Nektar Live 2020: I Think I Remembered the Future-Live at the Iron Horse Northampton

Note the two Rickenbacker basses going at once!

Nektar in 2020 is an odd proposition. From a seventies perspective, Nektar had their heyday from 1971 as a transplanted UK band in Hamburg (1969) helping to jump start the krautrock movement before most of the main players in Germany had even gathered. Their six album arc from 1971 to 1975 covers their essential works. The debut lp Journey to the Center of the Eye is a 40 minute single song dedicated to either communicating with aliens or a soundtrack to an acid trip-it functions well in both modes. It attracted little attention outside of the heads of Europe with a German only release. The follow up, A Tab in the Ocean garnered their first US release (four years after its ’72 release date), and was a perennial denizen of cutout bins well into the late 80’s. (a kid on my floor in college worshiped this album, claiming he only listened to it on LSD, and never any other time-a heroic claim, and apparently true). Sounds Like This was a double lp of loose jams and improvs showcasing their strengths in this area saw only a German and UK release in early 1973, mixing krautrock and west coast jam styles. They broke big in the States in 1973 with Remember the Future, once again a song cycle about aliens communicating from the future to give warnings and enlightenment. (I think the alien was in the form of a bluebird, it wasn’t really clear). This album cracked the top 20 and the band had some momentum, selling out larger theaters. The follow up, a circus themed Down to Earth gave them a single, Astral Man, and featured Hawkwind’s Robert Calvert as the ringmaster. 1975’s very solid Recycled found them in the company of synthesizer wizard Larry Fast, and brought back some of the fans unhappy with the disjointed Down to Earth.

 

By 1976, the band had a major label deal, but leader and guitarist Roye Albrighton inexplicably bailed, leaving the band in the hands of American Dave Nelson, and the dreaded disease to strike most prog bands in the late 70’s: “we have to do a pop album so we can get rich and famous” syndrome which killed off 95% of all prog bands to get that far. 1977’s Magic is a Child is noted mostly for the cover model being a fairly unknown 12 year old Brooke Shields skipping through the waterfall as well as being the final nail in the coffin.

From a millenium perspective, Nektar has had no less than twelve different lineups since their hesitant return to live activity in 2000. The band rotated around Roye Albrighton, and founding members Ron Howden (drums), Taff Freeman (keys), and Derek ‘Mo’ Moore (bass). The two decades leading up to this 2019 reunion saw a blizzard of changes that ultimately led to the band splitting into a German version (mostly the replacement parts) and the US version (mostly the surviving original members)

This week in a tiny club in Northampton Massachusetts saw the large Nektar entourage (seven band members and seven crew members) load onto the tiny stage. With guitarist Ryche Chiandra (of the 1978 era of the band) holding down most of the vocal parts, original members Moore and Howden, long time member Randy Dembo rounded out by keyboardist Kendall Scott, a female vocalist and original light guy and founding member Mick Brockett on light show it was a crowded stage. They put the crowd on notice immediately, opening with a 20 minute version of the side long song A Tab in the Ocean. A new song, the catchy Skywriter from their upcoming album captures their ethos well and nicely slots in with some of their classic material (possibly an unreleased tune written back in the 70’s by Chiandra during his stint in the band). Then, bam(!), all of side one of Remember the Future in all of its glory. The band really started to hit their stride and the odd double Rickenbacker bass attack of Dembo and Moore gave a strong syncopation to many of the tunes. Another new tune preceded another 20 minute suite from their debut lp, Dream Nebula/Roundabout/Drifting. This piece grew in power as it headed to the end, showcasing the musical muscle and precision the band has now that it didn’t really have in 1971’s fuzzier and looser version. Love Is/The Other Side was another 20 minute excursion from their upcoming album of the same name. Crying in the Dark (Djam) and King of Twilight was another suite from Tab in the Ocean that brought us to the end of the set. Encores of Fidgety Queen from Down to Earth was a raucous barrelhouse tune and I’m on Fire from the upcoming album rounded out the evening before we were ushered out to make room for a DJ spinning at 10 pm. Hmm.

Overall, Nektar still has it in spades. They have always used a limited chord structure and song construction to great effect (see Hawkwind), and were never flashy, more a subtle effect. Their sound in 2020 is very close to original Nektar vibes, with some ill advised dabbling that sounded like the Alan Parsons Project, but overall there are still strong hints of kindred spirits Hawkwind in there. One observation was that the modern jam band moe. strongly resembles and owes some of their distinct sound to Nektar’s occasional west coast jam excursions. Original light guy Mick Brockett sent astral projections behind the band that reminds and reinforces the fact that this is a psychedelic band at its core, once and always.

Looking at their handwritten setlist, and lamenting ‘options’ not played

So little did I know in the early 80’s when I encountered the decidedly weird Remember the Future, with its story line of a child being told by aliens of things to come in the future and a warning to remember the lessons well, and tried to catalog all the madness and chaos I’d encountered in their decidedly weird and acid soaked fans  …that it would all frickin end up coming true some 37 years later. Remember the Future kids, not an easy skill to master, but sometimes it is important.