Soft Machine
Rock
The next Soft Machine concert is scheduled for Friday, August 15, 2025 at Mount Ephraim Country House & Gardens in Faversham, United Kingdom. See all 5 upcoming concerts
![Listen to Drop (feat. Mike Ratledge, Elton Dean, Hugh Hopper & Phil Howard) [2025 Remastered version] by Soft Machine](https://is1-ssl.mzstatic.com/image/thumb/Music211/v4/01/54/3f/01543f45-41b8-6f0b-832d-2781cd2955e3/198937235029_cover.jpg/1380x1380bb.webp "Listen to Drop (feat. Mike Ratledge, Elton Dean, Hugh Hopper & Phil Howard) [2025 Remastered version] by Soft Machine")
More albums from Soft Machine
About Soft Machine
Hometown
Canterbury, England
Formed
September 1966
Genre
Rock
Soft Machine are one of the most innovative bands to come out of England in the ’60s. Besides being the most influential British jazz-rockers ever, they started an entire subgenre, the Canterbury sound. As Canterbury teens, various members played with future Gong mastermind Daevid Allen before forming rockers The Wilde Flowers. The first Soft Machine lineup in 1966 included Allen on guitar, singer/drummer Robert Wyatt, keyboardist Mike Ratledge, and singer/bassist Kevin Ayers, and bore a contemporary British rock sound. By their self-titled 1968 debut album, Allen was gone and the trio had developed a wildly original, highly experimental sound incorporating jazz, psychedelia, and proto-prog. Over the course of Volume Two and the classic Third they moved increasingly towards jazz-rock fusion. Throughout their career, Soft Machine had countless personnel changes, the biggest being Wyatt’s departure following 1971’s Fourth. Many musical giants passed through the band, including guitarists Andy Summers and Allan Holdsworth and bassist Hugh Hopper. By the last album of their initial run in 1981, no original members remained. Multiple offshoots followed; Soft Machine officially resumed activity in 2015, featuring mid-’70s members rather than the ’60s lineup.
Members of Soft Machine include, or have included, Allan Holdsworth, Karl Jenkins, Mike Ratledge, Andy Summers, Robert Wyatt, Kevin Ayers, John Etheridge, Hugh Hopper, Daevid Allen, John Marshall, Theo Travis, Brian Hopper, Ric Sanders, Ray Warleigh, Elton Dean, Alan Skidmore, Phil Howard, Alan Wakeman, and Lyn Dobson.
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