NUCLEUS

Advertised as a Nucleus album but, without Ian Carr's presence, I don't quite see how. Plus, it's kind if a shame that Chris never expected (or wanted) the music from these Harvest Records'-"forced" studio recording sessions to be published. (Apparently, the album's producer leaked it to a Japanese company who published it unbeknownst to Chris. In fact, Chris claims to have not found out about the existence of this publication for three or four years.)

1. "Station Song" (14:39) long John Coltrane-like opening with everybody meandering every which way like a pack of rats that have been discovered hiding under a rowboat, the trombone of Paul Rutherford is given the greatest prominence, occupying the lead position for the first two and a half minutes before giving way to John Mitchell's piano play. Roger Potter's jazzy double bass and John Marshall's drumming are also top notch as they hold everything together beneath John's DON PULLEN."Sinner Man"-like piano play. Trombone again takes the lead in this increasingly "Sinner Man"-feeling piano-based song. Chris Spedding's wewird CZ&W jazz guitar sound slowly fills the gap made by the quiescence of the rest of the band in the tenth minute and gradually becomes quite animated and reckless in its abandon. Then things slow down again, with everybody spacing out, before assuming a blues groove for the final two minutes (including a ridiculously-long finish). Not a great song. (26/30) 2. "Plain Song" (4:40) a great song on which Chris and Roger Potter jam as a duet on acoustic guitars (steel string acoustic and mandolin) and bowed double bass, respectively on something that sounds like a cover of PINK FLOYD's "Wish You Were Here" (pre-dating David Gilmour's classic by three or four years) as performed by Jimmy Page and Roy Harper for on Roy's Stormcock. An album highlight (despite its awkward sound rendering). (9/10)

3. "Song Of The Deep" (8:50) another song that feels more grounded in the Post Bop of the late Sixties with John Mitchell's piano play, Roger Potter's double bass, and John Marshall's drumming sounding much more jazz-based than rock or even Jazz-Rock. Chris's guitar is rendered rather oddly in the final mix with far more prominence and credibility being given to the centrally-located trombone of Paul Rutherford. Once again John Mitchell lays down some awesome Don Pullen-like piano play, which is, for me, the highlight of the song. (17.75/20)

4. "The Forest Of Fables" (1:12) experimental guitar and piano sounds--not conventional playing or styling. Like Don Pullen and Phil Collins running through ideas that would end up serving The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway's "The Waiting Room." (4.375/5)

5. "New Song Of Experience" (8:22) this song sounds and feels like a combo of lounge musicians giving a jazzy mash up of a DOORS pop song ("Light My Fire"). Though John Mitchell is playing electric piano on this one, he's still throwing those riffs and tactics that I'm so familiar with due to my love of Don Pullen's piano stylings. The guitar playing on this feels so infantile as to seem to express a self-sabotaging element into the music. (Did Chris want this album to fail?) Still, Paul, the two Johns, and Roger perform rather respectably despite Chris' "mood." Even the way the final sound and mix are rendered seem to indicated a half-assed attempt at polish or completion. (17.5/20)

6. "I Thought I Heard Robert Johnson Say" (3:14) a song of various sound tracks that all feel like experimentations that might end up on TALKING HEADS' Remain in Light. Cool and funky before Brian Eno's white funk was even a thing. (9.25/10)

Total time: 40:57

I'll say it again: I'm not sure why reviewers and historians want to include this within the aegis of Ian Carr's Nucleus. And, sadly, Chris hardly ever feels into it! Also, I do feel saddened as, once again, an artist's product has been undermined or even usurped by the label/production company (much as artists like Frank Zappa, John McLaughlin, John Fogerty, Nektar, Midnight Oil, Prince, and many, many others have claimed to have been taken advantage of at varioius points in their careers).

B-/3.5 stars; some great individual performances over mostly less-than-polished compositions (or, more often, what sound like practice jams) does not make for a great album. Recommended only if you must.

The debut studio album release from Ian Carr's Jazz-Rock Fusion brainchild. Recorded before MIles Davis' Bitches Brew had been released and before (Ian claims) he or his band members had even heard In a Silent Way, the spirit of fusion expressed on this album is very much ahead of its time with lots of interweaving of dynamic instrumental play coming from multiple electrified or electrically-effected instruments. There are some quite iconic riffs and grooves on this album that many Jazz, Jazz-Rock Fusion, and even Prog lovers will, no doubt, recognize.

