Nektar - some info for LP collectors.

Now, I had always "heard of" these guys, but had never actually "heard" them until a couple years ago. Then I ran across a cheap used LP copy of Remember The Future for like $3.99, decided to take a shot and couldn't get it off my turntable for about a week.

I later went back and got LP's of Down to Earth, Recycled and A Tab In The Ocean.

While reading the back cover of "A Tab In The Ocean", I noticed it said "remixed in 1976". After doing some research, found out the LP was released in Europe in 1972, but didn't make it to the states until 4 years later.

Several of their albums shared the same fate....and I don't think Journey To The Center Of The Eye ever got a US release on any label.

Then I stareted hunting around blogs, found the "UK mix" of A Tab In The Ocean and it's about 90% superior to the US mix.!!! Then I also found out the Recycled shared the same "remix" issue. So I hunted it down on a blog and sure enough, the UK version is again far superior.

Long story short, both mixes have been made avalable on CD now, but there are a couple different versions of their albums floating around (the band self=produced some reissues) as well as some Deluxe Editions out now....that I haven't been able to determine the actual validity of. The reason, is that the UK mix on the remastered discs is the exact same mastering the band put out a few years earlier...so, I'm a little skeptical.

Anyway, long damn story short. LOVE this band, sure, nothing groundbreaking anywhere, but "pleasant"and enjoyable light-prog with heavy Pink Floyd and Hendrix influences. Remember The Future is a classic album without doubt.

But...don't assume because you found a US LP copy, that you've actually "heard" the early Nektar albums as they were intended. So for that, hit Amazon...or a blog...but check 'em out if you haven't, you won't regret it.

I knew there was different versions of their stuff but I didn't realize they were that different. "Tab" is my fave.

I got into Nektar as a teenager thanks to a friend of mine in high school, we'd jam it while smoking a lot of hash, shrooms, etc.

In the case of Tab, to make it sound more "modern", they went in and added a bunch of sweetening to the tracks, lots of reverb, chorus and whatever else the engineer wanted to use to make it "slicker" (this was the US record label that did this stuff, the band had no involvement). The original version of Tab is much rawer and heavier by comparison.

The remix even notched the guitars lower in the mix and brought the keyboards out to the forefront. I liked it at first, because I had never heard the original version. but I will NEVER go back and listen to that LP again, not after hearing it the correct way.

The mixes are SO different, that the band-reissued CDs contain both the UK and US mixes on them, cause the different audiences fell in love with totally different albums.

Crazy.

oh yeah, why is this in this particular category? Cause I'm going to merge the jazz fusion and prog rock forums together...as soon as I don't feel too lazy to mess with the settings.

I was gonna ask the same question earlier hehe.