Nektar -

Nektar is a German/British space-rock band that released seven studio albums and three live sets on Bacillus/Bellaphon between 1972 and 1978, followed by an eighth and final release on Ariola in 1980.

Members: Roye Albrighton (guitar, vocals, 1969-76, 1980-2016), Allan Freeman (keyboards, 1969-2004), Derek Moore (bass, vocals, 1969-78, 2002-04), Ron Howden (drums, 1969-78, 2002-present), Mick Brockett (1969-78), Dave Nelson (guitar, 1976-78), David Prater (drums, vocals, 1980-82), Carmine Rojas (bass, vocals, keyboards, 1980-82)

Background

Nektar formed during a 1969 jam session in Hamburg, Germany, between four English musicians: guitarist/singer Roye Albrighton, keyboardist Allan Freeman, bassist/singer Derek Moore, and drummer Ron Howden. Albrighton hailed from UK beatsters The Peeps, which morphed into Rainbow and did a residency in Germany, where Roye decided to stay after the others returned to England and formed Still Life.

From its inception, Nektar was influenced by the art pop of The Beatles, the symphonic rock of King Crimson, and the psychedelic jams of Pink Floyd and Vanilla Fudge. Inspired by Floyd’s light-show visuals, Nektar employed two lighting specialists, Mick Brockett and Keith Walters, as official band members.

Journey to the Centre of the Eye

Nektar released their debut album, Journey to the Centre of the Eye, in November 1971 on Bacillus.

Journey contains thirteen group-written numbers, which segue together as an album-length suite (42:49).

Allan “Taff” Freeman plays organ, piano, and splits mellotron tracks with bassist Derek “Mo” Moore.

A1. “Prelude” (1:27)
A2. “Astronauts Nightmare” (6:22)
A3. “Countenance” (3:30)
A4. “The Nine Lifeless Daughters of the Sun” (2:41)
A5. “Warp Oversight” (4:28)
A6. “The Dream Nebula (Part 1)” (2:14)

B1. “The Dream Nebula (Part 2)” (2:25)
B2. “It’s All in the Mind” (3:22)
B3. “Burn Out My Eyes” (7:48)
B4. “Void of Vision” (2:01)
B5. “Pupil of the Eye” (2:46)
B6. “Look Inside Yourself” (0:53)
B7. “Death of the Mind” (2:52)

Sessions spanned June through August 1971 at Dierks Studio in Cologne-Stommeln, where ex-Rollicks drummer Peter Hauke produced Nektar in succession with Bacillus labelmates Epsilon, Haze, My Solid Ground, and Nine Days’ Wonder. Studio owner Dieter Dierks engineered all five projects and concurrent titles by Bröselmaschine, Dull Knife, Gila, Hairy Chapter, Jeronimo, Krokodil, Rufus Zuphall, Tangerine Dream, Wind, and Witthüser & Westrupp.

Cartoonist Ernst Steingasser designed and photographed the Journey to the Centre of the Eye gatefold, which shows the cameraman’s silhouetted reflection in a zoomed eye (front) and an upshot of the hairy band grouped under a fern-laden canopy at sunrise (back). The inner-gates show an off-red monochrome shot of Nektar grouped around a breakfast table.

The zoomed-eye theme also features on post-psychedelic album covers by The Greatest Show On Earth (Horizons), Georgie Fame’s Shorty, Supersister (To the Highe$t Bidder), Swinging Soul Machine, and Norway’s 1,2,6.

A Tab in the Ocean

Nektar released their second album, A Tab in the Ocean, in November 1972 on Bacillus.

The album contains four segued group-written numbers and a side-long suite.

Guitarist Roye Albrighton shares vocals with bassist Derek “Mo” Moore, backed by keyboardist Allan Freeman and drummer/percussionist Ron Howden. Mick Brockett appears in the member credits for “liquid lights.”

A. “A Tab in the Ocean” (16:42)

B1. “Desolation Valley / Waves” (8:11)
B2. “Crying in the Dark” (6:28)
B3. “King of Twilight” (4:16)

Sessions occurred in October 1972 at Dierks Studios, where Peter Hauke produced A Tab in the Ocean along with titles by Frame, Message, Pell Mell, and Tiger B. Smith. Dieter Dirks engineered the aforementioned amid projects by Electric Sandwich, Emtidi, Holderlin, Missing Link, Mythos, Passport, Twenty Sixty Six and Then, and Wallenstein.

