REMEMBER THE FUTURE

Third album by Nektar ''...Sounds like this'' was released in 1973 and was a somewhat jamming effort with countless psych soloing on guitar and organ, leading to controversial critics and mixed reviews.Apparently they were compared to Man at the time, a band with which they travelled in England and gained a contract with the United Artists label.''...Sounds like this'' was also the first work of Nektar to be published in the States, followed in 1974 by ''Remember the future'', the fourth overall work of the band, which saw Nektar visit UK and recording the album at the Chipping Norton Studio in Oxfordshire.It was a concept effort, dealing with a blind boy, who comes in a touch with an extraterrestrial.The album was released on Bellaphon in Germany, Passport Records in the USA and United Artists in the UK.

This was a much more melodic offering by the band, showing a return to the sound of ''A Tab in the ocean'', albeit in a less grandiose and powerful package.The album consists of two long epics, placed in each side of the original issue, the 17-min. ''Remember the future part I'' being propably the best of the two.It sounds like the past and present PINK FLOYD sound mixed with some GENESIS symphonic overtones in the opening organ themes and a few YES touches in the quirky guitar parts.But most of all this is very good Psychedelic/Prog Rock with a deep sense of melody, written with the unique style of NEKTAR, offered in mid-paced grooves, polyphonic harmonies and changing climates, where laid-back tunes meet groovier and more emphatic passages, built on guitar and keyboards, closing with a great psych jam on organ and guitars.Very tight and convincing stuff.''''Remember the future part II'' is a bit more diverse and progressive in sounds and sights, it goes from a melodic, almost Canterbury-styled Prog Rock in the vein of CARAVAN to a dynamic organ-based style in a Kraut Rock enviroment and every possible range of power inbetween, always revisiting some of the PINK FLOYD-ian moods and even flirting with the more spacey stylings of HAWKWIND.Again the music is led by the solid rhythm section, the personal guitar touches of Roye Albrighton and the omnipreesent organ of Allan Freeman , being mostly pretty melodic and rhythmic with soft textures and occasional harder moves.While the result is not always great, you can't do else than admire the cohesion of Nektar's music, the arrangements are very compact with impressive twists between more complex instrumentals and mellow tunes.

Pretty cool stuff, one of the albums, where the epics seem to last shorter than their actual length due to the impressive musical cohesion.Solid Psych/Prog in the vein of PINK FLOYD, CARAVAN and HAWKWIND.Strongly recommended...3.5 stars.