The Unfairground (A Jet-Propelled Soft Machine)

The Unfairground is the seventeenth and final studio album by the English rock band Soft Machine. The album was produced by Anthony Moore. The record features posthumous participation of Ollie Halsall, from demos recorded throughout the 80's. The album was released in 04 September 2007 by EMI Records in Europe and Columbia Records in the rest of the world.

The idea for all the songs were written during the tours after 2001. In early 2006, with songs enough to produce a new album, Kevin Ayers and Robert Wyatt with Hugh Hopper and Mike Ratledge reached the agreement to produce their last album. They've hired Anthony Moore to help with the album. A suggestion given by Ayers was to rescue Ollie's unused and unreleased demos to overdub and put on the album.

All the sessions of the album happened at the Abbey Road Studios and also at the Britannia Row Studios, supervised by Anthony Moore. During the recordings a lot of next people from Soft Machine appeared since the members of Caravan to Barry St. John, and Gong's frontman and Soft Machine founder, Daevid Allen.

The sessions were a bit troubled due to problems with modern equipment. The reveal of the album was by drummer Robert Wyatt during an interview in late 2006, saying that was probably their last work. The album was announced during the sessions, creating a hype towards their new and final album.

In The Unfairground, Soft Machine decided to record conventional pop and folk rock-oriented songs rather than their classic progressive rock music. Although, it is possible to listen on some songs of Robert Wyatt the influences of the Canterbury scene/jazz music, such as in the track Forest, the longest track of the album.

The Unfairground peaked in number 4 in Billboard 200, and topped in their homeland country, United Kingdom, and in their biggest fanbases, France and Spain. In other countries, the album could reach the top 10. Ollie's composition, You Need a Friend was released as the first single, reaching a reasonable success in Europe. Singles after Walk on Water had great success in the emerging Internet, Walk on Water was Soft Machine's biggest hit in the 21st Century.

The record received mostly good reviews and was received with great appraise by their fanbase. The album received 3x gold certification by the RIAA in the US, a platinum certification in France and United Kingdom, respectively. The band toured with David Gilmour, with their last concert in May 2008. One year later, the bassist Hugh Hopper would pass away, eliminating any possibility of a new Soft Machine record. The resting members would announce the end of the group instead of search a new member, fulfilling their contract with EMI and Columbia.

Soft Machine

 * Kevin Ayers - lead guitar, bass guitar, lead and backing vocals [2; 4; 6; 8; 11; 15-16]
 * Robert Wyatt - drums, piano, percussion, keyboards, trumpet, cornet, pocket trumpet, guitar, lead and backing vocals [3; 9-10; 13-14]
 * Mike Ratledge - piano, Hammond organ, synthesizer, keyboards
 * Hugh Hopper - bass guitar
 * Ollie Halsall - lead guitar, lead vocals [1; 7; 12]

Additional personnel

 * Phil Manzanera - electric guitar
 * Brian Eno - keyboards, effects
 * David Gilmour - electric guitar [13]
 * Annie Whitehead - trombone
 * Gilad Atzmon - alto, soprano, and tenor Saxophones, clarinet, flute
 * Orphy Robinson - steelpan, vibraphone
 * Bridget St. John - vocals
 * Anthony Moore - keyboards, producer, programming, brass and strings arrangement