The Marble Index

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This article is about the album by Nico. For the band, see The Marble Index (band).

The Marble Index
Close-up, black-and-white photograph of a dark haired woman, looking at the camera with a deep sight
Studio album by
Nico
ReleasedNovember 1968
RecordedSeptember 1968
StudioElektra, Los Angeles
Genre
Length30:48
LabelElektra
Producer
Nico chronology
Chelsea Girl
(1967) 		The Marble Index
(1968) 		Desertshore
(1970)

The Marble Index is the second studio album by the German musician

fashion model
.

Although The Marble Index was largely unnoticed when it was released, it has achieved acclaim over time. Nico's unprecedented sound and personal style—both recognised for their tenebrous quality—are considered an influence on several artists. Most notably, they served as a musical and visual prototype for the 1980's gothic rock scene. Nico and Cale continued working together, releasing two more studio albums in the same vein—Desertshore (1970) and The End... (1974)—which are now considered parts of a trilogy.

Background

Nico onstage
Nico at Andy Warhol's Exploding Plastic Inevitable, where she performed with the Velvet Underground, c. 1967

Nico had made her recording debut in 1965 with the single "I'm Not Sayin'".[3] At Andy Warhol's suggestion, she joined the Velvet Underground as a chanteuse, and sang three tracks on their 1967 album The Velvet Underground & Nico.[2] Nico and the group were regulars at the Factory.[4] However, Lou Reed was reluctant to include her in the band.[2] This, coupled with her desire to be a soloist, made Nico leave the group as casually as she had joined.[4] The band members continued to accompany her as she performed on her own and played on her 1967 solo debut, Chelsea Girl. The folk-pop album included songs by Bob Dylan, Tim Hardin, and Jackson Browne (with whom Nico had a brief affair).[2]

The American singer

harmonium bought, according to Richard Witts, from a San Francisco hippie.[6] Her manager, Danny Fields, said that she may have acquired it through the Canadian singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen.[8] The harmonium became her trademark with which "she discovered not only her own artistic voice but a whole new realm of sound".[9][10]

The Marble Index was produced during a little-studied period of Nico's life. For The Quietus's Matthew Lindsay, "the liminal drift of these years only emphasizes the music's amorphous moorings and lack of precedent."[11] Nico approached Danny Fields in mid-1968 with the desire to make an album and prove herself artistically.[8] Resentful of her beauty, she radically changed her image – dyeing her hair red and wearing black clothes in an effort to distance herself from what had made her a popular fashion model.[4] Cale said, "She hated the idea of being blonde and beautiful, and in some ways she hated being a woman, because she figured all her beauty had brought her was grief ... So The Marble Index was an opportunity for her to prove she was a serious artist, not just this kind of blonde bombshell."[8]

Nico already had the title for the album in mind from The Prelude, William Wordsworth's magnum opus. In the poem Wordsworth contemplates a statue of Isaac Newton in the chapel of Trinity College, Cambridge: "with his prism and silent face / The marble index of a mind for ever / Voyaging through strange seas of Thought, alone."[12] Asked about the significance of this Wordsworth quote, Nico replied, "I sometimes find a little of my own poetry in other poets, yes. Incidentally, or accidentally."[7]

Recording

I didn't think it was going to sell at all. But I thought it would be worth making. Elektra was doing so well at the time that we were able to take risks and experiment. That's what I did, took chances. People think record companies are only in it for the money. And yes, in order to keep doing what we were doing we had to make money. But it's how you spend your money that's important.

