who likes Nico?

[ZombieHavoc]

i dig nico's contributions to the VU record, quite a bit. but i cant really stomach her enough to listen to entire albums, not even chelsea girl. just curious whether you cats dig her junk.

[Jonathan Bogart]

I'm a big Nico fan. I love Chelsea Girl. I haven't heard her later, apparently more Krautrockish work, but the fact that she provided the definitive reading of a Jackson Browne song endears her to me most.

[berk]

I'm an admirer of her music. Her later stuff can be pretty challenging to the casual listener, but worth the effort IMO. I had "The End" on vinyl in the 70's, found it in a discount bin for $0.99; haven't found a cd release yet. The MArble Index is another good one (there's a pretty decent band from Ontario who've named themselves after that album). Chelsea Girl has its moments; some of the arrangements are a little over-blown and dated, IMO (and "dated" is a criticism I don't often use; nothing wrong with a work of art being "of its time"). I recommend the book "Nico: Icon" to anyone interested in the era, not just Nico or VU fans. She had an interesting life. There's a documentary about her too, can't remember what it's called, that's very good.

[Adam Crocker]

Count me in. I love both her tender work on Chelsea Girl (thank you Royal Tennebaums) and her work after that from The Marble Index on. I wouldn't quite say its Krautish given the prominence of lyrics in it, but it is strange, terrible and sounds like almost nothing else, especially with her use of the Indian harmonium which is apparently completely out-of-tune with most western instruments. Her reading of "The End" far surpasses that of the Doors and "Innocent and Vain" has these utterly harrowing slashes of pure discordance.

[Reptisaurus!]

Never really liked her in the Velvets, 'cept for "I'll be Your Mirror." Never really heard much of her solo stuff.

[Brian Cronin]

She covered Dylan on Chelsea Girl. :)

I liked that song, and, of course, as Mssr. Bogart said, her definitive take on "These Days."

-Brian

[Reptisaurus!]

Oh yeah. "These Days" was on the soundtrack to something.

I guess my problem with Nico is that "languid" isn't one of the emotions that music makes me feel, so it's hard for me to connect with anyone who sounds so damn bored while singing.

[Jonathan Bogart]

I guess my problem with Nico is that "languid" isn't one of the emotions that music makes me feel, so it's hard for me to connect with anyone who sounds so damn bored while singing.
Hell, there's whole genres devoted to "languid" these days. (Shoegaze, trance, and anyone inspired by Nick Drake jump to mind.)

To be fair, I don't think her best work was with the Velvet Underground (although she did contribute nice backing vocals to their best pop song, "Sunday Morning"). Urban rock & roll isn't really a good fit for her; I'd place her somewhere between the Canterbury scene's least accessible moments and Krautrock's most song-oriented. Though really, she's pretty sui generis.

[Reptisaurus!]

Hell, there's whole genres devoted to "languid" these days. (Shoegaze, trance, and anyone inspired by Nick Drake jump to mind.)


Yeah, I've heard most of it.

I don't much like it. (Although it's totally a kinda visceral aesthetic reaction. I can't criticize it on an intelectual level, it's just not the kind of stuff that I like.)


To be fair, I don't think her best work was with the Velvet Underground (although she did contribute nice backing vocals to their best pop song, "Sunday Morning"). Urban rock & roll isn't really a good fit for her; I'd place her somewhere between the Canterbury scene's least accessible moments and Krautrock's most song-oriented. Though really, she's pretty sui generis.

I liked "Sunday Morning." I though "All Be Your Mirror" was pretty cool.

What d'you consider her best stuff?

[Jonathan Bogart]

Well, I've only heard Chelsea Morning from, I think, 1968. (I think I may have downloaded some later songs, but if so, I only heard them once and retain no memory of them.) Chelsea Morning is a folky chamber-pop album, but very Teutonic. Musically, think Joni Mitchell with, say, John Cale doing the orchestration.

Before hooking up with Warhol and the VU, she cut a couple of songs as an Andrew "Loog" Oldham protege in Swinging London (I believe she dated Brian Jones for a while). Jimmy Page played on them, not that you can tell. Sounds like the stuff Marianne Faithfull was doing at the time.

She got weirder later on. One record I've seen and want to hear is a Cale/Nico/Brian Eno/Kevin Ayers live concert. That's gotta be a head trip.


After skimming allmusic: Holy shit, Chelsea Morning is a 1967 album. That needs to go on the list in the other thread. It's good stuff.

[JeffreyWKramer]

I'd have liked Nico more if she hadn't been on the VU's first album. As is, her flat style mars "I'll Be Your Mirror," which is truly a crime.

[Brian Cronin]

These Days was in "The Royal Tenenbaums."

Great use there, as well.

By the by, while hers is the best, I DO like Browne's own version of These Days.

-Brian

[ZombieHavoc]

i liked REM's cover of femme fatale.

[Reptisaurus!]

I'd have liked Nico more if she hadn't been on the VU's first album. As is, her flat style mars "I'll Be Your Mirror," which is truly a crime.

See, now, I liked "I'll Be Your Mirror." I thought Nico's delivery gave it a kind of weird ironic edge... Like it's a love song in lyrics, but because she seems disinterested it adds another layer of depth, sorta. Anyway, that's definitely my favorite Nico/VU song.

[JeffreyWKramer]

See, now, I liked "I'll Be Your Mirror." I thought Nico's delivery gave it a kind of weird ironic edge... Like it's a love song in lyrics, but because she seems disinterested it adds another layer of depth, sorta. Anyway, that's definitely my favorite Nico/VU song.


I can see why some like that delivery, but it's so contrary to the intent of the lyrics - as demonstrated in Lou's own renditions - that it's hard to consider it anything but a mismatch.

"Mirror" is also my favorite song on VU/NICO, simply on the strength of everything other than Nico's vocal stylings. I don't know that Reed has ever written a more beautiful song; I just wish it had been more beautifully sung.

[howyadoin]

i liked REM's cover of femme fatale.Me too. I really liked the feel of it.

And their cover of "Pale Blue Eyes", too.

[Indigo Al]

It's funny - my male college VU-fan friends despise Nico and her songs on the VU album. For them it was always the quasi-macho f-ed up Lou Reed songs like Heroin, Waiting for the Man and Venus in Furs all the way. Me, I always found Nico's songs to be more compelling and even more sinister and dark than Heroin or the others.

I am a fan. However, despite my very high tolerance for the not-casually-listenable, I just can't handle any of her work post Marble Index.