The 14-CD boxed set of Barbara Thompson at the BBC that the Repertoire label produced in 2020 looked like a hard act to follow, but this beautifully produced set is a perfect sequel. It chronicles Nucleus over a 21-year span, and one immediately obvious aspect of this is the re-use and modification of a relatively small repertoire in each major period of the band. The original line-up, with leader Ian Carr, Brian Smith, Karl Jenkins, Chris Spedding, Jeff Clyne and John Marshall spans three-and-a-half CDs, but these include five versions of ‘Song For The Bearded Lady’, and it’s fascinating to hear how the piece develops over time.

But just as significant as Ian using the broadcasts as a rolling testbed for material that would then be commercially recorded, or which would be played on live gigs, is the gradual adjustment of the BBC’s engineers to the band’s sound, and we can hear the bit-by-bit refinement that was brought to the band’s studio work at Maida Vale or the Paris Theatre. There are some intriguing one-off sessions, such as Gordon Beck’s ‘The Dream’ with Norma Winstone and John Taylor added to the line-up. A particular highlight is Charlie Mariano guesting on a set of pieces written by Ian for the Milton Keynes Festival in 1983 that celebrate the love poetry of Robert Graves. With John Marshall back in the band, and the front line of Mariano, Phil Todd and Carr, these pieces have a richer than usual ensemble sound, but the star performance is Mariano’s extended alto solo on ‘She Tells Her Love’.

At the other end of the stylistic spectrum is a 1991 Music In Our Time broadcast, which has the five-piece band of the time improvising freely, partly in a series of duos but most atmospherically in an 11-minute collective improvisation launched from the key of A major. These delightful exceptions apart, this is an in-depth portrait of one of Britain’s most significant fusion bands that complements its commercially issued albums, and documents both the middle period, with several rapid changes of personnel, and the remarkably consistent permanent line-ups at the beginning, and from 1984 to 1991. In all, a treasure trove of fine musicianship and the definition of a style.