– Jac Holzman, Uncut (2015)[8]

Fields relayed Nico's request to Jac Holzman, head of Elektra Records;[2] she then went to Holzman's Broadway office with her harmonium and performed for him.[2][8] Despite the challenging nature of Nico's music, Holzman agreed to release her album and assigned Frazier Mohawk to produce it, despite Nico and John Cale's desire to work together. He gave her a budget of $10,000 (equivalent to $87,617 in 2023), with a four-day recording schedule at a studio on La Cienega Boulevard in Los Angeles.[2][8] Fields contacted Cale, who was the album's de facto producer after Mohawk gave him free rein. According to Mohawk, he spent most of the sessions using heroin with Nico.[8] Her drug use is cited as influencing the album's sound; Simon Reynolds wrote, "While it may be a reductive interpretation to regard The Marble Index as the ultimate heroin album, its hunger for narcosis, its frigid expanses, recalls William Burroughs's description of the junkie's quest for a metabolic 'Absolute Zero'."[13]

During the sessions, Nico and Cale "fought at every opportunity"; Nico was "in pain" while recording.

mixing the album as they went, with her voice and harmonium the starting points for each track.[8]
Cale said about the recording process:

The harmonium was out of tune with everything. It wasn't even in tune with itself. She insisted on playing it on everything so we had to figure out ways to separate her voice from it as much as possible and then find instrumental voices that would be compatible with the harmonium track ... As an arranger you're usually trying to take the songs and put a structure on them, but what I thought was valuable was when you took the centre out of the track and worked around the central core of the tonality and changes. That left you with a sort of floating free-form tapestry behind what she was doing, which is when things became more abstract.[8]

He also said, "I was pretty much left alone for two days, and I let [Nico] in at the end. I played her [the album] song by song, and she'd burst into tears. 'Oh! It's so beautiful!', 'Oh, it's so beautiful!' You know, this is the same stuff that people tell me, 'Oh! It's so suicidal!'"[6] The original release of The Marble Index included eight of 12 songs Nico recorded.[15] "Roses in the Snow", "Nibelungen", "Sagen die Gelehrten" and "Reve Reveiller" were left off the album.[16] The finished album was barely 30 minutes long, which "was as much apparently as Frazier Mohawk, mixing and sequencing it, could stand without starting to feel suicidal".[8]

Composition

My melodies are from the Middle Ages. They are from my Russian soul. I do not mean this literally, but they are that in my imagination. John Cale said that they are not tonal. They do not come from our key system. They are too old in their arrangement.

– Nico discussing her distinctive songwriting during this period.[6]

The Marble Index's

European classical approach in his arrangements.[8] The music has been compared with Germanic folk music,[18] Gregorian chant,[19] medieval music such as madrigals,[12][19][20] European avant-garde,[18] Romanticism,[21] and the music of Richard Wagner.[19]

Peter Buckley noted Nico's use of

Kevin Martin to describe "a loose network of disenchanted refugees from rock and experimental musicians" that originated the genre known as dark ambient.[25] Isolationism, Reynolds writes, "breaks with all of ambient's feel-good premises" and "evokes an uneasy silence: the uncanny calm before catastrophe, the deathly quiet of aftermath".[25] He listed Aphex Twin (particularly his 1994 album Selected Ambient Works Volume II), Seefeel, David Toop and Max Eastley, among others, as exponents of this style.[25]

According to

Wondering Sound described the album as "Circe-like".[33]

Songs

"Frozen Warnings"
"Through a pale morning's arctic sunlight glinting dimly off the snow, a bank of violas emits one endless shrill note which eventually becomes electronically distorted by points of ice panning back and forth through the space between your ears, descending and then impossibly ascending in volume and ineluctable intensity until they're almost unbearable through infinitely graceful in their beauty."
– Lester Bangs, "Your Shadow Is Scared of You: An Attempt Not to Be Frightened by Nico", 1978[34]
Problems playing this file? See media help.

