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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
22 of 22 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
This debut album from Nico, I would say is mostly a Donovan-ish folk album and is more conventional in song structure than her second album "The Marble Index". Songwriters on the album include Nico's Velvet Underground companions Lou Reed and John Cale, as well as Bob Dylan and Jackson Browne. The album has a very simple feel to it with gently strummed accoustic guitar. There is a very mournful and hauntingly beautiful atmosphere throughout. Lou Reed's "Wrap Your Troubles In Dreams" could be one of his best written songs and Velvet Underground fans should like both "It Was A Pleasure Then" and "Chelsea Girls". Other favourite songs on the album include the beautiful "Eulogy To Lenny Bruce", "These Days" and Bob Dylan's "I'll Keep It With Mine" (these latter two are among the more upbeat tracks on a generally beautifully mournful album). I'm not usually into folk music but I do like this album and would recommend it to anyone who likes Nico's Velvet Underground work.
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
This is one of Nico's very finest albums, a moody, lusciously orchestrated and impeccable sounding debut by anyone's standards. Truly, THIS is where Nico's real career began, instead of being an ornament for the Velvet Underground.
This album is roughly a million miles away from some of Nico's later solo efforts, especially 'The End', which boasts atmospherics and gloom which would make Joy Division unsure. Having said that, 'The End' was genius, but so is this.
Album opener 'The Fairest Of The Seasons' is vintage Nico, all introspection and heavy philosophising. It is a great introduction to Nico's voice, which is utterly unique and without any comparsion to any other singer, male or female. Where this album differs from any other Nico album is that the music is a very uplifting, sometimes even jolly affair. This song is laden with beautiful acoustic guitar and serene strings, married perfectly with Nico's deep, expressive and deliberate voice, which is crisp with clarity.
'These days' also features the same musical arrangement, but the strings are gentler and even more dreamy sounding, whilst the lyrics are classic Nico, casually musing over past and present in trademark Nico style.
Various other percussion is explored continuously throughout the entire album, put to best effect on 'It was a pleasure then', which is the most experimental song on the album and most like what Nico was embracing the further into her career she got. The moody-sounding 'Chelsea Girls' is more evidence of Nico's deep, distinctive and actually very strong vocal presence, whilst the song itself is an airtight exploration of various classical instruments, all working together and complimenting each other to great effect. The music in this song sounds quaint, genteel and almost countrified, conjuring images of a meadow on a warm summer's day.
Dylan-penned 'I'll Keep It With Mine' is another high point, 'lent' to Nico by Bob Dylan out of the goodness of his heart, or perhaps the fact that he was another of Nico's many male admirers!
'Somewhere There's A Feather' and 'Wrap Your Troubles In Dream' are also both exercises in subtle beauty, moody, understated but with all the charms of traditional sounding classical music. The juxtaposition of the music and Nico's voice is an entrancing and fascinating one.
The album's closer 'Eulogy To Lenny Bruce' is easily one of the best songs on the album and in Nico's career, sounding utterly heartbreaking and overwrought with emotion. Indeed, the emotion that Nico's voice is infused with on this song is unforgettable. After a long time of not listening to this song, I suddenly remembered it and it became a firm favourite. The acoustic guitar is unobtrusive and simple, yet effective, allowing Nico's voice to lead, with the sad and lost-sounding lyrics.
Nico's career had many high points, but this wonderful, elgaic and skillfully produced album has to rank as one of the most enchanting highlights of her career.
This album is roughly a million miles away from some of Nico's later solo efforts, especially 'The End', which boasts atmospherics and gloom which would make Joy Division unsure. Having said that, 'The End' was genius, but so is this.
Album opener 'The Fairest Of The Seasons' is vintage Nico, all introspection and heavy philosophising. It is a great introduction to Nico's voice, which is utterly unique and without any comparsion to any other singer, male or female. Where this album differs from any other Nico album is that the music is a very uplifting, sometimes even jolly affair. This song is laden with beautiful acoustic guitar and serene strings, married perfectly with Nico's deep, expressive and deliberate voice, which is crisp with clarity.
