Nico - Chelsea Girl

Released - October 1967

Genre - Folk

Producer - Tom Wilson

Selected Personnel - Nico (Vocals); Jackson Browne (Guitar); Lou Reed (Guitar); John Cale (Viola/Organ/Guitar); Sterling Morrison (Guitar)

Standout Track - The Fairest Of The Seasons

While San Francisco was incubating and gradually announcing the psychedelic rock scene to the world, and upstate California had the likes of the Byrds developing folk rock, over in New York a whole different arts scene was in full swing. In the mid-to-late 60s, Andy Warhol's Factory was one of the great hubs of artistic freedom and creativity, with Warhol himself acting as a kind of svengali figure masterminding a huge multimedia operation, from visual art to films to music production. Warhol's empire spawned an enormous legacy which continues to inspire artists today - the incredible music of Antony Hegarty, for instance, owes a huge debt of inspiration to the starlets of Warhol's films and other projects, with Candy Darling in particular proving a key inspiration to Hegarty's 2005 masterpiece I Am A Bird Now. But perhaps the most significant figures to emerge from Warhol's shadow were the Velvet Underground. We'll come to the Velvet Underground's own album debut shortly, but first it's worth including this serene (albeit occasionally disquieting) record from the German chanteuse Nico, whose early collaborations with the Velvets resulted in their greatest album.

Nico had been a successful model and actress for Warhol (including a role in his film Chelsea Girls, which gave this album its title), and it was initially to the discomfort of Lou Reed and his cohorts that she was drafted into the band to share lead vocal duties. Shortly after the release of The Velvet Underground and Nico, she began attempting to launch a career as a solo folk singer, and this album is the first iteration of that career. While she and the Velvets were soon to go their separate ways, here they're still on speaking terms, with Reed, John Cale and Sterling Morrison providing instrumental support as well as contributing several songs to the album. Nico herself pretty much steers clear of any songwriting herself here, although she cowrote the ghostly and unsettling "It Was A Pleasure Then." The songs themselves are a long way from the frenzied art rock workouts of the Velvet Underground's own work, as well - the focus here is on sparse chamber pop, alternately meditative and menacing, with the instrumentation limited to a couple of acoustic guitars and the odd flute or strings overdub (Nico herself hated the addition of the flute, which was added by producer Tom Wilson without consulting her, but it adds a bit of musical colour that decorates these sparse songs just enough without sounding too out of place).

Her input, then, is largely limited to her own vocal interpretations of these songs which, as ever with Nico, is something of an acquired taste. Her vocal delivery lacks much nuance or subtlety, while her strong German accent can give these simple folk songs a slightly alien quality at times. But that's all part of this album's unique charm - it's not just another folk album from some pure-voiced young woman, it feels strange and unsettling even in its most beautiful moments. The songs here feel maturer and more knowing than other folk music of the time, even when staying away from the adult content of the likes of the title track, a tribute to the Warhol superstars replete with sordid details of their drug habits and other tragedies. Some of the other songs manage to be genuinely beautiful despite the pervading sense of unease, with the opening duo of "The Fairest Of The Seasons" and "These Days" setting a high benchmark that the rest of the album struggles to live up to, with the exception perhaps of the lovely "I'll Keep It With Mine," a Bob Dylan composition that he handed over to Nico after deciding he couldn't work out what he wanted to do with it himself.

By and large, it lacks any of the out-and-out weirdness and cacophonous experimentation of the Velvet Underground's own work, but there are still moments that prioritise eery strangeness over compositional quality, with the lengthy "It Was A Pleasure Then" and "Chelsea Girls" starting to try the patience after a little while. But in general, it's a hugely captivating album, providing a sort of cynical and arty antidote to some of the more anodyne and forgettable folk music of the time. As said, Nico and the Velvets would soon part company, with Nico going on to write more music of her own and Reed and co. going on to indulge in the monstrous nightmare soundscapes of White Light/White Heat.

Track Listing:

1. The Fairest Of The Seasons (Jackson Browne & Gregory Copeland)

2. These Days (Jackson Browne)

3. Little Sister (John Cale & Lou Reed)

4. Winter Song (John Cale)

5. It Was A Pleasure Then (Nico; Lou Reed & John Cale)

6. Chelsea Girls (Lou Reed & Stirling Morrison)

7. I'll Keep It With Mine (Bob Dylan)

8. Somewhere There's A Feather (Jackson Browne)

9. Wrap Your Troubles In Dreams (Lou Reed)

10. Eulogy To Lenny Bruce (Tim Hardin)