77. Nico — Chelsea Girl (1967)

Sad Chelsea Girl

1. I had pretty high hopes for this record and it just…didn’t live up, for me. I’m a huge fan of the Velvet Underground & Nico album. (Note: evidently this list isn’t in pure chronological order, as that album came out before this one, and it’s definitely on the list). This album is considered an inspiration to everyone from The Cure to Souxsie & The Banshees to Elliot Smith to Morrissey to Bjork. On paper, this album is up my alley! But it just falls a bit flat.
2. The opening two tracks — the album’s biggest, thanks to Wes Anderson using them in The Royal Tenenbaums — are both lovely folk tunes. Nico’s voice is not particularly lovely (more folk music by people with iffy voices!) but her German intonations and deep baritone lend it a sort of otherworldly vibe. The interplay of strings with her voice and acoustic guitar is lovely, and I get major Elliot Smith vibes. There’s so much promise here.
3. But the rest of it is downhill from there — like, consistently downhill, each song a bit more blah than the one before it. It turns out Nico herself was not happy with the album: “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.” I personally love the strings, but agree about the flute, and would love to hear what drums might add.
4. In all: I get how this album might change one’s idea of what folk music could be, what art-pop could be, and how to establish a melancholic tone. It’s an overwhelmingly melancholy, desolate album. At its peak, it’s lovely. Those peaks are simply too infrequent.

One Essential Song:

Listen on Spotify: