Falling Up (A Jet-Propelled Soft Machine)

Falling Up is the fifteenth studio album by the English rock band Soft Machine. The album was produced by Anthony Moore. Falling Up was released in 4 April 1987 by RCA Records. It is the last album with RCA Records, eventually fulfilling with them after the tour and breaking up again, and the last one with Richard Wright.

The group started to record Falling Up in late 1986, after the successful tour promoting the previous album. Soft Machine recorded other songs at the Rectory Studio before moving to the Wessex Sound Studios. The group finished the recording sessions without Richard Wright who accepted an invitation to return to Pink Floyd to conclude their new project, Home.

As the predecessor, Falling Up still uses frequently the Fairlight CMI synthesizer, but it comes with a return of casual musical instruments, such as guitars, acoustic guitars, harmonica and piano, mainly in Robert Wyatt and Kevin Ayers songs.

The lyrical themes of the album are more introspective than the previous with themes such as criticisms of consumerism and media press, mainly by Wyatt, criticism on society, and self-questioning.

Falling Up peaked in number 8 in Billboard 200. In the United Kingdom, the album peaked in number 2, and stood in the top 10 in european countries. It was the first record of the group officially released in the Eastern Europe, receiving good critics in those countries, which received a tour of Soft Machine a few years earlier.

The album received widely mixed critics, but saying that their new album was better than the previous one. It was noticed taht the second side of Falling Up received great appraise, while the first one was recommended a re-organization. As Land of Cockayne, it was also a hit-driven album with five singles, with great success each.

Soft Machine

 * Kevin Ayers - bass guitar, electric guitar, harmonica, percussion, lead and backing vocals [1; 3; 6; 8]
 * Robert Wyatt - drums, percussion, piano; lead and backing vocals [4; 6; 9]
 * Ollie Halsall - lead guitar, bass guitar; lead and backing vocals [7]
 * Richard Wright - keyboards, Fairlight CMI, Hammond organ, lead and backing vocals [1; 5; 10]

Additional personnel

 * Dave Harris - producer, vocals, Fairlight CMI
 * Anthony Moore - producer