Soft Machine - Other Doors (2023)
Soft Machine - Other Doors (2023)
EAC Rip | FLAC (tracks+log+.cue) - 327 Mb | MP3 CBR 320 kbps - 130 Mb | 00:56:27
Progressive Rock, Jazz Rock, Canterbury Scene | Label: Dyad Records
EAC Rip | FLAC (tracks+log+.cue) - 327 Mb | MP3 CBR 320 kbps - 130 Mb | 00:56:27
Progressive Rock, Jazz Rock, Canterbury Scene | Label: Dyad Records
Five years after the release of their last studio album, legendary UK musical institution, Soft Machine, return with a brand new CD/LP, Other Doors. Boasting new material and two numbers drawn from their extensive historical repertoire, Other Doors finds the band on their usual fiery form.Tracklist:
Featuring John Etheridge (guitars), Theo Travis, (saxes, flutes, Fender Rhodes piano, electronics), Fred Thelonious Baker (Fretless bass), John Marshall (drums), Other Doors also features two guest appearances from long-serving bassist Roy Babbington, who retired from the band in 2021.
Other Doors was recorded at Temple Music Studios, a facility owned by the late Jon Hiseman during July and August 2022. It’s a location of which the band is particularly fond, explains John Etheridge. “Working at Jon Hiseman’s studio was special, especially with Ru Lemer who is a brilliant engineer. He’s fantastically quick and that’s very good as we record mainly live in the studio. It’s come out really well and I think it sounds great.”
That ability to work quickly on takes as an ensemble has resulted in a fresh-sounding series of top-flight performances whose typically knotty and sometimes complex themes frequently give way to explosively discursive improvisations. As Theo Travis observes, “The interesting thing about recording free improvisations is you're not playing to a plan or a grid or a blueprint, so you don’t know what's coming, and you don't know what's coming until it's gone. At which moment you're thinking about the next thing.”
The album is brimming with that fast-moving creativity including the title track, whose outline was initially composed by John Etheridge in the Lake District during 2021’s lockdown. Crooked Usages’ ’ slow-weaving machinations and the prowling inquisitiveness pursued during Fell to Earth are similarly imbued with a dextrous yet melodic bite that defines much of the band’s approach. Within this framework, John Etheridge’s supple interrogations across the fretboard’s range coupled with Theo Travis; tightly focused sax and flute alongside his impressionistic keyboard washes encompass a musical language that can be as cerebral as it is emotionally direct.
The Visitor at the Window, The Stars Apart, and the elegiac Back in Season unfurl into more reflective states of being, variously contrasted by mediative percussion, flute, solo guitar, or swarms of electronica and echoing clusters of electric piano. All coalesce to build into the beguiling atmospherics which forms a vital layer within the Soft Machine sound world. It’s been a kind of tradition with the group to include new arrangements of older Soft Machine numbers from the band’s illustrious back catalogue. These have included numbers as varied as Chloe and the Pirates, Kings and Queens, Out-Bloody-Rageous, etc.
On Other Doors they’ve revisited the very first album, originally released in 1968, to include Kevin Ayers ‘Joy Of A Toy. Fred Baker, makes his studio debut with Soft Machine. A well-known figure on the Canterbury Scene not only is he the perfect choice for the group but he’s also is a long-term fan of the repertoire.“The way I look at it is that this is all great music which we’re continuing to preserve and keep alive as we play it but also we’re adding to it all the time,” he explains. The idea for revisiting the number was Theo Travis’ he says and has been part of the band’s live setlist for a while. “I’ve added some extra harmonies and other things to it, so it’s got my stamp as well as going back right down to Kevin Ayers' original. It somehow fitted in with all of the new material as well as the older tracks we do. It’s amazing the amount of young people coming along to gigs who are liking the wide range of music we play.” The album also contains Penny Hitch, a track originally heard on 1973’s Soft Machine Seven. This features the first of two appearances of Roy Babbington who provides the bass lines underpinning Karl Jenkins’ composition while Fred plays the sinuous lead melody on his fretless bass. The pair also worked together as a duo on Now! Is The Time, a number originally based on a theme Babbington brought into the sessions, with Fred and Roy both adding and expanding the scope of the piece.
