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Nirvana | |
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| Origin | London, England |
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Nirvana are a pop rock band formed in London in 1966. [1] [2] In 1985, the band reformed. Members of the band sued the American band Nirvana over the usage of the name, reaching an out-of-court settlement. [3]
Nirvana was created as the performing arm of the London-based songwriting partnership of Irish musician Patrick Campbell-Lyons and Greek composer Alex Spyropoulos (born George Alex Spyropoulos, 1941, Athens) and English producer Ray Singer (born 1946). On their recordings, Campbell-Lyons, Ray Singer and Spyropoulos supplied all the vocals. Campbell-Lyons contributed on guitars, and Spyropoulos contributed on some keyboards. Musically, Campbell-Lyons and Spyropoulos blended rock, pop, folk, jazz, Latin rhythms and classical music, primarily augmented by baroque chamber-style arrangements.
In October 1967, they released their first album, a concept album produced by Chris Blackwell titled The Story of Simon Simopath . [4] The album was one of the first narrative concept albums ever released, predating story-driven concept albums such as Pretty Things's S.F. Sorrow (December 1968), The Who's Tommy (April 1969) and The Kinks's Arthur (September 1969). Island Records launched Nirvana's first album "with a live show at the Saville Theatre, sharing a bill with fellow label acts Traffic, Spooky Tooth, and Jackie Edwards." [5]
Unable to perform their songs live as a duo, Campbell-Lyons and Spyropoulos decided to create a live performing ensemble, the Nirvana Ensemble, and recruited four musicians. [6] Though hired to be part of the live performance group rather than as band members, these four musicians were also included in the photograph alongside the core duo on the album cover of their first album to assist in projecting an image of a group rather than a duo. However, within a few months, Nirvana had reverted to its original two-person lineup. The four musicians who augmented Campbell-Lyons and Spyropoulos on their live appearances and television shows for those few months were Ray Singer (guitar), Brian Henderson (bass), Sylvia A. Schuster (cello) and Michael Coe (French horn, viola). Sue and Sunny also participated in providing their vocals. [7]
The band appeared on French television with Salvador Dalí, who splashed black paint on them during a performance of their third single, "Rainbow Chaser". Campbell-Lyons kept the jacket but regretted that Dalí did not sign any of their paint-splashed clothes. Island Records allegedly sent the artist an invoice for the cleaning of Schuster's cello. [8]
Following the minor chart success of "Rainbow Chaser", "live appearances became increasingly rare" and the songwriting duo at the core of Nirvana "decided to disband the sextet" and to rely on session musicians for future recordings. [5] Spyropoulos cited Schuster's departure due to pregnancy as the instigator for the band returning to its core membership. Campbell-Lyons also cited the high cost of having the additional members as a reason for their departure. [9] Schuster later became the principal cellist of the BBC Symphony Orchestra. [10]
In 1968, Nirvana recorded their second album, All of Us, which featured a similar broad range of musical styles as their first album. After the release of the album, Ray Singer left the group to produce Peter Sarstedt.
Their third album, Black Flower, was rejected by Blackwell, who compared it disparagingly to Francis Lai's A Man and a Woman . Under the title To Markos III (supposedly named for a "rich uncle" of Spyropoulos who helped finance the album), it was released in the UK on the Pye label in May 1970, though reportedly only 250 copies were pressed and it was deleted shortly after. One track, "Christopher Lucifer", was a jibe at Blackwell. [11]
In 1971, the duo separated, with Campbell-Lyons the primary contributor to the next two Nirvana albums, Local Anaesthetic (1971), and Songs of Love And Praise (1972), the latter featuring the return of Sylvia Schuster. Campbell-Lyons subsequently worked as a solo artist and issued further albums: Me and My Friend (1973), The Electric Plough (1981), and The Hero I Might Have Been (1983).
