Nico, Chelsea Town Hall ⭐️⭐️❌❌❌
I was not aware of this album’s release, so I was pleasantly surprised when I was browsing and came across it. This is a live recording of Nico from 1985. Nico is just one of those figures in music that’s a bit of an enigma. Her name graces one of the most famous albums of all-time, The Velvet Underground and Nico, yet not much is known about her, and the majority of her solo output is pretty obscure.
First off, the pros of this album. Hearing Nico sounding this good in 1985 is a treat. A lot of her later years are shrouded in mystery, but what has been written about it casts her as a fading star with a crippling drug addiction. But here her vocals sound engaged and energized.
Now the cons… The sound of this album leaves much to be desired. I understand that this is from an old tape, and this is just how it sounds in its raw form, but you can do a lot to clean up sound nowadays. It’s very bootleg sounding. For example, Nico does an a cappella performance of the Velvet Underground classic, “All Tomorrow’s Parties,” which is hampered by some sort of artifact on the tape that makes it sound like there’s another song playing quietly in the left channel. You can take that clean off nowadays.
Also, the band sounds disorganized throughout. It’s a shame, because Nico really needed a solid base for her to shine her brightest. I mean, she was already fighting being partially deaf. She didn’t need shoddy backing to also compete with.
Favorite song: “Tananore”
