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Nirvana had been around the London music scene since the late 60's, creating psychedelia albums of cult status. By the time of recording Local Anaesthetic, Nirvana had slimmed down to a one man project - founder Patrick Campbell-Lyons. In the original album notes that accompany the CD he states that this album marked the real birth of Nirvana, although it was 'mentally un-balanced'. It was released on the Vertigo label, and if you are familiar with the Vertigo band Gracious, then you'll have an idea of how this album sounds. It's composed of 2 tracks, although the second has been broken into it's 5 component parts on the CD track listing. The first track 'Modus Operandi' has been built up from various musical snippets, similar in approach to the first Gracious album. A soft flute passage will suddenly jump into a boogie rock piece, and then cut to some harpsichord, with no real musical theme connecting any of the different elements. This doesn't necessarily have to be a criticism if the different elements grab your attention, but too much of the music in Modus Operandi just passes you by. It should also be said that Patrick isn't a great vocalist. Again not necessarily a criticism in itself, as some of my most favourite singers from the 70's didn't exactly fit the normal classic vocalist role - but the sections with lyrics feel as if they bog down the inventiveness of some of the instrumental passages.
And this theme continues into the second track Home. It starts with some fabulous almost voodoo sounding congo drums. Then stops. And a harpsichord comes in for no obvious reason, followed by Patrick on vocals again. Unfortunately the greater use of vocals and a more structured song based approach actually makes Home the weaker of the two tracks, in my humble opinion.
Tracklist:
1. Modus Operandi (16:15)
2. Home (19:12)
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