February 23's rather wonderful 3.5-hour Kinks retrospective by Wild Honey Orchestra in Glendale reminded us why the late '60s keep poking out of the soil decade after decade like some unreplanted crocus volunteer. The fashion, the politics, the cinema, the art, sure. But the music surpassed all, as everyone from the Beatles to the Strawberry Alarm Clock was tapping vaudeville, classical, folk, Broadway, flamenco, blues, country, lieder, samba and whatever in a big sweat to make something new. A lot of it sounds dated now. But a lot of it just sounds creative.
Although the original U.K. Nirvana never attained stateside transcendence, the band grabbed a substantial European following with its blend of pop poetry, classical instrumentation and psychedelia. And co-leader Patrick Campbell-Lyons periodically reminds us not to ignore it.
Cunningly assembled by Kristian Hoffman, who directed the proceedings with typical unmerited self-deprecation from behind his keyboard, the band began with "Tiny Goddess," its unusual chord progressions and flying bridges augmented by the olympian sighs of backing vocalists Ursula Gueringer and Kristi Callan; Lyons sounded just as wistful as he did half a century ago about the absent lover who writes him letters in a language he can't read. Guitarist Pierre Smith, asked afterward how he achieved the acidy fuzz on numbers such as the peppy "Orange and Blue," just wiggled his fingertips. Drummer David Kendrick propelled the difficult changes of "I Believe in Magic" as a leprechaunish Lyons playfully threatened not to reveal his secrets. We could easily have missed the minor-chord menace that lurked behind Nirvana's biggest hit, "Rainbow Chaser," but Kim Serene's stalking bass wouldn't let us. If you thought the enlistment of Freddie Mullins to do nothing but play perfect tambourine in a Peter Tork bowl haircut and trippy jacket would have added little, you'd have been wrong.
Several audience members also paid tribute to the '60s with Carnaby attire (one sideburned, ruffle-cuffed dude looked exactly like Z-Man from Russ Meyer's "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls"), but the focus remained on the enduring quality of the songs. 75-year-old Lyons, who tends to smile only with his eyes, was beaming all over, like the magnificent double rainbow that had greeted his L.A. arrival a week before.
Music fans desiring to catch up on Nirvana are encouraged to seek out last year's beautifully packaged compilation "Rainbow Chaser: The '60s Recordings."
The duo of Weba Garretson & Ralph Gorodetsky closed with a precise distillation of their songwriting acuity, which mirrored Nirvana's in borderlessness if not in tone. With songs such as "Insambia" (jazz, tango, sleepless hysteria) and "In the Year of the Fire Monkey" (Arabic boogaloo, weird harmony), G&G defied genre and kept audience ears perked for the next surprise. The group's most basic configuration spotlighted the strengths on which they hang their fuller arrangements: imagination, tight vocal harmonies and contrapuntal interplay, with Garretson's spare keyboards bouncing off Gorodetsky's complex guitar lines. From duo to quintet, each G&G incarnation offers a vision worth seeing. Check their Bandcamp page here.
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RAINBOW PHOTOS BY DIANA DIAZ.