Bellaphon/Bacillus artist Helmut Wenske illustrated the Tab in the Ocean cover, which shows a withered green humanoid on a floating hexagon, half-immersed in a liquid orb generated by a lab bottle that draws nutrients from surrounding sea water. The backside correlates assorted creatures (fish, frogs, insects) to the album’s song titles. Nektar appear on the inner-gate in a color-tinted greenhouse photo. Wenske created similar surreal imagery for Green Eyed God, the 1972 Bellaphon release by English hard-rockers Steel Mill.

…Sounds Like This

Nektar released their third album, …Sounds Like This, in June 1973 on Bacillus. The album contains nine jams, semi-improvised during two live-in-studio sessions.

Nektar conceived …Sounds Like This as a combination of live spontaneity and studio sonic definition.

The album’s intended session occurred on October 12, 1972, before a small group of friends at Dierks Studios. They retained “Wings” from that set and held a second in-studio session on February 19, 1973, by which point new material entered the set.

Three songs — “Good Day,” “New Day Dawning,” and “Do You Believe in Magic?” (not the Lovin’ Spoonful song) — were demoed long beforehand as part of Nektar’s 1970 Boston tapes.

A1. “Good Day” (6:46)
A2. “New Day Dawning” (5:04)
A3. “What Ya Gonna Do?” (5:25)

B1. “1-2-3-4” (12:50)
B2. “Do You Believe in Magic?” (7:20)

C1. “Cast Your Fate” (5:46)
C2. “A Day in the Life of a Preacher / Squeeze / Mr. H” (13:05)

D1. “Wings” (3:48)
D2. “Odyssee” (14:37)

Nektar co-produced …Sounds Like This with Peter Hauke, who oversaw the album and its followup amid 1973 titles by Dzyan, Lily, Omega, Message (From Books and Dreams), and Nine Days’ Wonder (We Never Lost Control). Dierks engineered all along with the second Wallenstein album, Cosmic Century.

Helmut Wenske illustrated the …Sounds Like This gatefold, which depicts a headless Victorian scientist beside a space-bound concert stage with symbolic giant ears and floating eyes. The backside and inner-gates show the exploding cosmic color mass.

Remember the Future

Nektar released their fourth album, Remember the Future, in November 23, 1973, on Bacillus.

The album’s title suite constitutes both sides of the original LP, subdivided into ten segued sections.

Musically, Remember the Future eschews space jams with newfound subtlety and detailed interplay.

A. “Remember the Future (Part I)” (16:38)
— a. “Images of the Past”
— b. “Wheel of Time”
— c. “Remember the Future”
— d. “Confusion”

B. “Remember the Future (Part II)” (18:55)
— e. “Returning Light”
— f. “Questions and Answers”
— g. “Tomorrow Never Comes”
— h. “Path of Light”
— i. “Recognition”
— j. “Let It Grow”

Nektar co-produced the album with Peter Hauke at Chipping Norton Studios in Oxon, England. Sessions occurred in August 1973 with Chipping staffer Barry Hammond, who engineered recent titles by Bloodstone, Claire Hamill, Clifford T. Ward, and Skin Alley.

Remember the Future features Nektar’s third Helmut Wenske gatefold illustration: a fantasy sphere with angels, floating shells, and giant jacaranda trees across a yellow-sky valley with a central orb. The backside presents a mandala with Saturn surrounded by assorted symbols (cordal eyes, spewing ears, living musical notes) and a pyramid trail back to planet Earth.

Nektar appear on the lyrical inner-gates, saturated by the liquid lights of their fifth member, Mick Brocket.

Remember the Future became their chart breakthrough in Canada (No. 25), New Zealand (No. 35), and the US, where the album reached No. 19 on the Billboard 200.

Sunday Night at the London Roundhouse

In May 1974, Nektar released Sunday Night at the London Roundhouse, their first semi-proper live album.

