A SPOONFUL OF TIME

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The grotesque, Iron Maiden-like cover made me curious about what Nektar could be up to in 2012. Upon reading the track list, I thought, "Gee, these aren't very creative titles." Then it occurred to me that this was a collection of covers. That could be fun, but what's disappointing is the selection of the songs. All of them are overdone. "Spirit of the Radio" and "Wish You Were Here," for instance- what can really be added to these songs? Maybe if Nektar had done an acoustic rendition of the former and a hard-rocking version of the latter, it would be worth checking out, but no- these are almost note-for-note covers that do nothing that makes the hearer not wonder why he didn't just listen to the original.

"Sirius" About what could be expected for a cover of this Alan Parsons Project intro, this does feature a fuller, more modern sound, with great guitar and synthesizer tones.

"Spirit of the Radio" A competent rendition with synthesizer and a fuzzier sound. Unfortunately, this song just doesn't suit the vocalist, who doesn't reach the notes and lets some of them drop off.

"Fly Like an Eagle" Nektar's take on this Steve Miller groovy classic is fairly faithful to the original, even down to the Nintendo-sounding tones wafting ever upward. The bass is deep and satisfying, but once again the vocals are lacking.

"Wish You Were Here" Pink Floyd's most famous acoustic song receives a gritty guitar solo, but the vocals are languid and lack the cynically nostalgic tone of the original. The driving outro in double time is fun.

"For the Love of Money" Yes, this is a cover of the now forever recognized as the theme song to The Apprentice, a funky ditty by The O'Jays (who are in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by the way) that has the word "money" repeated in falsetto. Nektar's version concentrates more on the flashy brass in a repetitive jam mode.

"Can't Find My Way Home" Yet another tune that's been covered to death,

"2000 Light Years From Home" From The Rolling Stone's psychedelic rock album Their Satanic Majesties Request comes this spacey rendition that sounds like it could have been made in the 1970s.

"Riders on the Storm" I've always disliked this song from The Doors, considering it boring. Predictably, this remake doesn't make me like it any more, although the organ solo is cool.

"Blinded by the Light" It's hard to improve upon Manfred Mann's exciting and famous adaptation of this Bruce Springsteen tune, and Nektar doesn't. It plods along with half the energy and enthusiasm the tune deserves.

"Out of the Blue" The "Out of the Blue" in reference here is the only by Roxy Music, which Nektar slows down a bit and makes a little louder.

"Old Man" Neil Young's famous tune gets a slightly prog rendition with some slick violin throw in.

"Dream Weaver" Gary Wright's favorite is treated to a halfhearted try. Again, nothing to expect here.

"I'm Not in Love" 10cc's tune gets remade with some keyboards, but is still just a bland piece.

"Africa" This is a sad, sorry, cheap "Africa." Nintendo could have done better in 1992. It's terrible.

I could not help laughing heartily while listening to this "prog's greatest hits reworked" from the improbable space rock legends Nektar , I mean I still sadly remember the 70s when the top selling albums were LPs sold by the über-commercial K-Tel Productions , the great white shark of the glory days of radio rock. Proves you can never say never, I guess. The songs proposed here are all basic classic hits from those heady days when FM radio ruled the roost. Obviously (and it was clearly not the intent) the versions here are nowhere near as evocative as the originals, I prefer to view this collection as a tribute to the giants of the past and as such I can only state that at least these songs stood the test of time and where clearly more intricate that the sugared garbage offered up by the AM crowd.

Nektar brings in a slew of prog stalwarts, looking like a who's who of progressive rock, from Rod Argent, Patrick Moraz, Edgar Froese, to the Wakeman/Howe/Downes trio , then throw in Nik Turner, Mel Collins, Simon House, David Cross and Jerry Goodman, you have the Prog Hall of Fame cornered! It would be way too easy (and therefore crass) to start blasting this as "a pile of morass, not as good as, why worse, blah, blah, blah". Let's get a life, bygones be bygones and just sit back and enjoy, for Peter Criss-sakes! I actually really put my rarely poisoned pen down and just decided to go down memory lane and let the music wash over me. By doing so I realized that these tunes really do stand the test of time, albeit as a spoonful instead of a whole buffet. There are some outright classics here, Floyd's "Wish You Were Here" is outstanding whilst featuring Tangerine Dream's Froese, Nektar being a space ?groove band this should not surprise. "Riders on the Storm is equally interesting, Argent's luscious keys combining with bass maestro Billy Sheehan to lay down some spooky justice. "Fly Like An Eagle" stays very close to the Steve Miller Band classic as Downes controls the spacey keys. Then you have Hawkwind's violinist Simon House screeching on the Stones "2000 Light Years from Home" and on Roxy Music's "Out of the Blue", funny that pairing as Ferry never forgave Jagger for stealing away the sultry/skanky Jerry Hall. Oh well, that's for the gossip column readers. Both tracks do well, in the short run. Steve Winwood penned "Can't Find My Way Home" actually works nicely with cameos "traffic" by Howe, Collins and Derek Sherinian. "Blinded by the Light" has Ginger Baker pounding the skins, how can you go wrong? Dave Albrighton's wicked wah-wah drenched solo does Dave Flett justice, but it's not a note for note cop, thankfully. Some others are plain bizarre , such as the Gamble/Huff classic "For the Love of Money" with Ian Paice doing some disco drumming and Nik Turner howling on sax, I mean it's good but weird! Mark Kelly guesting on Rush's Spirit of the Radio"? Okay! But it's not 'rushed', that's for sure! Toto's classic pseudo-prog "Africa" has original singer Bobby Kimball revisiting the mike while Pat Moraz does the ivory thing. Finally 10cc's sardonic tearjerker "I'm Not in Love" gets the Wakeman treatment , I really laughed hard at that?? Neil Young's "Old Man" is pretty awful though, crucified by David Cross's violin. Just be glad that there was no "Smoke on the Water" remix featuring Jon Anderson, hahahahahaha! "Dream Weaver" is a Gary Wright classic that gets the Goodman treatment, a Little Mahavishnu groove to "get you through the night ?..and reach the morning light". Good god what a chuckle that was!

Hey, we elitists take our fandom way too seriously most of the times and lest we forget that a strong sense of humor is what kept our beloved genre alive during the bleak years, when the mellotron was stranded in the Sinai, searching for the Promised Land. So liven up, proggers and progettes! This was pure entertainment, lots of fun, nothing worthy of five stars, absolutely no profound philosophical referencing here, just good clean revelry. Now, where are my Anekdoten albums? I need to listen to those, now. (Laugh track loop)

4 shovels of hahahas