Nektar
A Tab in the Ocean

THE REVIEW

This time, I start from a personal point: music allows me, among other things, to improve the way I experience certain important moments that can make us feel intimidated; in this period, my source of anxiety is called the high school graduation exam. Among the bands I have to thank, Nektar stands out, an English group that originated in Hamburg. This fact is quite important, as the sounds of their albums also contain Kraut-Rock influences, indicating their inspiration from German musical culture.

"A Tab In The Ocean" is their second album, released in 1972 after "Journey To The Centre Of The Eye" from the previous year, which turned out to be an interesting album. Instead, this second studio work is probably the best achievement of Nektar's career; it is curious to note that numerous reissues have made modifications to the original tracklist. These concern the track "Desolation Valley/Waves" which in the original edition was a single piece over 8 minutes long; later, the two parts were separated. Musically, aside from the aforementioned Kraut influences, one can identify a path of musical exploration that results in original and varied sounds, particularly with Space-Rock carving out its niche: this is confirmed by the opening title track and especially in its instrumental parts. As the album progresses, the subsequent tracks, which are increasingly shorter, confirm this trend and also feature less participation from the group's vocal members, not particularly beautiful but well-suited for creating a good combination with the music. "Crying In The Dark" stands out in particular, an energetic track where the mellotron and the rhythm section perform splendidly.

Nektar straddles England and Germany, but this has not penalized them. In fact, they have admirably managed to draw from both musical environments, leaving us with albums that even today remain listenable and extremely valid, with "A Tab In The Ocean" fully fitting into this context.