Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Nucleus
Label: Vertigo Records
Released: 1971
Length: 44:36
Rating: 4.5/5
“Solar Plexus,” the third album from the workshop of the legendary British jazz rock fusion outfit Nucleus, brought the first major stylistic shift in their sound. Bandleader and cult trumpeter Ian Carr had by now taken a hundred percent of the songwriting into his own hands and beefed up the horn section with trumpeters Kenny Wheeler and Harry Beckett, plus saxophonist Tony Roberts. Bassist Ron Mathewson, percussionist Chris Karan and Keith Winter on VCS3 synthesizer joined the original lineup. With the help of a beefier horn section, Carr cranked up the big band vibe, but in doing so he clipped the wings a bit of guitar innovator Chris Spedding, the only rocker among all those jazzers. His distinctive guitar phrases became generally less prominent in their sound, so it’s no surprise this album was Spedding’s last collaboration with Nucleus. Luckily for Carr, he wasn’t the last guitar maestro to work with this legendary band.
Even though there are no more hard rock experiments or psychedelic moments to be found on it, on “Solar Plexus” Nucleus still served up wildly temperamental, eclectic jazz rock fusion with unmistakable progressive rock influences. Spedding aside, who despite being boxed in sonically still wowed with jaw-dropping solos and instrumental flourishes, they became even more convincing as an instrumental and songwriting collective. And thanks to the expanded horn and rhythm sections, their sound grew even fuller.
“Solar Plexus” contains a few excellent compositions that sit right at the top of their creative output, the kind that fans of quality fusion can still lick their lips over today. The album literally gets better minute by minute. After the ambient opening experiment “Elements I and II,” where they play around with the electronic sounds of the then-revolutionary VCS3 synthesizer, “Changing Times” dramatically swerves into big band sound with a mighty horn section, right in the middle of which comes a fiery Carr trumpet solo. Amid colorful rhythmic combinatorics, with plenty of funk patterns thrown in, they manage to create a thoroughly pleasant, almost cinematic melody.
“Bedrock Deadlock” opens with rather gloomy melodies on trumpet and Jenkins’ oboe, then, over playful bass lines and percussion, develops into a lighter composition with temperamental guitar phrases and a rich horn section, making it one of Nucleus’ classics. “Spirit Level” is another great composition where they slowly build a dramatic atmosphere by layering diverse instrumental figures, solo spots and rhythmic improvisations. It’s more than fascinating how they manage to construct a seductive melody out of all that improvisation. Carr wouldn’t be Carr if he didn’t treat us to a short ego trip at the end of the track with a wacky trumpet improvisation.
“Torso” is a somewhat more “rocking” moment on the album, with fiery Latin rhythms, stormy horn improvisation and a killer closing drum solo from John Marshall, for whom this record was the last collaboration with Nucleus before he left for Soft Machine. Something similar to this white-hot jazz Latin rock fusion could have come out of the early Santana workshop, if they had cared at all about the sound of trumpets and saxophones. Nucleus, as they tend to do, save the best for last, serving up the 15-plus-minute masterpiece “Snakehips’ Dreams.” On it, they squeeze the instrumental potential of this version of the band to the absolute max. Here you can admire Chris Spedding one last time as a Nucleus member, smoothly gliding between acoustic and electric guitar. With the occasional electric piano and woodwind passages, they stir up the hypnotic mood now and then, but otherwise they keep hold of the central melody, which has an addictive quality.
“Solar Plexus,” just like its two predecessors, is another superb album on which Nucleus deliver a hugely instructive lesson in primal jazz rock fusion. The sudden dominance of the horn section proves that Ian Carr had by this point gained a hundred percent control over the band, songwriting included. Compared to their central masterpiece, its predecessor “We’ll Talk About It Later” (1970), it’s a notch less interesting when it comes to that ideal balance between jazz and (prog) rock, since it has far less electric guitar wizardry. At the same time, “Solar Plexus” marked a relatively important turning point in their career, as it was the last album featuring the original lineup. Only saxophonist and flutist Brian Smith stayed loyal to Carr for the next two years, while the rest, mostly because of the financial troubles Ian’s crew was facing at the time, decided to say goodbye and devote themselves to other projects. Many fans of the band still agree today that the original version of Nucleus was the best lineup in the band’s story.
Lineup
Ian Carr – trumpet, horn
Karl Jenkins – oboe, baritone saxophone, electric piano, piano
Brian Smith – tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone, flute
Chris Spedding – guitar
Jeff Clyne – bass guitar, double bass
John Marshall – drums, percussion
GUEST MUSICIANS:
Kenny Wheeler – trumpet, horn
Harry Beckett – trumpet, horn
Tony Roberts – tenor saxophone, bass clarinet
Ron Matthewson – bass guitar
Chris Karan – percussion
Keith Winter – VCS3 synthesizer
Production
Peter King
Tracklist
1. Elements I & II (2:12)
2. Changing Times (4:44)
3. Bedrock Deadlock (6:52)
4. Spirit Level (9:20)
5. Torso (6:12)
6. Snakehips Dream (15:16)
