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Nirvana — Orange and Blue
(Edsel Think Like a Key , 1996/2023, LP)

by Jon Davis, Published 2023-10-30

Orange and Blue Cover art

A couple of years ago, we covered the archival release of Nirvana’s 1967-72 recordings; this new release of Orange and Blue completes the story of this overlooked band. Songlife left off with some early-70s studio recordings that never saw the light of day at the time, and this album sees Patrick Campbell-Lyons and Alex Spyropoulos together working on some 60s-vintage tunes that never made it onto a Nirvana album along with some newer tunes, including a cover of “Lithium,” the song by that other band called Nirvana. These recordings date from the mid 90s, and are less elaborately orchestrated than The Story of Simon Simopath or All of Us, though they’re far from simple. Other than a listing for guitarist Keith Smart, it’s unclear who is playing the music — some of the drums sound like they could be programmed, and the impression is often of very elaborate demos rather than fully-realized studio recordings (one, “My Little Red Book” is noticeably lower quality than the rest). That being said, the songs are good enough to deserve exposure. The title track is a fun slice of psychedelic rock with harpsichord, sitar, and tabla spicing up the arrangement. Their version of “Lithium” takes the grunge classic and augments it with strings, keyboards, and backing vocals, showing that the distance between Kurt Cobain and psychedelia isn’t as far as one might imagine. “Lost in Space,” “Stone in the Water,” and “Do You Dream?” are all great songs, illustrating that Campbell-Lyons and Spyropoulos were a great team. It’s still a shame that they never got the recognition they deserved during their initial run, but it’s fortunate for us today that their catalog is readily available.

Filed under: Reissues, 2023 releases, 1996 recordings

Related artist(s): Nirvana

More info
http://thinklikeakey.bandcamp.com/album/orange-blue-2023-remaster

 

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