Under The Sun / Snake Hips Etcetera

Excellent

How refreshing to see these long out of print recordings re-released on CD.During the 70's Ian Carr and Nucleus in it's various incarnations were putting out one or even two lp's each year.Carr managed to make each recording fresh and individual by bringing in a wealth of young and virtually unheard of musicians.People like Roger Sutton, Geoff Castle, Brian Smith and Roger Sellers to name but four.Under The Sun has to be my all time fave Nucleus release. The compositions are so inventive and challenging, fusing all the good things that a blend of jazz and rock can and should provide. There are no histrionics,no long tedious solos, just great group interplay peppered with timely, fair and not overly long individual contributions from everyone involved. Check out Sutton's "New Life" with it's tempo shift mid way through, and just listen to the talent that STILL is Bryan Spring on drums.Snakehips is a less demanding release on the ear and in my view not as strong. Probably the highlight here is Bob Bertles and his almost exclusive and unusual use of baritone sax throughout.To sum up all of the re-releases from Nucleus are worth checking out. Ian Carr was (and is) a massively underrated musician, a total gentleman, and a man that brought a wealth of talent to the music industry that might otherwise have gone unnoticed.