Jazz Archives

This is a very unique and original record that mixes free jazz and avant-garde music with early 70s hippie jam freakouts and compositional variety. Although this record features a lot of musicians from King Crimson and Soft Machine, and occasionally sounds like either of those bands more "out" moments, a lot of this record has more in common with ultra-expressive jazz musicians such as Albert Ayler or Pharoh Sanders.
Part one mixes semi-Gregorian vocal drones with free jazz sections. Part two opens with a mellow string and soft percussion drone before heading into a bluesy funk jam that eventually slips into a free jazz jam. Part three is probably the most interesting with a long repeating string part backed with drums that is somewhat similar to Crimson's Devil's Triangle or something off of Lizards, especially when Nick Evans and the other horn players pile up chaotic solos on top of each other. This side ends with some layered vocal improvs similar to Cathy Berbarian's work with Luciano Berio. Part 4 is the least interesting, it mostly contains a very 60s sounding utopian socialist hippie chant that has not aged well.
The various soloists add what they can, but the purely instrumental sections on this album are far better than the sections with vocals.
Robert Fripp is the producer on this record and it is interesting to notice how much influence he picked up from working with Keith Tippet. Some of the Crimson cuts that show influence from this record include the quiet opening section on Larks Tounge, the vocal improvs on Formentara Lady, the bluesy funk jams that build into free jazz on Earthbound, and a lot of the improv music on Lizards and Poseidon.
This is a surprisingly good record and different from a lot of the free jazz that was coming out at this time because Tippet broke the improv sections up with unique composed sections that give the record variety in texture and volume. I highly recommend that you get this one on vinyl because the gatefold album cover art is incredible.

:::Review by Easy Money:::

Centipede - Septober Energy (1971)

Disc 1 (45:17)
1. Septober Energy - Part 1 (21:43)
2. Septober Energy - Part 2 (23:34)

Disc 2 (40:06)
1. Septober Energy - Part 3 (21:21)
2. Septober Energy - Part 4 (18:45)

Credits
- Wendy Treacher, John Trussler, Roddy Skeaping, Carol Slater, Louise Jopling, Garth Morton, Channa Salononson, Steve Rowlandson, Mica Gomberti, Colin Kitching, Philip Saudek, Esther Burgi / violins
- Wilf Gibson / lead violin, conductor
- Michael Hurwitz, Timothy Kramer, Suki Towb, John Reese-Jones, Katherine Thulborn, Catherine Finnis / cellos
- Peter Parkes, Mick Collins, Ian Carr, Momgesi Fesa, Mark Charig / trumpet, flugelhorn, cornet
- Elton Dean, Jan Steel, Ian MacDonald, Dudu Pukuwana / Alto saxophone, Flute, Soprano saxophone
- Larry Stabbins, Gary Windo, Brian Smith, Alan Skidmore / Tenor saxophone
- Dave White, Karl Jenkins, John Willimas / Baritone saxophone, bass saxophone, oboe, clarinet
- Nick Evans, Dave Amis, Dave Perrottet, Paul Rutherford / trombone
- John Marshall, Tony Fennell, Robert Wyatt / drums, percussion
- Brian Godding / guitars
- Brian Belshaw, Roy Babbington, Jill Lyons, Harry Miller, Jeff Clyne, Dave Markee / basses
- Maggie Nicholls, Julie Tippett, Mike Patto, Zoot Money, Boz / vocals
- Keith Tippett / piano
- Robert Fripp / produce

Some wouldn´t consider this the best Ian Carr or Nucleus album, but there´s plenty to enjoy. Sure, it´s not exactly on a par with the first two Nucleus albums "Elastic Rock" and "We´ll Talk About It Later", but it´s a nice example of the tunes, riffs, rhythms, and improvisation style of the band under Ian Carr´s leadership. And I happen to like the album art. A bit strange for Nucleus, and not totally fitting with the music, but it´s quite nice.
"Belladonna is maybe less complete overall than Solar Plexus but is most definitely the most elusive and sought after of Ian Carr's Vertigo label vinyl releases. By the time this record was recorded only Brian Smith remained of the Solar Plexus line-up, but in the new blood recruited, Carr was able to instill that same kind of energy and spirit that had made the previous Nucleus recordings such critical (if not commercial) successes.
The title track in particular has that rhythmic quality not dissimilar to Snakehips' Dream, a kind of irisistable foot tapping almost danceable beat that is totally and hypnotically infectious from its percussive Ian Carr led intro to it's pure jazz rock electric mid section.
The piece Suspension is apparently Ian Carr's most satisfying studio track; one of those single takes that only happen once or twice in a career ... do I have to say more?"

