THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,712) Nirvana — “Illinois”
Two expatriates in Swinging London — one from Ireland, one from Greece — as Nirvana (see #287, 391, 475, 1,238, 1,525) give us this pop psych masterpiece (along with all their other pop psych masterpieces), a “remarkable tour-de-force with a quite exceptional orchestral backing” (Softman, https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/nirvana/dedicated-to-markos-iii/), a “heartbreaking tale of a young man leaving his family to try and find work. The lyrics are full of hope, but you know he’s never coming back”. (Kimsganglion, https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/nirvana/dedicated-to-markos-iii/) This is nirvana to me.
Softman writes of the album — Dedicated to Marcos III/to Markos III:
This is quite simply a masterpiece – Patrick Campbell Lyons was never again to achieve such poise, maturity and sophistication in his songwriting. Given the quality of the songs and the smoothness of the production, it is something of a surprise to learn of this achingly beautiful album’s troubled history. Record-company machinations meant that – at its original time of creation – it was barely released, and sank without a trace. Talk about injustice! . . . For those not only with ears to hear, but with the pureness of heart to receive, To Markos III . . . is balm for the soul.
https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/nirvana/dedicated-to-markos-iii/
Mickebjorn adds:
[The LP has a] big and cool late 60s sound and . . . swooning melodicism . . . . Recorded over just three short days in between March and June 1969, it was originally intended as their third album on Island. Instead only a small number of copies appeared in 1969 on more or less instantly folding American label Metromedia, after the Island contract had been abruptly cancelled. A small number of copies were also released in Italy and Brazil, and in 1970 on Pye in the UK. . . . It appears that one of Alex’s cousins gave Nirvana money to remix the tapes on the condition that they dedicated the album to his son Markos who had a terminal disease. Although the original Metromedia release appears to have no visible title at all, the dedication to Markos III appears on the back sleeve just above the band name. However, on the Pye release, the record labels have Dedicated to Markos III printed on them. . . . [T]he music on this album is quite grand and rather unique. More continental (Francophile, even) than its 1969 peers in the UK, it has a cinematic sheen and combines sweeping orchestral arrangements with some quite dramatic and well-written pop songs. It also benefits from being less naive than Nirvana’s earlier material.
https://popgruppen.com/2018/05/28/nirvana-and-the-black-flower-confusion/
As does ClemofNazareth:
Nirvana’s third album pretty much spelled the end for the band . . . . [It was] originally recorded for Island Records’ Chris Blackwell [with] the working title Black Flower, but Blackwell rejected the project as too derivative and declined to release it. The duo secured funding, reportedly from a family member of Spyropoulos, and issued a limited run titled Dedicated to Markos III on the Pye Records label in 1970, which may have been intended only as a promo. There was also an Americas release on Metromedia Records around the same time. This is the same label that was an experiment on music promotion by the MetroMedia communications conglomerate. The label never managed to properly promote any of their acts . . . . The only act they did manage to succeed with was the pop icon Bobby Sherman. The label folded not long after their Nirvana release . . . . [It] is a cohesive album of sorts, with most of the tracks centering on themes of love, love lost, and yearning. One exception is the West Coast pop-psych sounding “Christopher Lucifer” which was supposedly written in response to Chris Blackwell’s refusal to release the album.
Patrick Campbell-Lyons said of the LP “Dark moments of melancholy riding on orchestral progressive rock” and Alex Spyropoulos said that “[w]ith this album we reached maturity both musically and lyrically.” (https://www.psychedelicbabymag.com/2021/03/nirvana-interview-songlife-the-vinyl-box-set-1967-1972.html)
David Wells writes that “Nirvana’s sound involves “mystical, gently romantic lyrics . . . [with a] breathy falsetto and a gorgeous combination of soft psych/pop melodic flair and baroque-flavoured arrangements that incorporated the use of cello and French horn.” (Record Collector: 100 Greatest Psychedelic Records: High Times and Strange Tales from Rock’s Most Mind-Blowing Era)
Steven McDonald sketches the band’s early history:
Nirvana appeared in 1967, starting as a six-piece led by Patgrick Campbell-Lyon from Ireland, and Alex Spyropoulos from Greece. They were quickly signed to the fledgling Island label, which had formed out of Chris Blackwell’s street-level R&B and rocksteady label operations, when Blackwell recognized a need to hook into the exploding psychedelic genre of the time. The first LP to emerge was the science-fiction concept album, The Story of Simon Simopath, which yielded their second single, “Pentecost Hotel” [see #287] (their first and third singles appeared on the follow-up, All of Us). The band’s early performances yielded something of an audience, but this did not translate into explosive sales in England or America, though the band achieved some success in Europe. Winnowing down to the core duo of Campbell-Lyons and Spyropoulos, Nirvana continued to release singles from All of Us, with the title track [see #1,525] going on to be selected as the theme song for The Touchables, while “Rainbow Chaser,” [see #1,238] an almost-hit, came to be considered a classic psychedelic outing.
https://www.allmusic.com/artist/nirvana-mn0000355142#biography
Let me sprinkle some Oregano:
Nirvana, the nonchalantly enigmatic duo of Patrick Campbell-Lyons and Alex Spyropoulos . . . . releas[ed] a brace of the most airily accessible and mercilessly hooky albums to have floated into being in the culturally charged domain of 1967 and ’68, without sacrificing a neutrino of integrity. . . . [We must] ponder anew why Nirvana didn’t make a deeper impression on the malleable hearts of the record-buying public. They fared rather better in mainland Europe, admittedly, where their billowing, romantic, sumptuously arranged and gracefully baroque compositions were tailor-made for trailing fingers in petal-strewn lakes on warm nights and contemplating Greco-Roman statuary. Nevertheless, their comparatively brief entry in the historical record remains mystifying when they were the perfect panacea for intense times. [A]n ambrosial, benevolent air blew over them and lightly draped a paisley pattern over most everything they recorded. Theirs was a sonic picture unassailed by acid horrors . . . . For the most part, this was sweet-natured, serenely uplifting mood music for the watering of ferns and the lighting of joss sticks; and even in the hard light of 1968, when the compass-overboard hedonism of the previous year had tipped over into revolution, riots and a return to rock, you still had the option of sinking into Nirvana’s plushly-upholstered sound cave of incense, patchouli, silks and satins after a hard day at the barricades.
Was that a bit tongue-in-cheek? Who knows, but don’t bogart the patchouli.
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