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Soft Heap

Band, *1978 GB
Jazz and Rock

Jazz-rock band formed in January 1978 by ex members of Soft Machine. "Soft" being an obvious reference to their past band, and "Heap" being the 4 initial letters of the musicians' first name : Hugh, Elton, Alan, and Pip. The band's direction was very jazzy and improvisational. Due to his commitments with National Health, Pyle couldn't be on the first tour, thus Dave Sheen replacing him and the band's name changing to Soft HeaD. The album 'Rogue Element (1978) was recorded on that tour. It was followed by an eponymous studio album, this time as Soft Heap (with Pip). Hopper was later replaced by John Greaves, and after Gowen's death in 1981, Mark Hewins joined on guitar. Mark : "John Greaves and I were given the opportunity to change the name of the group when we joined, but we all decided that in respect of Alan Gowen's memory we would keep the HEAP moniker (Hugh, Elton, Alan, Pip)... It could have been... Soft JEMP!". No records were released during the 80's, although the band kept gigging : four tours during the decade with a total of 25 European concerts, culminating with "a fantastic gig in a circus tent, built especially for us, at the Coutance Festival in 1989 - this was recorded and broadcast live by FR1 Radio" (Mark Hewins). A 1982 recording was eventually released as 'A Veritable Centaur' CD in 1995.

     
Members
PortraitJohn Greaves
b, voc, p *1950 GB
PortraitHugh Hopper
b, eb 1945-2009 GB
PortraitElton Dean
as, ep 1945-2006 GB
PortraitMark Hewins
g *1955 GB
PortraitPip Pyle
dr, perc 1950-2006 GB
PortraitAlan Gowen
syn, key, ep 1947-1981 GB
Popular Tracks   
Circle Line on Soft Heap by Soft Heap
A.W.O.L. on Soft Heap by Soft Heap
Petit 3's on Soft Heap by Soft Heap
Terra Nova on Soft Heap by Soft Heap
Fara on Soft Heap by Soft Heap
Short Hand on Soft Heap by Soft Heap

Track list and 30sec audio provided by


Band Membership
Discography
Title Artist Year Type
Al DenteSoft Heap2008Album
A Veritable CentaurSoft Heap1995Album
Soft HeapSoft Heap1979Album
External Links
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Acknowledgements
To all the music fans that are contributing on Discogs, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia. Thanks to Franz Flückiger for providing Storygram used to visualize band membership.
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