1. "1916 " (1:11) such an epic opening! Like a signature song for some radio or television show! Great display for John Marshall's talents. (5/5)

2. "Elastic Rock" (4:05) this laid back piece sounds and feels like something from Miles Davis' Kind of Blue 2.0--at least, it starts that way: it's the feel as, obviously, Miles' original had neither electric piano, electric bass, nor any type of guitars; it's all about the feel. But then as Chris Spedding takes on his solo the music plants itself firmly into the post- Post Bop world of Jazz-Rock Fusion. Great song with great use of accenting horn "section." (9.25/10)

3. "Striation" (2:15) a really enjoyable duet of fascinating interplay between Jeff Clyne and his bowed double bass and Chris Spedding's finger-picked electric guitar. (4.75/5)

4. "Taranaki" (1:39) upper-register electric bass, gentle electric guitar and electric piano chord interplay driven by hi- hat & rimshot rhythm over which Ian and Brian also dance a beautiful duet with flugelhorn and tenor sax. Amazing! (5/5)

5. "Twisted Track" (5:15) gentle electric guitar picking carrying over from the previous song is soon joined by bass, cymbals, and breathy horns usher this into Jimmy Webb territory: if Burt Bacharach arranged Miles Davis to play a Jimmy Webb song! Pretty cool! Ian & co. were definitely creating some very sophisticated and beautifully woven tapestries! Somehow even Chris' bent C&W guitar notes work in the intricate mix of this song. (9.333/10)

6. "Crude Blues, Pt. 1" (0:54) Karl Jenkins' oboe and Chris' gentle jazz electric guitar make for strange but beautiful bedfellows as they introduce this one.? (4.5/5) 7. "Crude Blues, Pt. 2" (2:36) ? which turns into a "cool" 1960s Beatnick-turned-Hippie tune as the full band joins in. More solos from Karl as Ian, Chris, and Brian, populate the middle-ground above this groovy keyboard-less rhythm track. (4.5/5)

8. "1916 - The Battle of Boogaloo" (3:04) take the opener of Side One and then turn it into a multi-track three- and four-part rondo and you might get an idea of the feel of this one. (9.25/10)

9. "Torrid Zone" (8:40) built over a bass-and-guitar earworm riff that keeps the listener engaged (more like hypnotized!) John Marshall and Ian really get to shine on this one: Ian in a very FREDDIE HUBBARD-like sound and style, John recorded with one mic?! Karl and Chris get a little more animated (on the left and right, respectively) as Ian plays on (just as Freddie would). Great groove; great performances! (18.25/20)

10. "Stonescape" (2:39) muted trumpet opening feels like something straight off of Kind of Blue but then electric piano joins in. Double bass and brushed drums join in later. Cool little late night BILL EVANS-like song. (4.625/5)

11. "Earth Mother" (5:15) repeating some previously-explored riffs and themes that were used in the "Crude Blues" suite (including the presence of Karl Jenkins' oboe)--performing variations on them like the restatements, inversions, and modulations that occur in the recapitulations of classical music movements. Nice work from Karl. (8.875/10)

12. "Speaking for Myself, Personally, in My Own" (0:54) a skillful John Marshall drum solo that bridges "Earth Mother" and "Persephone's Jive." (4.375/5)

13. "Persephones Jive" (2:15) great little jazzy-gem to finish things off. I love this (still a continuation of Side Two's tape- jam). Ian, (distant) Brian, Chris, and the rhythm section are all firing on all cylinders on this one. (4.625/5)

Total Time 36:18

It had been a long time since I'd heard this album and I'd completely forgotten how amazing it is. Though I have not yet tried to substantiate this, I have a feeling that the music on Side One was all recorded in one straight session as was the same for Side Two--the separations and song "breaks" thereby being artificially created in the engineering room.

A-/five stars; a minor masterpiece of Jazz-Rock Fusion and a landmark album in the history and evolution of the burgeoning melieu.

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.

