This release pairs two Nucleus dates from 1971 and 1982. Song For The Bearded Lady (a strangely whimsical title for such energetic music) begins with ninety seconds' worth of lovely, floating music left like vapour trails on a clear blue sky. Then, presaged by a unison line of sax and trumpet, the rhythm kicks in.
It's a tricky, groovy pulse redolent of the 60s, but it's so fleet, so energetic that its temporal specificity is forgotten almost as it is realised. The interaction between rhythm section and the rest of the group is beauteous to behold. Special mention to Chris Spedding who undertakes some wonderfully off the wall guitar runs.
Elastic Rock reins in the tempo, gives a wry melodic glance out at the world and proceeds with an enjoyable string of solos. The pace takes after the title, speeding up and slowing down, darting this way and that. Snakehips Dream follows; trumpeter and Nucleus boss Ian Carr plays with a soft, lithe tone; forceful when necessary, spilling notes out and juxtaposing them with spare, brilliantly placed ones.
In the liner notes Alyn Shipton states that the group had only heard Bitches Brew in 1970, by which time Nucleus had already established its own sound and approach to jazz rock. Of course In A Silent Way had appeared in 1969; Carr momentarily quotes from it in the prologue to Song for the Bearded Lady - and there had already been Miles In The Sky and E.S.P.'s Eighty One. But the energetic inventiveness and sheer pleasure of this group makes Shipton's argument redundant.
Nucleus was almost a different group by the time of the second session (only Carr and drummer John Marshall remained). If the cycle of fashion really is the 25 years of popular wisdom, there are still a few years until the 80's can become likeable again. Once revisited, does each era enter an ongoing public domain of acceptability? Whatever the truth, the repulsion felt at that decade can tar even the most innocent.
Whether it's the long shadow of free market greed or a reformed group's diminishing returns or who knows what else, there isn't the same vitality, playfulness or endearing innocence to this later version of Nucleus. It's enjoyable enough, but not a patch on the 1971 session which is without doubt worth the price of admission alone.
Review by Colin Buttimer gratefully reproduced under a Creative Commons licence at the BBC >> http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/fj63/
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