A wild, freewheeling, and ultimately successful attempt to merge psychedelia with jazz-rock, Soft Machine's debut ranges between lovingly performed oblique pop songs and deranged ensemble playing from drummer/vocalist Robert Wyatt and organist Mike Ratledge. With only one real break (at the end of side one), the songs merge into each other -- not always smoothly, but always with a sense of flair that rescues any potential miscues. Wyatt takes most of the vocals, and proves himself a surprisingly evocative singer despite his lack of range. Like Pink Floyd's The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, Volume One was one of the few over-ambitious records of the psychedelic era that actually delivered on all its incredible promise.

Track Listing
1 Hope for Happiness
2 Joy of a Toy
3 Hope for Happiness (Reprise)
4 Why Am I So Short?
5 So Boot If at All
6 A Certain Kind
7 Save Yourself
8 Priscilla
9 Lullabye Letter
10 We Did It Again
11 Plus Belle Qu'une Poubelle
12 Why Are We Sleeping?
13 Box 25/4 Lid