derf 2007-08-21
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
I got this two cd set and listened to it the way you are supposed to; with powerful speakers, in the dark, alone.
they moved me.
i don't really know what to say... her voice is so clear, so provocative, like some war goddess speaking to you. her lyrics seem like ancient poetry; my favorites are Julius Caesar, which sounds like classical music - - the way the viola soars and scratches, the see-sawing of the harmonium, her voice. they combine to form a picture of a timeless landscape and a myth... and nibelungen, some of the most chilling poetry. the first line: "since the first of you and me/asleep/in a nibelungen land/ titanic curses trap me in/ a banishment of state"; i made the mistake of listening to this during a hard time romantically, and it just about split me in two. the unreleased demos are beautiful in their purity, just Nico and her harmonium making beautiful music together.
desertshore i did not really get at first, but after listening to it a whole lot, it crept in too... her songs in german, Abscheid and Mutterlein (which was played by her friends on a cassette player at her funeral) are incredible. the whole album is like being trapped in someone elses fantasy, or nightmare. the only one that stood apart i felt was "Afraid", a piano ode. Every review i read seems to think it's trite and out of place - - and i agree it is out of place, but it works. it seems like a nod to a joni-mitchell-esque piano ballad, with nico taking over as the song moves on.
Culturally, nico's work should be considered a clarion call to artistic purity and integrity - - in the vein of Bjork, Kate Bush, Joni Mitchell and Tori Amos, Nico is a true artist whose place in the pantheon of great musicians is sorrowfully, shamefully overlooked. She is an iconoclast, groundbreaking and death-defying; her work remains pure and challenging nearly four decades later.
i was talking to a few indie friends a while back, having those conversations about music you will have had if you talk about music with your indie friends: "have you heard of blank? oh, wow, have you heard of blank? have you heard of blank?", each person trying to top the last with the level of unknown-ness and uniqueness of their music. i jumped in talking about nico, and hardly anyone knew about her, but those who did, their eyes got wide and we all knew. we had all had the same experience. she changed us. she changed music for us.
For anyone who knows of Nico through the velvet underground and her first solo album, these albums will shock you. they are spare, brooding, with this kind of organic authenticity about them in definite contrast to most of the music that was being made during the late sixties and early seventies. when i listen to them, i see durer, dore, blake; heroin, germany, skulls, angels, the bible, tombs, roman myths... this music gives you visions.
it is useless to classify this music with stars... a million stars. all the stars. these are not records. to paraphrase the quote from the liner notes, this is not a commodity. it is an artefact. it is a priceless relic. it is art.
