I added this just the other night while listening to the Family album, Music In a Doll’s House (1968). I’d never heard of The Nice before adding this album, but I’ve been digging that sort of psychedelic progressive rock sound lately, which is what Wikipedia seems to say this album is, so I figured I’d check this one out. The band formed in 1967 in England, but only stayed together for a few years until they split in 1970. According to what I’m finding, The Nice were a pioneering band in the progressive rock genre, and this album in particular was listed in Classic Rock magazine’s list of “50 Albums That Built Prog Rock”. I’m pretty interested to listen to this album, so I’m going to go ahead and jump on into the music.
“Flower King of Flies” starts off very gentle at first, sounding something that reminds me quite a bit of Pink Floyd with the different chimes and even the subsequent tone of voice from the vocalist. This song is definitely a nice introductory jam to the album that really has some tasty psychedelic jamming in it with the organs and the distorted guitars. Interesting little tidbit from Wikipedia, this song as supposedly about Paul McCartney. Oh wow, I really dig the flavor from the guitars and the piano near the end of the jam about midway into the song. There’s definitely some super interesting effects that almost sound like the instruments take on an outer space quality. Groovy tune.
“The Thoughts of Emerlist Davjack” start off super interestingly with some jams that almost sound like they come from a fast-paced psychedelic carnival. Oh wow, this is super interesting because it almost sounds like it’s got some 80s types of sounds in multiple facets of the instrumentation, though notably in the organs, bass, and even vocals with the quick paced high energy boppiness of the track. Definitely an interesting and groovy tune. Oh wow, the little swirls from the organs at the end are super tasty as the vocals seem to shout into the world.
“Bonnie K” starts out with some super awesome sounding 60s psychedelic guitar sounds and some chirping and swirling organs. The overall sound reminds me quite a bit of The Jimi Hendrix Experience in this one. Oh wow, the jams in this one really have a great bluesy psychedelic sound to them, with the guitars and organs playing different melodies against one another that all seem to meet up for the chorus while bringing the jams further out there as the tune continues along – definitely a really awesome tune. The energy in this one feels like it bleeds pure rock and roll too. Really awesome tune.
“Rondo” has a slow rolling start with the bass, and then the drums and guitars come on to create a highly energetic, chaotic backdrop to the soundscape, while the organs come on and do most of the work with the melody that I can parse from the tune. Oh wow, the guitar really changes things up a bit into the song, and the tone on the guitar is really interesting too, taking on a cheesy quality with the distortion that seems to melt into itself. Oh wow, the organs really take the jam far out with some tasty swirls for a moment. So far there are no vocals in this extended psychedelic jam, but the instruments are doing a lot of speaking. There’s almost a raga-like quality to the electric guitar part, though mostly classic psychedelic rock flavor – absolutely awesome. Oh wow, the guitar dropped out and now it’s just the super sturdy, fast-paced drums and repetitively reliable bass line providing a backbone for the song while the organs really take the song out there. This jam is absolutely epic. Oh wow, just when you think the jam might be bringing things back around, it gets even further out there for even just a moment. The song has built up an incredible amount of flavorful tension by the end of the song that the organs, guitars, and drums seem to be nearly shaking off with subtle changes. Oh wow, the bass line just went down by about a step for a moment until returning to the position played for most of the song. This jam is absolutely awesome, and has somehow seemingly begun landing itself down to earth back to the start of the tune by the end. Really awesome jam.
“War and Peace” starts out slow and subtle before jumping into a super psychedelic, nearly acid rock jam that sounds almost like it’s being played by aliens from outer space. Oh wow, I really dig the crunchy guitar work contrasting with those smooth swirls from the organ, both really stirring the song around in a similar manner while sounding totally different. There still haven’t been vocals yet in this one, but this extended psychedelic/acid rock jam has really been super delicious, and definitely even has a bit of a bluesy quality too. Oh wow, the electric guitar gets super far out there and the organs venture out super far in their own way to work with the electric guitar to bring the jam back to some semblance of reality – absolutely awesome. The drums and bass are super quick and steady in the background and give the guitars and organs an awesome platform to really bring this one far out, which is where it most definitely is. Oh wow, the jam has somehow nearly circled back around by the end of the song, where the band ties things up in this jam. The drums really bring this one in for a landing quite well.
“Tantalising Maggie” has some super tasty jams that almost seemed formed in some grounded reality, though slightly altered from how it sounds at the start of the album. Oh wow, the playing from all the instrumentation have a super nice flavor suggestion a resolution of sorts, with the background vocals really melting things together quite well. Oh wow, the flavors in this one are absolutely delicious with the band sounding like they’ve worked through quite a few different musical jams, with a whole lot of freedom in the jamming at this point and taking on somewhat of an orchestrated melodic chaos, each band member getting free reign to do what they want while still being completely in sync during the process. This tune is definitely super tasty. Oh wow, there’s almost a classical European sound at the end with the piano lines. Absolutely awesome tune in evolution, I’m really digging it.
“Dawn” has a really discordant sound at the beginning with some tritones from outer space from some sort of organ or synthesizer. Oh wow, just when you thought the album might be back on this planet, you find yourself somewhat lost in space with the playing in this one. The vocals are essentially loud whispers coming from the speakers, while the band seems to form some groovy psychedelic song structure around them, with plenty of forward sounding movement in the music, and a number of different progressions from the instrumentation. I’m almost in disbelief that there’s only one more track on the album after this one; this album has flown by. Oh wow, the percussion moves about the soundscape with the guitar almost sounding like it’s spinning in circles trying to chase the drums, until things drop into place with a harpsichord part that sounds like it lands you back in some sort of carnival in outer space. Wow, the end of this one really seems to be tying up this nearly experimental jam together in a super groovy way.
“The Cry of Eugene” is the first track that sounds like it’s actually on outer space, though the movement of the vocals and general delivery of the lines have an alien-like quality to them. The organs and really have this bubbly outer space playfulness, while the bass line feels very grounded in this one, all while something like a violin seems to move about the soundscape and gently rocks you into a landing for the end of the album. The trumpets/horns in this one really seem to send signals to the listener before they fade out to one last psychedelic outer space jam from the electric guitar and organs that take the song out there until the piano seems to beckon you to the planet. The vocals also become more grounded in a certain extent. The album almost leaves things a bit unwrapped as it comes to a crescendo, placing an exclamation point on how far out this psychedelic rock album got. Super sweet tune to end the album with.
Wow, this one was pretty awesome. I can imagine how this could have been an influential album in the progressive rock genre – each song feels so connected with the different musical moments within them. If you really dig psychedelic rock and/or progressive rock, this might be an album to consider checking out – it’s definitely far out, and I certainly enjoyed it. If you do decide to give this one a listen, I do sincerely hope that you enjoy the listening experience at least as much as I did.
-A