Chelsea Girl (album)
Encyclopedia
Chelsea Girl is the debut solo album by Nico
. It was released in October 1967 by Verve Records
, also home to The Velvet Underground
. The name of the album is a reference to Andy Warhol
's 1966 film Chelsea Girls
, which Nico starred in. The sixth track of the album (or first on Side B on vinyl) is titled "Chelsea Girls
".
Many of the songs on the album have instrumental work from The Velvet Underground
, whom Nico had previously collaborated with the year before on The Velvet Underground and Nico
, as well as song writing credits from members of the band. The song "I'll Keep It with Mine
", which is also featured on the album, was written by Bob Dylan
, and the album also features three songs by Jackson Browne
, who also contributes guitar to the album.
Nico toured with the band in Andy Warhol
's Exploding Plastic Inevitable
(EPI) multimedia
roadshow. Before the EPI came to an end in 1967, Nico took up residence in a New York City
coffeehouse
as solo folk
chanteuse, accompanied in turn by acquainted guitarist
s, such as Tim Hardin
, Jackson Browne
and Leonard Cohen
, but also her Velvet Underground bandmates Lou Reed
, Sterling Morrison
and John Cale
.
Some of her accompanists wrote songs for her to sing, and these form the backbone of Chelsea Girl. Browne and Hardin contributed some songs, "Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams" by John Cale was part of the earliest Velvet Underground repertoire (which did not surface as a Velvet Underground recording until it was included in the 1995 box set Peel Slowly and See
), and Reed, Cale and Morrison in various combinations contributed four more songs. Additionally, Bob Dylan
gave her one of his songs to record: "I'll Keep It with Mine".
Musically, Chelsea Girl is best described as a cross between chamber folk
and 1960s pop
. The musical backing is relatively simple, consisting of one or two guitar
s or, alternatively, a keyboard instrument
, played by either Browne or (a combination of) her Velvet Underground colleagues. There are no drums
or bass
instruments. Adding to the chamber folk feel of the music is the strings
and flute
arrangement superimposed over the initial recordings by producer
Tom Wilson and arranger Larry Fallon without involving or consulting Nico.
Nico was dissatisfied with the finished product. Looking back in 1981, she stated:
Nico
Nico was a German singer, lyricist, composer, musician, fashion model, and actress, who initially rose to fame as a Warhol Superstar in the 1960s...
. It was released in October 1967 by Verve Records
Verve Records
Verve Records is an American jazz record label now owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded by Norman Granz in 1956, absorbing the catalogues of his earlier labels, Clef Records and Norgran Records , and material which had been licensed to Mercury previously.-Jazz and folk origins:The Verve...
, also home to The Velvet Underground
The Velvet Underground
The Velvet Underground was an American rock band formed in New York City. First active from 1964 to 1973, their best-known members were Lou Reed and John Cale, who both went on to find success as solo artists. Although experiencing little commercial success while together, the band is often cited...
. The name of the album is a reference to Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol
Andrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...
's 1966 film Chelsea Girls
Chelsea Girls
Chelsea Girls is a 1966 experimental underground film directed by Andy Warhol and Paul Morrissey. The film was Warhol's first major commercial success after a long line of avant-garde art films...
, which Nico starred in. The sixth track of the album (or first on Side B on vinyl) is titled "Chelsea Girls
Chelsea Girls (song)
"Chelsea Girls" is the title track to Nico's 1967 debut album, Chelsea Girl. The song was written by Lou Reed and Sterling Morrison of The Velvet Underground, who Nico had collaborated with for their debut album the previous year....
".
Many of the songs on the album have instrumental work from The Velvet Underground
The Velvet Underground
The Velvet Underground was an American rock band formed in New York City. First active from 1964 to 1973, their best-known members were Lou Reed and John Cale, who both went on to find success as solo artists. Although experiencing little commercial success while together, the band is often cited...
, whom Nico had previously collaborated with the year before on The Velvet Underground and Nico
The Velvet Underground and Nico
The Velvet Underground & Nico is the debut album by American rock band The Velvet Underground and vocal collaborator Nico. It was originally released in March 1967 by Verve Records...
, as well as song writing credits from members of the band. The song "I'll Keep It with Mine
I'll Keep It with Mine
"I'll Keep It with Mine" is a song written by Bob Dylan in 1964, first officially released by folk singer Judy Collins as a single in 1965. Dylan attempted to record the song for his 1966 album Blonde on Blonde.-Dylan's Version:...
