Nico - Heroine (1994)

There is a plethora of live recordings by Nico from the last decade of her life, enough to discourage even fans from investing a lot of time and effort in acquiring each one. Heroine, however, must rank not only among the best of those recordings, but among her best 1980s work. Recorded at the Library Theatre in Manchester around 1980 (an exact date is not available), it immediately has a leg up on her studio work of the era (as heard on her Drama of Exile album) in its minimal, at times almost-bare arrangements. Nico was not made to be a rock star, as some of her production seemed to insist on trying to make her. She was best as a lonely voice peering out of the darkness, and though she's backed by a band (the exact musicians are unidentified) on this set, the accompaniment's spare and spooky, as it should be. The repertoire's a good cross selection of material, spanning the Velvet Underground to her then-current songs, including "All Tomorrow's Parties," "We've Got the Gold," "Frozen Warnings," "Valley of the Kings," and "Femme Fatale." Vocally she's pretty focused and cutting, though in a somber fashion, on this recording. It has pretty good sound too, though you'll sometimes need to crank the volume a bit, so spacious and subdued is the instrumentation, which leans heavily on synth and harmonium.


Tracks:

1. Nico - My Heart Is Empty
2. Nico - Procession
3. Nico - All Tomorrow's Parties (Live)
4. Nico - Valley Of The Kings
5. Nico - The Sphinx
6. Nico - We've Got The Gold
7. Nico - Mutterlein
8. Nico - Afraid
9. Nico - Innocent And Vain
10. Nico - Frozen Warnings
11. Nico - Fearfully In Danger
12. Nico - Tananore
13. Nico - Femme Fatale