If the album ushers in a new member in the shape of Fred Baker, it also acts as a fond farewell to drummer John Marshall, who joined Soft Machine midway through the recording of 1972’s Fifth. At the age of 81 Marshall has decided to retire making Other Doors his final studio album with the group. “I’ve known John since 1975 when I first joined Soft Machine and of course, we’ve worked through the years together intermittently ever since. His drumming always meant a lot to me,” says Etheridge. “We worked over three days in the studio and John played great. It sounds terrific.” Indeed, Marshall is on whip-cracking form throughout the album bringing his trademark musicality and decisive presence. With Other Doors, he brings his distinguished career to a rousing conclusion.
Intense, celebratory, and consistently impressive. Other Doors is the sound of a group determined to press forwards with an integrity and sense of purpose that’s quintessentially and definitively Soft Machine.
01. Careless Eyes
02. Penny Hitch
03. Other Doors
04. Crooked Usage
05. Joy of a Toy
06. A Flock of Holes
07. Whisper Back
08. The Stars Apart
09. Now! Is the Time
10. Fell to Earth
11. The Visitor at the Window
12. Maybe Never
13. Back in Season
Exact Audio Copy V1.6 from 23. October 2020
EAC extraction logfile from 15. April 2024, 21:51
Soft Machine / Other Doors
Used drive : PLEXTOR BD-R PX-LB950UE Adapter: 1 ID: 0
Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No
Read offset correction : 6
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Native Win32 interface for Win NT & 2000
Gap handling : Appended to previous track
Used output format : User Defined Encoder
Selected bitrate : 1024 kBit/s
Quality : High
Add ID3 tag : No
Command line compressor : C:\tools\flac-1.4.3-win\Win64\flac.exe
Additional command line options : -8 -V -T "ARTIST=%artist%" -T "TITLE=%title%" -T "ALBUM=%albumtitle%" -T "DATE=%year%" -T "TRACKNUMBER=%tracknr%" -T "GENRE=%genre%" -T "PERFORMER=%albuminterpret%" -T "COMPOSER=%composer%" -T "ALBUMARTIST=%albumartist%" -T "DISCNUMBER=%cdnumber%" -T "TOTALDISCS=%totalcds%" -T "TOTALTRACKS=%numtracks%" -T "COMMENT=%comment%" %source% -o %dest%
TOC of the extracted CD
Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-
1 | 0:00.00 | 2:28.66 | 0 | 11165
2 | 2:28.66 | 6:49.66 | 11166 | 41906
3 | 9:18.57 | 4:51.68 | 41907 | 63799
4 | 14:10.50 | 8:29.43 | 63800 | 102017
5 | 22:40.18 | 3:24.35 | 102018 | 117352
6 | 26:04.53 | 2:18.51 | 117353 | 127753
7 | 28:23.29 | 1:40.66 | 127754 | 135319
8 | 30:04.20 | 4:22.73 | 135320 | 155042
9 | 34:27.18 | 2:16.23 | 155043 | 165265
10 | 36:43.41 | 5:51.51 | 165266 | 191641
11 | 42:35.17 | 4:08.09 | 191642 | 210250
12 | 46:43.26 | 2:26.18 | 210251 | 221218
13 | 49:09.44 | 7:17.39 | 221219 | 254032
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Accurately ripped (confidence 8) [E7BF2DDB] (AR v2)
Copy OK
Track 2
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Accurately ripped (confidence 8) [A871C469] (AR v2)
Copy OK
Track 3
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Accurately ripped (confidence 8) [76EB6BF5] (AR v2)
Copy OK
Track 4
Filename D:\Rips\Other Doors\04 Crooked Usage.wav
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Accurately ripped (confidence 8) [F8CAFEA0] (AR v2)
Copy OK
Track 5
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Accurately ripped (confidence 8) [98ACA59A] (AR v2)
Copy OK
Track 6
Filename D:\Rips\Other Doors\06 A Flock of Holes.wav
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Accurately ripped (confidence 8) [F68414F4] (AR v2)
