Nektar – Remember the Future
Cleopatra Records
http://cleorecs.com/store/shop/nektar-remember-the-future-2cd/

Rating: B

Nektar created a Prog Rock masterpiece back in 1973 titled Remember the Future.  This was a golden era for the genre as bands including Yes, Gentle Giant, ELP and Jethro Tull were taking complex music and bringing it the masses.  While Nektar didn’t achieve the same amount of commercial success as many of their peers, their efforts were every bit as majestic. 

The entire album is basically two songs, and then only two because you had a Side A and a Side B back in those days.  The music swoons from rock to classical to weirdness to ethereal lucid strangeness.  The composition is grand, perhaps grandiose, yet it is still bold and masterfully executed. 

If this type of music is your thing then this is a must-own as Cleopatra has improved the original by adding a second disc of three radio edits and a 1970 collection of music titled The Boston Tapes, which are believed to be the rarest, earliest recording of the band to ever surface.  

Cleopatra took the original album and not only made it better, they made it sound better.  The result is a Prog Rock, Art Rock album that will not disappoint.  Don’t expect three minute songs and lots of hand claps and pop ditties, though.  This album is an exercise in pomp and pushes both the band and the listener to make a commitment to the music. 

At the end of the day, Nektar succeeds with Remember the Future.  How ironic that the album is an old album being reviewed in the in the future?  Damn, now that’s just too cool.

By Jeb Wright