desertshore

Nico expressed the word unknown in the grotesque gothic groanings of this cabalistic confessional.   The German model Nico (Christa Päffgen) become a member of The Velvet Underground for their first album before recording her solo debut Chelsea Girl in 1967.  She was unhappy with the way the album was produced; and, with the encouragement of romantic partners like Leonard Cohen and Jim Morrison, she began writing her own songs.  Her next album The Marble Index was co-produced with John Cale in 1969 and established a darker sound that drew from classical influences.  

Desertshore was recorded at Sound Techniques Ltd. in London, England; except "Le Petit Chevalier" which was done at Studios Davout in Paris, France.  The sessions were co-produced by John Cale and Joe Boyd  and featured  Nico on vocals and harmonium,  with  John Cale doing the arrangements and playing all other instruments except trumpet.  John Cale, Annagh Wood, and Adam Miller did the harmony voices, while  Nico's son Ari Boulogne performed the vocals on "Le Petit Chevalier".  It is Ari that appears on the cover of the album with her.  

Cale remembers:   “She totally changed her image -- from being a blonde and wearing white into hennaing her hair and wearing totally black…And lived a dream. Everything that she did was part of this statement that now she was a different person. It was a solitary dream -- where occasional friendships were struck -- and abandoned. And the transitory nature of all of this was kind of the flotsam, the furniture of her life…with these somewhat derelict emotions. And it was so highly personal that it was very powerful.”

Nico would consider:   "A true artist must self-destruct...I think I'm already doing it...Can't you tell by the way I live? It's a continual battle, a drama, being a stranger to myself. I don't have any references to know who I really am. I mean everyday...I mean to be really always in exile. I'm a total stranger to myself. Expect sometimes when I get reminded."











Janitor of Lunacy






Desertshore
full album:



All songs written and composed by Nico.

0:00 - Janitor of Lunacy
4:05 - The Falconer
9:49 - My Only Child
13:20 - Le Petit Chavalier
14:35 - Abschied
17:41 - Afraid
21:12 - Mutterlein
25:53 - All That Is My Own

chelsea girl

Nico made an artistic statement of her own with the beautiful detachment and timeless wonder of the haunting folk experiments of this underground classic.  German-born Christa Päffgen was a model, actress, chanteuse, and femme fatale who appeared in advertisements, commercials, and several films, including Federico Fellini's 'La Dolce Vita' and Andy Warhol's 'Chelsea Girls'.   In 1965, she connected with Brian Jones from the Rolling Stones, who helped her release a single on Andrew Loog Oldham's Immediate label with covers of Gordon Lightfoot's 'I'm Not Sayin'' and 'The Last Mile' which was written by Oldham and session guitarist Jimmy Page.  She then contributed vocals to the groundbreaking Warhol produced 'The Velvet Underground & Nico'.  

After her work with the Velvet Underground, she started recording songs for her own album. She enlisted Lou Reed, John Cale, and Sterling Morrison from the Velvets to not only play on the sessions, but also as songwriters. She also worked with Jackson Browne, who contributed three songs as well. She also covered songs by Bob Dylan and Tim Hardin. Tom Wilson produced the sessions at Mayfair Sound Studios in New York City for Verve Records with Nico on vocals; Jackson Browne, Lou Reed, and Sterling Morrison on electric guitar; and John Cale on viola, organ, and guitar.  When the album was finished, Wilson and Larry Fallon added string and flute arrangements.

Nico admitted years later: "Oh, the flute, oh my God! I was so unhappy when I heard the result of that flute taking over... They dubbed up the flute on top...It was much better without it, I mean, it gives it a more unified sound, I guess...More you know than the overall feeling of a flute being up front all the time."  She expressed similar feelings in Dave Thompson's book 'Your Pretty Face Is Going to Hell: The Dangerous Glitter of David Bowie, Iggy Pop, and Lou Reed' :  "The first time I heard the album I cried. I still cannot listen to it, because everything I wanted for that record, they took it away. I asked for drums, they said no. I asked for more guitars, they said no. And I asked for simplicity, and they covered it in flutes! They added strings, and— I didn't like them, but I could live with them. But the flute! The first time I heard the album, I cried and it was all because of the flute."

