The Soft Machine
by Soft Machine
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Soft Machine bestography
The Soft Machine is ranked 2nd best out of 41 albums by Soft Machine on BestEverAlbums.com.
The best album by Soft Machine is Third which is ranked number 1188 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 1,467.
(N.B. Bestographies include all albums by an artist (and their variations), but do not include albums ranked outside the top 100,000).
Listen to The Soft Machine on YouTube
The Soft Machine track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 79 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
The Soft Machine rankings
Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings). Click to see how the rankings are calculated (Last updated: 5 hours ago)
| Year | Source | Chart | Rank | Rank Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Skerns | Top 54 Music Albums of 1968 | 7/54 | 4 |
| 2026 |  ExTeaSea | Top 41 Music Albums of 1968 | 19/41 | 3 |
| 2026 | TroutMaskGreg | Top 32 Music Albums of 1968 | 18/32 | 2 |
| 2026 | saltysurprise | Top 37 Music Albums of 1968 | 29/37 | 1 |
| 2026 | stangetzaway | Top 33 Music Albums of 1968 | 25/33 | 1 |
| 2026 |  RockyRaccoon | Early Psychedelic Rock #101-200 | 51/100 | - |
| 2026 |  dihansse | Top 28 Music Albums of 1968 | 27/28 | 0 |
| 2026 | fabm0 | List 1968 | 40/78 | - |
| 2026 |  Repo | Micro-Genres: Psych Rock | 5/7 | - |
| 2026 |  Fischman | Top 100 Music Albums of 1968 | 39/100 | 3 |
| Total Charts: The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. | 215 | |||
| Total Rank Score: The total rank score. | 771 | |||
The Soft Machine collection
Showing latest 20 members who have this album in their collection | Show all 84 members
The Soft Machine ratings
Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AVwhere:
av = trimmed mean average rating an item has currently received.
n = number of ratings an item has currently received.
m = minimum number of ratings required for an item to appear in a 'top-rated' chart (currently 10).
AV = the site mean average rating.
Showing latest 3 ratings for this album. | Show all 209 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 09/17/2026 00:23 | stangetzaway | 2,321 | 83/100 |
| ! | 07/04/2026 14:06 | Olli | 7,932 | 62/100 |
| ! | 05/22/2026 14:30 | mids | 937 | 80/100 |
Rating metrics:
Outliers can be removed when calculating a mean average to dampen the effects of ratings outside the normal distribution. This figure is provided as the trimmed mean. A high standard deviation can be legitimate, but can sometimes indicate 'gaming' is occurring. Consider a simplified example* of an item receiving ratings of 100, 50, & 0. The mean average rating would be 50. However, ratings of 55, 50 & 45 could also result in the same average. The second average might be more trusted because there is more consensus around a particular rating (a lower deviation).
(*In practice, some albums can have several thousand ratings)
This album is rated in the top 3% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 77.1/100, a mean average of 76.6/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 77.4/100. The standard deviation for this album is 14.4.
The Soft Machine favourites
Showing latest 10 members who have added this album as a favourite | Show all 32 members
The Soft Machine forum mentions
BestEverAlbums 07/06/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5365): By amirmishaliThe Soft Machine comments
Top Comments First | Newest First | Positive Sentiment First | Longest Comments First
(Showing comments with any number of votes. Manage Profile)
Great psychedelic album, the solo drum part goes on a bit too long but apart from that I like it. One of those albums where you hear more with each listen. (Edited)
Amongst the weirder albums that I own, not that that is a bad thing. Great musicianship and imaginative song structure. Free your mind and your ass will follow. (Edited)
Terrific album to learn to trip to-- or teach someone else.
A hypnotic listen that just flows smoothly from the opening track right to the closing track. A much more accessible album compared to their later work but is still definitely among their best. It also perfectly encapsulates the psychedelic rock era of the 60's and is a great gateway album for people who are unaware of Soft Machine. (Edited)
At first this album sounded kind of weird and unsettling to me, but in a way that I couldn't stop thinking about. After I quit worrying about what is normal and just accepted it for how fun and expressive it is, I now consider it one of the most enjoyable listens ever.
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