Nico's lyrics have been described as "

metaphysical".[40]

The album begins with a gentle piano-and-

somnambulistic toiling" of her pipe organ accompanied by viola and strident piano.[1]

Side two opens with "Julius Caesar (Memento Hodié)", which lyrically explores myths and gods. It features Nico's low,

unaccompanied. The full version (with instrumental accompaniment) was included in the 2007 compilation The Frozen Borderline – 1968–1970; according to Dave Thompson of AllMusic, "It rises to equal any of Nico's subsequent performances or compositions."[16]

Release and aftermath

Holzman said "there was no question" of not releasing The Marble Index despite its lack of commercial appeal. He saw it as a work of art, rather than a product.[8] It was released in November 1968 with little promotion.[8] A music video for "Evening of Light", featuring Iggy Pop and the other Stooges, was shot by the art collector François de Menil in 1969.[4][43] He described the clip as "a sort of pre-MTV promotional item for [The Marble Index]. An early pop promo."[43] De Menil was interested in shooting a short film with Nico, and she agreed with the condition that they would film it in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Pop's hometown, and that he would be featured in it.[43] Dave Thompson described the clip as follows: "It was shot in a cornfield behind [Pop's house], barren and stubbly in the late winter chill, Nico in white and windswept, Pop in whiteface, manic and agitated, caressing and crushing the mannequin parts that littered the field, while a wooden cross is raised before them and set ablaze as night falls."[44] Elektra Records—who had not agreed to finance the project—rejected the music video, as did "any other media outlets that de Menil approached".[44]

The Marble Index "failed to challenge the supremacy of Nashville Skyline, From Elvis in Memphis, Abbey Road and Diana Ross & the Supremes Join the Temptations on the album charts of 1969".[41] Although Holzman was pleased with the album, Nico's longevity with the label was unlikely; he was increasingly concerned with her heroin use and she had a difficult, irresponsible attitude.[8] Nico left the United States before she was officially released from Elektra, after a violent incident in a New York City bar.[8] Biographers refer to her leaving the U.S. as an exile; Nico said, "When you live in a dangerous place, you also become increasingly dangerous. You might just wind up in jail."[7]

In

B-side.[47]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music
[50]

Although The Marble Index was generally unnoticed when it was released, it was praised by the countercultural East Village Other and International Times;[41] however, most critics found "her desolate soundscapes inaccessible."[22] Anne Marie Micklo of Rolling Stone gave the album a positive review, calling side two "a really worthwhile venture into musical infinity".[32] A cult following emerged around it,[51] which included music journalist Lester Bangs, who wrote in a 1978 article entitled "Your Shadow Is Scared of You: An Attempt Not to Be Frightened by Nico": "The Marble Index is the greatest piece of 'avant-garde classical', 'serious' music of the last half of the 20th century so far."[34] Although Bangs praised the album, he also wrote that it "scared the shit out of [him]" and described the listening experience as "self-torture".[34]

The album's rise to acclaim was slow; for the most part, audiences have remained nonplussed.

About.com called it "a suite of rootless songs written with little precedent" and "an astonishing haunting, the work of a woman who, even whilst alive, seemed a lot like a ghost".[9] Anthony Thornton of NME called it an "artistic triumph": "Bleak but beautiful, this album remains the most fitting embodiment of her doomed glamour."[27] According to Spin, "Few records, before or since, have sounded lonelier, spookier, or more desolate".[12] Trouser Press described it as "one of the scariest records ever made".[52]

AllMusic's Richie Unterberger awarded the album three stars out of five, describing Nico's songwriting as "singularly morose".

Village Voice critic Robert Christgau said, "While The Velvet Underground and Nico plus Chelsea Girl convinced me that Nico had charisma; The Marble Index plus Desertshore convince me that she's a fool."[54]

Legacy

Nico performing at the University of Wales, Lampeter, 1985.

The Marble Index has a sound which distinguishes it from the musical landscape of the

Canadian rock band The Marble Index
is named after Nico's album.

