Desertshore Dream - a tribute to Nico

Desertshore by Nico is one of this enigmatic and legendary singer-songwriter's most notable albums. Co-produced by Joe Boyd and John Cale, the latter of whom was also formerly of the Velvet Underground, the band which Nico had sung for, it features a collection of her haunting and Gothic-sounding songs on which she accompanies herself on the harmonium. On two songs "Abschied" and Mütterlein", she sings in her native German.

Cale and added much more instrumentation and production to the songs, but they still have a very lonely and bleak feel to them, tempered at times with a very knowing and compassionate feel to her voice. Nico's poetic talent shines here, although her lyrics can be abstract, enigmatic and almost surrealist at times. Desertshore has been described as "avante-garde" with "neoclassical elements", according to Wikipedia.

Stand out songs for me include "Janitor of Lunacy", "The Falconer," and "All That Is My Own."

The front and back cover for the album, which was released in 1970 on the Reprise label, feature stills from the film La cicatrice interieure by Philippe Garrel, which starred Nico, Garrel and her son Ari Boulogne. Ari sings the song "Le Petit Chevalier" in French and this song closes side one of the album.

Music critic Todd Totale said of Desertshore : "She offered her record company barely thirty-minutes of what could best be described as a Medieval dirge, two songs of which are sung in their native German while one is sung in French by Nico’s own child.... It is an understated masterpiece, a vital component to what would later become the Gothic Rock subculture."

Desertshore was Nico's third solo album and followed The Marble Index.

Copyright © 2012 Steve Andrews. All Rights Reserved.