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A SPOONFUL OF TIME

Nektar

Psychedelic/Space Rock


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Nektar A Spoonful Of Time album cover
2.75 | 97 ratings | 9 reviews | 7% 5 stars

Good, but non-essential

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Studio Album, released in 2012

Songs / Tracks Listing

1. Sirius (2:44)
2. Spirit Of The Radio (4:58)
3. Fly Like An Eagle (4:07)
4. Wish You Were Here (5:56)
5. For The Love Of Money (7:14)
6. Can't Find My Way Home (3:21)
7. 2000 Light Years From Home (4:56)
8. Riders On The Storm (6:40)
9. Blinded By The Light (7:17)
10. Out Of The Blue (4:46)
11. Old Man (3:26)
12. Dream Weaver (3:48)
13. I'm Not In Love (5:56)
14. Africa (4:21)

Total Time: 69:36

Line-up / Musicians

- Roye Albrighton / vocals, guitar
- Klaus Henatsch / keyboards
- Ron Howden / drums

With:
- Billy Sherwood / bass (5,9,13,14), synth (2,7), guitar solo (4), backing vocals, mixing
- Jurgen Engler / bass (1-4,6-8,10-12), co-producer
- Michael Pinella / keyboards (1)
- Mark Kelly / keyboards (2)
- Geoff Downes / keyboards (3)
- Joel Vandroogenbroeck / keyboards (3), flute (3,13,14), sitar (13,14)
- Edgar Froese / keyboards (4)
- Ian Paice / dums (5)
- Nik Turner / sax (5)
- Derek Sherinian / keyboards (6)
- Mel Collins / flute, sax (6)
- Steve Howe / guitar (6)
- Simon House / violin (7,10)
- Billy Sheehan / bass (8)
- Rod Argent / keyboards (8)
- Ginger Baker / drums (9)
- Joakim Svalberg / keyboards (9)
- David Cross / violin (11)
- Jerry Goodman / violin (12)
- Rick Wakeman / keyboards (13)
- Bobby Kimball / vocals (14)
- Patrick Moraz / keyboards (14)

Releases information

Artwork: Jesus & Javier Carmona Esteban

2xLP Purple Pyramid ‎- CLP 9223 (1012, US)

CD Purple Pyramid ‎- CLP 8932-2 (2012, US)

Thanks to sole-survivor for the addition
and to Quinino for the last updates
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NEKTAR A Spoonful Of Time ratings distribution


2.75
(97 ratings)
Essential: a masterpiece of progressive rock music(7%)
7%
Excellent addition to any prog rock music collection(15%)
15%
Good, but non-essential (43%)
43%
Collectors/fans only (25%)
25%
Poor. Only for completionists (9%)
9%

NEKTAR A Spoonful Of Time reviews


Showing all collaborators reviews and last reviews preview | Show all reviews/ratings

Collaborators/Experts Reviews

Review by Epignosis
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Honorary Collaborator
2 stars 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.

Review by tszirmay
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Honorary Collaborator
4 stars 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

Review by SouthSideoftheSky
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Symphonic Team
1 stars Sounds like this!

If you ever wanted to know how it would sound like if Nektar covered Africa by Toto with Patrick Moraz guesting, or I'm Not In Love by 10cc with Rick Wakeman guesting, or Spirit Of Radio by Rush, then the answers lie within. But once your curiosity is stilled, whatever initial excitement you might have felt is quickly lost and you're probably never going to want to revisit these versions ever again. Not that they are all bad (though Spirit Of Radio is truly awful), but like many covers they have little or no value beyond their curiosity value.

Roye Albrighton, Ron Howden, and Klaus Henatsch probably shared many laughs in the studio while recording their versions of other people's songs with a long series of Rock luminaries guesting. At least some of that fun in transferred to the listener, but I am certain that recording this album was a much more rewarding experience for the participating artists than hearing it can ever be for the listener.

Further bands being covered here are Alan Parsons Project, Manfred Mann's Earth Band (though the song was written by Bruce Springsteen), and Pink Floyd. Among the many guest performers we find Rod Argent, Steve Howe, Mel Collins, Ian Pace, Geoff Downes, and many more. It's a great marketing strategy, but not a very good artistic strategy. Again, the participation of these greats probably benefits the band more than the fan. The Nektar sound is somewhat lost in the sea of familiar faces and it is indeed hard to recognize what this release has to do with Nektar at all (beyond the simple fact that Albrighton and Howden are present). This is more of a collective enterprise that more or less incidentally happened to take place under the Nektar banner. I wouldn't file this album under 'Nektar' (more likely hide it behind the shelf!).