", which is also featured on the album, was written by Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
, and the album also features three songs by Jackson Browne
Jackson Browne
Jackson Browne is an American singer-songwriter and musician who has sold over 17 million albums in the United States alone....
, who also contributes guitar to the album.
History
After collaborating as a singer with The Velvet Underground on their debut The Velvet Underground & Nico (recorded during 1966, released in March 1967), Warhol superstarWarhol superstar
Warhol superstars were a clique of New York City personalities promoted by Andy Warhol during the 1960s and early 1970s. These personalities appeared in Warhol's artworks and accompanied him in his social life...
Nico toured with the band in Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol
Andrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...
's Exploding Plastic Inevitable
Exploding Plastic Inevitable
The Exploding Plastic Inevitable, sometimes simply called Plastic Inevitable or EPI, was a series of multimedia events organized by Andy Warhol between 1966 and 1967, featuring musical performances by The Velvet Underground and Nico, screenings of Warhol's films, and dancing and performances by...
(EPI) multimedia
Multimedia
Multimedia is media and content that uses a combination of different content forms. The term can be used as a noun or as an adjective describing a medium as having multiple content forms. The term is used in contrast to media which use only rudimentary computer display such as text-only, or...
roadshow. Before the EPI came to an end in 1967, Nico took up residence in a New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
coffeehouse
Coffeehouse
A coffeehouse or coffee shop is an establishment which primarily serves prepared coffee or other hot beverages. It shares some of the characteristics of a bar, and some of the characteristics of a restaurant, but it is different from a cafeteria. As the name suggests, coffeehouses focus on...
as solo folk
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
chanteuse, accompanied in turn by acquainted guitarist
Guitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
s, such as Tim Hardin
Tim Hardin
James Timothy "Tim" Hardin was an American folk musician and composer. He wrote the Top 40 hits "If I Were a Carpenter", covered by, among others, Joan Baez, Bobby Darin, Johnny Cash, Ramblin' Jack Elliot, and Robert Plant, and "Reason to Believe", covered by many, including Rod Stewart, as well...
, Jackson Browne
Jackson Browne
Jackson Browne is an American singer-songwriter and musician who has sold over 17 million albums in the United States alone....
and Leonard Cohen
Leonard Cohen
Leonard Norman Cohen, is a Canadian singer-songwriter, musician, poet and novelist. Cohen published his first book of poetry in Montreal in 1956 and his first novel in 1963. His work often explores religion, isolation, sexuality and interpersonal relationships...
, but also her Velvet Underground bandmates Lou Reed
Lou Reed
Lewis Allan "Lou" Reed is an American rock musician, songwriter, and photographer. He is best known as guitarist, vocalist, and principal songwriter of The Velvet Underground, and for his successful solo career, which has spanned several decades...
, Sterling Morrison
Sterling Morrison
Holmes Sterling Morrison, Jr. was one of the founding members of the rock group The Velvet Underground, usually playing electric guitar, occasionally bass guitar, and singing backing vocals.-Biography:...
and John Cale
John Cale
John Davies Cale, OBE is a Welsh musician, composer, singer-songwriter and record producer who was a founding member of the experimental rock band The Velvet Underground....
.
Some of her accompanists wrote songs for her to sing, and these form the backbone of Chelsea Girl. Browne and Hardin contributed some songs, "Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams" by John Cale was part of the earliest Velvet Underground repertoire (which did not surface as a Velvet Underground recording until it was included in the 1995 box set Peel Slowly and See
Peel Slowly and See
Peel Slowly and See is a five-disc box set of material by The Velvet Underground. It was released in September 1995 by Polydor.-Compilation:...
), and Reed, Cale and Morrison in various combinations contributed four more songs. Additionally, Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
gave her one of his songs to record: "I'll Keep It with Mine".
Musically, Chelsea Girl is best described as a cross between chamber folk
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
and 1960s pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
. The musical backing is relatively simple, consisting of one or two guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
s or, alternatively, a keyboard instrument
Keyboard instrument
A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
, played by either Browne or (a combination of) her Velvet Underground colleagues. There are no drums
Drum kit
A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
or bass
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
instruments. Adding to the chamber folk feel of the music is the strings
String instrument
A string instrument is a musical instrument that produces sound by means of vibrating strings. In the Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification, used in organology, they are called chordophones...
and flute
Flute
The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
arrangement superimposed over the initial recordings by producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
Tom Wilson and arranger Larry Fallon without involving or consulting Nico.
