No, not that Nirvana. The original, British Nirvana. There's no way I can really talk about this group without sounding like a major hipster, but I like this Nirvana so, so much more. Were they as influential or notable? Hell no, but I was never a fan of grunge. Psychedelic twee-pop is more my jam.
Lots of things have been said about what the first real "concept" album was. Many people point to The Who's "Tommy" in 1969 but The Pretty Things' "S.F. Sorrow" was a full fledged rock opera released 6 months earlier. The problem was that Sorrow wasn't released in America until after Tommy was, so to Americans, the narrative was that The Pretty Things were just leeching off of the popularity of Tommy. It's interesting that no one points to the actual correct answer, Nirvana's "The Story of Simon Simopath". Perhaps it was because it was released 4 months after The Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band", and album which everyone and their dog said was a concept album even though John, Paul, George and Ringo said otherwise. It's concept was in the title, cover art and first few songs and that was it. It had a unifying theme and tone to it, but if you're listening to it for a story with a beginning and end, you're out of luck. Or perhaps it's because Nirvana was never setting the charts on fire in the late 60's. Their 1968 single "Rainbow Chaser" went to no. 34 in the UK Singles charts, but that was the extent of their commercial success, though it did go to No. 1 in Denmark. As much as the 1960's were about artistic and creative ambitions, the bottom line was still how many records you sell and since they didn't sell that many, they seem to be forgotten. Also, it's hard to bring up their name without evoking the group that became much more successful and influential with the same name, so people nowadays often forget the original group even existed.
This is a shame, as their music is always melodic, catchy and at times, really interesting and psychedelic. Sure, some of their stuff borders on saccharine, but most twee pop does. It's all love and sunshine and rainbows and you either like that or you don't. I understand people having an aversion to it if they're used to harder stuff. You're not going to get any acid-rock freakout jams with this record.
According to Wikipedia, the story of this album is, "The story deals with a boy named Simon Simopath who dreams of having wings. He is unpopular at school, and after reaching adulthood (in 1999) goes to work in an office in front of a computer. He suffers a nervous breakdown and is unable to find help in a mental institution, but gets aboard a rocket and meets a centaur who will be his friend and a tiny goddess named Magdalena, who works at Pentecost Hotel. Simon and Magdalena fall in love and get married, followed by a jazzy party". Now, I've listened to this album countless times and never got the full gist of that. The story is told in a sort of haphazard way and it's hard to track down what's really going on, but that's not really important. There are times when a concept album is more story than music and you can tell making a grand cinematic statement is more important than writing a good record. It definitely seems at times like Nirvana wrote the songs and then came up with the story later. I think the story falls apart at times but the songs are well crafted enough that if you forgot you're supposed to be following a story they're still fun enough to enjoy.
I understand why the original Nirvana became basically a trivia answer for more educated fans of Cobain's group but it's a shame since Nirvana's music is nice, mellow and catchy and The Story of Simon Simopath is an important piece of the bridging gap between commercial pop and the artsier more progressive works that were beginning to come out.
Key Tracks: Wings of Love, Lonely Boy, We Can Help You, Satellite Jockey, Pentecost Hotel, 1999
And in the lobby, Magdalena is friendly
To all the people with a passport of insanity
And seven sirens are a-dancing to music
In Pentecost Hotel
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