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Rating:
Solar Plexus, an excellent album entirely permeated with jazz rock/fusion with sporadic experimental elements ("Elements I & II"), is the third (master)piece by the British band Nucleus.
Nucleus, an ensemble of excellent musicians and a showcase of technique & instrumental prowess, debuted in 1970 with "Elastic Rock"—a paradigmatic as well as astonishing jazz rock album that can be easily compared to the Soft Machine "second phase" (post-"Third", another sumptuous album from 1970).
Solar Plexus, while not reaching the heights of the first two works, offers the listener a kaleidoscopic blend of sounds, a vigorous, compact sound, without smudges, "proud" (in a positive sense) of a refined and elegant "technique" common in the "Canterbury" scene.
The album opens with "Elements I & II," where the use of the synth, full of "cosmic moods," is somewhat misleading and especially light-years away from the warm and enveloping sound typical of the group.
This peculiar beginning demonstrates how the band is not averse to experimentalism and the pursuit of new sounds.
With the second track, "Changing Times," we return to a more orthodox jazz rock, with the tenor sax prominently featured.
Worth highlighting is the splendid oboe solo (K. Jenkins) present in the opening of "Bedrock Deadlock" and the trumpet by Ian Carr continually in dialogue with percussion in the excellent "Spirit Level."
And it is certainly in the following "Torso" that the band's "rock" component à la Colosseum is more tangible and concrete, aided by a delightful tenor sax solo (which closely resembles the esteemed Dick Heckstall-Smith) and precise, driving drumming.
The album excellently concludes with "Snakehips Dream," the longest track of the album, a sort of true "suite" that in its exciting 15 minutes can justifiably be considered the epitome of the entire record. The track blends and mixes rock moments with more jazzy ones in perfect balance, managing never to fall into banality. A surprisingly fluid sound that demonstrates the prowess of Carr and company.
Solar Plexus, an album that deserves to be rediscovered and listened to.
P.S.: I apologize, being my first review, for any possible spelling or cognitive errors.
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