Nektar Journey

Nektar's debut album was one of their finest releases, saturated with abstract psychedelia and a wonderful science-fiction motif that is magnified through the rigorous but dazzling Mellotron of Allan Freeman and Roye Albrighton's nomadic guitar playing. Throughout Journey's 13 cuts, Nektar introduced their own sort of instrumental surrealism that radiated from both the vocals and from the intermingling of the haphazard drum and string work. With the synthesizer churning and boiling in front of Howden's percussive attack and Mick Brockett's "liquid lights," tracks like "Astronaut's Nightmare," "It's All in the Mind," and both "Dream Nebula" cuts teeter back and forth from mind-numbing, laid-back melodies to excitable, open-ended excursions of fantastical progressive rock…

For fans of Nektar, Van Der Graaf Generator and Progressive Rock! Formed in Germany in 1969, Nektar favored extended compositions and concept albums over the constraints of pop. They were among the progenitors of the progressive rock movement of the 1970s as well as the jam-band scene that arose in the late1990s. Their sound travelled well to the States, where they enjoyed Top 40 success with “A Tab in the Ocean” (1972) and “Remember the Future” (1973). Nearly 20 albums and a half-century later, the band’s artistic and personal charisma has earned them masses of devoted fans along with their latest album “The Other Side” (2020) which was Number 1 on Amazon Progressive Music.

Depending on who you ask, this is either Nektar's greatest or worst album. As Albrighton explained later, it was the band's attempt to re-invent itself as someone else – like the Magical Mystery Tour. Old fans were appalled; but as the first album to get much airplay in the U.S., it brought in new fans who found it by far their most accessible work. Its progressive and funk elements are set around a demented circus theme, with the songs introduced by a loony Teutonic ringmaster. "That's Life," powered by chattering drums and a positively orgasmic Rickenbacker bass sound, is a standout of progressive rock showmanship. Delicate pieces like "Little Boy" and "Early Morning Clown" – where Albrighton uses rotating Leslie speakers to great effect – alternate with pub rockers like "Fidgety Queen" and the lumbering funk of "Nelly the Elephant." For new fans, this album is the place to start; and if they're willing to take it on its own terms, old fans might find a place in their heart for it too.

Magic Is a Child was released in 1977, the debut for new Nektar guitarist Dave Nelson. Carrying on, though, from where their last set left off, Nektar's fascination with shorter, punchier songs continued unabated, even while the keyboards continued to swell and the guitars shifted ever more toward the symphonic. Nektar's brightening vistas were new, however, and a fatal flaw as far as their fans were concerned. They didn't want breezy pop, and breezy pop fans didn't want Nektar, while the band's new label, Polydor, apparently didn't care either way. The art department did spring for the 13-year-old Brooke Shields to appear on the front cover, but that was it in terms of promotion. Thematically, too, little about Magic Is a Child recalls Nektar's days as prog darlings…

Newly remastered and expanded edition of the classic 1973 album ‘Sounds Like This’ by Nektar. This quartet of British musicians came together as Nektar in Hamburg, Germany in 1969. Roye Albrighton (guitar, vocals), Derek “Mo” Moore (bass, vocals), Allan “Taff” Freeman (keyboards) and Ron Howden (drums) first gained recognition in Germany with their imaginative Progressive/Space Rock sound and their highly impressive stage shows featuring lights by Mick Brockett and Keith Walters (who were also listed as band members).