Artist : Nektar

Album : The Other Side

Release Date : 24-01-2020

Added : 20-02-2020

It is still a legendary group which returns to the front of the scene, I named the English of ‘Nektar’ who started their career more than fifty years ago !! Despite the death of 'Roye Albrighton' in 2016, the 3 other historical members of the debut 'Derek "Mo" Moore', 'Ron Howden' and 'Mick Brockett' (who followed 'Nektar' as lighting manager) decide to continue the adventure with as result a recording gathering new compositions but also compositions which they emerged from their drawers and which had never been completed. Other band members are guitarist 'Ryche Chlanda' who was there in the late 1970s, bass player 'Randy Dembo' who joined 'Nektar' in 2005 and a new young 'Kendall Scott' on keyboards. Also note that former members of 'Nektar', guitarist 'Alex Hoffmeister' and keyboardist 'Klaus Henatsch' released an album under the name 'New Nektar' in 2018 (see here< / a>).
So we embark on a journey through time, and what a journey, because 66 minutes are available to us and 'I'm on fire', which opens the album and which was written by ' Derek "Mo" Moore 'in the late 70s, is a fantastic composition that brings us back to well-known tones from those years and we can hear multiple influences ranging from 'Emerson Lake & Palmer' to the 'Beatles' through 'Deep Purple' all this being mixed in a long progressive development. With 'Skywriter' which was originally in 1978 a song called 'Skypilot' and which had not been recorded, we remain in the influences of the 60s with the 4 boys in the wind and the sounds of organ reminiscent of 'Procol Harum', then, 'Love Is / The Other Side' is the master piece of almost 18 minutes which brings together two titles in a peaceful style with beautiful melodies and remarkable instrumental sections. Follows, 'Drifter' which is made up of several parts, first of all a sung section then a long instrumental section, all bringing us back to the psychedelic style of the 60s and 70s and we cannot help thinking of 'Pink-Floyd' from the late 60's, and 'Devil's Door' (which was played in the mid 70's but never recorded), after a calm introduction to the guitar (which is an old recording of 'Roye Albrighton') is a catchy and rhythmic title. The end of the album scrolls the short instrumental 'The Light Beyond', not necessarily essential, then 'Look Thru Me' which is a nice quiet semi-acoustic ballad and finally, 'Y Cant IB more like U' which brings us back to the time of the beginning of the progressive with a mix between the 'Beatles' in the song part and 'Genesis' for the instrumental part.

In summary, this new album of 'Nektar' marks in a beautiful way the return of the English, faithful to what they did in the 70s, and 'The Other Side' is recommended to all those who love the big groups that participated in the development of progressive rock already fifty years ago...

Line Up / Musicians

Derek "Mo" Moore (Bass, Vocal), Ron Howden (Drums, Vocal), Randy Dembo (Bass, Guitar), Ryche Chlanda (Guitar, Vocal), Kendall Scott (Keybords)