Rock On! Wednesday, 13 december 2023 – Nektar, Faust, Curved Air, Wishbone Ash & Greenslade

Psychedelic, heavy, prog and more innovating sounds spanning the late 60s and the early 70s –  Wednesday August 15th.  Dan’s pick of the week: Nektar (Remember the Future), Faust (Faust IV), Curved Air (Phantasmagoria), Wishbone Ash (Argus) & Greenslade (Greenslade Live).

Remember the Future is het vierde album van de Engelse progressieve rockband Nektar. Net als hun debuutalbum Journey to the Centre of the Eye is het een conceptalbum dat formeel is opgedeeld in tien tracks, maar in feite uit één doorlopend stuk muziek bestaat.

Prog Archives review: “Remember The Future is another superior concept piece from Nektar exhibiting yet further progression from their roots. Gone are the heavy and psychedelic Germanic riffs, intricate musicianship and complex Symphonic Prog structures, to be replaced by a more song based mainstream ‘Americanized’ sound. Backed by appropriately detailed and airy production values, this album is altogether lighter in feel and tone, its songs supported by foot-tapping funky or disco grooves.

In essence, Remember The Future is a single continuous ‘song cycle’, divided into two parts due to the needs of vinyl LPs. The suite comprises seven distinct conjoined songs, plus a couple of short instrumental links. These songs are self-contained musical compositions which flow together in a more or less natural manner, maintaining stylistic consistency while progressing the album’s concept, rather like The Moody Blues achieved with their early concept works. (…)

Musicianship is of a very high standard, as we might expect, but mostly understated and kept very sparse and simple without recourse to complex overdubs: a fundamental Prog Rock palette of guitar/organ/bass/drums is used almost exclusively throughout. Guitar is the principal instrument, not loud and heavy, but light and floating, mostly as a rhythm support, but occasionally performing a heavier riff, or even a lead solo. The other instruments simply fall into line – even the organ rarely rises to the surface, though when it does it makes a strong impression.”

Wednesday, December 13, 2023 12:00 noon CET Brussels – 11 a.m. GMT London. Repeated: 16:00 & 20:00 hrs CET Brussels, 3 p.m. & 7 p.m. GMT London Ends: 12 midnight CET Brussels, 11 p.m.  GMT London.