View basket “King Kong: Jean-Luc Ponty Plays The Music Of Frank Zappa” has been added to your basket. Alleycat Nucleus SKU: BEWITH105LP Barcode: 4251804125406 22.00 £22.00 Genre: Jazz Dance / Fusion Label: Be With Records Released Date: 16th September 2022 Buying Format: 1LP Out of stock Back Order Add to your Wishlist Description Product Info Come for the leopard, stay for the stone cold jams. Yet another thrilling, funky-prog jazzy-rock fusion beauty from Ian Carr’s Nucleus. Originally released on Vertigo in 1975, Alleycat was never re-pressed so those original copies are now very tricky to score. Like all the Nucleus records, it’s aged ridiculously well and this Be With re-issue, re-mastered from the original analogue tapes, shows off just why this deserves to be back in press. Genius trumpeter and visionary composer Ian Carr was one of the most respected British musicians of his era. He was a true pioneer and saw the potential in fusing the worlds of jazz with rock, just as Miles Davis and The Tony Williams Lifetime did in the US. In late 1969, following the demise of the Rendell-Carr quintet, and tiring of British jazz, Carr assembled the legendary Nucleus. Regarding music as a continuous process, Nucleus refused to “recognise rigid boundaries” and worked on delivering what they saw as a “total musical experience”. We can get behind that. Under bandleader Carr, Nucleus existed as a fluid line-up of inventive, skilled musicians. This constant evolution and revolution was all part of the continuous musical exploration and discovery that took jazz to new levels. And the music has stayed relevant. To steal a line from a recent review of our re-issue of Roots, when it comes to anything Nucleus “it’s basically already hip-hop”. Alleycat was the last Nucleus album recorded for the Vertigo label. Released in 1975, it was again meticulously produced by Jon Hiseman and is every bit as sinuous as anything else the group had recorded. As far as riff-laden accidental cop-funk goes, there’s so much energy coursing through the music that at times it sounds like a live recording. It’s pretty unbeatable. Uptempo opener “Phaideaux Corner” is a funk-flavoured opus with a groove that simply swaggers. This trademark Roger Sutton piece benefits from Trevor Tomkins’s percussive expertise and some excellent sax and keyboard soloing. Check out Geoff Castle on squelchy, stabbing Moog duties. Ian Carr’s elegantly laidback title track is a lengthy suite of magisterial themes. Typically complex, it still gets you hooked and is just riddled with the funk. Carr builds up his initially “straight” trumpet solo with later use of echo to mesmeric effect. And there’s some excellent wah-wah guitar shredding by Ken Shaw too. Nice. The second side opens with the killer “Splat” and finds Nucleus really ripping it up. A fat, funky bass guitar riff introduces us to the track and stays with us until the end. The often mangled bass groove is pushed along by rattling drums and percussion, dropping out for some restful moments of spacey calm, and along the way picking up some lengthy keyboard noodling by Castle. So so good. The cool “You Can’t Be Sure” is a gentle jam with Shaw on 12-string acoustic guitar, together with Carr’s muted trumpet and some marvellous fretless work from Sutton for extra colour. The album closes with Bob Bertles’ galloping “Nosegay”, written perhaps as a response to some of the faster Mahavishnu Orchestra pieces. It’s an example of well crafted jazz-rock that doesn’t compromise any of its jazziness, yet it still very definitely rocks. This Be With re-issue of Alleycat has been re-mastered from the original Vertigo master tapes, Simon Francis’ mastering working together with Pete Norman’s cut to weave their usual magic with these wonderful recordings. The cool AF cover – that leopard was just a cat before he heard Nucleus, you know – has been restored as the finishing touch to this long overdue re-issue. Artist Nucleus Genre Jazz Dance / Fusion Label Be With Records Buying Options 1LP Format 1LP Condition New Country UK Track Listings Phaideaux Corner (6:17) Alleycat (14:15) Splat (11:41) You Can’t Be Sure (4:14) Nosegay (4:51) Share this On Facebook On Twitter Via Email More from Nucleus View Product Quick View Nucleus Snakehips Etcetera Progressive | Be With Records | 1LP Released 26th May 2023 £22.00 Add to basket Reserve View Reservations Nucleus Snakehips Etcetera £22.00 Genre: Progressive Label: Be With Records SKU: BEWITH128LP Formats: 1LP Released Date: 26th May 2023 Reserve View Reservations Read More Add to basket View Product Quick View Nucleus Solar Plexus Progressive | Be With Records | 1LP, Gatefold Sleeve Released 26th May 2023 £25.00 Add to basket Reserve View Reservations Nucleus Solar Plexus £25.00 Genre: Progressive Label: Be With Records SKU: BEWITH127LP Formats: 1LP, Gatefold Sleeve Released Date: 26th May 2023 Reserve View Reservations Read More Add to basket View Product Quick View Nucleus We’ll Talk About It Later Progressive | Be With Records | 1LP, Gatefold Sleeve Released 26th May 2023 £25.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Nucleus We’ll Talk About It Later £25.00 Genre: Progressive Label: Be With Records SKU: BEWITH126LP Formats: 1LP, Gatefold Sleeve Released Date: 26th May 2023 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Nucleus Elastic Rock Progressive | Be With Records | 1LP, Gatefold Sleeve Released 26th May 2023 £25.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Nucleus Elastic Rock £25.00 Genre: Progressive Label: Be With Records SKU: BEWITH125LP Formats: 1LP, Gatefold Sleeve Released Date: 26th May 2023 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Nucleus Alleycat Jazz | We Are Busy Bodies | 1LP Released 12th August 2022 £32.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Nucleus Alleycat £32.00 Genre: Jazz Label: We Are Busy Bodies SKU: LPWABB128LE Formats: 1LP Released Date: 12th August 2022 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Nucleus Under The Sun Jazz | We Are Busy Bodies | 1LP Released 12th August 2022 £32.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Nucleus Under The Sun £32.00 Genre: Jazz Label: We Are Busy Bodies SKU: LPWABB129LE Formats: 1LP Released Date: 12th August 2022 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Nucleus Under The Sun Jazz Dance / Fusion | Be With Records | 1LP Released 16th September 2022 £22.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Nucleus Under The Sun £22.00 Genre: Jazz Dance / Fusion Label: Be With Records SKU: BEWITH104LP Formats: 1LP Released Date: 16th September 2022 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders See more from Nucleus Start again More from Jazz Dance / Fusion Nearly New View Product Quick View Jhelisa Galactica Rush Jazz Dance / Fusion | Dorado | 1LP Released 24th January 2014 £10.00 Add to basket Reserve View Reservations Jhelisa Galactica Rush £10.00 Genre: Jazz Dance / Fusion Label: Dorado SKU: NN58378 Formats: 1LP Released Date: 24th January 2014 Reserve View Reservations Read More Add to basket View Product Quick View Ramon Morris Sweet Sister Funk Jazz Dance / Fusion | Pure Pleasure | 180g, 1LP Released 12th August 2004 £17.00 Add to basket Reserve View Reservations Ramon Morris Sweet Sister Funk £17.00 Genre: Jazz Dance / Fusion Label: Pure Pleasure SKU: GM516LP Formats: 180g, 1LP Released Date: 12th August 2004 Reserve View Reservations Read More Add to basket View Product Quick View Various Droppin Science (Blue Note Comp) Jazz Dance / Fusion | 1LP Released 13th February 2008 £18.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Various Droppin Science (Blue Note Comp) £18.00 Genre: Jazz Dance / Fusion SKU: 5144021 Formats: 1LP Released Date: 13th February 2008 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Nearly New View Product Quick View Various Arists New Thing! 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