The duo[ further explanation needed ] reunited in 1985, touring Europe and releasing a compilation album, Black Flower (Bam-Caruso, 1987). (Black Flower had been the original planned title of their third album.) In the 1990s, two further albums were released. Secret Theatre (1994) and Orange and Blue (1996), which contained previously unreleased material, including a flower-power cover of the song "Lithium" originally recorded by the Seattle grunge band of the same name, Nirvana. According to the band's official website, this was intended as part of a tongue-in-cheek album called Nirvana Sings Nirvana that was aborted when lead singer Kurt Cobain died. When the recording was presented on the Orange and Blue album, Campbell-Lyons's liner notes treated it seriously and with allusion to Heathcliff from Wuthering Heights . Also, according to the website, the band still wanted to open for Hole even after Cobain's death.[ citation needed ]
The original group filed a lawsuit in California against the Seattle grunge band in 1992. The matter was settled out of court on undisclosed terms that apparently allowed both bands to continue using the name and issuing new recordings without any packaging disclaimers or caveats to distinguish one Nirvana from the other. Music writer Everett True has claimed that Cobain's record label paid $100,000 to the original Nirvana to permit Cobain band's continued use of the name. [12]
In 1999, they released a three-disc CD anthology titled Chemistry, including twelve previously unreleased tracks and some new material. Their first three albums were reissued on CD by Universal Records in 2003. In 2005, Universal (Japan) reissued Local Anaesthetic and Songs of Love And Praise. In 2018, a new album was released on the Island label Rainbow Chaser: The 60s Recordings (The Island Years), which featured the first two albums in a double CD package, featuring 52 tracks with 27 previously unreleased outtakes, demos and alternative versions.
The group were in the school of baroque-flavoured, melodic pop-rock music typified by the Beach Boys of Pet Sounds and God Only Knows , the Zombies of Odessey and Oracle and Time of the Season . The majority of the tracks on Nirvana's albums fell into the broad genre of contemporary popular music, sometime described as chamber strand of progressive rock, soft rock or orchestral pop and chamber pop. [13]
The Nirvana song "Rainbow Chaser" is thought to be the first-ever British recording to feature the audio effect known as phasing or flanging throughout an entire track, as distinct from occasionally within a song such as the Small Faces in "Itchycoo Park". Phasing was, by 1967, identified with psychedelia, and "Rainbow Chaser" achieved number 34 in UK Singles Chart during May 1968. [14]
Nirvana's producers, arrangers, engineers and mixers included:
Mike Weighell also contributed at the beginning of the 1970s. Others who worked on production with Nirvana include Muff Winwood (formerly of the Spencer Davis Group); arranger/producer Mike Hurst, who worked with Jimmy Page, Cat Stevens, Manfred Mann, the Spencer Davis Group, Colin Blunstone; and arranger Johnny Scott, who arranged for the Hollies and subsequently scored films such as The Shooting Party and Greystoke .
Top musicians who played on Nirvana sessions include Lesley Duncan, Big Jim Sullivan, Herbie Flowers, Billy Bremner (later of Rockpile/Dave Edmunds fame), Luther Grosvenor, Clem Cattini and the full lineup of rock band Spooky Tooth. Patrick Joseph Kelly (keyboards) also co-wrote the "Modus Operandi" track on the Local Anaesthetic album.
Nirvana was an American rock band formed in Aberdeen, Washington, in 1987. Founded by lead singer and guitarist Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic, the band went through a succession of drummers, most notably Chad Channing, before recruiting Dave Grohl in 1990. Nirvana's success popularized alternative rock, and they were often referenced as the figurehead band of Generation X. Despite a short mainstream career spanning only three years, their music maintains a popular following and continues to influence modern rock culture.
Incesticide is a compilation album by the American rock band Nirvana. It consists of their 1990 non-album single "Sliver", B-sides, demos, outtakes, cover versions, and radio broadcast recordings, and as such is not the official follow-up to the band's breakthrough album, Nevermind. The album was released on December 14, 1992, in Europe, and December 15, 1992, in the United States. It eventually reached number 39 on the Billboard 200.
Bleach is the debut studio album by American rock band Nirvana, released on June 15, 1989, by Sub Pop. After the release of their debut single "Love Buzz" on Sub Pop in November 1988, Nirvana rehearsed for two to three weeks in preparation for recording a full-length album. The main recording sessions for Bleach took place at Reciprocal Recording in Seattle, Washington between December 1988 and January 1989. It is the only Nirvana album released on the Sub Pop label and their only studio album to feature drummer Chad Channing.
From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah is a live album by American rock band Nirvana, released on October 1, 1996 by DGC Records. It features live performances recorded from 1989 to 1994.
Nirvana is a greatest hits album by the American rock band Nirvana, released on October 29, 2002. It was the third Nirvana album released following the death of lead singer and guitarist Kurt Cobain in 1994.
