Album Review: Soft Works – Abracadabra

From its beginnings, pioneering Canterbury group Soft Machine was an anomaly: a “rock” group that leaned decidedly toward jazz, yet worked within the rock idiom, as part of the rock scene. The group’s lineup was always fluid, and Soft Machine gave rise to a number of giants in progressive, fusion, jazz and rock circles. A list of personnel who passed through the ranks of Soft Machine is staggeringly long and convoluted; one might say that’s wholly in keeping with the jazz aesthetic that has always been at the group’s core. As one might expect from such a band that got its start in the middle 1960s, the group calling itself Soft Machine in 2025 counts exactly zero founding members among its number.

That fact hos no relevant bearing on the quality of the music Soft Machine makes or has made. Often challenging, the band’s body of work has rarely been less than fascinating. And in addition to the may live and studio releases from Soft Machine, the band has spawned several side projects: Soft Heap, Soft Head, Soft Ware, Soft Works and Soft Machine Legacy. The last of those eventually morphed into quite legitimate adoption of the original Soft Machine name.

One of those spinoffs, Soft Ware launched around 2000. That lineup featured bassist Hugh Hopper and Elton Dean on sax and flute, both of whom had been in Soft Machine circa the early’ 70s. Also in Soft Ware were pianist Keith Tippett (known to King Crimson aficionados) and drummer John Marshall; the latter would go on to Soft Machine Legacy (now known as Soft Machine) up to his 2023 death.

Soft Ware didn’t record, and in June 2002 Tippett left the group. In his place (more or less) came a familiar figure: guitairst/Synthaxe virtuoso Allan Holdsworth. The new group dubbed itself Soft Works, and made one studio album, 2003’s Abracadabra.

Got all that?

While Soft Machine made some musical overtures toward a rock sensibility, Soft Works would make few if any. Only Holdsworth’s otherworldly Synthaxe provides textures outside the jazz idiom. Luckily for listeners, said idiom has plenty of space in which to explore. Elton Dean is well out front on tracks like the extensive “First Trane,” though Holdworth’s bizarre instrument features prominently on the track as well. And while there are no keyboards as such on Abracadabra, the Synthaxe often provides sounds that give the feel of one.

A treat for fusion aficionados (and lovers of long, long solo passages), Abracadabra is a fine release that serves as a critical puzzle piece in the understanding and appreciation of Soft Machine and its universe. And for Holdsworth fans, it’s essential. The two bonus live tracks appended to this reissue will be of great interest to fans of Soft Machine’s early ‘70s period as well.