Journey to the Centre of the Eye

Ok, so let me see if I can get this straight: Nektar is a band that is from England, but they originally met and practiced in Germany. So while they might have been known (at least at first) as a German band, they're actually British. They formed in 1969 and released their first full length album in 1971. For a bit of perspective, that was two years before Pink Floyd put out The Dark Side of the Moon and two years after King Crimson's In the Court of the Crimson King. Like a lot of rock bands during this time frame, their sound focused on prog rock and crazy concept albums.

This record has all of that on display, a reissue of their debut, Journey to the Centre of the Eye. This set also comes with a bonus disc, an official bootleg (doesn't official cancel out the bootleg part?) of the band performing at show in Darmstadt, Germany in late 1971. The album has also been remastered in its entirety. For a prog rock record, it feels a little on the short side at 42 minutes, but maybe that's because I've been so used to listening to Mars Volta albums. At any rate, this is pretty solid stuff. It's not as immediately catchy as some of Floyd's stuff or technical as King Crimson, but it rests somewhere in between the two. Of course, this is only their first full length and I've never heard any of their other work, so it's entirely possible that their later work got catchier or more technical or both.

If you're a fan of guitar feedback, walls of sound, psychedelic vocals and rich concept albums, then you definitely need to check this out. While these guys might have been more of a cult band during their heyday, perhaps their older work can experience a bit of a revival through these reissues.