Robert Wyatt in The Animals soundtrack, 1982

 

Can't believe I never heard this before-- and of course, it goes without saying I'm a lifelong, huge mega-fan of Soft Machine and all the artists that were involved with them.

Discogs page for the album here.  I believe, but I'm not sure, when I went to explore the post-Matching Mole releases from him, a long time ago, I passed this one by because of its erroneous description as abstract or experimental.  Admittedly there are passages that are exactly that, but there is at least half a (short) LP's worth of genuinely interestingly composed progressive synthesizer music.  Or maybe it wasn't listed there at the time.

Description:

Soundtrack to anti-vivisection movie 'The Animals Film' directed by Victor Schonfeld. 

Narration is by Julie Christie.

Luckily it has its own wiki page, here, on which you can read about the movie, if you're as interested as I am:

The Animals Film is a 1981 feature documentary film about the use of animals by human beings, directed by Victor Schonfeld and Myriam Alaux, and narrated by actress Julie Christie.

Synopsis

The Animals Film presents a survey of the uses of animals in factory farming, as pets, for entertainment, in scientific and military research, hunting, etc. The film also profiles the international animal rights movement. The film incorporates secret government footage, cartoons, newsreels, and excerpts from propaganda films.

etc.

I can just imagine how horrifying some scenes must be, based on the cover monkey.  Probably I wouldn't have the heart to watch it.  We have to bear in mind that standards are a little bit higher today than at the time, 24 years ago.  Only a little bit though.

Note the following though:

Robert Wyatt composed an original soundtrack for the film, released in 1982 on Rough Trade Records. The film also features music from the Robert Fripp album Let the Power Fall, Talking Heads and ex-Audience frontman Howard Werth. Critical reception of the soundtrack was mixed. Ted Mills of album database AllMusic described the soundtrack as "moody" and filled with "tasty-sounding analog synths from the late '70s", but ultimately it "disappoint[s] fans of Wyatt's vocals." It was later issued in a heavily edited form (losing more than 10 minutes, with no explanation given) as a Japanese CD, and all later CD reissues have been cloned from this master.

Part 1.2 is fantastic prog:

Part 2.2 with the classic Wyatt reverbed vocalizing:

Wonderful stuff. Exciting for me to hear, for the first time.  I'll try to watch the movie too, which I found here.