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Track 7
Filename D:\Rips\Other Doors\07 Whisper Back.wav
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Accurately ripped (confidence 8) [24A7561F] (AR v2)
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Track 8
Filename D:\Rips\Other Doors\08 The Stars Apart.wav
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Accurately ripped (confidence 8) [6E674CD1] (AR v2)
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Track 9
Filename D:\Rips\Other Doors\09 Now! is the Time.wav
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Accurately ripped (confidence 8) [917FA2BF] (AR v2)
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Track 10
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Accurately ripped (confidence 8) [236B985D] (AR v2)
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Track 11
Filename D:\Rips\Other Doors\11 The Visitor at the Window.wav
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Accurately ripped (confidence 8) [A922A72B] (AR v2)
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Track 12
Filename D:\Rips\Other Doors\12 Maybe Never.wav
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Accurately ripped (confidence 8) [B88F4D9A] (AR v2)
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Accurately ripped (confidence 8) [23418948] (AR v2)
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End of status report
–– CUETools DB Plugin V2.2.5
[CTDB TOCID: HoRrtlMZetu6wzhQ8Sa25GL2RY8-] found
Submit result: HoRrtlMZetu6wzhQ8Sa25GL2RY8- has been confirmed
Track | CTDB Status
1 | (38/41) Accurately ripped
2 | (38/41) Accurately ripped
3 | (38/41) Accurately ripped
4 | (38/41) Accurately ripped
5 | (38/41) Accurately ripped
6 | (38/41) Accurately ripped
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10 | (38/41) Accurately ripped
11 | (38/41) Accurately ripped
12 | (38/41) Accurately ripped
13 | (38/41) Accurately ripped
==== Log checksum 47EDAC96A9FF45BAF50B2C76CBCA23D17E15CDAA32B4C766D7FF4F7907AD7BE8 ====
EAC extraction logfile from 15. April 2024, 21:51
Soft Machine / Other Doors
Used drive : PLEXTOR BD-R PX-LB950UE Adapter: 1 ID: 0
Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No
Read offset correction : 6
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Native Win32 interface for Win NT & 2000
Gap handling : Appended to previous track
Used output format : User Defined Encoder
Selected bitrate : 1024 kBit/s
Quality : High
Add ID3 tag : No
Command line compressor : C:\tools\flac-1.4.3-win\Win64\flac.exe
Additional command line options : -8 -V -T "ARTIST=%artist%" -T "TITLE=%title%" -T "ALBUM=%albumtitle%" -T "DATE=%year%" -T "TRACKNUMBER=%tracknr%" -T "GENRE=%genre%" -T "PERFORMER=%albuminterpret%" -T "COMPOSER=%composer%" -T "ALBUMARTIST=%albumartist%" -T "DISCNUMBER=%cdnumber%" -T "TOTALDISCS=%totalcds%" -T "TOTALTRACKS=%numtracks%" -T "COMMENT=%comment%" %source% -o %dest%
TOC of the extracted CD
Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-
1 | 0:00.00 | 2:28.66 | 0 | 11165
2 | 2:28.66 | 6:49.66 | 11166 | 41906
3 | 9:18.57 | 4:51.68 | 41907 | 63799
4 | 14:10.50 | 8:29.43 | 63800 | 102017
5 | 22:40.18 | 3:24.35 | 102018 | 117352
6 | 26:04.53 | 2:18.51 | 117353 | 127753
7 | 28:23.29 | 1:40.66 | 127754 | 135319
8 | 30:04.20 | 4:22.73 | 135320 | 155042
9 | 34:27.18 | 2:16.23 | 155043 | 165265
10 | 36:43.41 | 5:51.51 | 165266 | 191641
11 | 42:35.17 | 4:08.09 | 191642 | 210250
12 | 46:43.26 | 2:26.18 | 210251 | 221218
13 | 49:09.44 | 7:17.39 | 221219 | 254032
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Test CRC AD4AC81C
