Throbbing Gristle is working on a cover of this 1970 album, so I thought I’d give it a spin. I’m not really a Nico fan, or wasn’t; I might have been one of the few who enjoyed her contributions to the first Velvets record—a weird sort of authoritarian lasciviousness. I never heard her solo work before today except in bits and pieces, not even a single complete track.
Desert Shore was a shock. I was expecting the harmonium but not the varied orchestration—it has to be John Cale behind those arrangements, right? Nico’s vocal delivery has gained in momentum, swelling out to encompass the world and its myriad emotions as if they were somehow beholden to her. Even during the tenderest utterances, like the heartbreaking “Afraid,” Nico must be in control. “Have someone else’s will as your own.” Her ode to her child seems a lesson rather than any sort of commiseration. True, in the more abstract supplications of “Janitor of Lunacy” and “The Falconer,” she does begin to unlock some of the stark contradictions at the heart of whatever she’s harboring, but how loud her voice is! Talk about protesting too much!
What got me, really hit me between the eyes, was, of course, “Le Petit Chevalier.” I’ve read it was Nico’s little boy whose vocals grace the track. Yet, it’s her whispers to him, his little-boy breathing and gentle sniffle, all miked up so close, and that harpsichord way off to the left! The album should be heard just for this moment of obvious intimacy.
If I’ve bought into a piece of mythology, it’s a touching one. Of course the rest of the disc is very good, the arrangements strange and diverse, and please tell me what’s that penetrating little sound, sort of like a cross between an organ and trumpet? I’m not sure that I’ll return to the album often, but I’m glad I heard it.
~ Marc Medwin
Posted by derek on April 21, 2008 4:33 AMBeautiful album, but "The Marble Index" is better.
Throbbing Gristle? Bah. Greatly overhyped.
Posted by: Massimo Ricci at April 21, 2008 5:52 AMI don't know why they reformed. Some things are better left dead. Was never a huge fan to start with. God knows how the chap from Matmos was able to write a whole BOOK on 20 Jazz Funk Greats. Would be curious to read that. Anyway..
This Nico is good, but I agree with you Max - Marble Index knocks it sideways. I'm waiting for someone to reissue on DVD at an affordable price the documentary Nico Icon http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113973/
"Some things are better left dead"
In this particular case, I'd be willing to say that "dead at birth" wouldn't have implied any serious miss for the world of arts.
Posted by: Massimo Ricci at April 22, 2008 2:56 AMThe roar of the critics could be farts.
Posted by: Colonel Sanders at April 22, 2008 5:21 AMWhat's wrong with Throbbing Gristle? I remember loving "Hamburger Lady".
Posted by: walto at April 22, 2008 1:50 PM"Hamburger Lady" is as the kids say, the jamz, or at least I think that's how they say it ...
Posted by: Subway Jared at April 22, 2008 2:40 PMJared Fogle is #3 on my "Top Five People I'd Like to Punch in the Face" list.
Posted by: derek at April 22, 2008 4:52 PMBut what are your thoughts on Hamburger Lady by Throbbing Gristle, Derek?
Posted by: The Hamburgler at April 22, 2008 5:04 PM"The roar of the critics could be farts." Well, thaar's a fingerlickin' cryptic lil' remark for y'all. Care to elaborate, Colonel?
Who are #1 and #2, Derek?
For you Derek
http://swollen.net/category/odd-news/
"The roar of the critics could be farts."
I do agree. But certain farts smell better than McDonald's food.
And I'm not a critic, by the way.
Posted by: Massimo Ricci at April 23, 2008 1:47 AMSorry, Mr. Burglar, lame as it may make me, I don’t recall having heard it.
Dan, it’s a pretty mutable list depending on a myriad of mitigating factors (bourbon consumption, blood sugar, job stress, relative exposure to the American media conglomerate, etc.), but currently:
1.) Dick Cheney
2.) Dr. Phil
3.) Jared Fogle
4.) Fred Phelps
5.) Simon Cowell
If it were a Top Ten, Michael Moore (the pedagogue, not the improviser) would also be on there.
That slogan the Colonel's quoting is a riff on a Minutemen song. I don't like the critic tag either so I'm curious what you consider yourself Massimo?
Posted by: derek at April 23, 2008 6:16 AMDerek, there are various choices for "Hamburger Lady" on youtube. It's late, but
It's never too late!
Posted by: walto at April 23, 2008 1:43 PM"I don't like the critic tag either so I'm curious what you consider yourself Massimo?"
Dunno Derek - maybe "an experienced fake detector who doesn't hide behind a moniker"?
I never heard a minute of Minutemen, sorry everybody.
By taking a look at the definition of "critic" in Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism)
indeed many of us could be defined as such. Yet I really never felt like one, I just try to tie things up a little bit among different sonic islands. If someone gets more curious after the work, that's all for the better.
btw Derek, I think the word "demagogue" is what you mean to level at Michael Moore.
"Pedagogue" is the word you reserve for people who annoyingly point out mistaken uses of vocabulary.
Posted by: djll at April 28, 2008 12:23 PMDemagogue fits Moore’s smug mug too, but I did mean pedagogue, as in a person who is excessively pedantic & dogmatic & treats his audience like children. ;)
Posted by: derek at April 29, 2008 11:55 AMD,
Maybe the word is "cholagogue." "A medicinal agent which causes the discharge of bile from the system."
Posted by: djll at April 30, 2008 11:42 AM.................................................. © 2003 - 2006 bagatellen ..................................................