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Chelsea Girl |  | Artist: Nico
Label: Polydor Group
Category: Music
List Price: £8.99
Buy New: £3.20
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New (34) Used (6) from £3.20
Seller: all your music
Rating:  6 reviews
Sales Rank: 7029
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Running Time: 45 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 0.5
MPN: 835209
UPC: 042283520929
EAN: 0042283520929
ASIN: B000001FOL
Release Date: April 12, 1994
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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| Tracks:
| • | The Fairest Of The Seasons | | • | These Days | | • | Little Sister | | • | Winter Song | | • | It Was A Pleasure Then - Nico, Tom Wilson, Larry Fallon, Gary Kellgren | | • | Chelsea Girls - Larry Fallon, Nico, Tom Wilson, Gary Kellgren | | • | I'll Keep It With Mine | | • | Somewhere There's A Feather | | • | Wrap Your Troubles In Dreams | | • | Eulogy To Lenny Bruce |
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 6
 Stunningly beautiful and criminally underrated March 15, 2007
J. Roberts (Maryland)
10 out of 10 found this review helpful
This is one of Nico's very finest albums, a moody, lusciously orchestrated and impeccable sounding debut by anyone's standards. Truly, THIS is where Nico's real career began, instead of being an ornament for the Velvet Underground.
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br /This album is roughly a million miles away from some of Nico's later solo efforts, especially 'The End', which boasts atmospherics and gloom which would make Joy Division unsure. Having said that, 'The End' was genius, but so is this.
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br /Album opener 'The Fairest Of The Seasons' is vintage Nico, all introspection and heavy philosophising. It is a great introduction to Nico's voice, which is utterly unique and without any comparsion to any other singer, male or female. Where this album differs from any other Nico album is that the music is a very uplifting, sometimes even jolly affair. This song is laden with beautiful acoustic guitar and serene strings, married perfectly with Nico's deep, expressive and deliberate voice, which is crisp with clarity.
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br /'These days' also features the same musical arrangement, but the strings are gentler and even more dreamy sounding, whilst the lyrics are classic Nico, casually musing over past and present in trademark Nico style.
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br /Various other percussion is explored continuously throughout the entire album, put to best effect on 'It was a pleasure then', which is the most experimental song on the album and most like what Nico was embracing the further into her career she got. The moody-sounding 'Chelsea Girls' is more evidence of Nico's deep, distinctive and actually very strong vocal presence, whilst the song itself is an airtight exploration of various classical instruments, all working together and complimenting each other to great effect. The music in this song sounds quaint, genteel and almost countrified, conjuring images of a meadow on a warm summer's day.
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br /Dylan-penned 'I'll Keep It With Mine' is another high point, 'lent' to Nico by Bob Dylan out of the goodness of his heart, or perhaps the fact that he was another of Nico's many male admirers!
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br /'Somewhere There's A Feather' and 'Wrap Your Troubles In Dream' are also both exercises in subtle beauty, moody, understated but with all the charms of traditional sounding classical music. The juxtaposition of the music and Nico's voice is an entrancing and fascinating one.
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br /The album's closer 'Eulogy To Lenny Bruce' is easily one of the best songs on the album and in Nico's career, sounding utterly heartbreaking and overwrought with emotion. Indeed, the emotion that Nico's voice is infused with on this song is unforgettable. After a long time of not listening to this song, I suddenly remembered it and it became a firm favourite. The acoustic guitar is unobtrusive and simple, yet effective, allowing Nico's voice to lead, with the sad and lost-sounding lyrics.
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br /Nico's career had many high points, but this wonderful, elgaic and skillfully produced album has to rank as one of the most enchanting highlights of her career.
