Trumpeter Ian Carr's Belladonna was issued in 1972, following three acclaimed Vortex outings by his Nucleus ensemble -- 1970's Elastic Rock and We'll Talk About It Later, and 1971's Solar Plexus. The original Nucleus had dissolved: multi-instrumentalist Karl Jenkins and drummer John Marshall joined Soft Machine, bassist Jeff Clyne left for Isotope, and Chris Spedding for session work. For Belladonna, the financially strapped Carr recruited pianist Dave MacRae, pre-Soft Machine bassist Roy Babbington, drummer Clive Thacker, Gordon Beck on Wurlitzer, and percussionist Trevor Tomkins. The album introduced the masses to future guitar hero Allan Holdsworth. Reed and wind player Brian Smith was the only remaining Nucleus member besides Carr. Nucleus' previous outings seemingly reveled in the tensions that existed between jazz improvisation and rock's forceful dynamics; Belladonna, by contrast, fully integrates them. While inspirational blueprints for this album include Miles Davis' seminal In a Silent Way, this music deliberately employs more accessible and conventional jazz harmonics and circular time-keeping, despite its abstractions.

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