Nektar ~ The Other Side CD 2020 Esoteric Antenna Records Europe •• NEW ••

Description: NEKTAR The Other Side AUDIO CD BRAND NEW & FACTORY SEALED Esoteric Antenna Records EANTCD 1082 UPC | 5013929478237 2020 TRACK LISTING 01. I'm on Fire 02. Skywriter 03. Love Is / the Other Side 04. The Light Beyond 05. Look Thru Me 06. Y Can't I B More Like U (2020) 07. Drifting 08. Devil's Door The story of Nektar gets complicated so let's try to keep this succinct. It's an English band but they were formed in Hamburg in 1969 and included a line-up of six members, only four of whom were actually involved with the music. Members came and went and the band split entirely a few times. Leader Roye Albrighton died in 2016, leaving original drummer Ron Howden with a group of recent additions as New Nektar. Howden chose to relocate to the US, where he reformed Nektar with most of the other remaining founding members. In other words, this English band now exists in two forms, one in the US and one in Germany. The previous album, Megalomania, was by the latter but this album is by the former, though some of its songs date back to sessions that took place in 1978 but weren't released or maybe even finished. The rest of it is entirely new but written and performed by most of the people who were there for the others in 1978. Whew. And while it's unmistakably rooted in the seventies, this is strong, vivid material that deserves to find a lot of fresh ears in this new twenties. It features influence many likely weren't expecting to merge. It starts out rather like a Deep Purple album, with a heavy organ sound out of which guitars wail until the song finds a groove. Just when you are ready for this to be an instrumental, the vocals eventually kick in and fit perfectly. Keyboards trade off with guitars, in riffs as much as solos. There's a lot of interplay. It's bouncy stuff, full of life, and escalating into a finish. The Purple influence turns out to be the more experimental Mk IV Purple but mixed with the jazzy prog rock of Focus and the pop/rock hooks of the Moody Blues. The final piece of the puzzle is two keyboard players, because there why settle for one when you can have two. It's all so engaging that we don't notice in the slightest that I'm on Fire ran eight and a half minutes and Skywriter almost eight. We might not even notice that Love Is/The Other Side runs almost eighteen! We're not sitting back analyzing the structure as it unfolds, like some prog rock equivalent of a jazz nerd; we're right there in the middle of the music dancing along with the spirits, even when it drops briefly into solo piano. The songs stay long, this album featuring only eight of them but running a full six minutes over an hour. Oddly, given that most bands tend to work up to their epic closer, they get shorter towards the end. The Light Beyond is a skimpy three minutes keyboard piece that could have introduced something by the Moody Blues which, come to think of it, Look Thru Me could easily be. The album wraps with Y Can't I B More Like U, a title more suited to Prince than a prog rock band over half a century old, and it underlines another of the influences that are dotted throughout. This one's a hint of psychedelic sixties pop but channeled into keyboard heavy prog, as if the late Beatles had tripped too far and somehow turned into Yes with Rick Wakeman wondering when he joined the Fab Five. If this is what Nektar are going to sound like, Hopefully they don't split up again until they've given us a couple more studio albums at least. The three founding members are Howden on drums, Mick Brockett on "special effects" and Derek "Mo" Moore, who plays bass, one of the keyboards and shares vocal duties with Ryche Chlanda, whose stint in the band back in 1978 sparked this. Chlanda also plays guitars, which leaves Randy Dembo as a second bassist and Kendall Scott on the other keyboards. NEKTAR WAS ALWAYS A CONCEPT, NOT JUST A BAND NAME "The songs on this album are tied together with tales from both sides of “The Other Side". We are also acknowledging the many influences of those around us and those within all of us, including the elements, which have guided Nektar ever since the 1960s. We have all lost friends or loved ones and in 2016, Nektar, lost Roye Albrighton, brother and one of the founding members of the Nektar Family, 50 years ago. Thus, in memoriam. we chose to include“ Devil's Door”with Royes original introduction from 1974 taken from a soundboard recording by our Sound Engineer, Vinny Schmid, who sadly has also passed on to “The Other Side"along with Michael Brenner, our European Tour Manager. Ryche Chlanda recorded with Nektar in 1978. We have updated some of those ideas which evolved in the basement of Mo Moore’s house in Chatham. New Jersey. Ron Howden, Mo and Ryche collaborated on much of the music heard on this album. “Sky Pilot” in 1978 became “Sky Writer”in 2019 when we added the verses to complete it. “I’m On Fire" is the musical adaptation of a poem written by Mo for his soon-to-be wife, Nicki, during that same time period of 1978. When Kendall Scott joined us in 2019, he added his distinctive keyboard style to his body of work in ways that complemented the entire album. Randy Dembo, who originally joined Nektar in 2005, brought us a uniting presence on 12-string and bass guitars, rounding out the instrumental arrangements. Ron has been a continual driving force of the band, weathering all versions of Nektar since its conception in 1969. Mick Brockett is now back with his visual concepts and ideas as an essential part of the band, making the music and light theater a reality. We believe that we have found all the essential elements of the Nektar concept to produce an album, as well as, concerts worthy of the Nektar Legacy.. .one which inspires the imagination as you experience it. If you have the vinyl version, the 4-sides will allow the story to change if played in a different order, so, just sit back and enjoy. Mick and Mo - October 1st 2019 SHIPPING TO USA ONLY Buyer Pays Shipping 1st CD $3.99... each additional $1.50 CDs will only be combined with other CDs or DVDs To qualify for the combined discount, all items must be purchased together, paid for with 1 payment, and shipped all together in 1 shipment. Please use the add to cart feature, once you have ordered all your desired items, proceed to checkout to complete your order with the combined total.

Price: 16.98 USD

Location: Gold River, California

End Time: 2024-01-07T04:48:10.000Z

Shipping Cost: 3.99 USD