Price: £31.99
Format: Boxset
Artist: Nucleus & Ian Carr
CatNo: ECLEC62663
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Nucleus_Ian Carr Torrid Zone boxset
Remastered 6CD box set featuring every track released by Nucleus and Ian Carr for the Vertigo label (between 1970 and 1975).
 
Includes the albums Elastic Rock (1970), We’ll Talk About It Later (1970), Solar Plexus (1971), Belladonna (1972), Labyrinth (1973), Roots (1973), Under The Sun (1974), Snakehips Etcetera (1975) and Alleycat (1975).
 
In a clamshell box including an illustrated booklet with an essay by writer Sid Smith.
 
An excellent tribute to a genuinely innovative Jazz Rock force.
 
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The trumpeter and flugelhorn player Ian Carr was one of the most respected musicians of his era, a true pioneer who saw the potential in fusing the worlds of jazz with some of rock music’s sensibilities. Tiring of the current forms in British jazz, Carr formed Nucleus in 1969, around the same time as Tony Williams was pursuing new paths with his band Lifetime and Miles Davis was experimenting on the album In a Silent Way. With saxophonist and keyboard player Karl Jenkins, drummer John Marshall, saxophonist Brian Smith, bassist Jeff Clyne and guitarist Chris Spedding, the first line-up of Nucleus signed to Vertigo records in late 1969 and recorded the ground-breaking album Elastic Rock in January 1970. 
 
Elastic Rock received praise from both jazz and rock critics and was followed early the following year by the equally innovative album We’ll Talk About It Later. The album Solar Plexus (also issued in 1971) was credited to Ian Carr & Nucleus and was the last album to feature the original band members (Karl Jenkins and John Marshall would soon join Soft Machine). Following the solo album Belladonna, which featured contributions from guitarist Allan Holdsworth, Ian Carr formed a new line up of Nucleus (including among others bassist Roy Babbington, drummer Clive Thacker, keyboard player Dave MacRae and saxophonist Brian Smith who had appeared on Belladonna) to record the impressive Labyrinth in 1973.
 
Over the next two years - on the albums Roots, Under the Sun, Snakehips Etcetera and Alleycat - the line-up of Nucleus would fluctuate, but Carr would continue to guide a group of innovative and skilled musicians, creating albums that took jazz to new levels of creativity.
 
DISC ONE:
1. 1916
2. ELASTIC ROCK
3. STRIATION
4. TARANKI
5. TWISTED TRACK
6. CRUDE BLUES (PART ONE)
7. CRUDE BLUES (PART TWO)
8. 1916 – THE BATTLE OF BOOGALOO
9. TORRID ZONE
10. STONESCAPE
11. EARTH MOTHER
12. SPEAKING FOR MYSELF, PERSONALLY, IN MY OWN OPINION, I THINK…
13. PERSEPHONE’S JIVE
TAKEN FROM THE ALBUM “ELASTIC ROCK”
 
14. SONG FOR THE BEARDED LADY
15. SUN CHILD
16. LULLABY FOR A LONELY CHILD
17. WE’LL TALK ABOUT IT LATER
TAKEN FROM THE ALBUM “WE’LL TALK ABOUT IT LATER”
 
DISC TWO:
1. OASIS
2. BALLAD OF JOE PIMP
3. EASTER 1916
TAKEN FROM THE ALBUM “WE’LL TALK ABOUT IT LATER”
 
4. ELEMENTS I & II
5. CHANGING TIMES
6. BEDROCK DEADLOCK
7. SPIRIT LEVEL
8. TORSO
9. SNAKEHIPS’ DREAM
TAKEN FROM THE ALBUM “SOLAR PLEXUS”
 
DISC THREE:
1. BELLADONNA
2. SUMMER RAIN
3. REMADIONE
4. MAY DAY
5. SUSPENSION
6. HECTOR’S HOUSE
TAKEN FROM THE ALBUM “BELLADONNA”
 
7. ORIGINS
8. BULL DANCE
9. ARIADNE
10. ARENA
TAKEN FROM THE ALBUM “LABYRINTH”
 
DISC FOUR:
1. EXULTATION
2. NAXOS
TAKEN FROM THE ALBUM “LABYRINTH”
 
3. ROOTS
4. IMAGES
5. CALIBAN
6. WHAPATITI
7. CAPRICORN
8. ODOKAMONA
9. SOUTHERN ROOTS AND CELEBRATION
TAKEN FROM THE ALBUM “ROOTS”
 
10. IN PROCESSION
11. THE ADDISON TRIP
12. PASTORAL GRAFFITI
13. NEW LIFE
14. A TASTE OF SASPARILLA
TAKEN FROM THE ALBUM “UNDER THE SUN”
 
DISC FIVE:
1. THEME 1 – SASPARILLA
2. THEME 2 – FEAST ALFRESCO
3. THEME 3 – RITES OF MAN
TAKEN FROM THE ALBUM “UNDER THE SUN”
 
4. RAT’S BAG
5. ALIVE AND KICKING
6. RACHEL’S TUNE
7. SNAKEHIPS ETCETERA
8. PUSSYFOOT
9. HEYDAY
TAKEN FROM THE ALBUM “SNAKEHIPS ETCETERA”
 
DISC SIX:
1. PHAIDEAUX CORNER
2. ALLEYCAT
3. SPLAT
4. YOU CAN’T BE SURE
5. NOSEGAY
TAKEN FROM THE ALBUM “ALLEYCAT”