variations, emphasizing the improvisational method. It's ok but doesn't impress me much, and some of the transitions feel forced. "Moon in June" sounds like a typical prog rock song, less jazz, and more of the overly dramatic vocals like what you hear from Peter Gabriel. But it's god awful. And I think he's doing this on purpose to parody love songs? To make a point he doesn't need lyrics? I seriously can't tell. He gets meta in a few parts, "Don't really know what I'm singing about" or more subtlety, "Oh but you never say you like me... or something nice like that" that almost seems like he's purposely singing and writing lazily. According to wikipedia, it's a stream of consciousness, so I wonder if he's just singing whatever comes to his mind on the spot while recording, no written lyrics. Justifies it a little, but still shows he has no talent in rapping. Nevertheless, the music is pretty dull except for the instrumental middle section. Again, they try ending in a long dramatic unsettling coda, which serves its purpose and stands out, but doesn't impress me. We end with a space rock track "Out-Bloody-Rageous." It's mystical and otherworldly, but it doesn't take the beginning idea too far and it gets a bit boring. Turns into another jammy jazz fusion section, fairly good. The middle point shifts back to space rock, this time replacing the brighter industrial synths with a sax lead, kinda cool. In the last quarter, the bright synths return but multiplied and faster. Serves more as ambient music at that point. This piece does feel like a clustered mess overall, and I feel like the different sections only help me from not getting exhausted by each of them. For a prog album, they mess around a lot and get some cool sounds. But it's a very messy record, with very little that blew me away. On a few occasions I wondered how they did it, and you have to admire their innovative ideas, but they really take them very far or have them work together.
Je me suis longtemps demandé pourquoi l'expression "énorme daube" avait été créée aussi peu de temps après la publication de cet album et j'ai finalement compris hier soir.
Usually a huge fan of long, sprawling tracks, but I do require some interesting journeys along the way. This LP doesn't have much to share in that department, choosing instead to meander and bump its way through 4 artificially extended tracks that gave been inflated to reach an arbitrary goalpost of 18 minutes each. Just could not grab on to anything this LP was trying serve, which again is a damn shame given how long tracks like these don't come through here often
I like a lot of prog albums quite a lot. This one is very "mid" as the kids say. It's extremely meandering and just feels like it's padded out to fill up a double album for the sake of it. The musicianship is loose without feeling intentionally so. It comes off as amateurish and bored.
80 minutes, 4 tracks, mostly nothing. 4/10
Jazz rock, electronic, ambiental. Muy largo. Si no fuera por lo largo que es, le subiría la puntuación.
Bored out of my mind. Thought maybe it needs some vocals. Then they came in on the third song and didn’t help.
It felt like a really long jazz record. I didn't turn it off. Low bar for jazz records.
Very few songs are good enough to justify being almost 20 minutes long. None of these songs were worth the length.
This isn't offensively bad, but I can't really recommend anything about it. 1.5.
I typically like jazz. These songs I did not. They dragged on for 18-20mins taking forever to build.
Sorry, too out there for my liking.