Buying the albums sampled on “You Can All Join In”.
Today we continue with “Melanie Blue”‘s notes in the CD insert, for what will be the very last time.
“Alex and Patrick had been working on the material for a third album, but with the bulk of the work committed to tape, Blackwell summoned them to his house in Fillmore Gardens, Kensington, to discuss the album. Blackwell likened the the recordings, unkindly, as being like Michelle Legrande’s A Man & A Woman! He didn’t want to release it on Island, but the pair were were free to take their tapes elsewhere.
“A new deal was put together with the Los Angeles based Metromedia label, who in turn licensed the finished LP entitled To Markos III to Pye International in the UK. Pye were about to distribute the LP in the UK when Metromedia went bust. Everything stopped dead in its tracks. Burnt out and frustrated, Alex split for Greece, and Patrick re-thought his immediate future. He wanted to keep the spirit of Nirvana alive, and was determined to continue, which he did through a series of A&R positions on various labels. The Nirvana story from “All Of Us” onwards continues on the re-issues of that LP and “To Markos III”.
“So welcome to the crazy world of pop music, pantomime and psychedelia. Nirvana were giants in their own world, amongst those who followed and adored them, but they hardly ever reached beyond those elusive boundaries. They resisted pressure to “sell-out” and they refused to compromise their art, despite record company interference. Now the true story can be told and hopefully these recordings will be cherished alongside rock’s best.
Melanie Blue”
The notes are not dated, but the CD was compiled in 2003, so I guess the notes were written in that year too. The identity of the author remains a bit of a mystery; will the real Melanie Blue please stand up?
Anyway, next time we start on the music on this remarkable record.
Tagged: Fillmore Gardens, Kensington, Los Angeles, Metromedia, Michelle Legrande's A Man & A Woman!, Pye International
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