Hope for Happiness (A Jet-Propelled Soft Machine)

Hope for Happiness is the second studio album by the English rock band Soft Machine, the only one recorded without an official lead guitarist. The album was produced by Chas Chandler, and released in December 1968 by EMI Records in the United Kingdom and by ABC Probe in the United States.

After the end of a leg of Jimi Hendrix Experience's tour, supported by Soft Machine, the group reunited at the Record Plant in New York to record their second album. They've called up Chas Chandler who produced their early singles. The band finished the recordings in two weeks, returning to another tour in the United States with Andy Summers, fired in the end of the year.

The album topped the French Album Charts with the band gaining a cult-following status there, and performed better throughout Euope, peaking in #10 at UK Album Charts. The album peaked in #89 at Billboard 200. The second part of Joy of a Toy was released as single, and after a while, Why Are We Sleeping was released as single, being a hit in France, West Germany, and Italy.

The band got deeper into jazz and psychedelic music with certain influences of their previous album. It was very well received by the fans with mixed reviews by the critics. The album was re-issued several times, but also in 1976 in a package with the previous album Jet-Propelled Photographs called Our Early Works.

Soft Machine

 * Kevin Ayers - bass guitar, lead and backing vocals [4; 7; 9], piano [3]
 * Robert Wyatt - drums, percussion, lead and backing vocals [1-3; 6]
 * Mike Ratledge - piano [13], Lowrey Holiday De Luxe organ

Additional personnel

 * Hugh Hopper - bass guitar [10]
 * The Cake - vocals [9]
 * Chas Chandler - producer

Differences with OTL

 * 1) Joy of a Toy Continued from Kevin Ayers' debut solo album, Joy of a Toy