Nico - The Marble Index

The second solo album from the late Velvet Underground chanteuse, several galaxies removed from the conservative, pleasingly orchestrated songs of her debut album from merely one year before, Chelsea Girls. Here Nico's Gregorian chant melodies, cryptic lyrics, and wavering harmonium combine with always sparse, consistently absorbing arrangements (courtesy of fellow Velvets exile John Cale) to create a singular work fresh from the mausoleum. While Marble Index is occasionally tedious, give a listen particularly to "Lawns of Dawns," "Frozen Warnings," and "Evening of Light," and you will feel like you are peering into Hades itself. This is one truly creepy and morbid-sounding album, but never over-the-top to the point of silliness like, say, Diamanda Galas' Plague Mass. You and your friends definitely won't be bringing this along to the Halloween party at that abandoned, decaying mansion on the dead-end road. A radical statement, highly recommended for those who dig chamber prog (e.g. Art Zoyd and Univers Zero), and maybe also fans of the more straightforward R.I.O. Those prog fans against a lot of avant-ness should most likely steer clear of this one.

1. Prelude
2. Lawns Of Dawns
3. No One Is There
4. Ari's Song
5. Facing The Wind
6. Julius Caesar (Memento Hodie)
7. Frozen Warnings
8. Evening Of Light
9. Roses In The Snow
10. Nibelungen