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At the time that Nico released her first album, Chelsea Girl, in 1968, she was the toast of the Warhol crowd, a familiar face in the society pages, featuring in fashion magazines throughout the Western world. By the time The Marble Index appeared the following year, her record label advances went largely towards medical bills, as her beauty and talent diminished in the face of something very familiar to the Warhol crowd: a heroin habit. Produced by former Velvet Underground bandmate John Cale, The Marble Index established Nico as a songwriter. Her gothic compositions, intoned in her unearthly voice, captured all too well the angst of one whose much-heralded looks hid a soul that was unable to allow itself to feel or express love.
Live Recording
Includes liner notes by Richard Williams.
Personnel: Nico (vocals, marimba); John Cale (guitar, keyboards).
Audio Mixer: John Cale.
Photographers: Guy Webster; Gerard Malanga.
Arranger: John Cale.
Personnel includes: Nico (vocals, harmonium).
Uncut (p.92) - 5 stars out of 5 -- "THE MARBLE INDEX isn't a record you listen to. It's a hole you fall into....One of that rare breed of recordings which, the better part of four decades later, still has no adequate peer, existing in a genre all of its own." The Wire (6/00, pp.35-6) - "...[A] glacial classic....shimmering song-mirages which disappear with the harmonium's dying notes..." Mojo (Publisher) (p.108) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "Freed from pop conventions, Nico wrote stark, symbolist lyrics that appear to have issued from her subconscious..." Mojo (Publisher) (p.79) - "Viola flourishes and drones courtesy of fellow VU exile John Cale further dramatise the record's innate melancholy, sublime elegance and haunted howl."
Amazing Nico This is an amazing release. My Dad got me listening to this and I love "Frozen Warning". Thanks Dad. Submitted by Gavin Heim (Irvine, CA) Was This Review Helpful? YesNo 2 of 2 found this helpful.
Haunting and bleak, icy and cold - but beautiful Nico's 'THE MARBLE INDEX' is one of the most important albums of the rock era. It is timeless and unique, thanks in part to John Cale's decision not to go with any fashionable production techniques.
Instead, the album is a relentlessly bleak and icy run-through of ancient, archaic medieval-style dirges...but the result is strangely beautiful. Nico's voice, deep and brooding, is perfect to deliver these dark, cold, enigmatic songs. It's a world away from the high-fashion chanteuse of The Velvet Underground, largely because here she's singing all her own material.
Her harmonium accompaniment is sparse and brutal, and Cale's arrangements are alternately stark and delicate, but always haunting. The effect is similar to imagining Nico playing these songs in an ancient cathedral in the 14th century. Her melodies are simple but European and achingly beautiful, and her imagery vivid and unusual. It's a stunning, challenging album that deserves a larger audience. Submitted by Lee (England, UK) Was This Review Helpful? YesNo
Unique and matchless voice The most important woman singer and composer in the rock history for all time. Unique and matchless voice. Submitted by verklarung (Medellin, Colombia) Was This Review Helpful? YesNo
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Haunting and bleak, icy and cold - but beautiful
Unique and matchless voice
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