Nico

All Tomorrow's Parties DVD [DVD]

Label: Cherry Red Country: UK

"One of the most fascinating figures of rock's fringes, Nico hobnobbed, worked, and was romantically linked with an incredible assortment of the most legendary entertainers of the '60s. Nico first rose to fame as a European supermodel, also landing a bit part in Fellini's La Dolce Vita film. In the mid-1960's she moved to New York, where Andy Warhol installed her as a vestigial presence and occasional lead singer for the Velvet Underground. The band never really accepted her as a bona fide member and she departed in 1967, but not before contributing unforgettable deadpan vocals to three of the songs on their classic 1967 debut album.

Nico then embarked on a solo career, recording folk-rock-flavored songs for her debut Chelsea Girl album with assistance from Jackson Browne, Lou Reed, and John Cale. Her 1969 follow-up, The Marble Index, was a dramatic departure that unveiled her doom-laden, gothic persona, produced by Cale and prominently featuring her deep vocals, impenetrable lyrics, and ghostly harmonium. Her subsequent '70s albums explored much the same territory, with assistance from Cale and influential art rockers like Brian Eno. She fought a constant struggle with a massive drug habit and tangled personal life and eventually died of a cerebral hemorrhage in Ibiza in 1988.

The original goth rocker, Nico's albums are demanding and bleak, but map a unique and starkly powerful vision that has become more influential with age. "All Tomorrow's Parties" features extremely rare material from two shows Nico played in the UK in the early 1980's."-Cherry Red