Chelsea Girl

Her album with The Velvet Underground is iconic but I haven't listened to much outside of that. I should fix that because this is really great. Her voice is gorgeous and the orchestral instrumentation is epic and hauntingly beautiful.

Interesting, but I don't feel it adds much to her output with The Velvet Underground.

Wikipedian mukaan Nico vihasi sitä, miten paljon huiluja tähän levyyn oli tuotannossa laitettu. Chelsea Girl koettelee oikeasti munkin kärsivällisyyttä (ja tää biisi on vasta puolessa välissä D:), joten yhdyn mielipiteeseen. 2/5

It worked for me until it got to "It Was A Pleasure Then." Had to skip that one. Definitely has some beautiful moments, but also has its share of painful ones. Wouldn't put on for my own pleasure but wouldn't leave the room if someone put this on. I know she didn't like the string arrangements but I honestly can't imagine it working without them - it'd be too spare. The flutes are a different story though - I feel like they are a bit too ornamental and out of place. Definitely uncool those arrangements were added without her permission, but it still ended up being a halfway decent album.

Look, I like violins as much as the next person--maybe even more--but damn these overdubs (like they're trying to make every song sound like "Eleanor Motherfucking Rigby"). They're so tacked on, not matching Nico's voice at all, which sounds like she's pulling her jaw back into her throat. And then just listen to "Winter Song": the power is right there in the (rather frightening) lyrics. We don't need a flute to tell us "this is a pastoral song, in case you couldn't figure it out". RYM ranks "It Was a Pleasure Then" as the worst track on the album, but I think it's the best because it's not got those damn overdubs. Everything is more real--the music, the vocals. It's pretty VU at its heart, too, what with the short bursts of howling feedback and the minimalist experimental vibe threatening to explode into a welcome cacophony that never comes. Nope. Bring the flautist and string quartet back in. Break's over!

It's so bad that even Nico herself refuses to listen to it. Wondering if this album was included in the 1001 as an example of good intentions gone horribly wrong?

Rubbish lyrics, terrible vocals, horrible instrumentation, and no drums at all! The worst album I have ever listened to, and I never will again.
Virtually a crime against humanity, and I can only assume that some reviewers (who likes it) have no ears, or taste, or were afraid to admit it should be nowhere near this list

Distinctive voice for sure, but a hard one to love. Certainly evocative and laid-back, but also too avant-garde for me.