A band founded sixty years ago during the same emergent British psychedelic art-rock scene that brought the world Pink Floyd is still putting out new music. Soft Machine’s Thirteen refers to this being their 13th studio release, the third since they resumed making records under the Soft Machine moniker after a thirty-seven year lull.
Soft Machine’s last new release arrived three years earlier; the Other Doors quartet still boasted two members from the mid-70s lineup and a third from that era appearing on two tracks. In the interim, long-time drummer John Marshall passed and bassist Roy Babbington’s phase-out became complete. Guitarist John Etheridge remains the last link to the classic era while keyboardist/saxophonist/flautist Theo Travis…