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FLOATING WORLD LIVE
SOFT MACHINE
2006 , UK - EURO 13.50
Label: MOONJUNE RECORDS
ALBUM REVIEW
By the release of Bundles in 1975, Mike Ratledge was Soft Machine’s only original member. With relative newcomer Karl Jenkins‚ with his increasingly dominant compositional role, there was little tying them to the classic line-up that released albums like Third. But it was guitarist Allan Holdsworth, appearing virtually out of nowhere with a revolutionary melodic and harmonic approach--who placed this Softs incarnation on equal footing with earlier line-ups. Recorded for German Radio Bremen months before Bundles was released, Floating World Live is a powerful live performance that, despite Holdsworth’s dominating presence, provides plenty of space for all - proof that they were far looser and interactive in concert than Bundles suggests. An exciting 75-minute set, Floating World Live demonstrates just how well-formed Holdsworth was this early in his career, and proves that critics writing this incarnation off as nothing more than riff-heavy fusion couldn‚t be more mistaken. JOHN KELMAN (Senior Editor AllAboutJazz.com) 
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