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Abracadabra

by Soft Works

supported by
Carsten Pieper
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Carsten Pieper So this is the album that not only relaunched the Soft WorksLegacyMachine career, but also more or less directly led to the foundation of MoonJune Records. It was only a question of time to get it and this Bandcamp Friday came in handy :-)
High class fusion, of course, and I'd like to point out the contributions of the late Messieurs Dean and Holdsworth in this incarnation of the band! Favorite track: Abracadabra.
Dragonjazz
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Dragonjazz Great relaxed Fusion Jazz from 2002 with Allan Holdsworth on guitar and Elton Dean on sax. If you like Soft Machine, this music will be hugely satisfying. Favorite track: Seven Formerly.
Peter Jones
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Peter Jones Now that's magic.

The drumming.

And everything else. Favorite track: Abracadabra.
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    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Other Doors, Abracadabra In Osaka (Elton Dean, Allan Holdsworth, Hugh Hopper, John Marshall), Live at the Baked Potato, Hidden Details (HD), Burden Of Proof, Abracadabra, Live Adventures, Drop, and 5 more. , and , .

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  • SOFT WORKS "Abracadabra" (US Pressing - different cover)
    Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    SOFT WORKS "Abracadabra" (US Pressing - different cover)
    Tone Center, 2003 (rare)
    This albums is a rarity, first pressing, brand new, never played, not shrinkwrapped, it has one small punch hole on the bar code.
    Includes immediate download of the album in format of Your choice: WAV, FLAC, M4A or MP-3.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Abracadabra via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

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1.
2.
First Trane 11:35
3.
Elsewhere 08:01
4.
K Licks 06:50
5.
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7.
Abracadabra 07:34
8.

about

Four legendary old friends reunite here to dig deeply into new material. On first listen it seems the energy level doesn't rise about a simmer much of the time, though Allan Holdsworth does kick things up a notch now and then. But repeated listens reveal the multiple layers of what is going on here, reminding us of what Soft Machine was once all about. The four men are older, wiser, more thoughtful and perhaps more analytical than when they first set to breaking ground in the 1960s. After a while it becomes evident that Soft Works is more than the sum of the four old men in the booklet photo. Elton Dean remains his sinuous self for the most part, wrapping his alto and saxello around the rhythmic matrix like a python. On Hugh Hopper's "First Trane" the bassist and drummer John Marshall set up a slow, stalking riff over which Dean slithers deliciously. Holdsworth emerges later, interjecting pads from the Synthaxe like pieces of a puzzle which Dean must solve. On "K Licks" the guitarist, turned acidic this time, and Dean twist and parry through dense unison lines, and the band gets downright funky on "Willie's Knee" with Dean switching to the electric piano. Holdsworth gets to shred big-time on the closer, "Madame Vintage," and Marshall easily keeps pace with him with a ip-roaring sidelong improvisation. Soft Works is, by and large, a different animal from Soft Machine and its other predecessors. That aside, it's an exceptionally well thought out project featuring four veterans who know each other's moods and expectations intuitively. It should be especially appealing to Holdsworth's current fans, given the prevalence of the Synthaxe as a coloring tool. Recommended.
– Todd Jenkins, All About Jazz (2003)

credits

released January 21, 2016

ELTON DEAN saxello, alto sax,, Fender Rhodes
ALLAN HOLDSWORTH electric guitar and Synthaxe;
HUGH HOPPER electric bass
JOHN MARSHALL drums

Originally released in 2003 on Tone Center (North America), Mascot-Provogue (Europe), Universal (Japan).

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