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Nucleus: Hemispheres
ByThe first set concludes with the tricky and fast "Persephone's Jive," first heard on Greek Variations, Carr's collaborative album with the late Neil Ardley, and the 1971 set kicks off (now in stereo) with the ever-reliable Nucleus anthem "Song for the Bearded Lady." This piece is what most people associate the band, though it was later revived by Karl Jenkins when he joined Soft Machine along with John Marshall. The third previously unreleased track here is "Tangent," a collective improvisation structed around a descending bass figure, which transmutes into a jam over two chords.
All the musicians playing with Nucleus at this time were highly talented and had already been doing great things in other contexts (with the Rendell Carr Quintet, Tubby Hayes and Graham Collier), but it was the youngest member of the group, guitarist Chris Spedding, who undoubtedly endowed the first incarnation of Nucleus with an extraordinary sound, even "live" in concert, and without the aid of recording studio effects, as this CD attests.
The tour de force of the two sessions is undoubtedly "Snakehips Dream," from the third Nucleus album, Solar Plexus, with typically inventive soloing, first by Carr and then by Smith, with hypnotic comping by Spedding and Jenkins. The album concludes with the slow, never-before-heard 4/4 piece "Hemisphere," which gives Karl Jenkins the chance to play some wonderfully labyrinthine oboe, pre-dating his trademark extended solos on later Soft Machine albums. This is simply an essential album for any Nucleus fan.
Track Listing
Cosa Nostra; Elastic Rock; Stonescape; Single Line; Twisted Track; 1916; Persephone's Jive (Live in Europe, March 1970); Song For The Bearded Lady; Tangent; We'll Talk About It Later; Snakehips Dream; Hemisphere (Live in Europe, February 1971).
Personnel
Ian Carr: trumpet; Jeff Clyne: bass; Karl Jenkins: piano,saxophone,oboe; John Marshall: drums; Brian Smith: tenor saxophone,flute; Chris Spedding: guitar.
Album information
Title: Hemispheres | Year Released: 2006 | Record Label: Hux Records
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