'Chelsea Girl' didn't sell very well; but it has become an enduring esoteric favorite, even with the flute.





http://smironne.free.fr/NICO/bio.html








"The Fairest of the Seasons"
Nico says: "Jackson really plays some good guitar on some of them. You can't even hear it, because of the flute."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5L-o26GqmZ8







"These Days" 








"Winter Song"






"It Was a Pleasure Then" 







"I'll Keep It With Mine"
Nico says: "He sang me a number of songs when he used to baby-sit for my son, er, Bob, and so he, he wrote, also sang that song, and so I asked him if I could have it, if I could sing that song, it's not that he ever gave me, he sent me a demo with the melody and the lyrics."













'Chelsea Girl'

full album:




Side A
"The Fairest of the Seasons" (Jackson Browne, Gregory Copeland) – 4:06
"These Days" (Jackson Browne) – 3:30
"Little Sister" (John Cale, Lou Reed) – 4:22
"Winter Song" (John Cale) – 3:17
"It Was a Pleasure Then" (Lou Reed, John Cale, Christa Päffgen) – 8:02
Side B
"Chelsea Girls" (Lou Reed, Sterling Morrison) – 7:22
"I'll Keep It With Mine" (Bob Dylan) – 3:17 
"Somewhere There's a Feather" (Jackson Browne) – 2:16
"Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams" (Lou Reed) – 5:07
"Eulogy to Lenny Bruce" (Tim Hardin) – 3:45

the velvet underground & nico

The Velvet Underground redefined the possibilities of rock and laid the foundation for alternative movements in music with the defiant decadence of their explosive, experimental debut album. Discovered by Andy Warhol during their residency at Cafe Bizarre in Greenwich Villiage, the band was invited to participate in his Exploding Plastic Inevitable multi-media events. Warhol got them a contract with MGM's Verve Records and produced their debut with German actress, model, and singer Nico. Most of the album was recorded over four days at Scepter Studios (in the same building that housed Studio 54) financed by Warhol and Columbia Records exec Norman Dolph. Columbia, Atlantic, and Electra Records all passed on the album before Verve took on distribution. At that point Tom Wilson took over production for the lush album opener 'Sunday Morning'. According to John Cale, "The band never again had as good a producer as Tom Wilson; Andy Warhol didn't do anything." Sterling Morrison says Warhol produced the album "in the sense of producing a film. We used some of his money and our money...Andy was the producer but we were the 'executive producers' too. We made the record ourselves and then brought it around and MGM said they liked it." Lou Reed considers that Warhol's hands-off approach was invaluable: "He just made it possible for us to be ourselves and go right ahead with it because he was Andy Warhol. In a sense, he really did produce it, because he was this umbrella that absorbed all the attacks when we weren't large enough to be attacked... and as a consequence of him being the producer, we'd just walk in and set up and do what we always did and no one would stop it because Andy was the producer. Of course he didn't know anything about record production—but he didn't have to. He just sat there and said 'Oooh, that's fantastic,' and the engineer would say, 'Oh yeah! Right! It is fantastic, isn't it?'"

While there were shimmering pop moments, much of the album had a gritty urban realism to it. The dark subject matter stood in stark contrast to the flower-power and hippie movements going on at the time. Songs about drugs, prostitution, and other deviant behaviors were too cutting edge for mainstream rock audiences. Reed says, "That's the kind of stuff you might read. Why wouldn't you listen to it? You have the fun of reading that, and you get the fun of rock on top of it." 'The Velvet Underground & Nico' sold poorly for years; but it has become one of the most influential albums of all time.






www.velvetundergroundmusic.com

"I'm Waiting for the Man"

"Femme Fatale"

"All Tomorrow's Parties"

"Heroin"

"I'll Be Your Mirror"

'The Velvet Underground & Nico'

full album:

All tracks written by Lou Reed unless otherwise noted.

Side A
1. "Sunday Morning"   Lou Reed, John Cale 2:54
2. "I'm Waiting for the Man"   4:39
3. "Femme Fatale"   2:38
4. "Venus in Furs"   5:12
5. "Run Run Run"   4:22
6. "All Tomorrow's Parties"   6:00
Side B
7. "Heroin"   7:12
8. "There She Goes Again"   2:41
9. "I'll Be Your Mirror"   2:14
10. "The Black Angel's Death Song"   Lou Reed, John Cale 3:11
11. "European Son"   Reed, Cale, Sterling Morrison, Maureen Tucker 7:46