Ian and company are on a roll: kicking out two albums of original, experimental material in the same year!

1. "Roots" (9:24) picking up where Labyrinth left off with some pensive, spacious, deliberate Miles Davis-like music in which the musicians are slowly allowed to release their pent up energy. This song, however, is a lot tighter, a lot more organized, and a lot more spacious than Labyrinth's more chaotic "Naxos" (probably due to there being only one drummer, one keyboard player, one trumpeter, and one sax player as opposed to double those on Labyrinth). Mauritian guitarist Jocelyn Pitchen makes his presence known beneath the trumpet in the fifth and sixth minutes: she sounds more like Chris Spedding or John Tropea than the burgeoning new breed of heavily-effected jazz-rock guitarists. Ian's heavily-treated muted trumpet at the end sounds a lot like a wah-wah-ed electric rhythm guitar! (17.75/20)

2. "Images" (4:55) a mellow island-smoothy for New Zealand-born vocalist Joy Yates to sing over--here making her world premier in studio recorded form. She has a voice that kind of crosses sultry Annette Peacock with "Midnight at the Oasis'" Maria Muldaur. Clive Thacker's Caribbean percussion coupled with Roger Sutton's smooth bass lines and Brian Smith's flutes and Dave MacRae (Joy's future husband)'s rich electric piano makes for a perfect vehicle for this song of siren-like seduction. (8.875/10)

3. "Caliban" (4:35) bass and guitar team up to present a complex weave over Clive Thacker's drums and Aureo De Souza's racing conga play before Ian and Brian's multi-tracked horns enter and fill things out. Jocelyn Pitchen then strays into fiery guitar soloing while Aureo switches to timbales and the horns make their presence stronger and more insistent. Too bad Jocelyn chooses to use so little in the way of sound effects or enhancement, otherwise this would be a pretty cool song. (8.75/10)

4. "Whapatiti" (3:23) an up-tempo celebratory island song that sees two whole-band themes being alternated equally over which Brian Smith's soprano saxophone and Dave MacRae's percussive electric piano cover with their soloing. Spirited! (8.75/10)

5. "Capricorn" (4:01) slow-moving jazz coming from everybody except Dave MacRae's active electric piano. In the second minute the band shifts into a second gear: this one more bass-and-drum groove oriented, though still slow and mellow--though the groove becomes amplified by Brian's soprano sax, Jocelyn's rhythm guitar play and Ian's wah- wah-ed muted trumpet, all creating the effect as if it has sped up and, of course, not stayed so mellow. (8.875/10)

6. "Odokamona" (3:24) another song that gets its start from being bled over from the end of the previous one (the studio session must have been tight--and well rehearsed--with no time for breaks and resets--or else the engineers & producers thought the flow of the album should be continuous). The motif established here is like something from a Grand Funk rock album that's been thoroughly run over by an impromptu invasion of rogue guerrilla jazz musicians who, apparently, go from studio to studio, performing coup d'états in each recording session before leaving as quickly and brazenly as they came. (8.75/10)

7. "Southern Roots And Celebration" (7:43) opening with some very gentle, subtly-tinkled and heavily-echoed electric piano play that is supported by some intermittent bass notes (keyboard generated). This goes on for 1:15 before some other sounds are contributed, earning the music a blues-rock categorization. In the second minute Dave MacRae lets up on the echo and settles into a pleasant chord sequence with Jocelyn's rhythm guitar while the horn "section" and percussionists slowly establish their own patterns. enter a ocarina-like bamboo flute in the fifth minute over the one- chord motif and you have a bit of a vamp for horn-supported ocarina until 5:25 when piano, guitar, and bass introduce a new pattern that Clive, Aureo, and the hornists solidify and move into a more hard-driving blues-rock motif. (13.125/15)

Total Time: 37:25

While I liked the way the album started out (especially with the contributions of Joy Yates), I am disappointed with the rock and blues-rock strains and roots of the rest of the songs--as well as the inconsistent "flow."

B/four stars; an album of solid and well-performed songs that disappoints when compared to the previous albums Ian had supervised.

Here Ian is leading and orchestrating a rather animated expanded lineup of musicians through some pretty dynamic and experimental music.

