| The Story of Simon Simopath | |
| Type: | Studio |
| Artist: | Nirvana |
| Cover: | SimonSimopath.jpg |
| Recorded: | Early 1967 |
| Studio: | Pye, London |
| Genre: |
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| Label: | Island |
| Producer: | Chris Blackwell |
| Next Title: | All of Us |
| Next Year: | 1968 |
The Story of Simon Simopath is the debut album by British psychedelic band Nirvana, released by Island Records in 1967. Described by Melody Makers Chris Welch as a "science fiction pantomime album", the songs are linked with a story on the back cover which details the dream of Simon Simopath to fly.[1] In constructing a narrative storyline to connect the songs, The Story of Simon Simopath can be considered the very first full-length rock opera, predating both The Pretty Things' December 1968 entry S.F. Sorrow and The Who's May 1969 release Tommy by over a year. "Pentecost Hotel" was released as a single with the non-album b-side, "Feelin' Shattered". "Wings of Love" was the next single, also with a non-album b-side, "Requiem to John Coltrane". "Girl in the Park", from the second album, All of Us, featured the b-side, "C Side In Ocho Rios", which is an instrumental version of "In the Courtyard of the Stars".
On the back cover is a text story, "The Story of Simon Simopath: A Science Fiction Pantomime", which links the song titles. It deals with a boy named Simon Simopath who dreams of having wings.[2] He is lonely,[3] and after reaching adulthood goes to work in a "computer office block".[4] He suffers a nervous breakdown and is unable to find help in a mental institution, but gets aboard a rocket and meets a centaur who will be his friend and a tiny goddess named Magdalena, who works at Pentecost Hotel. Simon and Magdalena fall in love and get married, followed by a jazzy party.
The title of the album is a possible reference to William Burroughs' novel Naked Lunch, which coins the word simopath to describe several escapees from a mental institution. In this context, the word refers to 'a citizen convinced he is an ape or other citizen'.[5]
In a retrospective review on AllMusic, Stewart Mason feels that the "unashamedly twee early concept album", with its "deliberately childlike tone", despite being "a collection of unconnected songs forced together" in a "rather silly story", is a "uniformly solid set of well-constructed psych-pop tunes".[6]
The Story of Simon Simopath was selected for The MOJO Collection as one of the most significant albums in musical history.[7]
The 2003 Universal Island Remasters collection includes both stereo and mono versions of the album on one disc. This release contains several bonus tracks:
All songs composed by Patrick Campbell-Lyons and Alex Spyropoulos
Production