Nektar were one of the great curiosities — and great bands — of the German scene: four British expatriates who settled in Hamburg, soaked up the freedom of the krautrock years, and built a career making spacey, ambitious concept albums that found their biggest audiences in Germany and America. With their light shows, their side-long suites and Roye Albrighton’s soaring guitar, they became one of the most distinctive progressive bands of the 1970s.

The short version

Formed in Hamburg in 1969 by four English musicians, Nektar played psychedelic, concept-driven space rock and prog. Across a remarkable run of 1970s albums — from “A Tab in the Ocean” (1972) to the US-charting “Remember the Future” (1973) and “Recycled” (1975) — they paired epic, storytelling compositions with Roye Albrighton’s guitar and an elaborate “Sound and Light” live show. British by birth but German by home, they remain a beloved cult name on both sides of the Atlantic.

Hamburg: an English band in Germany

Nektar were born in the music clubs of Hamburg, where four young Englishmen found themselves at the end of the 1960s. Guitarist and singer Roye Albrighton, in the city with his band Rainbows, met drummer Ron Howden one night at the legendary Star Club; the next day he returned with his guitar and jammed with Howden, keyboardist Allan “Taff” Freeman and bassist Derek “Mo” Moore. Albrighton chose to stay in Germany, and in late 1969 the four formed Nektar — soon joined by lighting designer Mick Brockett, a fifth member in all but instrument. Though entirely British, the band lived, recorded and toured in Germany, and would always be embraced there as one of the home scene’s own.

Space rock and concept albums

Nektar made music built for the imagination — long, flowing, psychedelic prog, usually shaped into concept albums that told a story across an entire record. At its centre were Roye Albrighton’s melodic, echo-drenched guitar and expressive vocals, set against Allan Freeman’s organ and dual Mellotrons, with Derek Moore’s bass and Ron Howden’s drums driving it forward. Drawing on Pink Floyd, King Crimson and the heavier psychedelia of the day, they wrapped it all in Mick Brockett’s pioneering “Sound and Light Theatre” — liquid light shows that made their concerts as much a visual experience as a musical one. It was prog as total spectacle, and it travelled far beyond Germany.

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From Journey to the Centre of the Eye to Recycled

Their debut, “Journey to the Centre of the Eye” (1971), was an audacious concept album about astral travel, all echoplex guitar and twin Mellotrons. “A Tab in the Ocean” (1972) — for many their finest hour — built around a sixteen-minute title epic and the much-loved “King of Twilight”, later covered by Iron Maiden. The live-in-the-studio double “…Sounds Like This” (1973) caught their raw on-stage energy, before “Remember the Future” (1973), a single story spread across two album sides, broke them in America, reaching the US Top 20. The circus-themed “Down to Earth” (1974) kept up their gold-selling stateside success, and “Recycled” (1975), made with Beatles engineer Geoff Emerick and synth pioneer Larry Fast, became a late masterpiece — after which Albrighton departed, leaving the others to make “Magic Is a Child” (1977) without him.

Album by album

Seven albums of cosmic, concept-driven progressive rock. Tap any title for its guide.

The players and afterwards

The classic Nektar were Roye Albrighton, keyboardist Allan “Taff” Freeman, bassist Derek “Mo” Moore and drummer Ron Howden, with Mick Brockett providing their unmistakable visuals. Albrighton’s guitar and voice were the heart of the band; when he left in the mid-1970s, Nektar carried on briefly before disbanding, then reunited the original line-up to acclaim in the 2000s. Roye Albrighton died in 2016, Allan Freeman in 2021 and Ron Howden in 2023 — but Derek Moore has kept the band going, and the cosmic music they made together still draws devoted audiences half a century on.

Where to start

Begin with “Remember the Future” (1973) — their breakthrough and best-known work, a single flowing story that remains the perfect introduction to Nektar. From there, “A Tab in the Ocean” (1972) is many fans’ favourite, heavier and more psychedelic, while “Recycled” (1975) shows their most intricate, fully realised prog. Three concept albums that capture a band who thought in whole worlds, not just songs.

Why they still matter

Nektar matter as one of the most distinctive bands of the progressive era — a group of British outsiders who found their voice in Germany and made some of the most imaginative concept albums of the 1970s. Their fusion of spacey psychedelia, storytelling ambition and groundbreaking stagecraft won them a devoted following from Hamburg to America, and influenced everyone from Iron Maiden to the modern jam-band scene. For anyone exploring the German scene, or progressive rock at its most adventurous, they are essential listening.

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