Songwriters Patrick Campbell-Lyons (b. Dublin, Eire) and George Alex Spyropoulos (b. Athens, Greece) met in La Gioconda, a legendary coffee bar in Denmark Street, London. Prior to that Campbell-Lyons had been a member of the Teenbeats and had covered the familiar territory of seedy clubs in Holland and Germany. Spyropoulos was working at Kassners music publishers, also in Denmark Street. Having established an instant rapport, the duo formed a group, adding Ray Singer (guitar), Brian Henderson (bass), Michael Coe (viola, French horn) and Sylvia Schuster (cello). The quintet, dubbed Nirvana, secured a recording contract with Island Records after impressing producer Jimmy Miller who in turn influenced Chris Blackwell. They made their official debut in 1967, supporting Traffic, Jackie Edwards and Spooky Tooth at the Saville Theatre, London (owned at that time by Brian Epstein).
Their exotic debut, The Story Of Simon Simopath, was an episodic fairytale. It emerged in a startlingly colourful cover, featuring a winged child and miniature goddess and centaur, surrounded by stars, planets and three-dimensional block typography. A kitsch concept album that billed itself as a ‘science-fiction pantomime’, the mock libretto told of the hero’s journey from a six-dimensional city to a nirvana filled with sirens. Although the songs generally lacked the weight of their epochal singles, there were some charming moments. It contained the haunting ‘Pentecost Hotel’, a fragile, orchestrated ballad that brought the group critical approval and was a hit in Europe. The classical gentle mood was perfect for the times. The Alan Bown Set covered the singalong ‘We Can Help You’, which received considerable airplay, but narrowly failed to chart.
Nirvana themselves were plugged by several discriminating disc jockeys but in spite of the innovative qualities of their singles, the group fell tantalizingly short of a major breakthrough. Campbell-Lyons and Spyropoulos then disbanded the group format and completed a second set as a duo. This melodic collection featured several of Nirvana’s finest songs, including ‘Tiny Goddess’ and ‘Rainbow Chaser’. The latter was a powerhouse phased-production, typical of Nirvana’s grandiose majesty, and became a minor UK hit in 1968. That same year a strong album followed with All Of Us.
The group’s career had already begun to falter when Island rejected Black Flower, which was subsequently released by Pye Records under the title To Markos III. The album was placed with an American company which then went into liquidation. Spyropoulos dropped out of the partnership and moved into film work, leaving his colleague with the rights to the Nirvana trademark. Having completed a fourth album, Local Anaesthetic, Campbell-Lyons became a producer with the Vertigo Records label, while recording Songs Of Love And Praise, a compendium of new songs and re-recorded Nirvana favourites. This release was the last to bear the group’s name.
Campbell-Lyons issued solo albums before reuniting with Spyropoulos in 1980 for a projected musical, Blood. In the 90s the duo worked together on a more permanent basis but remained very much a cult item, with their original vinyl albums fetching high prices. CD reissues have been released by Edsel Records with fascinating sleeve notes from Campbell-Lyons and more recently, expertly remastered reissues from Universal/Island.
