Nucleus (and Ian Carr)

[calyx]

Very interesting

Do "we" know who would've played in the KJG?

What details are available are in the Calyx chronology -

http://www.calyx-canterbury.fr/bands...o/nucleus.html

You'll see it's all quite confusing, as there are instances of Jenkins still performing with Nucleus up to early May 1972 (this is in fact documented in a YouTube video), although he doesn't appear to have still been a regular member at that point, and the first documented Karl Jenkins Group concerts were in late February (actually it was during this Ronnie Scott's residency that Babbington recorded his guest bowed bass solo on Soft Machine's "As If").

Not sure whether the KJG line-up was always the same, but for a gig in mid-April 1972 it consisted of KJ, Art Themen, Chris Spedding, Dave MacRae, Jeff Clyne, John Marshall. Interestingly, this has 4 of the founding members of Nucleus, but also, in MacRae, a then-current member.

[Grimjack]

The 5 Rendell/Carr Quintet albums are great, with ‘Shades of Blue’ and ‘Dusk Fire’ in particular being standouts. Also, don’t miss Spedding’s work on Frank Ricotti’s ‘Our Point of View’ which is a vibes-led quartet date from ‘69.

[Dave (in MA)]

BTW, I just saw Spedding live last week as part of Bryan Ferry's current touring band.

[prestonplatform]

^^^

Yes great track, but IMHO, the actual MGS's Heart Is A Lotus album is so much better than the Prelude

I adore Heart is a Lotus but am equally smitten by Troppo and Home Stretch Blues.......Norma Winstone's contribution to all three albums is exceptional

[jkelman]

The 5 Rendell/Carr Quintet albums are great, with ‘Shades of Blue’ and ‘Dusk Fire’ in particular being standouts. Also, don’t miss Spedding’s work on Frank Ricotti’s ‘Our Point of View’ which is a vibes-led quartet date from ‘69.

The Rendell Carr albums are also available, for those interested, in high res at HDTracks and ProStudioMasters. The sound great!

[Trane]

What details are available are in the Calyx chronology -

http://www.calyx-canterbury.fr/bands...o/nucleus.html

You'll see it's all quite confusing, as there are instances of Jenkins still performing with Nucleus up to early May 1972 (this is in fact documented in a YouTube video), although he doesn't appear to have still been a regular member at that point, and the first documented Karl Jenkins Group concerts were in late February (actually it was during this Ronnie Scott's residency that Babbington recorded his guest bowed bass solo on Soft Machine's "As If").

Not sure whether the KJG line-up was always the same, but for a gig in mid-April 1972 it consisted of KJ, Art Themen, Chris Spedding, Dave MacRae, Jeff Clyne, John Marshall. Interestingly, this has 4 of the founding members of Nucleus, but also, in MacRae, a then-current member.

Thanks for the info... Had never heard of that, but from your list, the KJG also got cancelled a couple of times.

The 5 Rendell/Carr Quintet albums are great, with ‘Shades of Blue’ and ‘Dusk Fire’ in particular being standouts. Also, don’t miss Spedding’s work on Frank Ricotti’s ‘Our Point of View’ which is a vibes-led quartet date from ‘69.

never heard of that one... Will research

I adore Heart is a Lotus but am equally smitten by Troppo and Home Stretch Blues.......Norma Winstone's contribution to all three albums is exceptional

Not grreaét on HSB, but Troppo is freat

Though an acquired taste, Winstone was rather good in those days. Her first solo album Edge Of Time is quite good as well.

[calyx]

Had never heard of that, but from your list, the KJG also got cancelled a couple of times.

The ones that got cancelled were in late June, after Karl had joined Soft Machine.

[Jay.Dee]

I hope there'll be some official live release with Allan Holdsworth in the future. The Westfield College, Hampstead '72 tape on YouTube shows this lineup's live potential, even though the sound quality is not that great.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAC3BIJ1QZU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOiLA9WYGtE

I have found this one on CD and the sound quality turns out to be suprisingly good, a few tape anomalies notwithstanding. Really cool gig.

And this is what I have spotted on YouTube recently, which I think has not been mentioned yet: half an hour BBC performance in support for Under the Sun:

1. New Life
2. Sarsaparilla
3. Pastoral Graffiti
4. Rights of Man

Ian Carr - Trumpet, Flugelhorn
Bob Bertles - Alto Saxophone, Flute
Geoff Castle - Electric Piano, Synthesizer
Ken Shaw - Guitar
Roger Sutton - Bass
Roger Sellers - Drums

This one and Molde Jazz Festival '74 set would make a great combo.

[interbellum]

There's a new archival set out from Nucleus. It's an double-LP with recordings from 1971, called Exit 1971.

Amazing and unknown performance from legendary UK jazz prog fusion rockers Nucleus led by trumpet player Ian Carr.

A rare set as regular guitarist Chris Spedding who was absent for unknow reasons was not replaced by another guitarist (often Ray Russell) but by a second keyboard player: Hywel Thomas.

Recorded on Friday June 11 1971 in a small club called The Exit in Rotterdam The Netherlands

line up

Ian Carr -Trumpet
Brian Smith - tenor sax. soprano sax & Flute
Karl Jenkins - Oboe & Electric Piano
Hywel Thomas - Electric Piano
Roy Babbington - Bass
John Marshall - Drums
Vic Higgins - Percussion

Side a
1. Song For Bearded lady
2. Exit Interlude 1

Side B
3. We’ll talkabout it later
4. Snakehip’s Dream

Side C
5. Oasis
6. Exit Interlude 2

Side D
7. Torrid Zone
8. Exit Interlude 3
9. Persephone’s Jive

[Dave (in MA)]

I wonder if it'll come out on CD or as a download?
The clips sound pretty nice.

