Speed Reading Machine 3.1

When Colin MacIntyre's debut Mull Historical Society single Barcode Bypass (Rough Trade) was named NME's Debut Single of the Year in 2000, and it then received it's first daytime airplay (all 7 minutes of it) on Radio 1 - Jo Whiley's show, it was clear a truly original song-writing talent had emerged as if fully formed - and from the unlikely Atlantic outpost of the isle of Mull, in the Scottish Hebrides (population of 2,500 people, 28,234 sheep).

This 40-minute live fragment captures the Soft Machine at the Paradiso Club in Amsterdam circa 1969. The second incarnation of the band included Hugh Hopper (guitar/bass/vocals), Mike Ratledge (keyboards), and Robert Wyatt (drums/vocals). The trio heard here had originally been joined by Kevin Ayers (guitar) on the group's major-label debut Volume One (1968). Not only did that leave the band minus a lead guitarist but a primary contributor to the material as well. The songs are derived from Volume Two (1969), which had been recorded but not yet issued when the Soft Machine set out on tour. While the album is not replicated in its entirety, Live at the Paradiso 1969 (1995) presents a vast majority of the LP with a lean and ravenous capital A Attack…

John Adams’ 2005 opera explores the personal and moral issues surrounding the invention of the atomic bomb. Captured live in concert, it has colossal power and conviction. At its center is Gerald Finley’s commanding performance as Robert Oppenheimer, a scientist wracked by doubts. Having sung it at the premiere and many times since, he produces a magnificently characterized creation. Julia Bullock, Brindley Sherratt, Samuel Sakker, and Andrew Staples are all superb in supporting roles and Adams himself draws virtuoso playing from a truly galvanized BBC Symphony Orchestra. A major recording of a modern operatic classic.