Nucleus - 1972 - Belladonna

Nucleus

1972

Belladonna

01. Belladonna (13:42)

02. Summer Rain (6:13)

03. Remadione (3:48)

04. Mayday (5:41)

05. Suspension (6:15)

06. Hector's House (4:33)

- Brian Smith / tenor & soprano saxophones, alto & bamboo flutes

- Allan Holdsworth / guitar

- Dave MacRae / Fender electric piano

- Gordon Beck / Hohner electric piano (1,4-6)

- Roy Babbington / bass

- Clive Thacker / drums, percussion

- Trevor Tomkins / percussion (1,3,4)

By the time of this album, Nucleus was no more, as commercial success was elusive and offers abounded - especially from Soft Machine that will have a field day plundering electrons from this Nucleus - I know, that was a little tooooo easy ;-) . And Ian Carr was having severe lung problems (for a trumpet player......) and so when he got better (he was writing music from a cheap piano), he decided that this album would not use the Nucleus name, but everything here spells the group, at least songwriting-wise and sonic department; since only Brian Smith is still around from the original line-up. McRae (see Matching Mole), Tomkins (from the Rendell-Carr Quintet), Holdsworth (future everything), Thacker (Auger's Trinity) and Gordon Beck are the essential guests.

Belladona (the 13 min+ opening track) opened up on some atonal sounds but turns into that typical Nucleus funky jazz-rock, but closing on a lengthy solo trumpet, only accompanied by steel percussions. Summer Rain starts off with great el piano (which is a welcome change since the KB was fairly absent in the previous album Solar Plexus) soon accompanied by a heavy bass, and the track sounds a bit like summer dog day's rain. Remadione is a really slow 5AM jazz piece (Dexter Gordon-style in Round About Midnight) but picks up around the end with a guitar-Rhodes duet.

On the flipside, Mayday is one of the better tracks as the Rhodes piano layers intro veers off to superb rhythm guitar, played by Allan Holdsworth in one of his first appearance, underlining Smith's excellent sax. The highlight of this album is Suspension (recorded in one sole take) with bamboo flutes building up to a mid-tempo fusion that brings small spine chills. The last track is a showcase for Allan Holdsworth searing guitar solo, a reward given to him as he had been reduced mostly (however brilliantly) to a rhythm role up to now.

After a consistant lineup for the first three album comes "Belladonna" where everyone but Carr and Smith have left. The loss of Jenkins would have seemed huge to anyone who heard just their first two albums because he was the main composer, but on the third ("Solar Plexus") Carr would compose all the tracks. Marshall left with Jenkins to join SOFT MACHINE, while lead guitarist Spedding was the first leave in order to go solo. Big losses you would agree, but Carr was able to get Babbington to replace Clyne on bass. Babbington would also join SOFT MACHINE down the road. Clive Thacker replaced Marshall, with Trevor Tomkins adding percussion. Dave Macrae replaced Jenkins, with Gordon Beck also adding electric piano.The biggest one is Alan Holdsworth replacing Spedding on lead guitar. No this band did not miss a beat. In fact this is my second favourite NUCLEUS album next to "We'll Talk About It Later". They're like 1 and 1a to me. In the liner notes it says "None of the early NUCLEUS albums exemplify Ian's concept of tension and release as well as this, and in particular Ian sees the title track itself, an ensemble effort with no formal solos, as demonstrating both his musical concepts and his new-found role as leader".