1. "Origins" (2:56) opens like another experiment with electric technology noises (and bass clarinet), but then turns kind of Canterbury/avant garde with the joinder of NORTHETTES-like vocalist Norma Winstone singing her wordless vocalese track counter to the rest of the weave's clarinet, bass, electric piano, percussion, trumpet blasts, and saxophone. Then there is the solo drum (tom-toms) finish. Interesting but I'm certainly glad this is not the direction Ian has chosen for the whole album. (4.375/5) 2. "Dance" (8:17) thought the bass and drums remain fixed in the current of funkified Jazz-Rock Fusion, the rest of this song's musicianship (and, especially, melody-selection) shows drifting over into the less-pleasing and more harmonic- and mathematical world of Avant Garde music. It's still a great song, it just doesn't have the warm, friendly melodies that we've become spoiled by in the radio-friendly pop world. (18.5/20)

3. "Ariadne" (7:47) opens with a prolonged Hohner electric piano introductory section from Gordon Beck: over three minutes worth! What an odd-sounding instrument was the Hohner! Finally, at the very end of the third minute, Gordon directs his keyboard play into establishing a chord progression that the rest of the band (drum and bass) can join to launch the fabric over which the winsome voice of Norma Winstone can sing. Norma has a voice and style that seems to meld Dusty Springfield and Barbara Gaskin together (though the most fitting doppleganger to my ears is KOOP's 2003 guest vocalist, Yukimi Nagano). There is a lot of feeling of bluesy lounge music coming from Gordon Beck's keys, which feels dated to me, but the vocals elevate the song to a classier level. (13.25/15)

4. "Arena Part 1" (1:42) free jazz from Ian, Gordon, and Brian. (4.25/5) 5. "Arena Part 2" (5:13) rising out of the chaos of "Part 1" comes a sunrise of insidious power as Kenny Wheeler, Norma Winstone, Tony Coe, two drummers plus Trevor Tomkins, Paddy Kingsland and Roy Babbington join in. I like this! The song then closes with 45 seconds of more-organized "chaos" from the opening trio. (9.25/10)

6. "Exultation" (6:01) trumpet and two saxes lead the way over a thick rhythm section and Norma Winstone's constant wordless vocalese woven thickly into one. In the third minute David MacRae gets the first real solo on a very "dirty" Fender Rhodes over a funky groove that eventually melts away into something a little more chaotic in the fourth minute before reconstituting into a pretty awesome groove for the fifth minute. Dave's Rhodes rampage continues while the two drummers duke it out beneath (which eventually gets cut off by the bleed into the next song). Weirdly wonderful. (9/10)

7. "Naxos" (12:17) pensive and disciplined with a lot of potential energy being pent up like the wild animals that populate Miles Davis studio recording sessions. As a matter of fact, the similarities of this song to the musics that came out of those 1969 sessions of Miles' are quite striking. It seems as if the entire cast is on the prowl, even Norma: the two drummers and bass seem particularly eery in their skulkiness, while keys players bounce and pounce around and the horn players run sometimes frantic though youthful circles around one another like playful lion cubs. Overall, there is not a lot of meat or grist here, just a lot of pent up energy seeping away, never really finding satisfaction or resolution to their hunger-rooted hunt. I do, however, give Ian and crew big credit for establishing and maintaining a mood with far greater interest and allure than any of those Miles albums that Teo Macero created. Also, big praise to Norma Winstone for holding her own while prowling around with the trumpets! (22.5/25)

Total Time 44:13

There is definitely a new, angular, less-Western, pop-oriented component to the music on this album than on Ian's previous releases. It's as if he's lifted his foot that was imbedded in the fecund world of cute 1960s jazz-pop melodies and moved it into a boggy turf of Avant Garde chromaticism while at the same time loosing his collaborators into greater freedoms for individual expression (within the parameters of his direction, of course).

A-/4.5 stars; a minor masterpiece of experimental Jazz-Rock Fusion. I love how Ian is still forming, pushing, experimenting: he has yet to settle into a groove, yet to allow himself or his music to become pigeon-holed.