'These days' also features the same musical arrangement, but the strings are gentler and even more dreamy sounding, whilst the lyrics are classic Nico, casually musing over past and present in trademark Nico style.
Various other percussion is explored continuously throughout the entire album, put to best effect on 'It was a pleasure then', which is the most experimental song on the album and most like what Nico was embracing the further into her career she got. The moody-sounding 'Chelsea Girls' is more evidence of Nico's deep, distinctive and actually very strong vocal presence, whilst the song itself is an airtight exploration of various classical instruments, all working together and complimenting each other to great effect. The music in this song sounds quaint, genteel and almost countrified, conjuring images of a meadow on a warm summer's day.
Dylan-penned 'I'll Keep It With Mine' is another high point, 'lent' to Nico by Bob Dylan out of the goodness of his heart, or perhaps the fact that he was another of Nico's many male admirers!
'Somewhere There's A Feather' and 'Wrap Your Troubles In Dream' are also both exercises in subtle beauty, moody, understated but with all the charms of traditional sounding classical music. The juxtaposition of the music and Nico's voice is an entrancing and fascinating one.
The album's closer 'Eulogy To Lenny Bruce' is easily one of the best songs on the album and in Nico's career, sounding utterly heartbreaking and overwrought with emotion. Indeed, the emotion that Nico's voice is infused with on this song is unforgettable. After a long time of not listening to this song, I suddenly remembered it and it became a firm favourite. The acoustic guitar is unobtrusive and simple, yet effective, allowing Nico's voice to lead, with the sad and lost-sounding lyrics.
Nico's career had many high points, but this wonderful, elgaic and skillfully produced album has to rank as one of the most enchanting highlights of her career.
26 of 27 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
This is really a 5 Star LP (if like me you'd played the Velvet's first LP to death, then discovering this incredible "companion" piece is a fantastic bonus), but it should be pointed out that this CD version sounds terrible sound quality wise and is in dire need of sensitive remastering. (One of the worst examples of the first wave of CD reissues that i've heard, in fact.) The tracks recorded with the Velvets appear in much better sound on the recent 2CD version of the banana album, so half the job's been done - BUT: What about a proper remaster of the full LP, Polydor? Nico was an important artist and deserves much better.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Melancholic melodies
The other reviewers seem to have got it pretty well right. In fact they should be congratulated not only for their thoughtful comments but also the quality of their writing. Read more
Published 17 months ago by Dr. W. H. Konarzewski
The interesting Velvet
The lady herself said she didn't like the album; it didn't sound like she wanted it to. It is radically different from the more challenging 'The Marble Index' & 'Desertshore'; for... Read more
Published on 29 Nov 2009 by Tim
It's just the wasted years so long ago ...
There are two distinct styles on Nico's 1967 debut album. The first resembles a form of folkie chamber music and the second an unplugged type of Velvets art-rock. Read more
Published on 27 July 2009 by Pieter
Nico's Lieder
Nico's 1967 debut displays two distinct sonic styles, the first which may perhaps be termed a blend of folk & chamber music and the second the art-rock number with a VU feel. Read more
Published on 26 July 2009 by Pieter
It was a pleasure then
Nico is still mostly remembered for her tambourine-shaking days in the Velvet Underground, though she departed after only one album, and began a long and excellent career as a solo... Read more
Published on 22 July 2005 by E. A Solinas
A sublime debut
'Chelsea Girl' was Nico's debut, made prior to 'The Velvet Underground & Nico'; it is closer to the world of Marianne Faithful (Nico had been in the London scene of the... Read more
Published on 26 Jan 2002 by Jason Parkes
Not a typical Nico album but a taste of some things to come.
Chelsea Girl is little more than a collection of ballads and pop songs which were intended to make Nico another Nancy Sinatra or Dusty Springfield. Read more
Published on 21 Oct 2000 by bilfox@hickston.freeserve.co.uk
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