The name is an acronym for No-One Ever Really Dies: cosmic sentiments, perhaps, but here's the proof. 'In Search Of' is strange evidence that albums can be resurrected in subtly different forms, that songs can have their aesthetic genes scrambled into a supra-modified new shape.
For this, quite simply, is the second coming of N*E*R*D's debut, given a limited release last autumn in the UK and left sitting on the shelf in the group's native USA. Ostensibly, 'In Search Of' is the work of Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo who, as The Neptunes, have dominated rap, R&B and even pop production in the past couple of years. If The Neptunes' signature sound is a kind of bouncing, spindly, hyper-modern electro, however, the N*E*R*D project pushes them in an unexpected new direction: backwards to the '70s, and to the socially conscious black psychedelic rock patented by Sly Stone and George Clinton.
Here, though, is where the story gets complicated. Last year's original version of 'In Search Of' sought to generate edgy, grungy atmospheres digitally, an effective reprogramming of the rock ethic. But as soon as they'd finished the album, Williams and Hugo proclaimed themselves unhappy with it and embarked on re-recording the whole thing with a live band (the hitherto unknown Spymob).
So where once computers and drum machines mimicked 'proper' rock postures, now real instruments do the job themselves. The Kelis-fronted 'Truth Or Dare' this time sounds less like a futurist reconfiguration of Led Zeppelin's 'Kashmir' and more like, well, 'Kashmir'. Staccato synth riffing is replaced by guitars that vaguely adopt the manners of nu-metal. Intricate little melodies are now rendered as suspiciously jazzy guitar solos. All of which makes 'In Search Of' still a fine, freakish album, just a slightly more assimilable one.
Old school values and equipment can't completely obliterate genius, of course. 'Provider' and 'Run To The Sun' remain delirious psych-pop anthems, reminiscent of The Isley Brothers at their most sun-dappled and morally righteous. But the question still nags: Why? One can only conclude that even The Neptunes have become a little irritated by their trademark sound, and that what is good enough for their countless mainstream clients is no longer good enough for them. The weird irony is that, in trying to be more radical, they've actually ended up sounding fractionally more conservative. And if you're lucky enough to have the original version of 'In Search Of', you don't just own a sure-to-be-valuable collectors' classic, you also have the better album.
