Songs for Insane Times (A Jet-Propelled Soft Machine)

Songs for Insane Times is the third studio album by the English rock band Soft Machine. It is their first album integrating Hugh Hopper as an official member. The album was produced by the manager Peter Jenner and released in November 1969 by Harvest Records in the United Kingdom and a month later by ABC Probe in the United States.

During the sessions of the album, the group was invited by Jenner to help on former Pink Floyd frontman Syd Barrett on his debut solo album. In this way, Kevin Ayers also invited him to record his guitar in a song of Soft Machine's next album. The song became Singing a Song in the Morning, which was released as the lead single of the album.

The album was a strong hit in Europe and the United Kingdom, making the band top the UK Albums Charts for the first time as in other countries. In the US, the album reached the #48 position in the US Billboard 200, making a growing fanbase of the Soft Machine in the United States.

The album received a huge critical and fans appraise, becoming Soft Machine's first recognized work, making it into a World Tour. Specialists says that was lucky from Soft Machine to make a huge success in the end of the psychedelic age. Rumours that the first pressed LP of the original album was given to Jimi Hendrix as a gift.

Soft Machine

 * Kevin Ayers - lead guitar, lead and backing vocals [2; 4-6; 8; 11-12]
 * Robert Wyatt - drums, percussion, lead and backing vocals [1; 5; 7; 9-10]
 * Mike Ratledge - piano, Lowrey Holiday De Luxe organ, Hammond organ, flute (on 3 and 10)
 * Hugh Hopper - bass guitar, alto saxophone

Additional personnel

 * Brian Hopper - tenor and soprano saxophone
 * The Ladybirds - backing vocals
 * David Sinclair - organ
 * Paul Buckmaster - cello
 * Paul Minns - oboe
 * Peter Jenner - producer

Differences with OTL

 * 1) It unites Pataphysical Introductions and A Concise British Alphabet sections.
 * 2) Religious Experience [take 9]
 * 3) Religious Experience [take 103]