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Accurately ripped (confidence 8) [E7BF2DDB] (AR v2)
Copy OK
Track 2
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Test CRC 28F8D30F
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Accurately ripped (confidence 8) [A871C469] (AR v2)
Copy OK
Track 3
Filename D:\Rips\Other Doors\03 Other Doors.wav
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Test CRC C01329BC
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Accurately ripped (confidence 8) [76EB6BF5] (AR v2)
Copy OK
Track 4
Filename D:\Rips\Other Doors\04 Crooked Usage.wav
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Test CRC 746B47B1
Copy CRC 746B47B1
Accurately ripped (confidence 8) [F8CAFEA0] (AR v2)
Copy OK
Track 5
Filename D:\Rips\Other Doors\05 Joy of a Toy.wav
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Test CRC 83F1E810
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Accurately ripped (confidence 8) [98ACA59A] (AR v2)
Copy OK
Track 6
Filename D:\Rips\Other Doors\06 A Flock of Holes.wav
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Test CRC 7B79E703
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Accurately ripped (confidence 8) [F68414F4] (AR v2)
Copy OK
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Filename D:\Rips\Other Doors\07 Whisper Back.wav
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Accurately ripped (confidence 8) [24A7561F] (AR v2)
Copy OK
Track 8
Filename D:\Rips\Other Doors\08 The Stars Apart.wav
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Copy CRC C1D96FA3
Accurately ripped (confidence 8) [6E674CD1] (AR v2)
Copy OK
Track 9
Filename D:\Rips\Other Doors\09 Now! is the Time.wav
Peak level 97.7 %
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Test CRC 6BE6B2B5
Copy CRC 6BE6B2B5
Accurately ripped (confidence 8) [917FA2BF] (AR v2)
Copy OK
Track 10
Filename D:\Rips\Other Doors\10 Fell to Earth.wav
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Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 7330EA23
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Accurately ripped (confidence 8) [236B985D] (AR v2)
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Track 11
Filename D:\Rips\Other Doors\11 The Visitor at the Window.wav
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Test CRC 8F064854
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Accurately ripped (confidence 8) [A922A72B] (AR v2)
Copy OK
Track 12
Filename D:\Rips\Other Doors\12 Maybe Never.wav
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Test CRC 85BF228A
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Accurately ripped (confidence 8) [B88F4D9A] (AR v2)
Copy OK
Track 13
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Test CRC 95A09D3B
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Accurately ripped (confidence 8) [23418948] (AR v2)
Copy OK
All tracks accurately ripped
No errors occurred
End of status report
–– CUETools DB Plugin V2.2.5
[CTDB TOCID: HoRrtlMZetu6wzhQ8Sa25GL2RY8-] found
Submit result: HoRrtlMZetu6wzhQ8Sa25GL2RY8- has been confirmed
Track | CTDB Status
1 | (38/41) Accurately ripped
2 | (38/41) Accurately ripped
3 | (38/41) Accurately ripped
4 | (38/41) Accurately ripped
5 | (38/41) Accurately ripped
6 | (38/41) Accurately ripped
7 | (38/41) Accurately ripped
8 | (38/41) Accurately ripped
9 | (38/41) Accurately ripped
10 | (38/41) Accurately ripped
11 | (38/41) Accurately ripped
12 | (38/41) Accurately ripped
13 | (38/41) Accurately ripped
==== Log checksum 47EDAC96A9FF45BAF50B2C76CBCA23D17E15CDAA32B4C766D7FF4F7907AD7BE8 ====
Thanks to the Original ripper!