THE PRETTY REDHEAD: LIVE AT THE BBC 1971 & 1982

These are the BBC sessions from 70 and 83. Undoubtedly most Nucleus unconditional fans will agree that the first sessions are the most interesting, and they are the only known (until now) live recordings with Chris Spedding and Jeff Clyne.

Song For The Bearded Lady (from their second album) is the better track from this selection, but Elastik Rock (from the debut) comes as a close second, actually being a little livelier than the studio version. But the interesting thing is the Snakehip Dreams, which they played regularly live but had yet to appear on the future Solar Plexus, however much shorter here than on the studio version.

The second session is much less interesting as Nucleus was not yet dormant, but had much less to say by this time. However, 83 will have a surge of activity as it is one of two years in the 80's where they will release an album. And those tracks show that they were anything but a spent force. Wood, Whitehead, Hubbard, Marshall and Carr make the line-up which pales in comparison with the first one, but they still hold their own.

For fans only!

In the liner notes Ian Carr gives a lot of credit to Peter King for the way NUCLEUS developed so quickly. Peter King from the Ronnie Scott Club took them under his wing and became their manager. He let them play at the club all the time, allowing the band to really grow. This live album is from the BBC sessions they took part in in 1971 and 1982 respectively. So two completely different lineups here.Three songs are included from each session.

The 1971 recording is such a classic lineup with Carr, Jenkins, Smith, Spedding, Clyne and Marshall. "Song For The Bearded Lady" and "Elastic Rock" were both Jenkins' compositions and both are legendary NUCLEUS songs.They are extremely well done and to be honest I can't say enough good things about either track. The horns, electric piano and bass are all so good. Some prominant guitar on both as well.

"Snakehips Deams" is well done too with a good beat with trumpet, guitar and piano helping out. The last three tracks aren't really in the same class. Ian mentions in the liner notes that the 1971 band was a seasoned unit while the 1982 band was brand new yet mature.

If this was the only live album available from this band i'd probably give it 4 stars because it would be an important addition to my collection. It's not the only one though, in fact both the "Radio Bremen" double abum and the "Hemispheres" live album blow this one away. Good album anyway, especially the first three tracks.