Given the era and the label, Harvest being EMI's prog-rock arm, it's no surprise that this is the Softs squarely positioned in the jazz-rock world. The recordings also mark the sad end of founder Mike Ratledge's time with the band: barely present on Bundles, he's uncredited on Softs and long gone by the time of the live recording. So, welcome to the Karl Jenkins epoch, his songs, keys and all-too-rare oboe underwriting this three-year interlude. Yet it's Holdsworth who steals the show, dominating Bundles with a strutting rock vibe he'd never demonstrate again, always in your face, always stunningly original. A youthful Etheridge arrives with Softs, and he remains the youth policy of the current Soft Machine 43 years later. The Paris recording is a fun romp, but again with a changed, less stellar line-up. Two tracks are identified as Huffin'’ and ‘Puffin'’, which summarise the album perfectly.