Soft Heap are, according to Mark Hewins, ‘a living branch of Soft Machine’, Heap being the initials of the first names of founders Hugh Hopper, Elton Dean, Alan Gowen and Pip Pyle. Time and personnel have moved on, but the ethos of the Softs remains well entrenched in this incarnation. Adventurous electronics, inspired arrangements, some wondrous improvisation, and the willingness to experiment wildly makes this music fly, Dean’s otherworldly saxello wailing over the top like some strange bird in flight.
Bossa Nochance stands out for its ethereal backwash of sound. Dying Dolphins for its electronic simulation of marine mammals (I’m not sure sampling existed in any sophisticated form back in 1982), the title track for its oddball vocals, while Jackie’s Acrylic Coat is ambient before its time, vocals bouncing in and out of focus as if caught on a radio dial. More hard-centred music is found on Day The Thirst, a performance that would do John Zorn proud, while the lengthy Toot De Sweet is in effect a reprise of stated themes, its cumulative power not for the fainthearted. Vital music, on a good-value CD as well.
Discography
(1) Dying Dolphins; A Veritable Centaur; Space Funk; Tunnel Visions; Nutty Dread; Bossa Nochance; Jackie’s Acrylic Coat; Thaid Up; A Flap; Day The Thirst Stood Still; (3) Toot De Sweet (69.10)
(1) Elton Dean (slo, as, f); Mark Hewins (v, g, echo unit); John Greaves (elb, v, org); Pip Pyle (d, eld); plus (2) Alain Eckert (gsyn). Recorded Bresse-Sur-Grosne, France, March 1982. (3) as (2) except London 1988.
(Impetus IMP CD 18219)
