NUCLEUS - WE'LL TALK ABOUT IT LATER 1971 If "Soft Machine" were a rock group leaning towards "jazz rock", "Nucleus" could be seen as a jazz group leaning towards "jazz rock", since most of the musicians were clearly jazz musicians, with the notable exception of Peter Robinson aka Christopher John "Chris" Spedding (yes, Mr. moto-punk/camel of rock).
If one can draw a comparison between these two groups, it is also obvious that "Nucleus" became fertile ground for those musicians before joining "Soft Machine" (about ten musicians made the switch).
"Nucleus" signed with the famous progressive label "Vertigo" and the first two gorgeous covers of their albums were drawn by William Roger Dean, not exactly small potatoes.
"Nucleus" was the project of trumpeter (and acclaimed jazzman and biographer) Ian Henry Randall Carr, and their discography is quite confusing due to the different naming conventions, since in some albums they were called "Ian Carr's Nucleus", "Nucleus With Ian Carr" or simply "Ian Carr" (but with all the "Nucleus" members).
This does not at all mean that Ian Carr was the main author, the main influence, or the principal soloist.
Many exceptional musicians contributed a ton of material, among them Sir Karl William Pamp Jenkins, Jeffrey Ovid Clyne, Chris Spedding, Alan Holdsworth, Brian William "Smitty" Smith, and David Scott "Dave" MacRae.
Their music was a frenetic instrumental "jazz-rock" very similar to Miles Davis's from the same era.
Plenty of wind instruments, but also keyboards and ample space for the guitarist (Spedding's guitar is outstanding and superb).
Clearly, the innovative essence of "Nucleus" is best appreciated in their early albums, since the later ones just repeated the same formula, without evolving much further.
They remained active as a touring band until the early 1980s, and then reunited sporadically.
They come highly recommended not only to fans of the later "Soft Machine", but also to all jazz rock/fusion enthusiasts and lovers of the Canterbury "prog".
Excellent the 2009 review by Hetzer
Nucleus - We'll Talk About It Later: jazz-rock denso e vibrante #unalbumalgiorno keeps the doctor away
