UNDER THE SUN

March 74 was probably a very rainy month in London as the artwork sleeve of this album seems to hint at. And this weather really permeated to the music feeling as melancholy is the main characteristic of this album.

After a quick opener, we are driven by a quick tempo Addison Trip with excellent bass work. Then into one much jazzier and somewhat dull Pastoral Graffitti. Typically the kind of 5 AM cool jazz in a jazz club tune to finally close off the premises. New Life is another superb bass-driven track full of great climates and is the highlight of the first side of the vinyl. It is closed off by a short preview/glimpse of what is to come on side 2.

And clearly the second vinyl side of the album is where the beef/meat is. The 23 min+ Under The Sun track divided into three themes. Again the dynamic Sutton (bass)/ Spring (Drums) duo is clearly at the forefront of the track and provide a superb rhythm for all of the soloists to expand themselves a bit in the improv/jam mode, but nothing indulgent. The second theme brings you back to the first two albums and is the apex of the album. Pitchen is pitching in a superb flaming guitar solo. However the third theme being marred by a lengthy drum solo, the album closes off with a little feeling of wanting a bit more soup in your bowl.

I would recommend this Nucleus album to all progheads enjoying jam-style bands (such as Allman Bros or Gratefull Dead- style of improv) but are not keen on jazz sonorities. This album as well as In Flagrante Delicto are much in the same style having a rock rhythm but jazz instruments. So the ideal introduction to jazz feelings/sounds but without having the "boring" (to non-initiated) jazz signatures.

While singing from the same book as the previous two albums, the Under The Sun album is still a few streets ahead in sheer titanic groove. Carr, seemingly, is less aware of what his idol Miles Davis is doing and getting more in tune with his act and what they can do, sure enough though there are influence aplenty on the album, but the music is the most urgent to have come out under the Nucleus name in a long time. Yes, the mood is pimparama agogo and the whole act are striking a deadly dirty swing. New comer Bob Bertles, who replaced Brian Smith, shines throughout the album adding a fresh impetus to Carr's act while Gordon Beck adds some sweet electric piano to the mood but, unfortunately, it is the flat production which is the albums Achilles heel on more than a few occasions, no more so that the pedestrian drumming which kicks in alongside the horns at the start of the intro track "In Procession", it just lacks that killer punch that would truly have driven the album, but it would have been especially essential here on the first track. Though the second side suite "Sarsaparilla" (including "Theme 1: Sarsaparilla", "Theme 2: Feast Alfresco" and "Theme 3: Rites of Man") seems to have worked out smoothly due to the strength of the music and musicianship rather than being aided by the production, but a cohesive expressive production has never been the strong point of any Nucleus album which in turn has muted a dynamic response that should be audible when combining such eclectic instruments with an act of this calibre. Though I find Under The Sun to be one of the better Nucleus albums, their brand of fusion was certainly getting somewhat predictable in some areas, yet that fails to quench my enjoyment. It is certainly a better album that the previous Roots and with another new line up (Clive Thacker was replaced by Bryan Spring, Dave MacRae left to be replaced by Geoff Castle) has much going for it.

Jazz bands are always tricky for me to review because I always feel intimidated by the fact that I've only heard "jazz-rock" albums and have little education with the traditional jazz history. But Ian Carr's Nucleus is certainly an enjoyable and accessible way for a jazz-rock noob to dip their toe. The line-up of this group seemed to be ever changing and this particular album lists nine musicians of credit. It was recorded in London in March 1974 and was supposed to reflect on themes of the outdoors.

"In Procession" features a consistent bass groove with Gordon Beck playing something noted as "ring modulated" piano against Carr's horn. "The Addison Trip" has a bit of that funky '70s tv show theme song vibe to it. Solid bass solos are laid over dual percussion, bongos and hand percussions with some wordless vocals by Keiran White, doing a "whoa..whoa.." thing. "Pastoral Graffiti" is fabulous stuff with Bob Bertles laying a sweet, melodic flute solo atop laid back bass guitar and soft cymbals, before some horns come in at the fringes. This track really evokes the imagery of the cover photography, feeling like a warm, rainy summer afternoon. My only complaint is that it ends far too soon at 3 ½ minutes.

