Cuneiform Records mette invece in circolazione un concerto inedito dei Soft Machine tenuto a Rotterdam al De Lantaren il 26 ottobre 1973: The Dutch Lesson. Di lì a poco al gruppo, fresco reduce dalle registrazioni di Seven, si sarebbe unito Allan Holdsworth: quella sera in quartetto c'erano Mike Ratledge, Karl Jenkins, Roy Babbington e John Marshall. E tra il pubblico, in prima fila, Bert Boogaard.
By 1973 Soft Machine already had a long history of playing in Rotterdam, appearing at major festivals such as Hippy Hippy Fair (1967), Kralingen (1970) and Ahoy (1971, Phil Howard’s debut), and no less than four times at the city’s most prestigious venue, De Doelen, most recently (in September 1972) on a double bill with Robert Wyatt’s Matching Mole. This time, however, they were booked in a smaller venue, which they filled to capacity at around 400. Part of an arts complex originally known as Ons Huis, De Lantaren had recently been renovated into a theatre and music venue. In attendance that October night was Bert Boogaard, a record store owner at the time, sitting in the front row with a Uher portable tape machine, and we have him to thank for this excellent ambient recording of the performance.