NIRVANA – Orange & Blue

Edsel 1996 / Think Like A Key 2023

NIRVANA –
Orange & Blue

Fresh fruits from a little British ensemble that refuse to be conscripted to history.

In the last couple of decades a lot has been done to extract this collective from cultish obscurity and restore their status as creators of a first rock-opera, so the listener’s interest in what Patrick Campbell-Lyons and Alex Spyropoulos did in the ’60s is spiked lately not only by the out-of-court settlement with a certain Seattle trio who stole their name but by their actual music – from “The Story Of Simon Simopath” to the forgotten "Black Flower" to the previously unreleased material gathered here. Reissued on colored vinyl now, of the titular varieties, that makes it possible to spin the band’s entire output at 33 1/3 rpm, and on CD that adds alternative mixes to a few tracks to contextualize the album, “Orange & Blue” would become the duo’s only new full-length offering in a new century – and stand the test of time.

For the most part culled from 1980 and 1995 sessions when, in the company of Keith Smart on bass, Alex and Patrick updated their early material that didn’t suit the style of the band’s old platters, while adding a smattering of freshly composed pieces such as the situation-assessing, gorgeously contemporary ballad “What Are We Gonna Do Now?” as well as confusing grunge aficionados by laying down Kurt Cobain’s “Lithium” in their own vibrant, patchouli-scented way. Yet while the record’s title track brings about a tangible buzz with its riff-ruffled instrumental bedrock and effect-washed vocals which spread sunlit harmonies all around the bluegrass-to-raga backdrop, beyond a spoken word bridge and a sitar solo, the piano-rippled folk fantasies of “Stone In The Water” float close to the duo’s classic, pop-baroque template, and the harpsichord-spiced, faux-orchestral “As Long As I Can See You” is obviously rooted in their past, as is “My Little Red Book” with its patinated sonics. Still, whereas the woodwind-waving “Busy Man” – Spyropoulos and Campbell-Lyons’ first-ever joint effort – flaunts playful, cinematic simplicity, as do “Do You Dream?” with its ska-tinctured spaghetti-western twang and “Allison Smith” with its paisley aura, “Lost In Space” must be their finest sci-fi groover – a timeless one.

Same could also be said of the strings-and-synthesizers-drenched “The Face At The Window” if its cosmic flow didn’t feel as alluringly and tremulously retrofuturistic, but the flute-fluttering drift “Our Love Is The Sea” is the duo’s soft embracement of eternity. Eternity that this little ensemble deservedly belong to.

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August 27, 2023