This star-studded cover album is a fun listen, but it is one you're going to want to hear only once. Beyond stilling your brute curiosity, I can't imagine this being essential for anyone but the most fanatical fan or collector. The special edition version comes with a second disc containing instrumental versions of all the songs. Even this disc is only worth at most a single listen.

Review by Gatot
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Honorary Collaborator
3 stars Well ... this is a love and hate kind of album as it is basically a tribute album to the music of others - be it a progrocker or a straight pop rock artist. Those who hate it have their own standings on why they hate it as Nektar has been viewed by many people as one of pioneers of progrock especially in space rock arena. As I am a newsletter member of Nektar, I knew the plan to make this album long before it was recorded and i expected they would make all tribute music become spacey as Nektar music is. When this album came to me last year there was basically no major suprise as I listened to barely minimum improvisations from the original version of the music. I felt indifference actually ...

But ..let me put it this way: whatever setlist the band has selected I can see they are all the songs that at least appricated by the band as having good composotion or whatsoever. This came to my mind when I looked Fly Like an Eagle as one of the setlist played here. I even almost forget this song and the artist who played in the past until I found in the credit list it's Steve Miller. Hah? Steve Miller? I can not understand this straight pop rock music being covered by Nektar? Oh No .... But hold on .... I honestly like this version by Nektar! It's probably when the original version was played as radio hit in the past (something in 80s) I did not pay much attention of the song at all. And now...because it's Nektar, then I enjoy it now. It also happens to the track that I have never heard before: For The Love of Money - which is basically a disco track. But ...surprisingly I can enjoy this version by Nektar.

Another point is that I appreciate the collaboration efforts made by Nektar with other musicians, some are younger generation. I can see the impact when I heard Wish You Were Here where Nektar brought in Edgar Froese of Tangerine Dream. The song tastes differently than original Pink Floyd track. Nektar is quite adventurous as they put Mark Kelly play in The Spirit of Radio. There is something disconnected between the music of Rush and Marillion but ,...the result is a good taste of music.

Even though at first I felt indifference ... I can now enjoy the music due to the appreciation side of the thinking like I explain above. And of course I love the cover art work as well. It's basically a good tribute album by Nektar. Keep on proggin' ...!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW

Review by Tom Ozric
PROG REVIEWER
3 stars This recent-ish release, masquerading as a NEKTAR album, can be taken as another Billy Sherwood 'Prog Collective' project. Indeed, the current line-up of Nektar, featuring only 2 of the 'classic' formation in Roye Albrighton (guitars/vocals) and Ron Howden (drums/vocals), are joined by keyboardist Klaus Henatsch and multi-intstrumentalist/vocalist Billy Sherwood to form the core of the band. Then we have help from all sorts of top-notch musicians from Marillion's Mark Kelly, to Brainticket's Joel Vandroogenbroeck, Billy Sheehan to Rick Wakeman. I gather the 'lion's share' of the recording layed on Roye's shoulders, and helped re-ignite the Nektar brand. The songs are all 'classic radio songs' from the 70's, and actually vary little from the originals. They are mostly better and interesting selections from those days of 'hits', but unless you already appreciate songs like Steve Miller's Fly Like An Eagle, The Doors' Riders On The Storm, and even Gary Wright's Dream Weaver, this will be 'just another' covers album. From the 14 songs here, I was only unaware of Neil Young's Old Man, which features guest David Cross (King Crimson) on violin. Recommended highlights here being a very pretty 6min version of Floyd's Wish You Were Here, with the featured guest being the late, great EDGAR FROESE on keyboards, Riders On The Storm featuring a superb performance on the Hammond from legendary Rod Argent. A suitable Roxy Music tune in Out Of The Blue features Hawkwind's Simon House on violin, replacing Eddie Jobson's stellar performance on the 1974 original. 10CC are represented by a sweet rendition of I'm Not In Love, beautifully ethereal, and having a super Moog solo from Wakeman. The soul hit For The Love Of Money, which is played to death throughout the media, features guest drummer Ian Paice (Deep Purple), and woodwinds eccentric Nik Turner on sax - this lengthy rendition adding some deliciously spacey grooves, background mellotron sounds and suitable jamming from all. Having been fortunate enough to have caught up with Klaus H at an NYC Nektar gig, from memory he said the idea was suggested by manager John Lappen, immediately jumped-on by Roye and Billy, and was a lot of fun to work on. Definitely a solidly good album, perhaps a little light on the 'Prog', but an enjoyable listen never-the-less. 3.5 stars.
Review by Slartibartfast
COLLABORATOR Honorary Collaborator / In Memoriam
3 stars What do Tori Amos and Nektar have in common? Well before you spew your brew up and out your nose, both have done covers albums (Tori's being Strange Little Girls) and both did versions of Not In Love. I have to say I like Tori's album a little better because her covers were sometimes radical reworking of the originals. Having said that there is one thing that I find interesting about this set, and also Tori's set - interesting guest musicians. In Tori's case it was just Adrian Belew and their version of Heart of Gold was the most radical reinvention of a song I have ever heard. In Roye's case he had at least one key guest for each track. Ron Howden is on drums for all tracks, as is Roye Albrighton on guitar and vocals, Alas this would be his next to last before passing on to the great beyond, but I'm sure that all the guests were fans of Nektar and honored to work with him. On as side note so was Sherman Helmsley, aka George Jefferson of The Jefferson's fame. In fact you can find a clip of youtube of his character grooving to Show Me The Way.

