Nick Nicely

nick nicely
Birth name	Nickolas Laurien
Born	1959 (age 51–52)
Genres	Psychedelic rock
Instruments	Guitar, Vocals. Synthesizer
Years active	1975–present
Labels	Sanctuary / EMI / Voxette / Hansa
Website	www.willem.to/nicknicely Unofficial

nick nicely (always spelled with lower case n) is a British musician. His music can be categorized as psychedelic rock. nicely was born in 1959 in Greenland during a transatlantic stopover by his parents, but he grew up in Hitchin, Hertfordshire, England, as Nickolas Laurien. In the 1970s, nicely became heavily influenced by the popular music of that time, as well as British psychedelic music from the 1960s. He began making music in the mid-70s without releasing anything initially.

In 1980, nicely released his single, "DCT Dreams" / "Treeline", which some received airplay and favourable reviews. The single became a minor hit in France and The Netherlands. The A-side, "DCT Dreams", is a blend of equal parts 1980s electronics and 1960s psychedelia, whereas the B-side, "Treeline" is more inclined towards psychedelia. The single was originally intended to be part of the first, now-famous Some Bizzare Records sampler SBL-1, but was left off at the last minute because it was already a minor hit.

The follow-up, "Hilly Fields (1892)", released by EMI in 1982, is regarded by many as nicely's masterpiece and in spite of, or due to, its obscurity is considered in some circles as "legendary".^[1] "Hilly Fields" took almost a year to complete, and the track features an obvious 1960s pychedelic influence, cello playing, the 1980s synth-pop sound and what may have been the first ever example of scratching on a non-hiphop recording. The title is inspired by Hilly Fields park in Brockley, southeast London. The flipside, the typically 1960s-psych-inspired "49 Cigars", was mixed in one day and included on the b-side at the last minute, replacing a song called "6 B. Obergene". Despite favourable reviews and airplay, a badly-timed release meant the single wasn’t promoted properly by nicely's label EMI and sank from the charts without a trace. A third single, "On the Coast", was remained unreleased due to nicely's dissatisfaction with it. Frustrated, Nicely abandoned pursuing a career in music and released nothing for more than two decades. However, Nicely still recorded continuously. A compilation of his two singles and selected unreleased tracks was finally released in 2004 as an LP on Tenth Planet and later on by Sanctuary in CD format with extra tracks. The CD was reissued on Grapefruit / Cherry Red in 2010. nicely is currently working on a new release. Leading UK newspaper The Guardian added Hilly Fields to their July 2010 playlist of favourite tunes.

Although nicely's work is not widely known, he has inspired numerous later modern psychedelic artists, notably XTC's psychedelia pastiche The Dukes of Stratosphear.^[2] "49 Cigars" found its way onto the compilation A Monstrous Psychedelic Bubble Exploding in Your Mind: Volume 1 compiled by Amorphous Androgynous in 2008.

In June 2011, Nicks second album Lysergia was released on cassette by Burger Records.^[3]

Discography

Singles

• 1981: "DCT Dreams" / "Treeline" Voxette; Hansa 102.928
• 1982: "Hilly Fields" / "49 Cigars" EMI

Albums

• 2004: Psychotropia (LP)
• 2005: Psychotropia (CD)
• 2010: Psychotropia (CD; reissue with one extra track "Marlon")
• 2011: Lysergia (Cassette)

References

1. ^ http://www.terrascope.co.uk/MyBackPages/Nick%20Nicely.pdf
2. ^ http://www.terrascope.co.uk/MyBackPages/Nick%20Nicely.pdf
3. ^ http://www.freewebs.com/burgerrecords/apps/webstore/products/show/2475326

External links

• http://www.willem.to/nicknicely

Persondata
Name	Nicely, Nick
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1959
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death