Another old CDRWL item that I recently acquired on vinyl. My original notes stated:
I'll be the first to admit I'm not the world's biggest "psych" fan. I absolutely adore psychedelic influences in my progressive rock, but actual psych rock tends to be too straight for me in most instances, and rarely lives up to the genre name. But when an album is truly psychedelic in both sound, and composition, then I take notice. Nucleus is that album. In fact, at times it's a bit too disjointed to get into. It's really a strange phenomena they have going here. They seem to be jamming, but in odd time signatures ---- for each member. Perhaps it's pure incompetence, and no one band member can keep up with the other. Maybe. But I doubt it. It sounds intentional to me. It's downright disorienting at times. Which, almost by definition, is psychedelic. There's some incredible Hammond organ and acid guitar on here, with all sorts of screamed, distant, and... well... melodic vocals. Damn, this album is just flat out cool honestly.
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That remains my understanding of this most unique album. Because of this creativity, I bumped it a +1 into the masterpiece category. As the years ago by, it's albums like this that standout as truly interesting. I listened to it twice in a row and I couldn't really pinpoint what they were doing. That's a plus. And the sound is delicious, all the right textures. A stellar album.
Ownership: LP: 1969 Mainstream (USA). Single sleeve. Recent online acquisition (2022) at an excellent price point. Like all Mainstream albums, it still hasn't been reissued on CD. There are a couple of LP reissues, but I'm guessing they're pretty cheap-o. In any case, it would be great for a specialty label to get a hold of those old Mainstream tapes. I'd for sure supplement both this and the Stone Circus LP's with an additional CD.
9/18/13 (CDRWL); 12/22/22 (new entry)
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