"Excrement filters through the brain, hatred bends the spine, filth covers the body pores,
to be cleansed by dying time."
to be cleansed by dying time."
Nico's fateful first meeting with Andy Warhol in early 1966 was orchestrated by Rolling Stones guitarist Brian Jones, who had been instrumental in helping Nico jump-start her music career by putting her in touch with Stones producer Andrew Loog Oldham, resulting in the Jimmy Page-produced "I'm Not Sayin' / Last Mile" single. Warhol and his Factory entourage (including Gerard Malanga and Edie Sedgwick) had been in Paris in May 1965 for Warhol's exhibition of flower paintings, during which Malanga, at the behest of Jones, met with Nico and was impressed enough to give her the Factory's phone number. When Nico arrived in New York City at the beginning of 1966 to sign a modeling contract with the Ford Modeling Agency, she wasted little time in calling the number. Andy Warhol: "She called us from a Mexican restaurant and we went right over to meet her. She was sitting at a table with a pitcher in front of her, dipping her long beautiful fingers into the sangria, lifting out slices of wine-soaked oranges. When she saw us, she tilted her head to the side and brushed her hair back with her other hand and said very slowly, 'I only like the fooood that flooooats in the wiine.' [....] The minute we left the restaurant Paul [Morrissey] said that we should use Nico in the movies and find a rock group to play for her. He was raving that she was 'the most beautiful creature that ever lived.'"


Paul Morrissey: "The singing was done by Lou Reed and he just seemed, um, not a very good singer and not a good personality- uh, something too seedy about him, and he was not a natural performer; he was sort of a shy type on stage." Nico's official role in the band was "chanteuse," but a more accurate term, especially at the beginning, was "pariah," as she was not deemed by the Velvets as a good fit for their sound. After much cajoling from Warhol, Reed finally agreed to write some songs for her, though the situation was far from stable, as, according to Sterling Morrison, Nico sought sexual alliances in the band (namely Reed and then John Cale) in order gain a stronger foothold in the group. Ultimately, she was never considered as anything more than an interloper, and on the tellingly-titled The Velvet Underground & Nico, Nico's only album as a "member" of the band, she was only given three songs as lead vocalist. Toward the end of the Exploding Plastic Inevitable tour, Nico began to separate from the Velvets, doing solo shows at various coffee houses as well as the Dom Bar. During these shows, she was accompanied on acoustic guitar by among others, Jackson Browne, Tim Buckley, Leonard Cohen, Tim Hardin, and several of her soon-to-be ex-band mates, many of whom would contribute songs to her debut album, Chelsea Girl, recorded in late spring 1967.
Produced by Tom Wilson, who had worked on the Velvets' debut album, Chelsea Girl, at first blush, sounds like an apt example of the kind of overly fussed-over baroque chamber-folk that was so prevalent during the mid-to-late sixties; however, what sets it apart and makes it approach timelessness is Nico herself. More than once, Nico has been described as proto-Goth, and the sound of her unmistakeable baritone with its ability to convey an icy sense of achingly dark world-weariness was undoubtedly a huge influence on the post-punks more than a decade later. Simply put, Nico's artistic approach and mercurial personality were completely at odds with the pop-temptress stereotype that most female artists were saddled with during the late sixties. Paul Morrissey: "She started at some point, um, having a real resentment over her good looks. She hated the fact that people thought she was beautiful. She thought that this was some sort of disgrace to be beautiful. But in those days modeling was not artistic, you know, artistic was to be like Janis Joplin screaming your lungs out before you die of drug addiction. She was so happy to be called ugly."