Simon Reynolds wrote about a

lachrymal and lactation ducts. She offers cold, not comfort. Her hard surfaces can't be penetrated. She is an island, an iceberg."[13] In The Marble Index Nico took this persona (originally embodied by Grace Slick) even further, making a fetish of disconnection and "[dreaming] of a sort of negative nirvana".[13] According to Dazed, this persona has influenced Siouxsie Sioux, Zola Jesus, and Björk.[20] The lattermost's 2011 album, Biophilia, was described by Rolling Stone as The Marble Index's "haunted digital sister".[55] The influence of The Marble Index can also be found in the music of Laurel Halo.[56]

"Frozen Warnings" was included in Toby Creswell's compendium 1001 Songs; Creswell wrote, "Just as she had done with The Velvet Underground & Nico, the singer put a new tone into music."[57] In 2013 John Cale curated Life Along the Borderline: A Tribute to Nico at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, which featured songs from The Marble Index and other Nico albums performed by Peaches, Yeasayer, Sharon Van Etten, Meshell Ndegeocello and Cale.[58][59] Primal Scream's Bobby Gillespie has listed The Marble Index as one of his favorite albums and stated that it was a "huge influence" in the making of their 1991 album Screamadelica.[60] Jamie Stewart of Xiu Xiu, has cited the album as an inspiration, writing, "it completely changed my entire view of what it was possible to do in music", and "you could never mistake it for anything else, which is an astounding thing to be able to do."[61] The album was also a favorite of American musician Elliott Smith.[62]

The Marble Index, which influenced the gothic rock of the late 1970s and early

horror-film gothic. They both did Frankenstein, but Nico's was real."[63] David Dalton of Gadfly Online disagreed: "Some say she is the originator of Goth, but this is just silly, a misunderstanding, a pastiche. Nico has no heirs. She is a discrete entity."[2]

The album's release coincided with a change in Nico's look, when she adopted what has been called a "

gothic horror princess" persona[64] and "switched from dyed blonde to dark henna and started wearing black, heavy fabrics and boots".[5] As a result, in addition to being a musical prototype for the goth subculture, Nico became a visual one as well.[38] Claire Marie Healy wrote, "Nico's visual statement of these years speaks of the power that comes with creating a new persona for yourself"[20] and she described the singer as "the first ever goth girl".[20] By the early 1980s, many women began to dress like Nico; nicknamed "Nico-teens", they were the first goth girls, encouraging a cult following for the singer.[6][65]

Accolades

Publication Country Accolade Year Rank
About.com
 United States Top 30 Alternative Albums of the 1960s[66] 2010 25
Spin The Top 100 Alternative Albums of the 1960s[12] 2013 14
GQ United Kingdom The 100 Coolest Albums in the World Right Now![67] 2005 23
The Guardian 1000 Albums to Hear Before You Die[68] 2007 *
Paul Morley Words and Music, 5 × 100 Greatest Albums of All Time[69] 2003 *
Sunday Herald Scotland The 103 Best Albums Ever, Honest[70] 2001 *
Rock & Folk France The Best Albums from 1963 to 1999[citation needed] 1999 *
555 Albums from 1954-2014[citation needed] 2014 *
Gilles Verlant 300+ Best Albums in the History of Rock[citation needed] 2013 *
Mucchio Selvaggio Italy 100 Best Albums by Decade[citation needed] 2002 83
(*) designates lists that are unordered.

Track listing

All tracks are written by Nico.

Side one
No.TitleLength
1."Prelude"1:00
2."Lawns of Dawns"3:11
3."No One Is There"3:37
4."Ari's Song"3:21
5."Facing the Wind"4:55
Side two
No.TitleLength
6."Julius Caesar (Memento Hodié)"5:02
7."Frozen Warnings"4:02
8."Evening of Light"5:40
Total length:30:48
1991 reissue bonus tracks
No.TitleLength
9."Roses in the Snow"4:10
10."Nibelungen"2:43
Total length:37:41

