Kings and Queens

**Kings and Queens** is the sixth studio album by Canterbury scene band Soft Machine, backed by touring band The Whole World. It was co-produced by Soft Machine and Andrew King, and released on 8 November 1971 by Blackhill Records, distributed by Columbia. Often considered a transitional record, the album is overshadowed by its predecessor and successor (*Magick Brother* and *Matching Mole*), but despite not having much success, it gained a cult following. It is also the last album with Mike Ratledge, who would depart before the release, being replaced by former Caravan keyboardist Dave Sinclair.

A hit-and-miss year for Soft Machine, the group enjoyed some of the success brought by Magick Brother, but was conflicted due to the departure of frontman Daevid Allen, who later would form Gong with his wife Gilli Smyth. Apart from tours, most of the band was disperse, when Kevin Ayers took the initiative to gather all the members in the studio to record a new album without Allen. Since Robert Wyatt didn't came with any lyrics, Kings and Queens has the feature of having only lead vocals from Ayers, being heavily influenced by jazz music by the rest of the band, a huge change of pace from its predecessors.

The album was mildly received by the press and considered divisive by the fans, who noticed a change in the sound of the group. Kings and Queens reached number 3 in the United Kingdom and number 61 in Billboard 200, performing slightly worse than Magick Brother, although keeping in pace from the previous albums. *Stars* was the only song of the album released as a single, with acceptable commercial performance in the United Kingdom.

## Overview

### Background

Shortly after the release of Magick Brother, guitarist and frontman Daevid Allen left the group due to a fall out with keyboardist Mike Ratledge over the band's musical direction, then forming Gong with Gilli Smyth. Over the need to fulfill his position, a young Mike Oldfield replaced him throughout the rest of the tour, while Kevin Ayers and Robert Wyatt interchangeably fulfilled the role of frontman. The setlist of the tour changed into a jazz-oriented direction, with many of the songs of the scrapped *The Garden of Love* album being performed live by Soft Machine. In the same time, a split would also start to happen between Mike Ratledge and the rest of the group, who wanted to pursue a full transition to jazz-rock while the group wanted to stay the way it was as a rock-oriented, Canterbury scene band.

With the end of the Magick Brother tour, the Soft Machine once again dispersed. Most of the group would be found in Deià, at the Balearic Islands, considered a retreat to the band. Mike Ratledge would be the only person back in England, where he would be practicing with other members of the Whole World, especially Hugh Hopper and Elton Dean, eventually founding the Jazz-rock band *Hempflower*, at first a side project from Soft Machine, but then Ratledge's main band after his departure. They would eventually record and release the debut album *Virtually* in April 1971. In the meantime, drummer Robert Wyatt also participated in the progressive rock big band Centipede, featured *Septober Energy*.

### Recording

Surprisingly, the first step to the production of Kings and Queens was given by Ayers, who wrote considerably enough material to fill "two albums". The band once again gathered at the Abbey Road Studios to record their next album. Robert Wyatt, however, didn't wrote any lyrics, resorting to instrumentals previously recorded, thus making Ayers the only one who would sing in the album. The opening track, No 'Alf Measures, was recorded during a warm-up of the band, extending to near seven minutes. The title track, *Kings and Queens*, and *Teeth* were initially recorded during the sessions for Hempflower's Virtually, but finished during the sessions of Kings and Queens.

The Magick Brother tour resuming in 1971 also affected the band's schedule in recording the album, postponing the album to the end of the year. In July, the album was performed for the first time at the 1971 edition of the Montreux Jazz Festival along with The Garden of Love and the title track for Virtually. Around the same time, the members of the band began to argue with each other, mostly with Mike Ratledge. After recording *Stars*, Kings and Queens was finally recorded, and promptly given to engineers Peter Mews and John Barrett to mix. Following a last argument, Mike Ratledge departed from Soft Machine, as the band decided to cancel the forthcoming tour to decide the next steps to be taken. In both bands, Hugh Hopper decided to effectively quit Hempflower and join Soft Machine, while the backing band The Whole World was dissolved.

## Personnel

Soft Machine
* Kevin Ayers – lead vocals, guitar, bass
* Robert Wyatt – backing vocals, drums
* Mike Ratledge – acoustic piano, Hohner Pianet electric piano, Lowrey organ
* Hugh Hopper – bass guitar, fuzz bass

Additional personnel
* Bridget St. John – co-lead vocals on "The Oyster and the Flying Fish"
* Elton Dean – alto saxophone, saxello
* David Bedford – orchestral arrangements
* Mike Oldfield – guitar
* Roy Babbington – double bass
* Mark Charig – cornet
* Nick Evans – trombone
* Jimmy Hastings – bass clarinet
* Alan Skidmore – tenor saxophone
* William Murray – percussion
* Didier Malherbe – flute
* Gerry Fields – violin
* Bruce Malamut – incidental brass
* The Ladybirds – backing vocals
* The Whole World Chorus – backing vocals

Technical
* Andrew King – producer
* Soft Machine – producer
* Peter Mews – engineer
* John Barrett – engineer
* Adrian Boot – design
* Adrian Lyne – photography