Nico was dissatisfied with the finished product. Looking back in 1981, she stated:
Side A
- "The Fairest of the Seasons" (Jackson BrowneJackson BrowneJackson Browne is an American singer-songwriter and musician who has sold over 17 million albums in the United States alone....
, Gregory Copeland) – 4:06 - "These DaysThese Days (Jackson Browne song)"These Days" is a song written by Jackson Browne and principally recorded by Nico, Gregg Allman, and Browne himself in three distinctly different musical styles...
" (Jackson BrowneJackson BrowneJackson Browne is an American singer-songwriter and musician who has sold over 17 million albums in the United States alone....
) – 3:30 - "Little Sister" (John CaleJohn CaleJohn Davies Cale, OBE is a Welsh musician, composer, singer-songwriter and record producer who was a founding member of the experimental rock band The Velvet Underground....
, Lou ReedLou ReedLewis Allan "Lou" Reed is an American rock musician, songwriter, and photographer. He is best known as guitarist, vocalist, and principal songwriter of The Velvet Underground, and for his successful solo career, which has spanned several decades...
) – 4:22 - "Winter Song" (Cale) – 3:17
- "It Was a Pleasure Then" (NicoNicoNico was a German singer, lyricist, composer, musician, fashion model, and actress, who initially rose to fame as a Warhol Superstar in the 1960s...
, Reed, Cale) – 8:02
Side B
- "Chelsea GirlsChelsea Girls (song)"Chelsea Girls" is the title track to Nico's 1967 debut album, Chelsea Girl. The song was written by Lou Reed and Sterling Morrison of The Velvet Underground, who Nico had collaborated with for their debut album the previous year....
" (Reed, Sterling MorrisonSterling MorrisonHolmes Sterling Morrison, Jr. was one of the founding members of the rock group The Velvet Underground, usually playing electric guitar, occasionally bass guitar, and singing backing vocals.-Biography:...
) – 7:22 - "I'll Keep It With MineI'll Keep It with Mine"I'll Keep It with Mine" is a song written by Bob Dylan in 1964, first officially released by folk singer Judy Collins as a single in 1965. Dylan attempted to record the song for his 1966 album Blonde on Blonde.-Dylan's Version:...
" (Bob DylanBob DylanBob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
) – 3:17 - "Somewhere There's a Feather" (Browne) – 2:16
- "Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams" (Cale) – 5:07
- "Eulogy to Lenny BruceLenny BruceLeonard Alfred Schneider , better known by the stage name Lenny Bruce, was a Jewish-American comedian, social critic and satirist...
" (Tim HardinTim HardinJames Timothy "Tim" Hardin was an American folk musician and composer. He wrote the Top 40 hits "If I Were a Carpenter", covered by, among others, Joan Baez, Bobby Darin, Johnny Cash, Ramblin' Jack Elliot, and Robert Plant, and "Reason to Believe", covered by many, including Rod Stewart, as well...
) – 3:45
Personnel
- Nico – vocalsSingingSinging is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
- Jackson BrowneJackson BrowneJackson Browne is an American singer-songwriter and musician who has sold over 17 million albums in the United States alone....
– electric guitarElectric guitarAn electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
(A1-2, B2-3, B5) - Lou ReedLou ReedLewis Allan "Lou" Reed is an American rock musician, songwriter, and photographer. He is best known as guitarist, vocalist, and principal songwriter of The Velvet Underground, and for his successful solo career, which has spanned several decades...
– electric guitarElectric guitarAn electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
(A3, A5, B1, B4) - John CaleJohn CaleJohn Davies Cale, OBE is a Welsh musician, composer, singer-songwriter and record producer who was a founding member of the experimental rock band The Velvet Underground....
– violaViolaThe viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.- Form :The viola is similar in material and construction to the violin. A full-size viola's body is between and longer than the body of a full-size violin , with an average...
, organOrgan (music)The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...
, guitar (A3-5) - Sterling MorrisonSterling MorrisonHolmes Sterling Morrison, Jr. was one of the founding members of the rock group The Velvet Underground, usually playing electric guitar, occasionally bass guitar, and singing backing vocals.-Biography:...
– electric guitar (B1, B4) - Tom Wilson – producerRecord producerA record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
- Larry FallonLarry FallonLarry Fallon was an American composer, arranger and record producer.Arranger credits include Van Morrison's Astral Weeks, Nico's Chelsea Girl, Jimmy Cliff's Wonderful World, Beautiful People, the Rolling Stones' "Gimme Shelter" and Gil Scott-Heron's Bridges. He played the distinctive harpsichord...
– string and flute arrangements