Chasing Rainbows

Psychedelic pop really is my thing. That, and bubblegum pop. Also, I can’t resist power pop.. power pop perhaps from the 90s? Combine all these and wow.. The music I’m going to describe now isn’t however power pop or bubblegum. It’s psychedelic, orchestrated pop from the 60s.

I found this UK-based band Nirvana maybe a year ago when I was looking for good sunshine pop. The group was founded in 1967 by Greek-born Alex Spyropoulos and Irish-born Patrick Campbell-Lyons. At that time, symphonic pop was popular and it shows in Nirvana’s early music. Later the band went on to make more progressive rock-styled music. They have never been very successful commercially but if you ask me, they should have been. I think they are a more interesting band than Kurt Cobain’s Nirvana – especially because I’m a person who loves melody-oriented baroque-psychedelia to pieces.

All of Us is Nirvana’s second album, released in 1968. It is a very good album filled with lovely psychedelic soft pop songs. It sounds to me like a combination of The Beatles’ more baroque-symphonic work and Sagittarius. One of my favourite songs is the opening track Rainbow Chaser, a brilliant tune with magnificently dramatic violins and trumpets. The song also has great melodies, and excellent female choir vocals, like many other songs on the album.

Tiny Goddess combines peacefulness with melancholy in an extremely beautiful way. The Touchables (All of Us) and Melanie Blue do approximately the same thing. Trapeze is probably my most favourite song of the album – you can’t go wrong with such a catchy, magical melody. Miami Masquarade is also really catchy, and the same is true of Girl in the Park, Frankie the Great, and practically every other song, too. The four bonus tracks are also very good.

This album is a true gem for anyone who likes symphonic pop with some psychedelia. I love this album so much that I think I’ll get more albums from the band!

Rainbow Chaser (YouTube)
Tiny Goddess (YouTube)
Show Must Go on (instrumental song, YouTube)