Nektar, who are reforming to appear live in 2002, were an English progressive rock band active in the 1970s who were much bigger in Germany, where they were based for a few years, and then moved to the U.S. to exploit success over there. They were often working on material a couple of album releases away so album releases were often playing catch up with their development. They were a four piece band but they always listed and pictured five members as their live work featured elaborate light shows by Mick Brockett who they considered an integral part of the band. In fact on they also used to count Keith Walters who did slides for them so that makes it six.

Their first two releases were the, rather psychedelic in places, concept album JOURNEY TO THE CENTRE OF THE EYE (1971) and, another album featuring a number of long pieces, A TAB IN THE OCEAN (1972). They followed this with a double album recorded "live" in the studio ...SOUNDS LIKE THIS (1973) which consisted of much more straight forward rock pieces. I much prefer Nektar when they are being melodic and rocking so I find parts of the first two albums a little dull and the third album rather bloated with long instrumental breaks and jamming. Fortunately there is a compilation album just called NEKTAR (1976) which has all the best bits of the albums and is highly recommended.

Next came the concept album REMEMBER THE FUTURE (1973) which was originally conceived as a one hour continuous piece of music. There was something of a cock-up with the CD release of this. The story goes that something odd happened with the original mix of the album for vinyl release and when they heard it two of the band dashed back to remix it as they had intended it. However when the time came for a CD release it was somehow contrived to use the wrong master tapes and they didn't even clean it up or anything either. Guess who has the original CD release :-( This could explain why I never really got into it and yet many Nektar buffs consider it their best work. There is a new release of the CD in 2002 with the correct mix and bonus tracks.

The next album that came out was the somewhat different DOWN TO EARTH (1974) which was a much more straight forward rocky album with several shorter tracks written around the theme of a circus and featuring the voice of Robert Calvert as a ringmaster and also P.P. Arnold on one track. This is probably worth having if you want a cross section of Nektar's work just because it is so different. Unfortunately this album seemed to coincide with contractual problems as well as their introduction to the U.S. which left audiences over there somewhat confused as to the band's style. It seems the U.S. audiences like to pigeon hole bands into certain categories whereas European fans were aware of and accepted the variety the band had.

The album SUNDAY NIGHT AT LONDON ROUNDHOUSE (1974) came out somewhere along the line in this period and seems to have been released simply to keep the record company happy. It contained two tracks from a live performance at the Roundhouse in November 1973 (performed just after the release of RTF) and three tracks recorded "live in the studio" in March 1974 (after the Down To Earth sessions). It was apparently only released in Germany. There is a 2002 release which is a very different animal.

The next album was being working on even before RTF I understand and was the last to feature Roye Albrighton, the bands guitarist and lead singer, in his first spell with the band and the first to feature Larry Fast on synthesisers, and what an album...

RECYCLED (1975) is a monster album right up there in my all time favourites. It was the first Nektar album I heard and it was on tape somewhere around 1990. As an aside it also had "Good Day" and "New Day Dawning" from ...SOUNDS LIKE THIS tacked on the end and they work very well with it. So well that when I got the vinyl version the person who had borrowed the original tape I heard got me to stick them on the end of a tape because he missed them being there. The highlight of the album is the 20 minute long first side which somewhat blows the second side away, but the second side isn't bad either! The trouble is compared to this album the other albums all sounded a bit of a let down!

After RECYCLED Nektar, now based Stateside, replaced Albrighton with an American guitarist Dave Nelson and it seems drummer Ron Howden became the main vocalist. On the album MAGIC IS A CHILD (1977) which also featured Larry Fast, lead vocals were shared between Ron, Dave, bassist Mo Moore and keyboards player Taff Freeman. This album is OK in the usual slightly too slickly produced way you get with American producers lurking but like all others pales into insignificance compared to RECYCLED.

That was the only studio album by that lineup. MAN IN THE MOON (1980) was recorded by Roye Albrighton and Taff Freeman and two others (this has been released on CD for the first time in 2002 by Voiceprint with an unreleased track).

There are a couple more live albums knocking around called LIVE IN NEW YORK (1977) and MORE LIVE IN NEW YORK (1978). These seem to predate MAGIC IS A CHILD and the first features the original lineup plus Dave Nelson and the second doesn't have Roye. Some more compilations have been released too — THRU THE EARS (1978), THE BEST OF NEKTAR (1978), HIGHLIGHTS (1994) and THE DREAM NEBULA (1998).

In 2002 there is a new release called SUNDAY NIGHT AT THE LONDON ROUNDHOUSE (2002) which is a double live CD of the Roundhouse concert. It includes the two live recordings from the 1974 Roundhouse. The three "live in the studio" tracks are included on UNIDENTIFIED FLYING ABSTRACT - LIVE AT CHIPPING NORTON (2002) with other recordings from a two day jam session.

Roye Albrighton and Taff Freeman recorded a new album as THE PRODIGAL SON (2002) which is being released under the Nektar name in 2002. I suspect this may date from 2000.

The original line up of Nektar including Mick Brockett on lights were joined by Larry Fast for reunion concerts in 2002 and Classic Rock Productions have produced a DVD of the concert called NEKTAR LIVE (2003) with a double CD GREATEST HITS LIVE that includes extra material. A second DVD is planned. The CD is sometimes seens as LIVE – 2002 in listings (including CRP's own website).