The Frozen Borderline 1968-1970

Disc One

The Marble Index

  1. Prelude (0:59)
  2. Lawns of Dawns (3:10)
  3. No One Is There (3:36)
  4. Ari's Song (3:20)
  5. Facing the Wind (4:58)
  6. Julius Caesar (Memento Hodié) (5:01)
  7. Frozen Warnings (4:01)
  8. Evening of Light (5:44)

Outtakes

  1. Sagen die Gelehrten (3:52)
    Translation
  2. Rêve Réveiller (4:07)
    Translation
  3. Roses in the Snow (4:00)
  4. Nibelungen (3:15)

Alternate Versions

  1. Lawns of Dawns (3:15)
  2. No One Is There (3:40)
  3. Ari's Song (3:14)
  4. Facing the Wind (5:05)
  5. Julius Caesar (Memento Hodié) (5:02)
  6. Frozen Warnings (4:21)
  7. Evening of Light (5:41)

Disc Two

Desertshore

  1. Janitor of Lunacy (4:04)
  2. The Falconer (5:42)
  3. My Only Child (3:30)
  4. Le Petit Chevalier (1:17)
    Translation
  5. Abschied (3:05)
    Translation
  6. Afraid (3:30)
  7. Mütterlein (4:40)
    Translation
  8. All that Is My Own (3:36)

Demos

  1. My Only Child (4:15)
  2. Janitor of Lunacy (3:58)
  3. Abschied Ode (Death/Farewell) (3:01)
    Translation
  4. You Are Beautiful (Afraid) (3:17)
  5. The Falconer (5:46)
  6. On the Desert Shore
    (All that Is My Own)
    (2:44)

Hidden Track

  1. Frozen Warnings (4:24)
Prelude

Prelude
(Nico)

Instrumental

The Prelude (Book III)
Residence at Cambridge
(William Wordsworth)

[...]
The Evangelist St. John my patron was:
Three Gothic courts are his, and in the first
Was my abiding-place, a nook obscure;
Right underneath, the College kitchens made
A humming sound, less tuneable than bees,
But hardly less industrious; with shrill notes
Of sharp command and scolding intermixed.
Near me hung Trinity's loquacious clock,
Who never let the quarters, night or day,
Slip by him unproclaimed, and told the hours
Twice over with a male and female voice.
Her pealing organ was my neighbour too;
And from my pillow, looking forth by light
Of moon or favouring stars, I could behold
The antechapel where the statue stood
Of Newton with his prism and silent face,
The marble index of a mind for ever
Voyaging through strange seas of Thought, alone.
[...]

The Prelude
is the name of Wordsworth's great autobiographical
poem. The earliest manuscripts, date from 1798.
The first complete version dates from 1805
but was not published until after Wordsworth's
death in 1850 and was given its name by his wife Mary.

2CD The Frozen Borderline 1968-1970 UK Rhino 8122-74885-2

8122-74885-2
2007-02-26
« Details »

the marble index
Recorded at Elektra Sound Recorders, 962 North La Cienega Blvd, Los Angeles, 1968-09-00
Producer: Frazier Mohawk [Real name: Barry Friedman. aka: Barry Slotkin].
Production Supervisor: Jac Holzman
Engineer: John Haeny
Arrangements: John Cale
Photography: Guy Webster
Design: Robert L. Heimall
Art Direction: William S. Harvey
Friends: David Anderle, Danny Fields

Nico: vocals, harmonium
John Cale: electric viola, piano, bass, electric guitar, glockenspiel, bells, mouth organ, bosun's pipe

CD bonus tracks mixed by John Cale at Skyline Studios, 36 West 37th Street, New York City, NY
E: Roger Moutenot
Original CD mastering date: 1990-05-00
CD reissue supervised by Howard Thompson
Mastered by Barry Diament at Barry Diament Audio, 171 Rochelle St., 10464 City Island, New York, NY.


Desertshore demos, Los Angeles, 1969-08-20

Desertshore
Recorded at Sound Techniques Ltd., 46A Old Church Street, London, 1970-00-00
Producer: John Cale
Arrangements by John Cale
Co-Producer: Joe Boyd for Witchseason Productions
Engineer: John Wood

Nico: vocal, harmonium
John Cale: all other instruments except trumpet
John Cale, Adam Miller & Annagh Wood harmony voices

Except: Le Petit Chevalier
Recorded at Studios Davout, 73 Boulevard Davout, Paris, 1970-00-00
Producer: John Cale
Arrangements by John Cale

Ari: vocal
Nico: harpsichord, prompter


Compilation produced by Andy Sax
Project supervisation for Rhino UK: Stuart Batsford and Mick Houghton
Remastering: Dave Schultz at Digiprep Mastering, 3015 Glendale Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90039-1832
Liner Notes: Simon Goddard and Mick Houghton
Reissue Art Direction and Design: Matt Dornan
Original Album Photography: Guy Webster and Philippe Garrel
Additional Photography: Leopold Pomés (front and back cover, page 14 of booklet)
Memorabilia kindly loaned by Jay Reeg and Ben & Kaomi Phillipson
Project Assistance: Brian Kehew, Rick Conrad, Bill Inglot and Lisa Jane Persky
Special thanks: David Anderle, Kenneth Ansell, Montse Balart at Studio Pomés, Julie Brunning, John cale, Andy Childs, Rick Conrad, Julian Cope, Danny Fields, Simon Goddard, Ben Graville, Will Hodgkinson, Jac Holzman, Ignacio Julia, Maria McKenna, Frazier Mohawk, Ben & Kaomi Phillipson, Jay Reeg, Jon Savage, The Seth Man, Paul Smith, Nick Stewart, Mason Williams, Richard Williams, Matt Wrbican & Greg Burchard at The Warhold Museum

Note by Andy Sax: Because Jac Holzman was always ahead of the technological curve, the marble index was one of the earliest albums recorded with Dolby. As fate would have it, Digiprep is the current owner of Elektra's old Dolby rig, so we were actually able to play the master tape of the marble index back through the exact same piece of equipment it was originally recorded with 39 years ago!

Note by John Cale: Every album there was one song that was really catchy, very pretty, and on Desertshore it's My Only Child. She was chasing something, she had an idea in mind. We recorded it with John Wood at Sound Techniques. One technique we used was, I would play loud piano chords, and John would fade them in: he'd lmok me down from the booth and watch me, and I'd give him the signal that I was about to play this crashing chord, and he'd slowly raise the fader. We did a lot of crazy stuff like that.

© 2007-2011
Serge Mironneau