Rough musings on the explosion in Softs video

[rushomancy]

Wrote this on another forum (here edited for space).  None of them will have any idea what I'm going on about, and maybe you won't either but maybe you will.

I have been amazed at the sheer quantity of Soft Machine-related video that has appeared over the past year or so, pretty much all of it only on Youtube.  It used to be that the only Softs video you could find at all was the 9/22/67 stuff on the bootleg "Psychomania" laserdisc (remember bootleg laserdiscs?), twelve minutes from the Beat Club in '71, and (reputedly- I never saw it myself, being bored to tears by fusion-era Softs) some footage from Montreux '74 with Allan Holdsworth in poor quality.  There was also some weird Italian documentary from '67.

The Calyx chronology page lists the following performances that were filmed for TV or film use.  Remarkably, nearly all of them still seem to exist, although for some of them I have seen only clips.  They list:

1967
June
[02] London, Blarney Club (UFO)

September
[22] Bussum (Holland), Vitus Studio [Hoepla TV Filming]

October
[03] Paris (France), ORTF Studios [appear on the TV show "Camera III"]
[08] Paris (France), ORTF Studios [appear on the TV show "Dim Dam Dom"]

December
[09] a segment of Soft Machine's performance in Paris on Nov 17/18 is broadcast during the "Bouton Rouge" TV show

1968
August
[25] A 25-minute live performance by Soft Machine (recorded October 1967) is broadcast on French TV under the title "Ce Soir On Danse Avec Les Soft Machine" in the Guy Béart Show

1969
April
[20] Fribourg (Switzerland), TV filming

May
[24] a performance of "Esther's Nosejob", filmed at Ronnie Scott's club in London on April 25, is broadcast on French TV

July
[25] SM (trio) appear on the French TV programme "Tous En Scène", performing an excerpt from "Esther's Nosejob" (probably filmed late June)

August
[22] Bilzen (Belgium), Jazz And Pop Festival

December
[07] Paris (France), ORTF Studios - the Soft Machine septet perform "Pigling Bland", "Facelift" and "Hibou, Anemone And Bear" live during the TV show "L'Invité du Dimanche"

1970
January
[16] Rotterdam (Netherlands), De Doelen [filmed by VPRO TV]
[20] Bremen (Germany), Radio Bremen TV Studio 4 [Beat Club filming]

March
[02] Paris (France), Théâtre de la Musique [broadcast on French TV in two segments on 30 April and 23 July 1970]

June
[28] Rotterdam (Netherlands), Kralingse Bos (Holland Pop Festival)

October
[19] London, BBC TV Studios (perform "Neo-Caliban Grides") ['Anatomy Of Pop' filming]

November
[16-18] London, Olympic Sound Studios (sessions for "Fourth") ("Teeth" recorded)

1971
January
[15] Bruxelles (Belgium), Théâtre 140
The second set is filmed and broadcast on Belgian TV ("Pop Shop" programme)

March
[23] Bremen (Germany), Gondel Filmkunsttheater (Radio Bremen broadcast; also Bremen TV filming, broadcast Mar 27)

Also listed are a couple of days spent in the BBC Radiophonic Workshop in 1970.  I'm curious as to what that produced.  _Not_ on the list is that the "Spaced" project they did in '69 had a BBC news report on it, accompanied, according to the liner notes to the Spaced CD, by Pink Floyd's music- so not strictly speaking Softs related, and as far as I know this report no longer exists in any form, but nonetheless interesting!

"Anatomy of Pop" and Bilzen exist in DVD quality.  A longer, 20-minute version of the Bremen '71 performance has been released officially on DVD by Cuneiform.  Kralingen and 9/22/67, having circulated since before the days of digital, presumably exist on DVD (remember, 9/22/67 was on laserdisc!) but I haven't seen them as such on torrent sites.  3/2/70 and the "Teeth" recording sessions are available for purchase in DRM'd DivX on the INA website, and also in ripped versions on Youtube.  The partial "Esther's Nose Job" from Youtube I believe to be from Tous En Scene, and a bit from 6/2/67 definitely exists on Youtube.  Excerpts from the septet broadcast were also in a compilation video of Wyatt-era Softs, and is significant because several years ago when Cuneiform tried to put together a release featuring the septet they could barely find any _audio_ evidence of this lineup, and ended up putting on two partial songs (plus a third partial song on the Japanese release, which I have yet to hear).  Which I found odd even at the time because even back then I had a partial soundboard of their Amougies set, the second gig with the septet- at least in my version not of releasable quality, but there's no doubt it _did_ exist!  The Calyx chronology page also lists a radio session by this band- this I have found no evidence of, although as it's French and the French seem not to ever throw anything out there's always a chance for a rebroadcast.

The other noteworthy thing here is exactly HOW MANY SHOWS DEDICATED TO POP MUSIC THE FRENCH HAD.  I mean in the space of less than four years the Soft Machine appeared on "Camera III", "Bouton Rouge", The Guy Beart Show, "Tous En Scene", "L'Invite du Dimanche", "Pop Deux", and a show titled, for some reason, "Dim Dam Dom".  I would not be surprised if they actually had an entire television channel devoted only to showing programs featuring the Soft Machine.  Note also the number of appearances on BRITISH television they had during the same time period.  That's right, ONE.

Help matching the Youtube stuff to this list, or any further comments, would be appreciated!

[hallucal]

Hello To All!
I Am Soft Machine Video Collector. I Have Most Of Softs Era Wyatt Videos. If someone needs my help on or about the exchange of video, then write to me ..