Soft Machine 
The best album credited to Soft Machine is Third which is ranked number 1,062 in the overall greatest album chart with a total rank score of 1,636.
Soft Machine is ranked number 587 in the overall artist rankings with a total rank score of 3,059.
- Members: N.B. The member list may not contain a full list of members (and there may be notable omissions). If a member has never released a solo album, or their solo albums do not appear on BEA, they will not be able to be listed as a member. These omissions are not meant to cause offense to anybody. The member list is solely meant as an additional navigation aid to browse between the items listed on the site.
- John Etheridge
- Elton Dean
- Alan Wakeman
- Mike Ratledge
- Robert Wyatt
- Kevin Ayers
- Allan Holdsworth
- Daevid Allen
- Karl Jenkins
- Hugh Hopper
- See also:
- Frank Gambale & Allan Holdsworth
- Gordon Beck / Allan Holdsworth / Jeff Clyne / John Stevens
- Hopper, Dean, Tippett & Gallivan
- Soft Heap
- Hugh Hopper / Elton Dean / Alan Gowen / Dave Sheen
- Darryl Way's Wolf
- The Graham Collier Septet
- Keith Tippett's Ark
- Elton Dean Quintet
- Icarus
- Daevid Allen & Gilli Smyth
- Harry Williamson / Gilli Smyth / Daevid Allen
- Keith Tippett Septet
- Glass Cage
- EDQ
- Stan Tracey Sextet
- Mike Westbrook Orchestra
- Mike Westbrook Band
- Mike Westbrook Brass Band
- Elton Dean's Ninesense
- Anglo Italian Quartet
- Chris McGregor's Brotherhood Of Breath
- Daevid Allen Trio
- Elton Dean / Alan Skidmore / Chris Laurence / John Marshall
- Elton Dean's Unlimited Saxophone Company
- Hugh Hopper / Simon Picard / Steve Franklin / Charles Hayward
- Pascal Comelade With Robert Wyatt
- Kevin Ayers & The Wizards Of Twiddly
- Daevid Allen / Banana Moon Band / Gong
- Daevid Allen Weird Quartet
- Daevid Allen And Kramer
- The Wilde Flowers
- Hugh Hopper & Matt Howarth
- Andy Summers & John Etheridge
- Ben Watt & Robert Wyatt
- Gong Avec Daevid Allen
- Gong
- Nucleus (UK)
- Kevin Ayers And The Whole World
- Matching Mole
- Kevin Ayers - John Cale - Eno - Nico
- Daevid Allen & Euterpe
- Spontaneous Music Ensemble
- Graham Collier Sextet
- Big City Orchestra
- Phil Miller & In Cahoots
- Pierre Moerlen's Gong
- Planet Gong
- Soft Machine Legacy
- Daevid Allen's University Of Errors
- Holdsworth Pasqua Haslip Wackerman
- Tempest
- Centipede
- Kevin Ayers / Mike Oldfield / Robert Wyatt / David Bedford / Lol Coxhill / Six Beautiful Girls
- Allan Holdsworth & Gordon Beck
- Graham Collier Music
- Ian Carr Double Quintet
- Gilli Smyth / Daevid Allen / Orlando Allen
- Daevid Allen And Mother Gong
- In Cahoots
- Daevid Alien & Micro Cosmic
- Keith Tippett Tapestry Orchestra
- 'Igginbottom
- Kevin Ayers / Lady June / Ollie Halsall
- Hugh Hopper / Alan Gowen
- Hugh Hopper & Kramer
Upcoming concerts
Listen to Soft Machine on YouTube
Soft Machine best albums
The following albums by Soft Machine are ranked highest in the greatest album charts:
- #Sponsored
- #Sponsored
- #Sponsored
- #Sponsored
- #Sponsored
- #Sponsored
Soft Machine bestography composition
Soft Machine best tracks
Include tracks from compilations & live albums | Exclude tracks from compilations & live albums The same track can appear on multiple albums, so excluding tracks from compilations and live albums helps to remove duplicates from this list.
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 5 ratings for this artist. | Show all 33 ratings for this artist.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Artist ratings | Avg. artist rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 06/07/2025 07:21 | Invader666 | 337 | 71/100 |
| ! | 02/14/2024 20:35 |  paladisiac | 1,035 | 67/100 |
| ! | 02/05/2024 11:47 | bonnequestion | 390 | 71/100 |
| ! | 10/15/2023 09:07 | MaxStorm98 | 542 | 92/100 |
| ! | 11/25/2021 13:21 |  Tamthebam | 869 | 73/100 |
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 artists can have several thousand ratings)
This artist is rated in the top 4% of all artists on BestEverAlbums.com. This artist has a Bayesian average rating of 79.5/100, a mean average of 80.8/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 80.8/100. The standard deviation for this artist is 11.5.
Soft Machine favourites
Showing all 6 members who have added this artist as a favourite
Soft Machine comments
Showing all 4 comments |
Most Helpful First | Newest First | Positive Sentiment First |
Longest Comments First
(Only showing comments with -2 votes or higher. You can alter this threshold from your profile page. Manage Profile)
Fantastic musicians who were several years ahead of their time as jazz-rock vanguards. They started out as a highlight of the psychedelic scene, carried by their fantastic chops. Their prog rock phase was fairly short and they ventured into fusion before most.
Great band in all their incarnations. Still gigging and going to see them this weekend . . . . .
Arthurknight 10/11/2014 22:55 | #124143
they died out but in the beginning were very strong
Great band! Would give them 100 points but for the dodgy later jazz-fusion stuff, and having no original members in the later line-up's, for me that wasn't really Soft Machine.
Your feedback for Soft Machine
A lot of hard work happens in the background to keep BEA running, and it's especially difficult to do this when we can't pay our hosting fees :(
We work very hard to ensure our site is as fast (and FREE!) as possible, and we respect your privacy.
| Best Ever Artists | |
|---|---|
| 1. The Beatles | |
| 2. Radiohead | |
| 3. Pink Floyd | |
| 4. David Bowie | |
| 5. Bob Dylan | |
| 6. Led Zeppelin | |
| 7. The Rolling Stones | |
| 8. Arcade Fire | |
| 9. Nirvana | |
| 10. Neil Young | |
| 11. The Velvet Underground | |
| 12. Kendrick Lamar | |
| 13. Miles Davis | |
| 14. The Smiths | |
| 15. The Beach Boys | |
| 16. R.E.M. | |
| 17. Kanye West | |
| 18. Pixies | |
| 19. Bruce Springsteen | |
| 20. Jimi Hendrix |
