The Psych Ward–Journey to the Centre of the Eye by Nektar
The Psych Ward–Journey to the Centre of the Eye by Nektar
Formed in Hamburg but comprised of British musicians, Nektar found their niche between the layers of Progressive Rock, Space Rock, and Psychedelia. Nektar preferred the quieter living of West Germany versus the bustling British music scene as it gave the band time to develop their ideas and sound while English producers were chasing the next big thing.
Their more famous works consist of album-long suites regarding man’s evolution or environmental concerns. Nektar’s debut album Journey to the Centre of the Eye (1971) is the story of an astronaut encountering an alien presence who grants him an all-encompassing universal knowledge. This overwhelming insight results in him losing his grip on sanity. The past, present, and future terror that these visions unveil are too much for the man’s mind. This album might be one of the first versions of this classic science fiction idea set to music, and the album proves to be a launching pad showcasing Nektar’s space-psych beginnings and foreshadowing the heady prog period to come.
Nektar’s use of musical thematic cycles evokes similarities to classical composition. Though this is hard rock from outer space, to be sure, the works of Nektar are operas where movements are established and reprised throughout the album-long pieces. Journey to the Centre of the Eye was recorded by Dieter Dierks, the legendary producer of Kosmische Muzik (more offensively known as Krautrock). Dierks helped birth the earliest works of an entire generation of German musicians, such as Tangerine Dream, Embryo, and Ash Ra Tempel. The confluence of painstakingly written British psych-prog filtered through the German lens of space jam energy worked extremely well for Nektar.
Sci-fi lyrical concepts engross the listener throughout the album, while echo-y guitars are accented with slippery glissando lines. Radiophonic vocal lines simulate muffled transmissions from a far-flung space capsule. Spellbinding keyboard effects trip about while harmonized vocals give a sweet, yet eerie feel to most of the music. There is even a middle passage of the spacey instrumental track “Warp Oversight” which clearly influenced the beginning strains of Rush’s “Xanadu” some six years later. These gentlemen were a pivotal force in advancing the burgeoning of the Space Rock genre. At the same time, they took the idea of the concept album from SF Sorrow and Tommy and ran with it to great success—influencing both British bands like Yes and German bands like Eloy throughout the Seventies.
Highlights: This is a singular 42-minute work broken into 13 song movements. Though treated as a continuous work, the best among these segments are “Astronaut’s Nightmare,” “Burn Out My Eyes,” and “Pupil of the Eye”.
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