The Soft Machine – The Soft Machine (Hör Zu Black Label) album art
In 1970, Hör Zu Black Label released a Soft Machine compilation with eleven songs from the band’s first two albums. This imprint for progressive and avantgarde music was started by German TV magazine Hör zu in 1968.
The blocky letters are from One Up, a display typeface of unclear origin. It’s shown in the 1967 and 1968 catalogs of London-based typesetting company Photoscript, in solid and outline styles, without design credits.
On the front, the unknown cover designer customized several of its letterforms: S, a, and c were all reimagined, probably to make them a bit less ambiguous and more readable. The back cover features unmodified One Up, in its Outline style.
In his liner notes, Walter Haas mentions that Kevon (Kevin) Ayres, in addition to being the lead guitarist, is an athlete and illustrator, that Robert Wyatt has mastered not only several instruments, but also lithography, and that Michael Ratledge won a philosophy prize and excels in rugby.
One Up as shown in Photoscript’s Catalogue of Some Art Nouveau and Ornate Typefaces, 1967 (page 23, detail)
Back cover
Alternative picture of the fornt cover, with colors that probably come closer to the actual ones.
