Short Reviews [Nektar - 1972 - "A Tab in the Ocean"]

I know I am not the only person who thinks that Nektar’s second album, 1972’s ‘A Tab In The Ocean”, was their finest hour and now it has been reissued as a much-expanded set by Esoteric it is great to have the opportunity to revisit it again. Nektar have always been somewhat of an oddity in that they were a band who lived, recorded and toured in Germany, yet were actually British. The quartet of Roye Albrighton (guitar, lead vocals), Allan “Taff” Freeman (keyboards, vocals), Derek “Mo” Moore (bass guitar, vocals) and Ron Howden (drums and percussion), came together after they met in the music clubs of the Reeperbahn in Hamburg, while they also had a fifth member in lighting guru Mick Brockett who was often credited even though he was not a musician. The original album contained just four tracks and was 35 minutes in length, but it had a huge impact on many, including a certain Steve Harris who loved it so much that Maiden covered “King of Twilight” on the B-side of “Aces High”. This is Seventies prog with stacks of Mellotron placed up against rock guitar and harmonies as the band switched through different styles and contrasts in a way which could only be from the early Seventies. Nektar were the first international band to be produced by Dieter Dierks when they recorded their debut at his studio in Stommein, and they returned to him for this one, by which time the studio had increased in size and capability while he was also now familiar with their music. This set contains four discs and a Blu-ray, with the first disc containing the original album (plus bonus track “We Are The Ocean”) which has been remixed by Ben Wiseman. The second disc contains the original album, along with the 1976 US remix. I had no idea that the album was released in Germany in 1972, the UK in 1974, but not in America until 1976 after they had already had success with other albums. This last was remixed by Larry Fast and contains overdubs and some fairly significant changes to the sound, and to me is worth hearing all on its own as it both very similar and very different at the same time. Nektar often used to record their own shows through the soundboard, and discs 3 and 4 contain the complete show from Erbach, Germany, on 22nd April 1973, which shows the band playing virtually the whole of their latest release, ‘...Sounds Like This’ along with three of the four tracks from ‘Tab’. The Blu-ray contains all the music from the other discs. Along with fascinating essays from both Mark Powell and Mo Moore along with plenty of photos this is the definitive release of an album which has never truly gained the reputation it deserves in the UK.