Recorded in December of 1970, this was Ian Carr's relatively-new "jazz-rock fusion" project's third album release (though many cite Chris Spedding's Ian-Carr-less album from 1970, Songs Without Words as another Nucleus album, which would make Solar Plexus the band's fourth release). Here we see the final appearance on Nucleus/Ian Carr albums of Karl Jenkins, Chris Spedding, Jeff Clyne, and drummer John Marshall while at the same time we see the significant contributions of a number of hired guests to thicken and give variety to Ian's band's sound.

1. Elements I & II (2:12) full-on experimentation with the latest advances/offerings from the world of electronics: here a VCS3 synthesizer, courtesy of Keith Winter, joined by bowed double bass, flanged electric guitar notes, and metallic percussion noises. Interesting and, actually, rather structured! (4.5/5)

2. Changing Times (4:44) so many elements here that refer to other songs, other artists--like HERB ALPERT, OLATUNDE BABATUNJI, HUGH MASAKELA, BURT BACHARACH, and so many others An absolutely brilliant blend of so many styles and sounds: like a brief history of Jazz-Rock music! I'm glad! If anyone in the early Fusion world had a grip on where Jazz-Rock Fusion was coming from and the many, many arms and tentacles it could reach into, it was Ian Carr. A complete visionary! (9/10)

3. Bedrock Deadlock (6:52) opens sounding like a song from mediæval church music with oboe and bowed double bass dancing around one another in a kind of pre-tango pairs dance. Quite lovely--and brilliant! At 1:49, then, the classical music intro ends, there is a pause, and then a full band jumps into a weird motif that forces enters the listener to enter into a mish-mash of early-Beatles psychedelia. At 3:48 a horn section of saxes starts up a new expression of the main melodies--which is then countered by Ian Carr's own competing melody presentation from a horn section that he leads. Mix into the weave Chris Spedding and Jeff Clyne's own competing thread and we have a really cool, really beautiful weave of doubled up melodies--all supported by the rhythm play of John Marshall's drums paired up with Chris Karan's conga play. Cool mathematical exercise! (9.5/10)

4. Spirit Level (9:20) opening with another anachronistic weave of multiple "old" instruments that lasts about 60 seconds before turning into a little sprite-like dance between guests Tony Roberts' bass clarinet and Ron Matthewson's bass--which goes on for about two and a half minutes while late-night jazz brushed drums eventually join in as well as harmonically-arranged horn section. The bass clarinet and bass continue on well into the sixth minute before the band slides into a slightly more substantial jazz motif with sticks being used on the drum kit and Ian stepping up into the lead position while Chris Spedding, Ron Matthewson, Chris Karan, and the other horn players all fall into interestingly creative support roles. Another interesting song that sounds and feels like a journey through several time periods and styles. (18/20)

5. Torso (6:12) a song that feels somewhat rooted in the popular "beach rock" that became popular in the 1960s. There is also a Spanish hue to the song--quite like the Animals version of the classic tune, "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" (and the later version by Santa Esmeralda) as well as The Mamas And The Papas' chords from "California Dreamin'" and future [June of 1971] hit, "One Fine Morning" by Canadian band Skylark. A real rousing, rollicking, and engaging tune that makes you want to get up and move! (9.5/10)

6. Snakehips Dream (15:16) a song that starts out as if borrowing an old James Brown R&B motif to ge t started: bass, drums, two rhythm guitar tracks (on the left: more rhythm-oriented with lots of strumming of fast-changing chords; on the right with more jazz sounds and intonations. I'm guessing that Eumir Deodato and his guitarist John Tropea had this in mind when playing/recording for "Also Sprach Zarathustra (2001)"). Weird to just be noticing how there are virtually no keyboards on this album! The first four minutes of this are just as described: all R&B exploration of a theme, but then horns enter and start to fill some spaces and accent others until Brian Smith branches off into the sunlight to posit a smooth tenor sax solo over the hep R&B jam. At the 8:00 mark two different horn groups break off to perform a call-and-response passage that serves as a bridge to Ian's turn to solo--this time on a flugelhorn. Meanwhile, Chris Spedding's two guitar tracks continue to improvise, exploring and entertaining just beneath the lead and rhythm sections. (27/30) Total Time: 44:36

As suggested above, Ian Carr's vision for Jazz-Rock Fusion's potential is about as complete as anyone's that I've encountered: where others are imitators or simply jumping on a bandwagon with the other "cool kids" (like Miles, Freddie Hubbard, Art Farmer, Sonny Rollins, Herbie Mann, Jack DeJohnette, Donald Byrd and even Herbie Hancock (who was really more into exploring the latest and greatest technologies), Ian is actually totally committed, invested, and immersed in the movement--which I really admire. On Solar Plexus one can see Ian growing: spanning two worlds at the same time, with one foot still drawing from all that was fresh and innovative in the pop-jazz world of the 1960s while the other is in the forward-thinking, potential-realizing of his own imagination.

A-/five stars; another minor masterpiece of cutting-edge, exploratory Jazz-Rock Fusion from one of the true leaders and apostles of the movement.

In effect a NUCLEUS album, I can see, however, how/why Ian Carr dropped that moniker for this album in that only one musician (other than himself) remains from the original Nucleus albums (Elastic Rock and We'll Talk about it Later). (Brian Smith.)

1. "Belladonna" (13:42) an album that sounds very much as if it is taking its cues and inspiration from the post-Bitches Brew work of Joe Zawinul & Wayne Shorter (who had just launched their WEATHER REPORT project with both the self- titles debut and 1972 release, I Sing the Body Electric, both having been released prior to Belladonna's July recording sessions) and especially, Herbie Hancock, whose Mwandishi and Crossings albums had also both been released prior to Belladonna's recording sessions. (In case you were wondering, Chick Corea's Return to Forever album had its European release in September of 1972, two months after, Belladonna came out.) While Brian Smith's soprano sax is the real start of this show, Gordon Beck's peaceful Hohner electric piano is a key component to its success. While Brian's play and melodies are quite pleasing, even enjoyable, the song never gets elevated into anything but a long late night contemplative--and, perhaps a fitting inspiration for Vangelis Papathanassiou for the spacey "New Age" music that would occupy his attention for the rest of his life. (26.333/30)

2. "Summer Rain" (6:13) after a 90-second slow and deliberated intro in which Ian's trumpet and Brian's tenor sax set the melodic groundwork, this song is blessed by a dynamic breakout performance on the "dirty" Fender Rhodes by a Kiwi age-mate of Ian's, Dave MacRae (who would stay with Ian for the next three Ian Carr/Nucleus albums). I find myself not only absolutely mesmerized by this piece, but actually loving both the sound and melodies created by Dave and his Fender Rhodes. (It's the same sound that French downtempo chillout band AIR used so successfully on their massively-popular 1998 debut album, Moon Safari.) Bass, jazz guitar (mixed far-left into the background) and chill drums progress throughout the length of the song. Weird to hear Allan Holdsworth--the Allan Holdsworth--relegated to playing rhythm/background jazz guitar using neither his own trademark scales nor his own "trademark" sound. (9.6667/10)

3. "Remadione" (3:48) flutes take up a full two minutes of this song's opening while dirty Fender Rhodes electric piano (L) and more rock/proggy lead electric guitar gently support. The third and fourth minutes see the full band engage in another AIR-like downtempo motif while Dave and Allan ramp up considerably their "duel." (9/10)

4. "Mayday" (5:41) opening with the "Shaft"-like cymbal play and over all sound of Bitches Brew and Mwandishi/Crossings, Allan is strumming away wildly in the background while Dave MacRae and Gordon Beck. At 3:35 the band's rhythm section feels as if it finally "falls into" the song's main motif--which is an awesome jazz-rock groove while Brian continues soloing. The finish is tailed off with a coordinated horn section riff and poof! It's over! I'm not so great a fan of Brian's sax solo (most of the time I don't even hear it) but the bass and double keyboard play are awesome. (9.125/10)

5. "Suspension" (6:15) opening tracks dedicated to bamboo flutes, electric pianos, and percussion sounds is kind of cool--definitely evoking garden and/or Japanese/Asian images/feelings. Roy Babbington's bass enters around 1:15, soloing on its own as if trying to find its place in the mix, but then suddenly at 1:55 he "falls into" a steady riff that becomes the foundation for the rest of the song--and which Allan Holdsworth doubles up with his own lowest octave strings. Meanwhile the bamboo flute and Gordon Beck's dreamy Hohner electric piano continue to explore the background but now we add Ian's trumpet up front left and, soon, Dave MacRae's dirty Fender Rhodes in the right channel. The bamboo flutes disappear as Ian and the two electric pianos continue to explore their passions on their own tracks with their own separately effected instruments (Dave's Rhodes getting particularly wild--sounding like a wile organ or heavily-treated lead guitar). Despite a rather mundane and pastoral opening, this one became something quite interesting--especially with that cool Fender Rhodes sound flailing aggressively away in the final third. (9.125/10)

6. "Hector's House" (4:33) though definitely firmly rooted in the rock traditions, this one has one of the more convincing jazz-rock feels to it--all built on a riff and motif that is not so far from the opening song, "Song for the Bearded Lady" from We'll Talk about it Later. Brian Smith really tears an awesomely-smooth high-speed performance on his soprano sax in the second and third minutes while Allan Holdworth really rips up the soundwaves in the fourth with his jazz-rock guitar shredding. Once again there are such highs in this song to offset the lows/deficiencies. (9.125/10)

Total Time: 40:12

One of the most significant outcomes of the making of this album is the meeting of young Allan Holdsworth and elder statesman Gordon Beck as the two would forge a life-long friendship that would result in their collaboration on no less than four albums over the next few decades.

A-/five stars; a minor masterpiece of highly-creative First or Second Wave Jazz-Rock Fusion.

With 'Elastic Rock' (1970) and 'We'll Talk About It Later' (1971) the jazz-rock / fusion group Nucleus set the highest standard for seventies instrumental jazz rock. This outfit led by Ian Carr was heavily influenced by Miles Davis' transition from bebop to fusion as pioneered on the album 'In a Silent Way'. The band has some funk and rock influences as well. 'Solar Plexus' was also released in 1971, but it wasn't initially planned to be a Nucleus record - all tracks are written by Carr here. The production sound is still quite good, but don't expect that glorious sound of the before mentioned albums. The compositions are less melodic and usually flow around a rather simple chord pattern. The musicianship is of the highest order with beautiful Fender Rhodes sounds, clean stratocaster guitar, tight funky jazz drums, thumping bass and a great assortment of wind-instruments. On side one 'Bedrock Deadlock' shows Ian Carr experimenting with avant-garde to little success in my humble opinion. Side two is perhaps a more pleasant listen with groovy jazz-rock that makes up for great sophisticated background music. Compared to the other records of this band in this era 'Solar Plexus' is less interesting for the progressive rock crowd and therefor I can only give it three stars. Do check out the other records by this band though!

In my review of their second album: "We'll talk about it later" I've stated it was a much improvement over the debut which I've described as nice. Well, I'm afraid I'm a bit in dispute with myself now :) After several listenings I consider the debut excellent. It is true their second is even better but the difference isn't big, as they were brilliant right from the start. "Elastic rock" is mostly relaxed (thankfuly not over-polished) but no less passionate and holds many beautiful themes and some dense moments for a good measure. Maybe even more jazz-rooted. It starts with thunderous drums and beautiful but short brass-driven melody to jump over to the next rather calm track, although with quite busy drums by John Marshall. This slowly emerging, a bit abstract and psychedelic feeling prevails through the whole album with all the instruments getting their chance to shine on the way. Not neceserily with speedy solos but with the feeling. Amazing stuff. I rate it with 4,5 star, just like I did with their third "Solar Plexus". Definitely my kind of fussion. Not knowing the later ones I cannot speak of them, but all their first three albums are VERY highly recomended for jazz rock/fussion fans,

Nucleus (here led by Ian Carr as he was the main composer) was one of the major players in the jazz-rock-fussion premier league. Their third release Solar Plexus is another proof to that, as it easily stands shoulder to shoulder with the best of the genre (Mahavishnu Orchestra, Soft Machine, Weather Report). The music is based on two musical themes and the band is expanding them to work out their relation to each other in the end. As the result the album is a combination of outhere atmospheres with realy groovy drive - it must be my sweet spot as I enjoy it tremendously. 4 and a half star from me.