Soft Heap

Originating from Britain, the short-lived Soft Heap assembled veterans drawn from both Soft Machine and Hatfield and the North. Saxophonist Elton Dean formerly of Soft Machine joined forces with keyboardist Alan Gowen of Hatfield and the North, along with bassist Hugh Hopper also ex-Soft Machine and drummer Pip Pyle from Hatfield and the North. Their debut and only studio album, creatively entitled Soft Heap, came out in 1979. Issued in 1995, A Veritable Centaur did not feature new studio material; instead, it captured live performances from the group's tours.