NOW! That's What I Call Groups Named After William Burroughs Novels! Dept.

You'll know the obvious ones from the "pop charts": Nova Express, Dead Fingers Talk, Naked Lunch ...  but have you heard of The Soft Machines? This peppy pop combo hails from the sleepy town of Ipswich, England, part of "The Ipswich Scene" which is taking the nation's youth by storm! Other swingin' groups rockin' the "Ipswich Beat" include The Pink Floyds, Hatfield And His Norths, and The Caravans!

"We're putting Ipswich on the map!" laughs dreamy drummer Bobby Wyatt [left - Ed.], whose fresh good looks have garnered the lads an ardent following amongst the local "dolly birds"!

But what of their "far out" name? Let keyboard maestro Mickey Ratledge, the "intellectual" of the group, take up the story! "What does the name mean?" he grins, "what does anything actually mean?" Brian "The Bass Man" Hopper has a different answer! "It means like a machine," he muses, "which is soft, like a bread roll, and not hard, like a submarine".

Whatever the name means, the music speaks for itself! Watch out, world, the Ipswich Scene is here, and how!

This piece, one of Reg Threadneedle's "Reg's Parade Of Pops!" columns, was copied without permission from Beat n' Pop Music Weekly [original header artwork, above - Ed.]. Threadneedle's career as pop pundit was brought to a halt by his alleged involvement in the Christian Boy Crusaders For Pop scandal in the late 'sixties. Although never formally charged, Threadneedle retired from the scene, eventually dying alone, forgotten, and destitute in a Neasden bedsit.