Recorded in 1969 the original Metromedia album was withdrawn on release.
This reissue [c] + [p] Universal Island Records Ltd., 2003.
01. The World Is Cold Without You
02. Excerpt From "The Blind & The Beautiful"
03. I Talk To My Room
04. Christopher Lucifer
05. Aline Cherie
06. Tres, Tres Bien
07. It Happened Two Sundays Ago
08. Black Flower
09. Love Suite
10. Illinois
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Produced by Chris Thomas and Remixed by Mike Hurst
Written and Performed by Alex Spyropoulos and Patrick Campbell-Lyons
Arrangements by: Mike Vickers, Johnny Scott, Tony Visconti & Alex Spyropoulos
A Mike Hurst Production for Active Records Ltd.
Special Thanks to: Tiff at A.I.R. London, Spooky Tooth, Lesley Duncan,
Billy Bremner and Mike at Pan Studios
"Nirvana - a place or state characterized by freedom from or
oblivion to pain, worry and the external world. Nirvana - a blowing out."
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REVIEW: Buried Treasure - Nirvana 'Dedicated to Markos III'
If there is a grander, more beautiful psychedelic LP than Nirvana's Dedicated To Markos III, then I wanna know about it. The Irish/Greek pairing of Campbell-Lyons and Spyropoulos made the sweetest melancholia in Old Blighty, filled with full-on orchestrations that would make Morricone and Alexrod weep and melodies so fine that it actually makes you want every other band to just pack up and go home.
Nirvana (of course I don't mean that Nirvana you clot) had reached incredible musical heights with Tiny Goddess, Rainbow Chaser, The Girl In The Park and Lonely Boy, but nothing could prepare those who heard the majesty of the Markos III LP. If any album fits the bill of 'why on Earth wasn't this a huge hit?' this is the one... although... in saying that, once heard, you don't want to share it with any old dickhead.
From the off, Markos III is a phenomenal long player. The World Is Cold Without you is everything you could ever want from a song. No. Scratch that. 'A song' it ain't. It's a mini symphony. It's overdriven drums rattle along loosely under overblown sike-strings whilst the chorus makes every single hair on your head, back and arms stand on end. In the dying throes of the spectacular finale, you breathlessly tell yourself that there is no way this album can keep it up. It's too good. It's a track that makes you cuss and cry straight back to the deck or CD tray for a replay.
As each track rolls by with great cinematic sweeps and broad paint strokes, it's clear that this was a band on top of there game and making some of the most incredible music ever cut to wax. It may sound like I'm overdoing, but if you've heard the album, you'll know... you'll just know. It seems unfair that Pet Sounds should get all the plaudits when it comes to far reaching inventive emotive pop. Nirvana at their best outstrip the two dimensional sounds of Wilson. He copied Spector, Nirvana were without peer. This is an LP that deals with real loneliness and rejection in an adult way that Wilson was simply far too fucked on acid to be able to cope with. You need to be a real man (or woman obviously) to be able to take this album. It's so magnificent that it actually drains you. When I Talk To My Room thunders in, you recall the toytown In My Room by The Beach Boys. Whilst Wilson and Co. wistfully look out of rainy windows, Nirvana are outside in the rain screaming at the sky with their life in tatters.
Nirvana were clearly a band with huge balls. Their Christopher Lucifer, on the surface, sounds for all the world like a Biblical diatribe about the perils of the devil. Scratch the skin and underneath is a vicious attack on Chris Blackwell, spod at Island records (Nirvana resided in the classic 'Island Pink' roster) who shafted the band with a lack of funds and time. He wanted to know where the singles were... Nirvana had just created the most ambitious and elaborate psychedelic LP ever cut. Where's the problem?
Aside from the dramatic crashing dramas that unfold throughout this LP, the band were just as adept at creating gentle and sublime pop. Aline Cherie is a lilting song full of mourning and yearning. It's heart-breaking. It could almost be the soundtrack to a long lost forgotten film from the forties. It manages to stop short of saccharine by throwing in some truly haunting melodies. Love Suite is another sweet baroque pop masterpiece. At first glance, it's a simple girl-boy love song. Again, looking closer, you'll find sorrow, regret, missed chances, hope. It manages to contain more ideas in its three or so minutes than your average film can muster in a couple of hours. It's as close to perfect as music gets.
Black Flower is the dark twisted centre piece of the LP. Far from the catchiest and most accessible tune on Markos III, Black Flower is an exercise in pure evil. Dark dramatic strings ferociously clatter through deceptively sweet verses. The chorus is a vast wall of sound that sees "Look at the people down below!" rasping and cutting through horns, keys and orchestra before breaking into fuzzed guitars. It's incredible stuff. This is one of those LPs that continually fails to get the plaudits it so richly deserves. With each listen, more of this album's buried treasure is revealed. You honestly cannot live without it. It is the highest watermark set by a pop album to date.
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My note: This is a so-so sounding needle-drop and perhaps the same one that's been available on older CD's, so the bit about this disc being "Remastered" might be slightly misleading. Why they can't dig out the master tapes or at least do a proper vinyl transfer is beyond me... It's a great album, though!
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