Soft Machine - Triple Echo

The remainder of disc one is devoted to generally unimpeachable highlights from the band's first two albums; disc two, however, opens with a genuine treat, a John Peel Session version of "The Moon in June," radically different from the version subsequently recorded for the group's third album, and frequently regarded as superior, too. Further Peel material follows, as Triple Echo delves into the sole studio legacy of the group's short-lived seven piece lineup. Again, the Softs' BBC output is now readily available in a variety of forms, but this not only marked its debut release, it also stands alone among the very first Peel Session-style releases ever. After so much excitement, the third disc returns to the band's regular output, with two (again well-chosen) tracks apiece from Fourth and Fifth, and one each from the four albums thereafter -- it closes with "The Tale of Taliesen" from the recently released Softs album. A very well-designed eight-page booklet completes the package with the aforementioned family tree, some great rare photos, and reasonable track annotation -- everything, in fact, that you could possibly hope to find in a modern box set. Now, if you could just figure out how to get those big black round things into the CD player....

- Dave Thompson, All Music Guide