The band formed in Hamburg, Germany in 1969, members included Englishmen Roye Albrighton on guitars and vocals, Allan "Taff" Freeman on keyboards, Derek "Mo" Moore on bass, Ron Howden on drums, and Mick Brockett on lights, special effects and other miscellanea. Songwriting was always considered a group effort. The band's early albums such as Journey to the Centre of the Eye, ...Sounds Like This and A Tab in the Ocean were obscure psychedelic rock albums that won the band a small but growing cult following, based largely on word of mouth. The last of those albums was the first Nektar album to be released in the U.S., on the small Passport Records label. It was Nektar's second U.S. release, Remember the Future (1973), that propelled the band briefly into mass popularity. A concept album about a blind boy who communicates with an extraterrestrial being, the music was a big leap forward for the band with a much more melodic sound than on previous albums. It shot into the Top 20 album charts in the U.S. The follow up album, Down to Earth (1974), was another concept album with a circus theme; it also sold well, breaking into the Top 40 album charts and included Nektar's only song to chart on the Billboard singles charts, "Astral Man". The next album, Recycled (1975), was stylistically close to bands like Gentle Giant and is considered by many fans to be Nektar's finest moment.