What do Santana and Nektar have in common? Again both did covers albums. Santana's was Guitar Heaven: The Greatest Guitar Classics Of All Time with guest vocalists on each track. I guess Santana just can't sing like Roye, but then again I have never heard him sing that I know of. Granted he makes his guitar sing. But these two have a cover in common ' Riders of the Storm.

This is a nice track selection and set of guest artists. Some might say that he shouldn't have wasted his time doing this album of covers as his second to last one but then again his last one hasn't received favorable reviews here on this site.

The most notable guests for me are Marillion's keyboardist - Mark Kelly, Geoff Downes, Edgar Froese, Mel Collins, Steve Howe, Rod Argent, Ginger Baker, David Cross, Jerry Goodman, Rick Wakeman, and Patrick Moraz. Wow. And Santana only had non prog vocalists as his guests.

My favorite tracks on here are Spirit of the? Radio (oops on their part). If you like Rush but find Geddy Lee's vocals a bit grating (I don't too much, woo yeah!) his take is nice. He is certainly a match for Alex Lifeson in the guitar area. Sorry Ron, but hard to out beat Neil Peart when it comes to Rush drumming. One of the things that I really like about this album is the covers of prog tracks of our various subgenres. Crossover ' Alan Parson's Project ' Sirius and Roxy Music - Out Of TheBlue, Heavy Prog (Rush), Psychedelic/Space Rock ' Wish You Were Here, Proto Prog - 2000 Light Years From Home (sorry Stones not enough proto in toto in your work to get you guys to get you guys in the PA) and The Doors ' Riders On The Storm. Speaking of Toto we do get the aforementioned Patrick Moraz in Africa but Toto isn't really prog with the exception being their soundtrack for the 1984 Dune movie.

So, as a long time fan of Nektar I don't take any offense at it even though some people here are opposed to prog artists doing albums of covers. I find the songs are well done but I'll give it three stars because isn't original Nektar music.

Latest members reviews

3 stars I have to admit that while I don't necessarily go out of my way to listen to cover albums, they certainly can be fun to listen to once in a while. This Nektar covers album is no exception. I think as long as you don't expect it to sound the same or even be as good as the original then it can be ... (read more)

Report this review (#2840885) | Posted by AFlowerKingCrimson | Sunday, September 18, 2022 | Review Permanlink

2 stars I saw the album cover and I thought "Sick art! This is going to be a cool album, I know it". I started listening and realized it was a cover album. "Oh cool. I wonder what kind of twists they'll add to these classics". Not much unfortunately. Some of the covers are creative, but most are very fa ... (read more)

Report this review (#2533139) | Posted by Ericake | Thursday, April 8, 2021 | Review Permanlink

3 stars No point for this album to exist in my opinion. When versatile bands like Nektar release tribute albums, you expect heavily modified / clearly alternated versions of the original songs, interesting and unique. That's not the case here. The songs are either almost identical to the original, or sl ... (read more)

Report this review (#1598408) | Posted by BigDaddyAEL1964 | Wednesday, August 17, 2016 | Review Permanlink

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