:::Review by Mr. Paul D. Curtis:::

Ian Carr's Nucleus - Belladonna (1972)

1. Belladonna (Carr) 13.37
2. Summer Rain (Carr) 6.11
3. Remadione (Smith) 3.48
4. Mayday (Carr) 5.40
5. Suspension (Carr) 6.15
6. Hector´s House (Smith) 4.34

Credits
Roy Babbington (bass)
Gordon Beck (piano)
Ian Carr (trumpet, flugelhorn)
Allan Holdsworth (guitar)
Dave MacRae (piano)
Brian Smith (saxophone, flute)
Clive Thacker (drums)
Trevor Tomkins (percussion on 01., 03 - 04.)

Harmony of the Spheres was composer Neil Ardley's final album for a major label. Released by Decca in the U.K. in 1979. This is the record many of Ardley's most ardent (no pun intended) fans and jazz purists have dismissed out of hand. Simply put, both groups are wrong. The primary reason for this dislike is two-fold: first, the ubiquitous use of synthesizers. Given that this is a conceptual recording of the title, derived from the complex notions of the ancient Greeks, Ardley could find no acoustic instruments that could actually reproduce the sounds required. He assigned musical notes to each of the planets and discovered that the ratio of the orbit times of Mercury and Pluto (assigned the highest and lowest tones, respectively, because of their distance from the sun) were virtually identical to the ratio of frequencies of the sounds of the upper and lower range limits of human hearing. That this entire schemata is only approached and achieved once on the entire album, on "Soft Stillness & the Night," is immaterial. Ardley composed an entire suite around these sounds, the "harmony" as it were, and came up with a stellar jazz-rock set, that combines some of the very finest elements of prog, jazz improvisation, funk, and rock composition to hit record stores, and sounds distinctly different from anything else in his catalog. The cast on this brilliant album includes trumpeter Ian Carr and members of his band Nucleus, vocalist Norma Winstone, Tony Coe and Barbara Thompson on reeds and winds, Geoff Castle, Trevor Tomkins, Richard Burgess, Pepi Lemer, and the utterly amazing (and largely unrecognized) Billy Kristian, whose bassline is the anchor of the entire set, and who gets in some amazingly funky playing. The other big surprise is the appearance of John Martyn on electric guitar -- playing both lead and rhythm -- his playing here goes far beyond anything to appear on his own records -- let's put it this way, he could have hung with John Goodsall of Brand X without difficulty and possesses a trunkload of soul. Check out his smokin' fretwork on the opener "Upstarts All," which complements Kristian's bass work astutely. The disjointed funk on "Leap in the Dark" would have been right at home in many clubs at the time, though its syncopation would have thrown many. Here again, Kristian shines.
Carr's genius is heard bountifully on "Head Strong, Headlong," that walks a line between jazz, funk, and blues. Taken as a whole, Harmony of the Spheres is not nearly as jarring now as it was when released, and is far less a "commercial" album than it was once considered. It's a fitting testimony to Ardley's compositional and sonic genius that he employs synthesizers as not only architectural building blocks but as actual melodic instruments as well. Only a brilliant pianist and harmonist could accomplish such a thing, and Ardley was both. Luckily for us, the grand British reissue label Esoteric released this set on CD for the first time in the West in 2008.

:::Review by Thom Jurek:::

Neil Ardley - Harmony Of The Spheres (1979)

1. Upstarts All 3:35
2. Leap In The Dark 6:02
3. Glittering Circles 6:29
4. Fair Mirage 7:21
5. Soft Stillness And The Night 7:28
6. Headstrong, Headlong 7:13
7. Towards Tranqility 8:39

Credits
Bass - Bill Kristian
Clarinet - Tony Coe
Drums - Richard Burgess
Electric Piano, Synthesizer [Minimoog] - Geoff Castle
Flugelhorn - Ian Carr
Flute - Barbara Thompson
Guitar - John Martyn
Percussion - Richard Burgess , Trevor Tomkins
Piano - Geoff Castle
Saxophone [Soprano] - Barbara Thompson , Tony Coe
Synthesizer [Arp Odyssey, Omni] - Neil Ardley
Trumpet - Ian Carr
Vocals - Norma Winstone , Pepi Lemer

"Based upon the diversity of music, quality of product and their extraordinary rate of progress, Pure Pleasure Records is our re-issue record company of the year."
- hi-fi+

