YMMV / Soft Machine

• Nightmare Fuel:
  • "Facelift" starts out mellow, with some bleeping electronic noises. Then distorted bass and organ come in and boy, this is the stuff nightmares are made of.
  • The last few minutes on "Moon in June" are an eerie drone on top of which free jazz violinist Rab Spall plays some dissonant violin, and Robert Wyatt mumbles a couple of melodies from Kevin Ayers' songs, buried somewhere in the mix. The effect is unsettling, to say the least.
  • "Fletcher's Blemish" on Fourth is as scary as free jazz gets.
  • Six's "1983" is Hugh Hopper's swan song with the band and as such, it sticks out like a sore thumb compared to the rest of the album. It consists of eerie piano, distorted bass and electronic noises for about eight minutes.
• Seasonal Rot: There is much arguing over whether it begins with Fourth and its abandonment of vocals of any kind, or Robert Wyatt's departure on Fifth.
• The Scrappy: Karl Jenkins is seen as this by some fans since he took over somewhere between Six and Seven, and proceeded to transform Soft Machine into an increasingly bland, uninspired jazz-rock band.
• Signature Song: "Esther's Nosejob", "Moon in June", "Out-Bloody-Rageous".