Nico - Disc of the day

Nico
Chelsea Girl

(Verve, 1967)

Teutonic ice maiden delivers stately pop masterpiece with a little help from her (boy)friends.

An acquaintance once told me they’d listened to Chelsea Girl every Sunday morning, without fail, for an entire year. When quizzed as to why they’d chosen to play the German chanteuse’s avant-pop debut on this particular day of the week, they explained it was the only album that ensured they fell back to sleep for another precious hour. Not the obvious, ringing endorsement you might expect, but it does highlight the serenity that lurks at the core of this early brace of recordings. Jackson Browne, then just 19 and Nico’s sometime lover, contributes a trio of lulling, twilit ballads that are the perfect match for her slow-burning vocals, while wave after wave of baroque strings create a refined ambience - sonically secured, without Nico’s approval, by ubër-producer Tom Wilson. With further offerings from Bob Dylan, Tim Hardin and her former Velvets-cohorts Lou Reed, John Cale and Sterling Morrison, Chelsea Girl exudes an austere elegance, those strange continental tones imbuing each track with an otherworldly grace. My acquaintance was missing out. Suffice to say, I haven’t spoken to them in a very, very long time.

Ross Bennett

Posted by Danny_Eccleston at 10:33 AM GMT 24/06/2008

Further Listening

The Velvet Underground & Nico – The Velvet Underground & Nico (Verve, 1967)

Antony & The Johnsons – Antony & The Johnsons (World Serpent, 1997)

My Brightest Diamond – Bring Me The Workhorse (Asthmatic Kitty, 2006)

SUGGEST YOUR OWN DISC OF THE DAY ON OUR MESSAGE BOARD HERE, OR, MORE PRIVATELY, HERE!

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An absolute gem. No record collection should be without it. Etc etc.

Jackson Browne's "These Days" is one of many highlights, in which ice maiden Nico implores: "Please don't remind me of my failures / I have not forgotten them". Heartbreaking.

Posted by Jon Dennis at 4:04 PM GMT 24/06/2008 Report Abuse

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