TRACKS:
|
NICO needs no introduction – she will forever be remembered as the sultry German beauty whose melancholy voice was the ‘& Nico’ part of the Velvet Underground legend. Following the VU she emerged as a solo artist. Very much at odds with a perceived glamorous life-style – a model who mingled with rock-stars and film directors, associating with Fellini, Brian Jones, Bob Dylan, Jim Morrison, Alain Delon, Jackson Browne, Tim Buckley and Iggy Pop – she embarked on a dark, daunting odyssey, with an Indian harmonium as the favoured accompaniment to her deep Teutonic vocals. Both the punk and gothic movements acclaimed her. Developing a heavy drugs habit, she gigged frequently in the 80’s, recounted in a book by keyboard player James Young. She died in 1988, after falling from her bike in Ibiza. In 1982 she recorded two tracks with Martin Hannett, most known for producing the similarly gloomy Joy Division and New Order, and backed by The Invisible Girls. These tracks, a reworking of the Velvet Underground’s ‘All Tomorrow’s Parties’ and her own brooding ‘Procession’, are now issued on CD for the first time, alongside heavily atmospheric live tracks selected from her 1983 tour, previously only issued on cassette. ‘FEMME FATALE’ includes versions of songs written for her by Dylan, Browne, Bowie and Lou Reed as well as nine Nico originals, in all, 17 tracks over 75 minutes. It is packaged with a 12-page booklet with detailed biographical notes by Nina Antonia, and is issued at mid-price. |