DOWN TO EARTH

NO argument here with the album's title. Nektar did simplify or strip down their sound. The songwriting was still nowhere better than average. But you can still tell it's Nektar. The guitar is more upfront, you still have echoes of early Yes, Some Uriah Heep riffing, but nothing that makes most of the album still worth a listen 30 plus years on. When the needle hit the vinyl, and Astral Man began, I thought OK, this is a step up in song quality. After a bit though, & I can't explain how it came to cross my mind, it sounds as if the Guess Who had written the song for Nektar, aided by a more prog lyricist than Burton Cummings. The rest are OK, but this is the limitation I find Nektar often had, good musicians in need of that special spark to make their songs, their music stand out from the crowd.