Chelsea Girl

by

Nico

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I'm not at all surprised by the occasional negative reviews of this release. Nico tends to polarize people. Even people who would never use the "can't sing a lick" argument against such contemporaries (and friends) of Nico such as Dylan, Leonard Cohen and (the maybe less than friendly) Lou Reed feel free to use it against her.

Ah, you say, but THEY wrote their own material. Well, so did Nico (almost exclusively after this album). And contrary to what some have written, Nico actually began writing on this record (forgive me for using old-fashioned terms like "record" and "album"). "It Was A Pleasure Then" was authored by Nico, John Cale and Lou Reed. Lyrically, it's a patent Nico song; the feedback accompaniment is classic Reed/Cale.

People can argue about the merits of Nico as a chanteuse, but that was only a role she played for a very short time. I happen to like her Sprechstimme vocals and do not consider them Warhol-esque camp (since she sounded the same on her earliest, pre-Velvets recordings "The Last Mile," and "I'm Not Sayin'"--yes the Gordon Lightfoot song--long before she ever met Andy and Co.)

The songs on this record, as well as the occasional cabaret-style foray into Dietrich territory in her later career ("My Funny Valentine" from "Camera Obscura") suggest that Nico could have been the heir to a German (not French) tradition previously represented by Lotte Lenya, Marlene Dietrich and Hildegard Knef (aka Hildegarde Neff). She embraced that tradition only briefly and somewhat ironically, and then moved beyond it, crossing the "frozen borderline" represented by her second solo lp "The Marble Index." That record is a world beyond "Chelsea Girl" and as far removed from Warhol campiness as is humanly possible.

Regardless of whether you find "Chelsea Girl" charming or whether you wonder how this "non-singer" ever landed a recording contract, you should realize that Nico went on to compose and perform (in collaboration with John Cale) some of the most provocative and downright scary music of the 60s, 70s and early 80s.

If you're intrigued at all by Nico, you may want to check out the video "Nico Icon" or one of the two books about her "Nico: the Life and Lies of an Icon" (the author's name escapes me at the moment) and/or "Nico: the End" by James Young.

Chelsea Girl is a very peculiar album. There's nothing particularly stirring about the compositions or the music. Ten songs which are mostly laid-back, down-tempo folk. The instrumental accompaniment is sparse: soft guitar work, violins and reed instruments. It is the voice of Nico which is instantly recognizable. She is cool, distant, and sings in an low monotone with a thick German accent. Her phrasing is also odd. She drops the last word of each line an octave, and holds the note for an extended period. Sometimes this technique can be annoying, and other times "winching" because she'll hit the note flat. I don't care for the eight minute Nico/Cale/Reed composition `It Was A Pleasure Then.' The song sounds like some sort of Velvet Underground East Indian noise composition: too long and boring. Despite Nico's peculiar delivery and the unremarkable compositions, Chelsea Girl has an exotic appeal. The combination of her "cool" vocals, melancholy lyrics and "pretty" music can, at times, be calming, mesmerizing and hypnotic.