A wild, freewheeling, and ultimately successful attempt to merge
psychedelia with
jazz-rock,
Soft Machine's debut ranges between lovingly performed oblique
pop songs and deranged ensemble playing from drummer/vocalist
Robert Wyatt, bassist
Kevin Ayers and organist
Mike Ratledge. With only one real break (at the end of side one), the songs merge into each other -- not always smoothly, but always with a sense of flair that rescues any potential miscues.
Wyatt takes most of the vocals, and proves himself a surprisingly evocative singer despite his lack of range. Like
Pink Floyd's
The Piper at the Gates of Dawn,
Vol. 1 was one of the few over-ambitious records of the
psychedelic era that actually delivered on all its incredible promise. ~ John Bush & Stewart Mason
![American Utopia on Broadway [Original Cast Recording]](http://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/0075597923018_p0_v1_s90x140.jpg "American Utopia on Broadway [Original Cast Recording]")
