"Fourth" is a 1971 studio album by the Canterbury band Soft Machine. The album is also titled Four or 4 in the USA; the numeral "4" is the title as shown on the cover in all countries, but a written-out title appears on the spine and label. This was the group's first all-instrumental album,
The Soft Machine's collective skill is hyper-complex and refined, as they are extremely literate in all fields of musical study. Fourth is the band's free purging of all of that knowledge, woven into noisy, smoky structures of sound. Their arcane rhythms have a stop-and-go mentality of their own that sounds incredibly fresh even though it is sonically steeped in soft and warm tones. Obviously there is a lot of skillful playing going on, as the mix of free jazz, straight-ahead jazz, and Gong-like psychedelia coalesces into a skronky plateau. Robert Wyatt's drumming is impeccable -- so perfect that it at times becomes an unnoticeable map upon which the band takes their instinctive direction. Mike Ratledge's keys are warm throughout, maintaining an earthy quality that keeps its eye on the space between the ground and the heavens that the Soft Machine attempt to inhabit. Elton Dean's saxophone work screams out the most inventive cadence, and since it's hardly rhythmic, it takes front and center, spitting out a crazy language. Certainly the band is the preface to a good portion of Chicago's post-rock output, as they undoubtedly give a nod to Miles Davis' Bitches Brew experiments, which were going on in the U.S. at the same time.
Track listing
1. Teeth (Mike Ratledge) - 9:15
2. Kings and Queens (Hugh Hopper) - 5:02
3. Fletcher's Blemish (Elton Dean) - 4:35
4. Virtually Part 1 (Hopper) - 5:16
5. Virtually Part 2 (Hopper) - 7:09
6. Virtually Part 3 (Hopper) - 4:33
7. Virtually Part 4 (Hopper) - 3:23
Released: February 28, 1971
Recorded at: Olympic Studios, London
Genre: Jazz Fusion
Length: 39:13
Label: CBS
Producer: Soft Machine
Personnel
Hugh Hopper – bass guitar
Mike Ratledge – (Lowrey) organ, (Wurlitzer) piano
Robert Wyatt – drums
Elton Dean – alto saxophone, saxello
Roy Babbington – double bass
Mark Charig – cornet
Nick Evans – trombone
Jimmy Hastings – alto flute, bass clarinet
Alan Skidmore – tenor saxophone
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