[Joe F.]

There's a new archival set out from Nucleus. It's an double-LP with recordings from 1971, called Exit 1971.

I picked up the vinyl. It sounds great and is a pretty good show.

[Dok]

https://www.repertoirerecords.com/ar...ve-at-the-bbc/




Nucleus
Live At The BBC
Formed by trumpeter and future Miles Davis biographer Ian Carr, Nucleus were a distinctly British jazz-rock group forged in the musical village-like cauldron of London at the end of the 60s. Within its first year alone (1970), Nucleus had caused a sensation at both the Montreux and Newport jazz festivals, and had recorded two albums (the first of nine for progressive-rock label Vertigo) and a torrent of sessions and concerts for the BBC, from John Peel’s Top Gear and Sounds of the 70s on Radio 1 to Jazz in Britain on Radio 3. Curated by John McLaughlin biographer Colin Harper and mastered by the mighty Eroc – the same team responsible for Repertoire’s acclaimed Colosseum and Pretty Things BBC sets – Nucleus Live At The BBC boasts nearly 14 hours of material spanning 1970-91. Almost four hours of that content documents the legendary founding line-up, featuring Chris Spedding (guitar), Karl Jenkins (keys, oboe), Brian Smith (saxes), Jeff Clyne (bass) and John Marshall (drums). The set is annotated by Ian Carr discographer/All About Jazz contributor Roger Farbey. Aside from The Pretty Redhead (Hux, 2003), this is the first collection of BBC Nucleus and is assembled from numerous private collections and the BBC itself.

Over 13 hours of music expertly remastered and restored by Eroc, collated from such seminal shows as Top Gear, Sounds of the 70s and Jazz in Britain
A decades’ spanning 12CD set comprising music and interviews drawn from BBC radio programmes broadcast between 1970 and 1991
Disc 10 comprises an exciting collection of entirely improvised works, never before released on CD
Liner notes by Roger Farbey, author of Elastic Dream: The Music of Ian Carr - A Critical Discography
Box set comprises 12CDs presented in attractive double digipaks, with a fully annotated booklet

[Munster]

Looks like a definite buy. Amazon UK has this listed already (at £70) with a release date set for November 22. Four hours of Nucleus Mark I sounds great.

I am currently working my way through the Barbara Thompson Live at the BBC boxset put out by this crew and it is very good (thanks arturs and jkelman for the heads up). As I suspected, the shows have been lifted from the radio (and not provided by the BBC) but the sound quality is excellent; it is fractionally off studio quality but this is compensated for by its warmth. Most of the 27 shows are short, typically 25 minutes, which makes the 14 CD set very easy to work through. The accompanying booklet is well presented and provides all the information needed about timings, personnel and where the set was recorded.

[Bake 2]

Great band(s), don't have a copy of In Flagrante Delicto anymore, but always like the almost Colin Hodgkinson like bass workout that starts around 6:15.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhTS...sNucleus-Topic

[Trane]

hadn't seen this before

[Steve F.]

hadn't seen this before

Cuneiform was offered this for release; I did not think that we could sell out the minimum pressing….

[Trane]

Cuneiform was offered this for release; I did not think that we could sell out the minimum pressing….

I know what you mean.
Personally I'm much more interested in the first stable line-up (Jenkins/Marshall/Spedding) in a filmed performance than the second (+/-) stable line-up (Bertles/Castle/Sutton)

[Poisoned Youth]

hadn't seen this before

Nice find! Mostly Under the Sun material from that. I like.

[Proglodite]

Regarding the Torrid Zone box set that Esoteric put out - are there any known playback issues with this set? On my copy, Disc 4 from track 8 onwards it exhibits all the audio signs of bronzing; wavering distortions and crackles that become increasingly bad until it just won't play. Tried two different players with the same results. Playing surface of the disc is flawless. --Peter

[Sputnik]

Regarding the Torrid Zone box set that Esoteric put out - are there any known playback issues with this set? On my copy, Disc 4 from track 8 onwards it exhibits all the audio signs of bronzing; wavering distortions and crackles that become increasingly bad until it just won't play. Tried two different players with the same results. Playing surface of the disc is flawless. --Peter

I've had no issues with mine, which I got some time earlier this year. I checked disc 4, and it looks perfectly fine to me.

Bill

[Munster]

I played mine from track 8 and it sounded OK. I haven't played the other discs for some time so hope there are no problems there.

[Shadow]

hadn't seen this before

Looks like he's taking a six beer whizz.

[Mister Triscuits]

Regarding the Torrid Zone box set that Esoteric put out - are there any known playback issues with this set? On my copy, Disc 4 from track 8 onwards it exhibits all the audio signs of bronzing; wavering distortions and crackles that become increasingly bad until it just won't play. Tried two different players with the same results. Playing surface of the disc is flawless. --Peter

Is it an exceptionally long disc?

[Sputnik]

Is it an exceptionally long disc?

Disc 4 of the set is a bit longer at just shy of 74 minutes. The first three are all 65-68 minutes.

Bill

[Munster]

Looks like he's taking a six beer whizz.

After a particularly long encore