Though it has become oddly fashionable for critics to write
Nektar off in a few words or sentences; though one review of this very album dismissed it because the band didn't have much of a light show (as though a slab of vinyl would care if they did); the British-born, German-based band was responsible for some of the mid-'70s most satisfying slabs of space rock, albeit heavily tinged with a darker prog rock consciousness than most of their contemporaries. Certainly they were one of the most dynamic live bands of the era (light show or not!), and the concert highlighted by
Sunday Night at London Roundhouse caught them at a breathtaking peak, on the eve of release for their Remember the Future masterpiece. Which made it all the more baffling that, when an album of the occasion emerged, just two of the tracks actually hailed from the concert. The remainder was cut live in the studio a few months later and, while it was certainly fun, it really couldn't hold a candle to the sound of the band in true in-concert flight; they were opening for
Cockney Rebel on that night, and were faced with an audience of sharp glam rock sensibilities. Oh how the wallflowers wilted as "A Day in the Life of a Preacher" kicked in -- and how
Nektar's own fans sighed when the album came out, and even that song had been savagely edited. Thirty-two-years on, we finally get the opportunity to relive the concert in its unabridged entirety, as
Sunday Night at London Roundhouse hacks away the studio tracks, and instead spreads the entire show across two CDs, remastered from the original 16-track tapes. Ten tracks, then: five looking back over the band's then-recent catalog, and five ahead to the still-unheard Remember the Future. But, this being
Nektar, even the most familiar tracks are rewired for the night, and ultimately translate into an album that stands in comparison with any other live record of the age. ~ Dave Thompson