"Sliver" is a song by the American rock band Nirvana, written by vocalist and guitarist Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic. It was first released as a non-album single by the band's then record label, Sub Pop, in the United States in September 1990, and by Tupelo in Britain in January 1991. The same recording was re-released on the compilation album Incesticide by DGC in December 1992, and a new music video, directed by Kevin Kerslake, was released in May 1993.
You Can All Join In is a budget priced sampler album, released in the UK by Island Records in 1968. It was priced at 14 shillings and 6 pence (£0.72), and reached no. 18 on the UK Albums Chart that year.
"Drain You" is a song by American rock band Nirvana, written by vocalist and guitarist, Kurt Cobain. It is the eighth track on their second album, Nevermind, released in September 1991. The song was released as a promotional single in late 1991, and also appeared as a b-side on UK retail editions of the first single from that album, "Smells Like Teen Spirit".
"Blew" is a song by American rock band Nirvana, written by vocalist and guitarist Kurt Cobain. It is the first song on the band's debut album Bleach, released in June 1989 by Sub Pop.
Fecal Matter was a punk rock band from Aberdeen, Washington. The group was formed in 1985 by Kurt Cobain, the future frontman of Nirvana, along with Dale Crover of the Melvins and drummer Greg Hokanson. Melvins members Buzz Osborne and Mike Dillard appeared in a later version of the band during rehearsals the following year. The band was short-lived, disbanding in 1986.
"Polly" is a song by the American rock band Nirvana, written by vocalist and guitarist Kurt Cobain. It is the sixth song on their second album Nevermind, released by DGC Records in September 1991.
"Been a Son" is a song by the American rock band Nirvana, written by vocalist and guitarist Kurt Cobain. It was originally released on the Blew EP in November 1989, which charted at number 15 on the UK Indie Singles chart.
"Scentless Apprentice" is a song by the American rock band Nirvana, written by vocalist and guitarist Kurt Cobain, drummer Dave Grohl, and bassist Krist Novoselic. It is the second track on their third and final studio album In Utero, released in September 1993.
Patrick Campbell-Lyons, is an Irish composer and musician who is one half of the cult symphonic-rock band, Nirvana, formed in London in 1967.
The Story of Simon Simopath is the debut album by British psychedelic band Nirvana, released by Island Records in 1967. Described by Melody Maker's Chris Welch as a "science fiction pantomime album", the songs are linked with a story on the back cover which details the dream of Simon Simopath to fly. In constructing a narrative storyline to connect the songs, The Story of Simon Simopath can be considered the very first full-length rock opera, predating both The Pretty Things' December 1968 entry S.F. Sorrow and The Who's May 1969 release Tommy by over a year. "Pentecost Hotel" was released as a single with the non-album b-side, "Feelin' Shattered". "Wings of Love" was the next single, also with a non-album b-side, "Requiem to John Coltrane". "Girl in the Park", from the second album, All of Us, featured the b-side, "C Side In Ocho Rios", which is an instrumental version of "In the Courtyard of the Stars".
July are a psychedelic rock band from Ealing, London that was professionally active between 1968 and 1969, and reformed in 2009. The band's music was a blend of psychedelic rock and psychedelic pop, marked by lush harmonies, acoustic guitars, keyboards, and intricate lead guitar work. Although none of the band's records charted in the UK or the U.S., July are today best remembered for their songs "My Clown", "Dandelion Seeds", and "The Way", which have all been included on a number of compilation albums over the years.
"Dive" is a song by the American rock band Nirvana, written by vocalist and guitarist Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic. It was released as the B-side to the band's second single, "Sliver" in September 1990. The same version was re-released as the opening track on the compilation album The Grunge Years in 1991, and again on the Nirvana rarities compilation, Incesticide, in December 1992.
The existence of chance is everything and nothing while the greatest achievement is the living of life, and so say ALL OF US, or simply All of Us, is the second studio album released by the British psychedelic rock band Nirvana. The album was released in 1968.
"Spank Thru" is a song by the American rock band Nirvana, written by vocalist and guitarist Kurt Cobain. It appears on the compilation album Sub Pop 200, released in December 1988.
"I Hate Myself and Want to Die" is a song by the American rock band Nirvana, written by vocalist and guitarist Kurt Cobain. It was first released in November 1993 as the first track on The Beavis and Butt-Head Experience compilation album which peaked at number 5 on the Billboard 200.
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