Chelsea Girl is easily Nico's most eclectic solo album, something which is largely due to it being comprised of "donated" songs from the various singer-songwriters Nico had spent time with during her fledgling music career. However, there are two prevailing directions on the album that stand in stark contrast with each other. A then-unknown Jackson Browne (Nico's lover at the time) provides three songs, the best of which, "These Days," finds Nico in top form. Backed by Browne's lovely guitar playing, Nico dresses his reflective lyrics in somber tones that manage to capture the dark, introspective nature of the song in ways another singer wouldn't have. In contrast to Browne's contributions, which verge on wistfulness on occasion, there are five significantly darker songs penned by various members of her former band, The Velvet Underground. Chief among these is the title track written by Lou Reed and Sterling Morrison, a hypnotically depressed epic that recalls "Femme Fatale" from the Velvets debut album. Perhaps the true gem on Chelsea Girls is its darkest moment: Lou Reed's "Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams," a song he had written previous to forming the Velvets. In a way, it provides an emotional counterpoint to "These Days" and points the way toward Nico's more unconventional solo works such as The Marble Index. Despite her debut album's obvious strengths, Nico was notoriously dismissive of the finished product, claiming (quite accurately) that some of the production decisions blunted the power of the music. Nico: "I still cannot listen to it, because everything I wanted for that record, they took it away. I asked for drums, they said no. And I asked for simplicity and they covered it in flutes [...] They added strings and- I didn't like them, but I could live with them. But the flute! The first time I heard the album, I cried and it was all because of the flute."
Chelsea Girl
(Polydor U.K. ~ 1993/1967)
Tracklist-
1.The Fairest of the Seasons (4:09)
2. These Days (3:33)
3. Little Sister (4:26)
4. Winter Song (3:21)
5. It Was a Pleasure Then (8:05)
6. Chelsea Girls (7:25)
7. I'll Keep It with Mine (3:20)
8. Somewhere There's a Feather (2:20)
9. Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams (5:10)
10. Eulogy to Lenny Bruce (3:47)
The Classic Years
(Chronicles ~ 1998)
Tracklist-
1. I'm Not Sayin' (2:48)
2. The Last Mile (2:27)
3. The Velvet Underground & Nico- I'll Be Your Mirror (2:14)
4. The Velvet Underground & Nico- Femme Fatale (2:38)
5. The Velvet Underground & Nico- All Tomorrow's Parties (2:48) 6. The Fairest of the Seasons (4:07)
7. These Days (3:30)
8. Little Sister (4:23)
9. Chelsea Girls (7:23)
10. No One Is There (3:37)
11. Ari's Song (3:21)
12. Frozen Warnings (4:02)
13. Nibelungen (2:43)
14. Janitor of Lunacy (4:00)
15. Abschied (3:02)
16. Afraid (3:27)
17. Secret Side (4:03)
18. You Forgot to Answer (5:06)
19. The End (9:29)
Nico- "I'm Not Sayin'" Video (1965)
Cool! Will dl when this upload completes.
ReplyDeleteMonsieur, enjoy and thanks for commenting
ReplyDeleteI can't quite think of any other artist who was orchestrated quite in the same way that Cale arranged Nico. Chamber folk is accurate, as you might think of Donovan as baroque folk, I suppose. Nico may not have liked it but I'm awfully glad it exists. It's musical opium.
ReplyDeletehcb, thank you for commenting. Although I'm with Nico on the flutes, I agree with you about being awfully glad this album exists. Vastly underrated.
ReplyDeletesorry, but the bitch was nothing more than an ugly nazi slut with fascist convictions and no skills at singing or playing instruments. she couldn't even feed her young son correctly (so he was taken from her, but it didn't heartbreak her). i understand alain delon for denying any kind of relationship with that lame and empty icon... no offense, but this character was so antipathic, and so unfeminine!
ReplyDeleteLove Chelsea Girls, and was wondering if you had heard MAYBE even could upload the mono version of this lp? thanks for this VU series very helpful.
ReplyDeleteGood post. I learn something new and challenging on sites I stumbleupon
ReplyDeleteevery day. It will always be exciting to read
content from other authors and practice a little something from other
web sites.
Take a look at my blog post ... Reseller Vs Vps
Good site you have got here.. It's difficult to find high quality writing like yours these days. I really appreciate people like you! Take care!!
ReplyDeleteAlso visit my weblog ... bad hair (elucidly.com)
We're a group of volunteers and opening a new scheme in our community. Your web site provided us with valuable info to work on. You've done a formidable job and our whole
ReplyDeletecommunity will be grateful to you.
Look at my web page; banc de binary (http://www.fosa.optik.de/author/IngridCru)
Wow, wonderful blog layout! How lengthy have you ever been running a blog for?
ReplyDeleteyou make blogging glance easy. The overall look of your web site is
fantastic, let alone the content!
my blog post; hair care products ()