The Nice
Nice - Immediate 1969
Tracks: 1. Azrael Revisited / 2. Hang On To A Dream / 3. Diary Of An Empty Day / 4. For Example / 5. Rondo 69 / 6. She Belongs To Me
Comments:
As were their first albums Nice's third album is a rather uneven affair. This fact may be hard to avoid when trying to reconcile such diverse genres as classical, jazz, rock and blues in a psychedelic wrapping. Moreover half of the album consists of two long live-recordings.
The Nice were skilled musicians, especially keyboardman Keith Emerson was sublime, but the group were as songwriters not particularly remarkable. One of their very best tracks is the psychedelic "Diary For an Empty Day" - in spite of the somewhat fragile vocals this song is one of the most successful the group recorded; both melodic and instrumentally interesting.
Their cover version of Tim Hardin's "Hang on to a Dream" also keeps level - here their fusion music actually works. Could recall early King Crimson.
The opening track is a pianodriven rocker - with jazzy experiments. Not a bad track with interesting exceptional beats. "For Example" is so experimenting that for me it is too diffuse and uninteresting.The two long live tracks naturally gives an impression of the group on stage, but basically the tracks feel rather lengthy.
The Nice was possibly seen as interesting and innovative in their time, but I fear for their music in the long term.
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