hugh hopper, 1945-2009
hugh hopper
We lost Hugh Hopper last weekend. The acclaimed British bass guitarist and cornerstone Soft Machine member, as well as one of the flagship members of a fertile Canterbury prog-rock scene that began to boom in the late ’60s, died on June 7 after a battle with leukemia.
We wrote of Mr. Hopper’s wonderful music last Decemeber when several of his prog-rock mates teamed for a benefit performance on his behalf. We refer you to that post again today for recommendations on some of the astounding recordings Hopper released during and after his Soft Machine tenure.
Hopper was a musical journeyman in every sense of the term, only his sense of adventure was always countered by exquisite taste. While his “fuzz bass” tone from the psychedelic prog heyday of the Softs may have possessed a Hendrix-like intenity, his latter solo and band albums turned those temperaments inward with playing that was, at times, blissfully melodic and, in other instances, almost elegantly disruptive.
So this weekend, treat yourself by tracking down or downloading a copy of Soft Machine’s groundbreaking Third or the brilliant 2007 quartet sleeper Numero D’Vol. Kick back. Pour a glass of libation. One of Canterbury’s most prolific spirits will take things from there.
I am a native Kentuckian and freelance journalist who has been writing about contemporary music for the Lexington Herald-Leader since 1980. I have not a lick of honest musical talent myself, just a pair of appreciative ears for jazz, folk, blues, bluegrass, Americana, soul, Celtic, Cajun, chamber, worldbeat, nearly every form of rock 'n' roll imaginable and, when pressed, the occasional tango and polka.