Personnel

Credits adapted from The Marble Index's liner notes.[41]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h The Seth Man (December 2001). "Nico – The Marble Index". The Book of Seth. Unsung. Head Heritage Ltd. Retrieved August 8, 2015.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Dalton, David; Fields, Danny (June 24, 2002). "The Marble Index". Gadfly Online. Retrieved August 11, 2015.
  3. ISBN 9780552168816
    .
  4. ^
    ISBN 1-57252-219-4
    .
  5. ^ a b c Reynolds, Simon (16 March 2007). "From the Velvets to the Void". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 July 2014.
  6. ^
    ISBN 978-0-86369-655-8
    .
  7. ^ a b c d "Nico, interview by Steven Walker". Melbourne, Australia: 3RRR. February 19, 1986. Retrieved January 12, 2016.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Pinnock, Tom (October 16, 2015). "Nico and The Marble Index: "She hated the idea of being beautiful"". Uncut. Time Inc. Retrieved November 28, 2015.
  9. ^
    About.com
    . Retrieved 5 May 2014.
  10. ^ "Nico Biography". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on February 7, 2012. Retrieved 5 July 2014.
  11. ^ a b Lindsay, Matthew (14 January 2013). "Nico: Facing the Wind – The Marble Index Trilogy". The Quietus. Retrieved 5 July 2014.
  12. ^ a b c d e f "Nico – The Marble Index (Elektra, 1968)". Spin. Retrieved 2 October 2014.
  13. ^
    ISBN 978-0-674-80273-5
    . Retrieved 5 May 2014.
  14. ^
    ISBN 978-0-09-192710-3
    . Retrieved January 9, 2016.
  15. ^
    Pitchfork Media
    . Retrieved January 8, 2015.
  16. ^
    All Media Network
    . Retrieved January 8, 2016.
  17. ^
    Rovi Corporation
    . Retrieved 5 May 2014.
  18. ^
    ISBN 978-0-634-05560-7
    . Retrieved 6 May 2014.
  19. ^ a b c Nico (2002). Innocent & Vain – an Introduction to Nico (Media notes). CD Liner notes by Simon Goddard. Universal/Polydor Records.
  20. ^ a b c d e Healy, Claire Marie (October 2015). "Was Nico the first ever goth girl?". Dazed. Waddell Limited. Retrieved November 30, 2015.
  21. ^
    ISBN 978-1-84353-588-1
    .
  22. ^
    ISBN 978-1-85828-457-6
    . Retrieved November 30, 2015.
  23. ISBN 978-0-634-05548-5
    . Retrieved November 30, 2015.
  24. ^ Dillon, Brian (May 2007). Nico: The Frozen Borderline: 1968–70 (Rhino, 2007). frieze. Retrieved December 22, 2015.
  25. ^ a b c Reynolds, Simon (January 1995). "Muzak of the Fears". Chill: The New Ambient. Artforum. Vol. 33. New York City, USA: Artforum International Magazine.
  26. ^ "Nico – Frozen Borderline 1968–1970". Uncut. Time Inc. October 27, 2011. Retrieved January 8, 2016.
  27. ^
    IPC Media
    . Retrieved 5 May 2014.
  28. ^ McNeil, Trevor K. (August 2013). "Goth-Fathers". Perfect Sound Forever. Retrieved January 8, 2016.
  29. ^ Escarameia, André (September 2012). "Nico: New York, New York" (PDF). New York, United States: Rooster Gallery. Retrieved August 24, 2016.
  30. ^ a b Lynskey, Dorian (14 October 2008). "Nico's The Marble Index Is Hard Listening but Worth It". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 May 2014.
  31. ^ Terich, Jeff (October 27, 2011). "10 Nightmare Soundtracks". Treble. Treble Media. Retrieved November 30, 2015.
  32. ^ a b Micklo, Anne Marie (March 15, 1969). "[The Marble Index review]". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 18 February 2015.
