Guybrush

Another composition I really like from the scene is Mike Ratledge's (Soft Machine keyboardist) tune Backwards. In Soft Machine, it was never released on it's own on a studio album, but was rather integrated into the track Slightly All the Time from Third.

If you skip to the 4:40 minute mark in this vid, that's Backwards coming up there.




Later on, it did appear on it's own in the archival live release Noisette which, if my memory serves me correct, is from a live concert in 1971. I prefer this version slightly to the version found on Third.



It just seems a little more fragile and passionate to my ears. The sax has been swapped for a wonderful flute.


But the most beautifully recorded rendition of the piece was, in my opinion, not done by Soft Machine at all. It was done by sister band Caravan which at the time was led by Pye Hastings, an old band mate with the Softs from the Wilde Flowers days. Caravan's version was included in an epic final track from their beautiful fifth album For Girls Who Grow Plump in the Night from 1973. On this track, they've employed a small symphony orchestra and that orchestral sound and the slow buildup in intensity is an important part of what I love about this version.

Like Slightly All the Time, this track features many compositions. Skip to about 4:20 to hear Backwards!



What do you think? Anyone else agree with my ranking of the piece?

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