It was a pleasure then July 22, 2005
E. A Solinas (MD USA)
12 out of 13 found this review helpful
Nico is still mostly remembered for her tambourine-shaking days in the Velvet Underground, though she departed after only one album, and began a long and excellent career as a solo singer. And her first solo album, "Chelsea Girl," is a perfect example of Nico's dark, heavy, haunting songs. br brDon't expect the same stuff as "Femme Fatale," though -- the Velvet Underground specialized in fuzzy art-rockers. By herself, Nico favored a more orchestral brand of pop. It kicks off wtith a delicate guitar solo, only to get submerged under a layer of violins. "Now that I'm almost not so very far behind/I want to know/do I stay or do I go..." she asks mournfully in the soaring opening song. br brThat mellow, classical style carries over the album, with some stately organ in "Little Sister" and the urgent, flitting flute melody of "Winter Song" and "Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams." The one disappointment is the finale, "Eulogy To Lenny Bruce." In itself, it's not a bad song -- but the production is definitely off, making Nico sound like she's singing from inside a metal drum. br brThe late Nico was a love-her-or-hate-her singer, even in her days with the Velvet Underground, where people often demanded her presence after her departure. She was also not one for people who demand bubblegum-pop lyrics or wide-ranging vocals. Instead, she's for the open-minded, who are willing to check out something -- or someone -- a little different. br brThe voice is the most prominent difference: Nico's voice was deep, deadpan, flat, and had a heavy German accent. In other words, a disaster. Except that she was't -- instead, her voice has a kind of trembly, gothic beauty, and it suits the exceptionally sad songs that she tended to sing. No goofy I-love-him-so ballads here, but meditations on life, death and tragedy. br brAnd the music is majestic enough to support those songs and that voice -- lots of flutes and violins, with guitar and piano backing them up. As a result, this brand of pop has aged better than most older music -- with its classical bent and European orchestral flavour, it sounds timeless. It could have as easily been recorded yesterday. br br"Chelsea Girl" was the start of a beautiful solo career for Nico, cut short by her untimely death. But she left behind her a legacy of beautiful, mournful music.
Hauntingly Beautiful April 1, 2001
16 out of 16 found this review helpful
This debut album from Nico, I would say is mostly a Donovan-ish folk album and is more conventional in song structure than her second album The Marble Index. Songwriters on the album include Nico's Velvet Underground companions Lou Reed and John Cale, as well as Bob Dylan and Jackson Browne. The album has a very simple feel to it with gently strummed accoustic guitar. There is a very mournful and hauntingly beautiful atmosphere throughout. Lou Reed's Wrap Your Troubles In Dreams could be one of his best written songs and Velvet Underground fans should like both It Was A Pleasure Then and Chelsea Girls. Other favourite songs on the album include the beautiful Eulogy To Lenny Bruce, These Days and Bob Dylan's I'll Keep It With Mine (these latter two are among the more upbeat tracks on a generally beautifully mournful album). I'm not usually into folk music but I do like this album and would recommend it to anyone who likes Nico's Velvet Underground work.
Nico's Lieder July 26, 2009
Pieter (Johannesburg)
Nico's 1967 debut displays two distinct sonic styles, the first which may perhaps be termed a blend of folk chamber music and the second the art-rock number with a VU feel. John Cale, Lou Reed and Sterling Morrison composed or co-wrote many of the songs and play on the album, contributing arresting instrumental textures behind Nico's bleak vocals. An air of melancholy permeates both styles whilst the second type has an added undertone of unease.
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br /Tracks like The Fairest of the Seasons with its gentle orchestral backing, Cale Reed's haunting Little Sister and Reed Morrison's Chelsea Girls with their delicate arrangements have the folkie feel of some of Marianne Faithfull's 1960s work and also bring to mind the orchestral folk of Nick Drake, no doubt because John Cale worked with both and Drake also used cello and flute. Tim Hardin's moving Eulogy to Lenny Bruce resorts here as well.
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br /Cale's Winter Song falls somewhere between the two whilst the complex arrangement of Lou Reed's Wrap Your Troubles In Dreams reflects the song's striking, often disturbing imagery. The most experimental track, It Was A Pleasure Then - co-written by Nico - is perhaps closest to the The Velvet Underground sound in its screeching feedback, dissonance and edgy sound effects.
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br /The appeal of Chelsea Girls is difficult to define, especially for fans of the VU and the later solo work of Cale Reed. The material's thematic matrix and the acoustic backing - including piano, strings guitar - highlights the mournful magic in Nico's German accent and detached delivery. Two very different but interesting albums are The End and Drama of Exile. I highly recommend the biography by James Young, Nico, Songs They Never Play on the Radio.
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 Classic let down by sound quality December 12, 2003
Charles Hodgson (Edinburgh United Kingdom)
19 out of 20 found this review helpful
This is really a 5 Star LP (if like me you'd played the Velvet's first LP to death, then discovering this incredible "companion" piece is a fantastic bonus), but it should be pointed out that this CD version sounds terrible sound quality wise and is in dire need of sensitive remastering. (One of the worst examples of the first wave of CD reissues that i've heard, in fact.) The tracks recorded with the Velvets appear in much better sound on the recent 2CD version of the banana album, so half the job's been done - BUT: What about a proper remaster of the full LP, Polydor? Nico was an important artist and deserves much better.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 6
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