JOURNEY TO THE CENTRE OF THE EYE

Enchanting, magical, naive. Nektar's first album, was to me one of the very first progressive rock albums from the golden era I've heard, and among the first vinyls I've bought. As I hear it, 'Journey..' possesses something unique which no other Nektar album holds... I don't know if it's because it was Nektar's first album and had that magic of a fresh begining, because it was the early 70's, or what not. The album features an atmosphere like no other, you feel you are in space with all the heavy textures working behind the music. The mellotron ofcourse is most responsible for that with it's eerie presence. The guitars are packed to the brim with delay effects and heavy reverb which really makes them sound heavenly and hunting with their enormous power and emotion. Every single member here shines on his instrument. Roye Albrighton's vocals are a significant part of the music presented, they're heavily tempered and distorted, reverbed and compressed at the same time.. The magic of this album is kind of hard for me to write in words, but something about it is very deep and unique. The story of the album may sound a bit silly when you don't read the lyrics, an astronaut in space intercepted by aliens who show him the errors of mankind and eventually sees the destruction of earth cause there is no helping earth or man. quite pessimistic. but when you read the lyrics along with the music it is very touching and one of my favourite albums lyrically-wise. bleak, morose, human. Ofcourse the album's concept alludes to drug use, looking within yourself and seeing things as they really are (okay not necessarily due to drugs but come on, it was 1971 and it's Nektar for god's sake) which is a theme I personally find very interesting. Overall, for me this album is certainly a masterpiece, musically and lyrically. Perhaps not the best album of Nektar but certainly one of their top 3, others being: 'Down To Earth' and 'A Tab In The Ocean'. 5 *****