Soft Machine -1967- Les Teenagers'/ Kevin & Robert docu by Pierre Roustang called

Soft Machine -1967-documentary by French filmmaker Pierre Roustang called 'Les Teenagers'

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In 1961 Allen travelled to England and rented a room at Lydden, near Dover, where he soon began to look for work as a musician. He first replied to a newspaper advertisement for a guitar player to join Dover-based group the Rolling Stones (no connection with the later famous band of that name) who had lost singer/guitarist Neil Landon, but did not join them. After meeting up with William S. Burroughs, and inspired by philosophies of Sun Ra, he formed free jazz outfit the Daevid Allen Trio ('Daevid' having been adopted as an affectation of David), which included his landlord's son, 16-year-old Robert Wyatt. They performed at Burroughs' theatre pieces based on the novel The Ticket That Exploded. In 1966, together with Kevin Ayers and Mike Ratledge, they formed the band Soft Machine, the name having come from the Burroughs novel The Soft Machine. Ayers and Wyatt had previously played in Wilde Flowers.

Following a tour of Europe in August 1967, Allen was refused re-entry to the UK because he had overstayed his visa on a prior visit. He returned to Paris where he formed Gong along with his partner Gilli Smyth. They also formed the Bananamoon Band. Both projects were cut short as the two took part in the 1968 Paris protests which swept the city, handing out teddy bears to the police and reciting poetry in pidgin French. Allen admitted that he was scorned by the other protesters for being a beatnik. Fleeing the police, they made their way to Deià, Mallorca, where they had lived for a time in 1966 and had met the poet Robert Graves, a friend of Robert Wyatt's family. [wiki]

Most of you are probably familiar with this footage, the earliest film of Soft Machine in activity, from the first half of 1967. Until recently, few knew it was actually a segment from a documentary by French filmmaker Pierre Roustang called "Les Teenagers". An Italian broadcast from the 1980s had produced the only version in circulation, which was pretty bad quality. The film is now available on DVD (details in the comments), so we at last get to see it in great quality, and those with a keen ear for French spoken with a heavy English accent can even get to hear Kevin and Robert in their first recorded interviews. There is footage of domestic life, rehearsing, sunbathing with no clothes on, performing live at the Speakeasy, with taking a well deserved break from ironing clothes on top of Mike's organ, and being a baby. Priceless stuff !