Land of Cockayne (album)

Land of Cockayne
Studio album by Soft Machine
Released	1981
Recorded	June & July 1980 at Pye Studios & Riverside Studios in London, England
Genre	Jazz rock
Length	43:51
Label	EMI EMC 3348
Producer	Mike Thorne
Soft Machine chronology
Alive & Well: Recorded in Paris (1978) Land of Cockayne (1981) Hidden Details (2018)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]

Land of Cockayne is the tenth studio album by the jazz rock band Soft Machine, released in 1981. By this point, the band had lost all of its original members. The title refers to the medieval land of plenty. It would be the last album released under the Soft Machine name until Hidden Details in 2018.

Overview[]

The album came about as the result of a project in which Karl Jenkins and John Marshall had been involved featuring top session musicians. The ad hoc band, Rollercoaster, had recently recorded the Stevie Wonder tribute album Wonderin' (1980) and decided to record another album together.^[2] Many of the musicians included on the Cockayne album would make up Soft Machine's final live line-up which played a six-night residency at Ronnie Scott's in 1984. This is the only Soft Machine album to feature a string section. Land of Cockayne could be considered a Karl Jenkins-solo album as it was written by him alone, however former guitar player Allan Holdsworth and drummer John Marshall make contributions leading to its validity as a Soft Machine release.

Track listing[]

All compositions by Karl Jenkins.

Side one[]

1. "Over 'n' Above" – 7:24
2. "Lotus Groves" – 4:57
3. "Isle of the Blessed" – 1:56
4. "Panoramania" – 7:07
5. "Behind the Crystal Curtain" – 0:53

Side two[]

1. "Palace of Glass" – 3:22
2. "Hot-Biscuit Slim" – 7:27
3. "(Black) Velvet Mountain" – 5:10
4. "Sly Monkey" – 5:00
5. "A Lot of What You Fancy..." – 0:35

Personnel[]

Soft Machine

• Karl Jenkins – piano, Minimoog, Yamaha CS-80, Synclavier, orchestration
• John Marshall – drums, percussion

Former Soft Machine

• Allan Holdsworth – lead guitar
• Ray Warleigh – alto saxophone, bass flute

Guest musicians

• Dick Morrissey – tenor saxophone
• Alan Parker – rhythm guitar
• John Taylor – electric piano
• Jack Bruce – bass
• Stu Calver – vocals, backing vocals
• John Perry – vocals, backing vocals
• Tony Rivers – vocals, backing vocals

References[]

External links[]

• Soft Machine - Land of Cockayne (1981) album rating, user reviews, credits & releases at AllMusic
• Soft Machine - Land of Cockayne (1981) album releases & credits at Discogs
• Soft Machine - Land of Cockayne (1981) album credits & user reviews at ProgArchives.com
• Soft Machine - Land of Cockayne (1981) album to be listened on Spotify
• Soft Machine - Land of Cockayne (1981) album to be listened on YouTube