In 2009, Reel Recordings released the live At Henie Onstad Art Centre 1971, drawn from the mixing desk of a Norwegian venue in a late February on Sunday; it was the second consecutive night that Soft Machine performed there. It is arguably the best concert recording from the group's classic lineup (reedist Elton Dean, keyboardist Mike Ratledge, bassist Hugh Hopper, and drummer/vocalist Robert Wyatt) sonically and musically. This lineup splintered just a few months later. Thanks to Cuneiform, both evenings, Saturday and Sunday, are officially available for the first time on the four-disc H¿ø¿vikodden 1971. The recordings are packaged in deluxe box sets (LP and CD) with pristinely remastered sound, excellent liner notes, and rare photos in a handsome package offering four sets over two nights. If this document proves anything it's that Soft Machine were capable of taking their music in wildly different directions from one night to the next without sacrificing power or focus. A listen to these concerts -- each offering the same material -- underscores the notion of that free-flowing, in-the-moment approach before later incarnations of SM formally pursued prog and fusion. Most of the material here is drawn from Third and Fourth, but it also includes "Neo-Caliban Grides" (from Dean's eponymous 1971 solo album), while "Pigling Bland" and "All White" appeared on Fifth. Throughout these performances the band is wooly, aggressive, energetic, motivated, and unburdened by convention. Check both versions of "Facelift." Each open with group improvisation, but Saturday night's goes farther, only coming into its angular, funked-up rock vamp later on. On Sunday, SM establish the groove -- impressionistically -- just a minute in, but wind it around the tune. Saturday's "Virtually" spends nearly 12 minutes unfolding various themes, motifs, and vamps while balancing drama and dynamics. The Sunday read goes straight for the vamp and milks it, coming off like King Crimson playing alongside Miles Davis' Bitches Brew band. The latter evening's "Out-Bloody-Rageous" is centered on a bass and Rhodes piano vamp; when Dean begins soloing, he chases the rhythm section before Ratledge's Hohner Pianet comes screaming to the fore. Saturday's "Kings and Queens" is more speculative than Sunday's. More stately and deliberate in its exploration of tone and color, Sunday's version is more groove oriented; it nearly swings in places. The two versions of "Out-Bloody-Rageous'' are delivered in different tempos. Saturday's explores spaces in the intro and gets raucous after the theme is established. Ratledge's Rhodes pushes Wyatt and Hopper, who create an undulant flow under Dean. Saturday's performance of "Teeth" merges a spooky, inquisitive intro that motivically develops into aggressive vanguard, jazz fusion while Sunday's develops from quiet, investigative abstraction to distorted jamming with pulsing phrases, squelchy keyboards, and confrontational conversation between the bassist and saxophonist. H¿ø¿vikodden 1971 is arresting for its entire three-plus-hour run. There are so many surprises and contrasts between the performances it will take time to discover them all. This is the new standard for archival Soft Machine live recordings and will be very hard to top. ~ Thom Jurek