Sunday Night contains performances of one song each from A Tab in the Ocean (“Desolation Valley”) and …Sounds Like This (“A Day in the Life of a Preacher”) from Nektar’s concert on November 25, 1973, at the Roundhouse venue in Chalk Farm in northwest London.

Side B features three live-in-studio jams from a March 27, 1974, session at Chipping Norton Studios.

A1. “Desolation Valley” (9:50)
A2. “A Day in the Life of a Preacher (featuring the Birth of Oh Willie)” (11:30)

B1. “Oop’s (Unidentified Flying Abstract)” (6:37)
B2. “Mundetango” (6:25)
B3. “Summer Breeze” (2:40)

Helmut Wenske’s grayscale artwork depicts the interior of a Victorian concert hall (not the Roundhouse) with a live pic of Nektar at the distant center. The inner-gate presents an eye with multiple pupils and irises.

Down to Earth

Nektar released their fifth studio album, Down to Earth, in October 1974 on Bacillus (Germany), United Artists (UK), and Passport (North America).

The album contains eight individual songs and a postlude tied to a circus theme.

Down to Earth marks their first use of auxiliary players. Hawkwind mascot Robert Calvert plays ringmaster on Side A and “Fidgety Queen.” Sixties soul-pop singer P. P. Arnold duets with Roye Albrighton on “Show Me the Way.” Four tracks include a five-piece brass section with ex-Heaven trumpeter Butch Hudson and three Gonzalez hornists. “Astral Man” features two tubas.

A1. “Astral Man” (3:07)
A2. “Nelly the Elephant” (5:02)
A3. “Early Morning Clown” (3:21)
A4. “That’s Life” (6:49)

B1. “Fidgety Queen” (4:04)
B2. “Oh Willy” (4:00)
B3. “Little Boy” (3:03)
B4. “Show Me the Way” (5:55)
B5. “Finale” (1:36)

Sessions spanned March 22 through April 1 at Chipping Norton Studio, where Barry Hammond engineered Down to Earth amid projects by Karthago, The Neutrons, Nine Days’ Wonder, Olympic Runners, and on/off Man presence Deke Leonard.

Down to Earth appeared in a gatefold that presents Nektar as circus performers outside a customized tour vehicle (front) and inside a tent among their troupe (inner-gates). The album reached the US and Canadian Top 40 charts.

In 1975, “Show Me the Way” appeared in a Season 1 episode of the American CBS sitcom The Jeffersons. The show’s patriarch, George Jefferson, was portrayed by actor Sherman Hemsley (1938–2012), an avowed fan of English symphonic/space rock.

Recycled

Nektar released their sixth studio album, Recycled, in October 1975 on Bacillus. Abroad, Recycled appeared in January 1976 on Passport (US) and in January 1977 on Decca (UK).

Recycled is their third album-length suite, comprised of eleven sequenced songs and interludes.

Nektar recorded the album with Larry “Synergy” Fast, whose Moog synthesizer embellishes the sound and supplements Alan “Taff” Freeman’s keyboards. Recycled also features the English Chorale, arranged by Austrian singer/songwriter Christian Kolonovits.

Part One
A1. “Recycle” (2:47)
A2. “Cybernetic Consumption” (2:12)
A3. “Recycle Countdown” (1:51)
A4. “Automaton Horrorscope” (3:08)
A5. “Recycling” (1:46)
A6. “Flight to Reality” (1:18)
A7. “Unendless Imagination?” (4:36)

Part Two
B1. “São Paulo Sunrise” (3:05)
B2. “Costa Del Sol” (4:04)
B3. “Marvellous Moses” (6:37)
B4. “It’s All Over” (5:21)

Sessions occurred in July/August 1975 at studios in France (Château d’Hérouville) and London (AIR) with engineer Bill Price, a concurrent soundman for Caravan, Kokomo, Mandalaband, and ex-Mott the Hoople singer Ian Hunter. Former Beatles engineer Geoff Emerick mixed Recycled ahead of albums by America, Gino Vannelli (The Gist of the Gemini), Jeff Beck (Wired), and Robin Trower.

Helmut Wenske illustrated an elaborate fold-out sheet, details of which appear on the front and back cover. The front depicts a sun-headed chest/face with serpent-wielding arms, surrounded by smoke, feathers, monster limbs, and flying orbs inside a gold mandala, which forms the central cog of a celestial rotor. The backside shows smoke clouds and disembodied eyes around a yellow sphere with a double-faced green Buddha.

