Nico’s recording career is a story of unfulfilled promise. Maybe that’s
not true, but it is suggested by a look at the labels on which she
released her albums, a record of lapsed contracts, broken deals, and
accidents (and favors, always favors): Chelsea Girl on Verve (the same
as the Velvet Underground), The Marble Index on Elektra (her friend,
Danny Fields, worked for Elektra), Desertshore on Reprise (John Cale got
a contract with them and got her a recording deal), The End on Island
(the same story as Desertshore), Camera Obscura on Beggars Banquet
(according to James Young, this recording contract was given on
condition that Cale produce the album), Drama of Exile--well, frankly,
I don’t have the energy just now to get into the complicated story of
that album. Despite Nico’s inarticulateness, she could be pretty canny
about the words in her songs and especially with titles. The Drama of
Exile: this neatly summarizes a life spent "in other people’s rooms," as
Richard Witts puts it.
Nico’s first album as a solo artist is Chelsea Girl. It follows somewhat
the pattern of what she had recorded to date (in that almost all of the
music is written by others), but also represents a departure. For one
thing, the accompaniment is more spare than was the case with her work
with the Velvet Underground or on her single, consisting for the most
part of guitar, flute, and strings. Nico has said that she hated that
the flute part was added later by the producer. In this statement, it is
possible to infer her later avoidance of the merely "pretty" and
ornamental; imagining the songs without the flute brings them somewhat
closer to her yet-to-be developed style.
Chelsea Girl is Nico’s best-known solo work. Recent testament to this
occurs in the film The Royal Tenenbaums, which features "These Days" and
"The Fairest of the Seasons," two of the Jackson Browne-penned songs on
the album. In general, the selection of songs works quite well; the
album has a cohesive personality, and despite the fact that Nico had
almost nothing to do with the songs, the personality conveyed seems to
carry something of her own. For one thing, there’s the voice, low,
strong, haunting. There is a melancholy and serious quality as well,
which would also be recognizable in subsequent recordings. Nico’s
preference for rather bare arrangements, with largely acoustic
instruments, is also present here.
The only song credited to Nico on the album (actually credited to Nico,
John Cale, and Lou Reed) is "It Was a Pleasure Then." It is, in many
ways, the most unusual song on the album. The accompaniment consists of
an electric guitar playing chords, both arpeggiated and banged-out. The
guitar is somewhat fuzzed, and lapses every now and then into feedback.
Cale’s electric viola, subjected to the same treatment as the guitar,
will be familiar to anyone who knows the Velvet Underground’s work.
There are also various other kinds of noises in the background. This cut
features what are surely the highest notes Nico ever sang, as she
vocalizes into what must be the top of her register. What is perhaps
most striking about the song is Nico’s vocal style. She often stretches
a single syllable into a long string of notes, a technique known as a
melisma. This provides a direct bridge into the vocal style that Nico
would employ on her subsequent albums.
Next page: Nico's style