Remastered, re-evaluated, this landmark 1976 recording by a who's-who of British jazz - including Barbara Thompson, Ian Carr (Nucleus), Tony Coe, Geoff Castle and Dave Macrae - reaffirms Neil Ardley as one of the most important innovators of British modern jazz.
This album became famous for its supremely original music but also for it's impeccable engineering by Martin Levan. On the original single LP, the sound quality had to be compromised to enable the inclusion of 27 minutes of music per side. Much of the bass and stereo effect was removed. Now as a double LP mastered from the original analog tapes, all of the "missing" bass and stereo effect is here for all to savor and enjoy. At the time of its original release in 1976, Kaleidoscope Of Rainbows received critical acclaim from a wide spectrum of the day's music critics. Here's a sampling of some reviews:

"This work is possibly the most significant piece of composition since - what? Sgt Pepper? Pet Sounds? Gil Evans' Miles Ahead? Tubular Bells? Its beauty and superb sense of structure will mark it out, in no uncertain terms as one of the great musical achievements of our age." - Karl Dallas, Melody Maker "The brisk alternation of moods and textures keeps the listener on the edge of his seat...stunning variety." - Dave Gelly, The Observer "It's made to be savoured, enjoyed and, maybe, thought about a bit: for within it lies a part of the musical future. Musically, it's superb." - Derek Jewell, The Sunday Times

:::Reviews from acousticsounds.com:::

Neil Ardley - Kaleidoscope of Rainbows (1976)

A1. Prologue
A2. Rainbow 1 (Saxophones, Flute - Stan Sulzmann)
A3. Rainbow 2
A4. Rainbow 3 (Soloist Paul Buckmaster)
A5. Rainbow 4
B1. Rainbow 5 (Soloist Tony Coe)
B2. Rainbow 6 (Electric Piano & Synthesizer - John Taylor)
B3. Rainbow 7 (Soloist Ken Shaw and Bob Bertles, Electric Piano & Synthesizer - John Taylor)
B4. Epilogue

Credits
Bass - Roger Sutton
Cello [Acoustic, Electric] - Paul Buckmaster
Conductor, Synthesizer - Neil Ardley
Drums - Roger Sellers
Electric Piano, Synthesizer - Dave MacRae (tracks: A1 to B1, B4) , Geoff Castle
Guitar - Ken Shaw
Percussion, Vibraphone - Trevor Tomkins
Saxophone [Alto, Soprano], Flute - Barbara Thompson (tracks: A1, A3 to B4) , Bob Bertles
Saxophone [Tenor, Soprano], Flute, Flute [Alto] - Brian Smith
Saxophone [Tenor], Clarinet, Clarinet [Bass] - Tony Coe
Trumpet, Flugelhorn - Ian Carr

Definitely a masterpiece of British Jazz-Rock/Fusion along with Neil Ardley's amazing Kaleidoscope of Rainbows. Here, Nucleus appear a much tighter group. After their stunning first album, they decided to create this amazing follow-up, as if the first album wasn't great to begin with. I can't even express in words how highly I regard this album, truly Nucleus's finest effort.

The opening track is quite possibly the most famous Nucleus piece, and for a good reason. What a fantastic opener! By the way, for those who have heard Soft Machine's Bundles, Jenins decided to use the riff on "Song for the Bearded Lady" for "Hazard Profile Part 1." While this is by far my favorite piece on the album, the other ones are just as great; tons of wicked oboe, trumpet, guitar, etc.. pasages played by these virtuosos. This is, to my knowledge, the only Nucleus album with vocals, although they only appear on two tracks. Sure, they take some getting used to, but definitely do not affect the album in any negative way IMO. In fact, I think they even enhance the album, making it seem more coherent overall.

Although I do not think that this album is quite as good as the Neil Ardley album I mentioned earlier, this is a MUST for all fans of Jazz-Rock, a masterpiece of the genre. Buy it, now, you won't be disappointed! In fact, you can get this and the first album in a 2-CD set from BGO, so you have no excuse. Highly recommended, 5 stars, no doubt in my mind!

:::Review by Zac M :::

Nucleus - We'll Talk About it Later (1970)

1. Song For The Bearded Lady (7:25)
2. Sun Child (5:19)
3. Lullaby For A Lonely Child (4:21)
4. We'll Talk About It Later (6:19)
5. Oasis (9:49)
6. Ballad of Joe Pimp (3:48)
7. Easter 1916 (8:47)

Credits
- Ian Carr / trumpet, flugelhorn
- Karl Jenkins / electric piano, oboe, piano, baritone saxophone
- Brian Smith / tenor & soprano saxes, flute
- Chris Spedding / guitars
- Jeff Clyne / bass, electric bass
- John Marshall / drums, percussion