(((O))) Review: Nektar – Recycled (Remastered & Expanded Edition)

“Call me down, the time is here.
Reminding you to slow the wheel.
Now, nearing the end of the day.
Look, never a dull moment too soon, or late.
Count the hours, the weeks the days.
Forcing nature’s slow decay.
Here, as we look down on you there
You, fall on into your web of despair
Man! You had it all your own way.
Now, salvaging blocks of decay.
Clean the scene.
Change Machines!”

The opening lines to ‘Recycle’ says it all. Detailing the themes of pollution and environmental damage are a huge subject matter detailing what is happening on our home planet. For Nektar, they were already achieving American success thanks to their chart success with their previous album Remember the Future. And for them to enter the famed Chateau D’Heuroville Studios, the same place where Elton John, Fleetwood Mac, David Bowie, Gong, and Pink Floyd had recorded their albums there, it was almost the perfect place for Nektar to record their next album, Recycled.

That and this 5-CD set reissued by Esoteric Recordings is a treasure trove detailing not just the original, Geoff Emerick mix, and two live performances they did at the Massey Hall in Toronto and the Calderone Concert Hall in Long Island, NY, it reflects the wonders and mystery for what the band were doing. It was also a departure from their prog orientations in what they were known for.

And to be allowed to have Larry Fast who at the time was in pre-production recording his first album under the name, Synergy, added in his own synthesizers to bring the story to life. Fast’s keyboard work behind the Recycled album adds in the futuristic quality in Nektar’s sound which is exactly what the band wanted. In the 2012 liner notes which was released on the Cleopatra label 12 years ago, Albrighton described to Dave Thompson on how Fast was a big help behind the sessions.

“We were all very impressed with what Larry Fast had done on the album considering it was all done with multi-tracked monophonic synth”. Unfortunately, the Chateau had its own problems for the band’s vision. There were technical issues and the mix the band felt wasn’t right. So, they relocated to George Martin’s AIR studios in London.

When they were in the studio, the Engineer gave the band some advice by seeking help between Martin and Geoff Emerick. Emerick had made a name for himself with not just working with The Beatles and Wings, but The Zombies, Elvis Costello, UFO, and Jeff Beck’s Blow By Blow in which he and Martin were mixing during that time period.

At first, it was a dream for Nektar to work with Emerick. Unfortunately, the Emerick mix which is on the second disc was a little too much. Myself included. There’s no backbone in what Geoff had done in what the band wanted to achieve with their sound. He did try his best, but there was so much guitar, Hammond, and other parts that were in the wrong places.

The original version is the way to go. From its timpani rumbling intro as we set off into space with the train chugging guitars and drum sections done by Albrighton and Moore on ‘Recycle’ to the chaotic twists of the ‘Cybernetic Consumption’ with its brutal heavy riffs and soaring synthesised works that speaks the sounds of Tomita while channeling Be-Bop Deluxe’s Sunburst Finish sessions on the ‘Flight to Reality’.

The angelic choir which was done by The English Chorale on ‘Unendless Imaginations’ does have a Rick Wakeman approach, channeling the arrangements on Journey to the Centre of the Earth with its climatic roar to close up the first act by sending us upwards to the heavens to start act two on ‘Sao Paulo Sunrise’ with Fast and Freeman’s keyboard temperature levels going up to make the sun come out for a brand new day.

When I think of ‘Costa Del Sol’ it almost reminded me of fellow Canadian Prog maestros Klaatu and of course the Mirage-era from Camel with its Thelonious Monk piano work for a brief moment with its Caribbean percussion groove and a bit of a continuation where the second part of ‘Remember the Future’ had left off with ‘Marvellous Moses’ and the sombering orchestral finale with ‘It’s All Over’.

Now we get to the two live performances between the Massey Hall in Toronto on May 26, 1976 and the Calderone Concert Hall in Long Island from July the 24th in 1975 where the band were promoting the Recycled album on tour. Despite the quality between the two performances on CDs 3, 4, and 5, as I’ve always said, the recordings are your front-row seats to view the band in all of its glory.

From the first part of ‘Recycled’ and the 15-minute jam of ‘1-2-3-4’ from the Sounds Like This album in Toronto with Larry’s synthesiser taking audiences into the 23rd century, to a blaring rendition of ‘A Tab in the Ocean’, ‘Remember the Future’ and ‘Sao Paulo Sunrise’ at the Concert Hall, Nektar will always get the job done. Now, understand, this is not the complete concert for the one at the Calderone, however, they are having a ball.

It is also an important period in time where Nektar were at their peak during those two shows and how much of the chemistry they had with each other. After they finished the tour, Albrighton left the band in December of 1976 as the band were signed to the Polydor label, working on their next album Magic is a Child. But that’s for time.

Ahead of its time, Recycled remains a classic among the band and their fans. It’s a hidden treasure trove and an unsung gem that’s up there with their previous albums, Journey to the Center of the Eye, A Tab in the Ocean, and Remember the Future. The science-fiction elements, the themes behind pollution, and the fate of our home planet, will hit home for others in the years, weeks, and months to come. A crown jewel that deserves the recognition it is needed.

“Come tomorrow
I’m going to
Be the one that
You will follow.
Your world is so
Upside down cos
It’s all over now.”