Desertshore

Desertshore
Studio album by Nico
Released	December 1970
Recorded	1970 at Sound Techniques Ltd., London; except "Le Petit Chevalier" at Studios Davout, Paris
Genre	Experimental, folk rock
Length	28:51
Label	Reprise
Producer	John Cale, Joe Boyd
Professional reviews
The reviews parameter has been deprecated. Please move reviews into the “Reception” section of the article. See Moving reviews into article space. Allmusic link Robert Christgau (C) link Piero Scaruffi (9/10) link Rolling Stone (Favorable) link Glorious Noise (Favorable) link
Nico chronology
The Marble Index (1969) Desertshore (1970) The End... (1974)

Desertshore is Nico's third solo album, recorded and released in 1970. It was co-produced by John Cale and Joe Boyd. Like its predecessor The Marble Index, it is an avant-garde album with neoclassical elements.

The back and front covers feature stills from the film La cicatrice interieure by Philippe Garrel, which starred Nico, Garrel and her son Ari Boulogne. A few of the songs from the album were included on the soundtrack of the film.

Of the album, critic Todd Totale writes:

“

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. ... The record’s dark light is even more potent considering how tragic Nico’s life ended. Desertshore could be her most honest recording, and it provides an eerie foreshadowing of her future struggles and challenges. It’s her wake music, performed nearly two decades before she passed away."[1]

”

A few friends did indeed play a tape of Mütterlein, a song from the album, at Nico's funeral in Berlin in July 1988.

Track listing

All tracks written by Nico

Side one

1. "Janitor of Lunacy" - 4:01
2. "The Falconer" - 5:39
3. "My Only Child" - 3:27
4. "Le Petit Chevalier" - 1:12

Side two

1. "Abschied" - 3:02
2. "Afraid" - 3:27
3. "Mütterlein" - 4:38
4. "All That is My Own" - 3:54

Personnel

• Nico: vocals, harmonium
• John Cale: all other instruments except trumpet
• John Cale and Adam Miller: harmony voices
• Ari Boulogne: vocals on "Le petit chevalier"

Throbbing Gristle cover

Industrial music group Throbbing Gristle went into the studio to record a reinterpretation of Desertshore for a 2008 release. The studio session was made open to the public and the entirety of the 3-day, 12-hour-long session was recorded, given a limited press, and released as The Desertshore Installation.

References

1. ^ "Lost Classic: Nico – Desertshore" at gloriousnoise.com