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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Hauntingly Beautiful, 1 April 2001
By A Customer
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.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Stunningly beautiful and criminally underrated, 15 Mar 2007
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.
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19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Classic let down by sound quality, 12 Dec 2003
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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