MAGIC IS A CHILD

Whatever distinctiveness NEKTAR might have claimed in their earlier years had been vanishing for a couple of releases, and their main calling card was Roy Albrighton, who left after "Recycled". A couple of years later, with a new guitarist Dave Nelson, they emerged with more democratic structure and their first album with no redeeming qualities.

The 1970s have a bad reputation among some. While some of this rap is unjustified, a listen to "Magic is a Child" points out all the pitfalls of a decade growing long in the tooth. Indeed, this could have been produced by any number of non progressive 1970s bands, most of them one-offs. This was music nobody wanted, and it's safe to say that only NEKTAR's pedigree saved it from complete obscurity. But that reputation was built on their first few albums, particularly "Remember the Future", and this 1977 disk bears utterly no resemblance to that classic. Gone are the sunshiney melodies, harmonic riffs, fantastic lyrics and interconnected themes. All that remains are rote 1970s guitar solos, trite tunes, faux-rousing choruses and ineffective and tasteless humour. Even the "harpsichord" in the title cut sounds treated and released.

After I scored with "Remember the Future", I kept looking in vain for some other sign of the force behind that concept, and kept being disappointed, but the search ended here for good. "Magic is a Child" only its mother could love.