"New Life" is mostly a wicked guitar solo over some incredibly colorful drumming.this track cooks. It settles briefly in the middle before bringing Carr's trumpet into the mix, then the drumming starts to heat up again. "Theme 1: Sarsaparilla" is a real blast out the gate with lively trumpet dueling with saxophone to a driving bass line. Later Gordon Beck delivers a piano solo before Carr and Bertles just go completely nuts again, some horn jamming to behold for sure. "Theme 2: Feast Alfresco" begins with dark and smoky trumpet over great bass, slow speed. Bertles gets a crack at the sax here too but here they are separate and not dueling each other.

Then we have a wah-wah'd guitar solo over e-piano before a nice melodic ending. "Theme 3: Rites of Man" is a long and moody piece of horn over an "endlessly repeated ostinato pattern" as the booklet describes it. It goes on to share a great story about the track: Carr was sitting on a bus in Germany when a man came over to him and said "Mr. Carr, I want to thank you for that wonderful piece, Rites of Man. It's done wonders for our marriage." You'll understand when you hear the track which works to some great jamming. All in all this is a wonderful instrumental jazz album I would recommend to anyone interested in jazz-rock. My first Ian Carr album and I'm quite pleased with it.

This is NUCLEUS' seventh studio album and my least favourite of those. Having said that I agree with the other three reviewers that this deserves 4 stars. Of NUCLEUS' first seven albums the Gnosis site only rates "Labyrinth" below this one. For the first time in NUCLEUS' history Ian Carr doesn't have Brian Smith to help him out here. Beck who guested on "Belladonna" and "Labyrinth" helps out on electric piano. Pitchen (guitar) and Sutton (bass) are back from the previous album "Roots". As the title suggests this album has a theme of the outdoors to it. I have to mention drummer Bryan Spring as well because he is outstanding on this record. Very impressive.This was his first studio album with NUCLEUS.

"In Procession" features crisp drumming as horns come in followed by keyboards. Amazing sound here. Great way to start the album. It ends with the sounds of a parade. "The Addison Trip" opens with drums followed by bass,horns and keys. This one's kind of funky. Check out the bass solo after 2 minutes as drums and percussion help out. It kicks back in to end it.

"Pastoral Graffiti" is just that, a mellow tune with flute and horns. Next up is "New Life", again i'm impressed with the drum work as horns blast away. Nimble bass work too. Guitar before 1 1/2 minutes. The drummer steals the show here though. A calm 3 1/2 minutes in then it slowly builds. Incredible sound here with the horns. "A Taste Of Sarsaparilla" is laid back with horns and keys. "Theme 1 : Sarsaparilla" is uptempo with lots of horns. A calm 2 minutes in is brief.The keyboards are excellent here. Horns and drums dominate later. "Theme 2 : Feast Alfresco" is slowed down but far from pastoral. Drums, bass, horns, keys and guitar all help out. "Theme 3 : Rites Of Man" is my favourite. Bass, keys and drums lead early and it's fairly dark. Horns join in. A drum show before 6 1/2 minutes to before 8 minutes.Then the band kicks in again.

Another excellent album from Carr and the boys.

This 1974 release from Ian Carr and his collaborators proves that as far as Nucleus goes, there truly is nothing new under the sun. It's not that this is a bad album - on the contrary, it's a pretty decent jazz-rock workout. It's just that it isn't really doing anything we haven't already heard the group do with a bit more verve and passion on the group's earlier albums. Where a mere four to five years earlier Nucleus had been ahead of the curve when it comes to this sort of material, here they're sat solidly in the middle of the road, with the end result that you probably don't want to go out of your way to obtain this unless you really can't get enough of the band's sound.

Brian Smith is gone! Carrying over from Ian's Roots release from the previous year are guitarist Jocelyn Pitchen and bassist Roger Sutton, while blues-rock pianist Gordon Beck returns after a one-album hiatus. But Ian's long-time collaborator and partner in crime, Brian Smith, has moved on.

