Editing Hugh Hopper (section)

===With Soft Machine (1968–1973)===
Hopper's role with Soft Machine was initially as the group's road manager, but he already composed for their first album ''[[The Soft Machine (Soft Machine album)|The Soft Machine]]'' and played bass on one of its tracks. In 1969 he was recruited to be the group's bassist for their second album, ''[[Volume Two (The Soft Machine album)|Volume Two]]'' and, with [[Mike Ratledge]] and [[Robert Wyatt]], he took part in a recording session for a [[The Madcap Laughs|solo album]] of [[Syd Barrett]]'s (formerly of [[Pink Floyd]], with whom the early Soft Machine had regularly gigged<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cosmik.com/aa-may03/soft_works.html |title=Cosmik Debris Magazine Presents: The 21st Century Be-Bop Of Soft Works; an interview of Hugh Hopper – May 2003 |publisher=Cosmik.com |access-date=26 June 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130504020043/http://www.cosmik.com/aa-may03/soft_works.html |archive-date=4 May 2013 |df=dmy-all }}</ref>). Hopper continued with Soft Machine, playing bass and contributing numerous compositions until 1973.<ref name=":0"/> During his tenure the group evolved from a psychedelic rock group to an instrumental jazz-rock [[Jazz fusion|fusion]] band.  In 1972, shortly before leaving Soft Machine, he recorded the first record under his own name, ''1984'' (named after [[George Orwell]]'s novel ''[[Nineteen Eighty-Four]]''). This was a decidedly non-commercial record featuring lengthy solo pieces using [[tape loop]]s as well as shorter pieces with a group. Hopper later reminisced about the record, "I don't think a lot of it was very successful, but I remember sitting for about three or four hours at [[Advision Studios|Advision]] trying to record the sound of a mosquito so that I could use that as a bit of a loop."<ref>{{cite book |last=Stump |first=Paul |title=The Music's All that Matters: A History of Progressive Rock |date=1997 |publisher=Quartet Books Limited |isbn=0-7043-8036-6 |page=128}}</ref>
[[Image:hh hammamet 72 bmp clip1.jpg|thumb|right|Hopper in 1972]]