- The Marble Index (album)
Infobox Album | Name = The Marble Index
Type =Album
Artist =Nico
Released = May1969
Recorded =September1968
Elektra Sound Recorders,Los Angeles
Genre =Avant-garde folk
Length = 30:48 (original)
37:46 (1991 reissue)
Label = Elektra
Producer =Frazier Mohawk
Reviews =
*Allmusic Rating|3|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:diazefekhgf6 link]
*Piero Scaruffi (8/10) [http://www.scaruffi.com/vol3/nico.html link]
Last album = "Chelsea Girl"
(1968)
This album = "The Marble Index"
(1969)
Next album = "Desertshore "
(1970)"The Marble Index" is a gothic-folk album with neoclassical and
avant-garde elements, recorded in 1968 and released in 1969 byNico .The album featured long-term associate
John Cale , anexperimental music ian who had worked briefly with Nico during her stint inThe Velvet Underground . Cale had an extensive background in various avant-garde settings, working with minimalist composerLaMonte Young , among others. Cale and Nico created an album that radically deviated from traditional rock music song structures. Cale said it was the first rock album to do so. He also said that "The Marble Index" had made a seminal contribution to the body of modern classical music.Nico wrote all her own songs on this album and accompanied herself on the
harmonium , which has also been referred to as an "Indian pump organ". The arrangements are abstract and, musically speaking, "cold". The effect is kindred to the psychological sound experimentation of electronic and serialcomposer ,Karlheinz Stockhausen . The Marble Index has been described as a "nightmare in sound". It has influenced a wide array of genres in contemporary independent music; Artists such as Coil,Jocelyn Pook ,Jackson Browne ,Elliott Smith andDead Can Dance , as well as numerous contemporary goth bands have all cited Nico as a seminal influence.Lyrics
Nico employed images of power, cold, fear, dreams, terror, resignation, and loss (among others) on The Marble Index. Her lyrics might be described as Romantic or Gothic as they focus primarily on the fragility of life and the imminence of death.
The singer introduced "No One is There" at a live concert in
Copenhagen ,Denmark onFebruary 14 ,1982 by saying, "This song I wrote forRichard Nixon onHalloween . I want to dedicate it toRonald Reagan ." The performance was later included on the 1982live album , "". [ [http://smironne.free.fr/NICO/docd.html "Do or Die" liner notes] .]Track listing
"All tracks written by Nico"
ide one
#"Prelude" – 1:00
#"Lawns of Dawns" – 3:11
#"No One Is There" – 3:37
#"Ari's Song" – 3:21
#"Facing the Wind" – 4:55ide two
#"Julius Caesar (Memento Hodie)" – 5:02
#"Frozen Warnings" – 4:02
#"Evening of Light" – 5:40On CD release only
*"Roses in the Snow" – 4:10
*"Nibelungen" – 2:43Personnel
*Nico: vocals,
harmonium
*John Cale :electric viola , piano, bass, electric guitar,glockenspiel , bells,mouth organ , bosun's pipeReferences
External links
* [http://www.gadflyonline.com/06-24-02/music-nico.html Gadfly essay on Nico]
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