1. "In Procession" (2:54) opens with a cool groove: a variation of sorts of an early Herbie or Mahavishnu riff (one that will also be borrowed and mutated by Weather Report in the next few years). This one has multiple expressions of the main melody coming from several sources--including two horn players! (9.333/10)

2. "The Addison Trip" (3:58) another cool motif in which the keys and bass are following one melodic theme while the horns and drums and percussion seem to be on a different course--but the two woven together work! But this is short-lived as the song quickly devolves into a bass and drum show (with some support from keyboards and horns. The very sudden ending--as if the tape were just cut at some random point in the players' play--is quite disconcerting. Wish the opening 30-seconds could've continued . . . forever. (9/10)

3. "Pastoral Graffiti" (3:33) a flute-led piece that feels quite . . . pastoral. I love hearing the spinet/harpsichord sound among the support instrument for this rondo weave--and the joinder of Ian's smooth flugelhorn and everybody else's gentle contributions. (9.25/10)

4. "New Life" (7:07) my favorite song on the album for the sake of its powerful bass-driven motif and great trumpet and sax performances (and arrangements!). Nice drumming, too. I could have done without the major tempo and motif shifts at the halfway point but am happy to have been treated thereafter to some of my favorite Ian Carr trumpet soloing: great melodies, accented by electric piano and wah-wah-ed electric guitar. (If I'm not mistaken, Ian, himself, plays with some wah-wah effects in this historic trumpet solo.) (14.125/15)

5. "A Taste Of Sarsaparilla" (0:44) solo trumpet with chorused electric piano in support. Pretty melody--played with Freddie Hubbard-like sensitivity! (4.5/5)

6. "Theme 1: Sarsaparilla" (6:47) building, of course, on the brief melody introduced in the "A Taste of ..." predecessor but quickly becoming something like a Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass motif that's been elevated to the next highest level (thereby disqualifying it for game show theme song honors but keeping it well within the realms of highest-level Jazz-Rock Fusion). An odd pause in the third minute results in a return to the main theme (with all its power and vigor) while Gordon Beck takes us on a ride with his electric piano. At the end of the fourth minute there is another slow down where the band seems to get lost--discombobulated--while Bob Bertles solos on an alto sax, but then everything turns right again as Roger and Bryan zip back into the fast lane. It's pretty cool when Ian joins Bob in the soloing department to kind of challenge one another but actually do their own thing, and then they come together for a recapitulation of the main theme before extraneously flying into their awesome ending flourishes. Cool! (13.75/15)

7. "Theme 2: Feast Alfresco" (6:02) slowed down, the band joins Roger and Bryan with a slowed-down "choral" recitation of the Sarsaparilla main theme for a minute or so. Then everybody but guitar, bass, and drums clears out to give Bob Bertles room to lay into his baritone sax, keys and percussion providing some support accents. Then one of the guitarists is given the spotlight while Gordon and Geoff riff and run between he and the rhythm section. Weird to hear no horns for such a long patch of an Ian Carr/Nucleus song, but they reappear as a horn section to remind us of the main themes toward the end of the guitar and Fender Rhodes duel soloing that occurs in the song's final two minutes. (9/10)

8. "Theme 3: Rites Of Man" (10:00) wandering, meandering electric pianos with distant horn blasts--some echoed, some spewed--are eventually joined by bass, drums and percussion--coercing the keys to step in line. Long notes from the horn section are accented by the two Rhodes and by wah-wah-ed electric guitar riffs and rhythms. Settling into a pensive, repetitive vamp-like mode, over which the trumpet and saxes solo while drummer Bryan Spring and Gordon Beck as percussionist ramp up their inputs. Sounds very Miles Davis-like. Bryan is given some clear solo time in the seventh and eight minutes, the result being more impressive than I expected: he has a bit of the ability to make his solo drumming melodic like Billy Cobham does. Bass and electric piano return toward its end with horn section doing its Miles melody/theme reminders before sax and electric guitar (I believe this one is Jocelyn Pitchen) get some solo time (at the same time--briefly, just before the end). Weird ending as it feels as if the musicians just walk away from the song . . . and studio--and just leave it empty. Weird. What has all this to do with Sarsaparilla? Still, quite a well- formed, well-performed, if weird song. (18/20)

Total Time: 41:05

I feel as if I connected to Ian & Company's highly-skilled yet intermittently loose renderings of some very mature compositions on a deep yet easy level. For once it feels as if Ian himself was the one musician that reigned supreme even when he wasn't the spotlight performer. (I still wonder why so few musicians stay with Ian for very long.)

A-/five stars; a most excellent, most mature display of top-quality rendering of top-quality compositions. Definitely a minor masterpiece of peak era Jazz-Rock Fusion.