In late 1976, Roye Albrighton left Nektar, which traveled stateside for its next album.

Magic Is a Child

Nektar released their seventh studio album, Magic Is a Child, in September 1977 on Polydor.

The album features a reconfigured quartet with American guitarist/singer Dave Nelson, who joins Nektar’s three remaining co-founders: bassist Derek “Mo” Moore, drummer Ron Howden, and keyboardist Alan “Taff” Freeman.

Magic Is a Child contains nine group-written songs, including “Listen,” first conceived during Albrighton’s tenure. Recycled auxiliary Larry Fast reappears with supplemental synthesizer.

A1. “Away From Asgard” (5:30)
A2. “Magic Is a Child” (4:06)
A3. “Eerie Lackawanna” (3:29)
A4. “Midnite Light” (4:27)
A5. “Love to Share (Keep Your Worries Behind You)” (4:07)

B1. “Train From Nowhere” (4:12)
B2. “Listen” (6:02)
B3. “On the Run (The Trucker)” (4:41)
B4. “Spread Your Wings” (4:40)

Sessions spanned March through August 1977 at the House of Music in West Orange, New Jersey, where owner Jeff Kawalek produced and engineered Magic Is a Child in sequence with albums Odyssey, Slave, and Tropea.

Fast performed his parts after the HoM sessions for his second Synergy album, Sequencer. He also worked on 1976/77 HoM projects by Shadowfax, Sylvia, and the Intergalactic Touring Band, a Passport Records all-star project with cameos by Annie Haslam (Renaissance), Dave Cousins (Strawbs), Meat Loaf, Anthony Phillips, Arthur Brown, Ben E. King, and members of HoM clients Flame and Fireballet.

Back in Germany, Albrighton joined three-fifths of the Curt Cress Clan in Snowball, a jazz-funk band signed to Atlantic for the 1978 album Defroster.

Live in New York + More Live Nektar

In late 1977, Nektar released Live in New York, a two-record document of their September 24, 1974, concert at the Academy of Music.

A1. “It’s All Over Now|6:31)
A2. “Good Day” (6:48)
A3. “Remember the Future, part II” (8:19)

B1. “A Day in the Life of a Preacher” (15:12)
B2. “Desolation Valley” (9:41)

C1. “That’s Life” (8:00)
C2. “Show Me the Way” (4:43)
C3. “I Can See You” (7:27)

D1. “King of Twilight” (10:22)
D2. “Woman” (4:06)
D3. “Good ‘Ol Rock’n’Roll” (5:49)

Roye Albrighton – guitar, vocals
Ron Howden – drums, percussion
“Mo” Moore – bass, vocals
“Taff” Freeman – keyboards, vocals
Mick Brockett – lights

Further numbers from the 9/24/74 event appear on the 1978 double-album More Live Nektar in New York.

A1. “Fidgety Queen” (5:34)
A2. “That’s Life” (8:00)
A3. “Show me the Way” (4:36)

B1. “Marvelous Moses” (8:21)
B2. “It’s All Over Now” (5:26)

C1. “Astral Man” (3:05)
C2. “Remember the Future Part I” (14:06)

D1. “Remember the Future Part II” (8:19)
D2. “King of Twilight” (9:58)

Man in the Moon

Nektar released their eighth studio album, Man in the Moon, in July 1980 on Ariola.

A1. “Too Young to Die” (4:17)
A2. “Angel” (3:30)
A3. “Telephone” (3:40)
A4. “Far Away” (3:17)
A5. “Torraine” (5:25)

B1. “Can’t Stop You Now” (4:18)
B2. “We” (4:40)
B3. “You’re Alone” (4:05)
B4. “Man in the Moon” (6:42)

Roye Albrighton – lead vocals, guitar, background vocals, recording engineer, mixing engineer, producer, songwriting
Allan “Taff” Freeman – songwriting, keyboards
Carmine Rojas – bass, keyboards, songwriting
David Prater – drums, background vocals

John Burns – engineering
Gerd Huss – cover design
Chris Callis – photography
R. Hine – producer

Discography: