I love Nektar. I consider their central "trilogy" (Remember the Future, Down to Earth,
Recycled) absolutely required prog listening, and possibly even near-masterpieces.
However, their debut album, Journey to the Center of the Eye - despite all the
accolades by others - is a case of the emperor having no clothes. (OK, maybe
underwear and socks...) Because although there is certainly creativity going on, an
interesting concept, and a valiant attempt to create a true "concept album" around that
concept, the album is ultimately "naive" and, sadly, simply not very interesting. The
music is not very original (influences include Floyd, Moody Blues, Crimson and, oddly,
The Who), and the studio tricks and effects used are, by 1971, actually rather passe.
Indeed, if we consider that by the time this album came out we already had both of The
Moody Blues' seminal works (A Question of Balance, On the Threshold of a Dream),
every PF album through Atom Heart Mother, In the Court of the Crimson King,
Trespass, and even the debut albums of Gentle Giant and ELP, this album truly begins
to sound immature. / Opening with a short sound effects intro, the album gives
us "Astronaut's Nightmare," which is basically a riff on the Am-G-F-E progression
already done much better by The Beatles (While My Guitar Gently Weeps) and even
Chicago (25 or 6 to 4). Yet in "Countenance," the band sees fit to use the progression
yet again (!), this time with only minor modification. "The Nine Lifeless Daughters of the
Sun" is laden with sound effects all previously better used by Floyd, Crimson, Moody
Blues, et al. "Warp Oversight" is the first interesting track, and leads into the two-
part "Dream Nebula," which is where the album finally shows some degree of
originality. Although it opens very much like the verse to "Epitaph" (with very "Lake"-
like vocals, and a build-up to a mellotron and flute section), it has a good guitar theme,
and a more well-realized arrangement. "It's All in the Mind" has many hints of what
Nektar would eventually become, especially in the repeated keyboard figure and jam
from 4:00 on. "Burn Out My Eyes," "Void of Vision" and "Pupil of the Eye" are
reasonably interesting. "Look Inside Yourself" and the first minute or two of "Death of
the Mind" have a quasi-operatic quality that reminded me of The Who's Tommy (which
was released the previous year). Then the band returns to end with the Am-G-F-E
progression - this time unabashedly evoking The Beatles' by singing the words "my eyes
gently weeping" over that progression. / Given how much had come before it, how
derivative it is overall, and its failure to successfully execute its intended concept, I
must sadly relegate this to "collectors/fans only" status. On a happier note, the band
progressed (...) rather wonderfully by its second album.
maani |2/5 |
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