  33. Wondering Sound. eMusic. Archived from the original
    on August 17, 2016. Retrieved July 20, 2016.
  34. ^
    ISBN 978-0-375-71367-5
    . Retrieved 5 May 2014.
  35. ^ a b Frowny, Guy (August 27, 2012). "1970: Nico – Desertshore". Tiny Mix Tapes. Retrieved January 6, 2015.
  36. ISBN 978-1-59240-099-7
    .
  37. ^
    ISBN 0-679-73729-4
    .
  38. ^
    ISBN 978-1-906002-22-0
    .
  39. Emap
    . Retrieved January 6, 2015.
  40. ISBN 978-1-55862-050-6
    .
  41. ^ a b c d e f Nico (1991). The Marble Index (Media notes). CD Liner notes by Richard Williams. Elektra Records.
  42. ^ Nico (2002). Femme Fatale (Media notes). CD Liner notes by Nina Antonia. Jungle Records.
  43. ^
    ISBN 978-1-84772-116-7
    . Retrieved August 24, 2016.
  44. ^
    ISBN 978-0-87930-985-5
    . Retrieved August 24, 2016.
  45. ^ Kellman, Andy. "The Classic Years – Nico". AllMusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved July 30, 2016.
  46. ASIN B000060K88
    .
  47. ^ "Nico – Frozen Warnings / No One Is There". 45cat. Retrieved February 21, 2016.
  48. ISBN 1-57859-061-2
    .
  49. ^ "Review: Nico – The Marble Index". Sputnikmusic. 6 January 2017. Retrieved 8 November 2020.
  50. ISBN 978-1-85227-923-3
    .
  51. ISBN 9780313338458
    . Retrieved 20 July 2016.
  52. ^ Isler, Scott; Robbins, Ira. "TrouserPress.com :: Nico". TrouserPress.com. Retrieved July 5, 2016.
  53. ^ "Nico - The Marble Index (album review 2)". Sputnikmusic. Retrieved 8 November 2020.
  54. ISBN 978-1-906002-22-0
    . Retrieved 7 April 2016.
  55. ^ Fricke, David (11 October 2011). "Björk – Biophilia". Album review. Rolling Stone Magazine. Retrieved October 11, 2011.
  56. ^ Williams, Andrew Z. (May 29, 2012). "Q&A with Laurel Halo". Anthem Magazine. Retrieved July 20, 2016.
  57. ISBN 978-1-56025-915-2
    .
  58. ^ Schurr, Maria (January 25, 2013). "Life Along the Borderline: A Tribute to Nico". PopMatters. PopMatters Media, Inc.
  59. ^ Chiu, David (January 17, 2013). "John Cale, Yeasayer, Sharon Van Etten Celebrate the Music of Nico". Rolling Stone. Wenner Media LLC. Retrieved January 9, 2016.
  60. ^ Nur, Yousif (4 May 2016). "Howls From The Soul: Bobby Gillespie's Favourite Albums". The Quietus. Retrieved 3 April 2020.
  61. ^ Hampton, Chris (July 10, 2014). "Xiu Xiu's Jamie Stewart on 5 albums unlike anything he's ever heard". Chart Attack. Channel Zero. Archived from the original on October 28, 2014. Retrieved June 1, 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  62. ^ "Elliott Smith Archive Interview – 'There Has To Be Darkness In My Songs'". NME. Time Inc. October 26, 2010. Retrieved 14 August 2016.
  63. ^
    Alternative Press
    . Alternative Press Magazine, Inc.
  64. ISBN 978-1-250-00014-9
    . Retrieved August 8, 2015.
  65. ISBN 978-0-85965-382-4
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  66. About.com
    . Retrieved August 17, 2015.
  67. British GQ
    . No. 194. August 2005. p. 122.
  68. ^ "1000 Albums to Hear Before You Die". The Guardian. November 22, 2007. Retrieved December 16, 2023.
  69. ISBN 0-7475-5778-0 – via Internet Archive
    .
  70. ^ "The Best Albums Ever... Honest". Sunday Herald. Archived from the original on December 18, 2004. Retrieved December 16, 2023.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Marble_Index&oldid=1197847991"