Customer Reviews

Nico: The End

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Having been a Velvets/Nico fan since 1968, I somehow ignored this book until recently, perhaps because of my annoyance with the status the Velvets have attained over the years. (They really were a better band when nobody else had heard of them....) Anyway, to complete my collection I suppose, I bought this book a few weeks ago with very low expectations. What I discovered was a beautifully written book, picaresque, dark, satirical, poignant...James Young writes like a Celine for the twilight of the 20th century. I would eagerly buy another book written by Mr. Young. In short, this book is a masterpiece.

A lot of the entertainment in this book comes from the grisly descriptions of junky lifestyle (e.g., Nico removing the pus from an infected vein with a used syringe, etc.). Also, there's interesting cameo appearances by John Cale and Allen Ginsberg. But the real star is of course Nico. In the beginning, Young describes her as a depressing, hollowed-out drug addict, "... her hands and arms scabbed and scarred by needletracks, and her eyes like a broken mirror." (pg 12) But as I followed the characters from gig to gig, scraping just enough money together to support Nico's habit, followed by the recording of the CAMERA OBSCURA album, then more money and more gigs; through all this, Nico emerges somehow as a sympathetic character, far more interesting than the other eccentrics in her group. At the end, after she dies en route to meeting a drug dealer, I felt sad to see her go.

This biography, variously titled Nico: The End, Nico: The Last Bohemian or Nico: Songs They Never Play on the Radio, is a masterpiece of style and content, one of the very best rock biographies in existence. It explores the life of Nico after the Velvet Underground, covering her life in London and tours of Europe, the USA and Japan in the 1980s.

I found myself devouring the text in utter fascination. It includes descriptions of bizarre performances, wild parties, weird tour experiences, eccentric characters like her one-time manager Dr Demetrius, encounters with luminaries like John Cale, a visit to the motel where Tom Waits used to stay and much much more.

The Preface covers Nico's family background, her career as model, the first move to New York, her role in Fellini's La Dolce Vita, involvement with The Rolling Stones and later Andy Warhol and the Factory crowd. Post Velvet Underground she went solo and made some great albums with the help of John Cale, eventually settling in Manchester in the UK.

The author met her in 1981 and thus this biography deals with the last seven years of her life. The first tour was that of Italy, the next of the USA that included shows in Detroit, Denver, and Chicago. In LA the band stayed at The Tropicana where Tom Waits made his residence at the time. One of the funniest parts is the narrative of Nico's first experience with angel dust in Los Angeles. The tour concluded in New York.

Then came the performances with Gregory Corso in Amsterdam and Rotterdam. A highlight of the narrative is Nico's show at the Free University in Berlin, where she made the mistake of singing Deutschland über Alles, causing a riot. Fortunately, her harmonium shielded her against the hailstorm of beer bottles.

Back in Manchester, there was an interesting encounter with the punk poet John Cooper Clarke and John Cale in a bad patch of his life. At a studio in Shoreditch he produced her album Camera Obscura which was launched with a powerful performance at Chelsea Town Hall. Allen Ginsberg appears in the chapter Suspicious Minds whilst other beats like Carolyn Cassady also make an appearance.

Eric Random joined the band just before the European tour that encompassed Germany, Yugoslavia, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Poland (where Nico managed to score opium behing the then Iron Curtain) and Spain. Australia and New Zealand came next and then Japan. The book concludes with an account of her death and funeral in 1988.

Underneath the humor there is a lot of sadness too but it is a strangely inspiring read. Songs They Never Play On The Radio is a gem on many levels and transcends the genre of rock writing. Only Marianne Faithfull's Memories, Dreams and Reflections comes close. You don't have to be a fan of Velvet Underground to enjoy this classic work, as it offers much humor, wit and arresting portraits of a colorful array of personalities.

"Nico-The End" is definitely a better, more intelligent piece of writing then the hard to find "Songs they Never Played on the Radio". "The End" tracks the last years of Nico's life; it is sad and seedy, but has some incredibly funny parts to it. What we get here is a glimpse into Nico's many live shows and her relationship with others in the 80's, particularly the author, her band The Faction, her fans, and John Cale as well as some others. There is part telling about the struggle to make her final recording, "Camera Obscura" and finally her unexpected death. I totally recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn about the absolutely facsinating life of VU chanteuse and proven solo artist Nico.

I found this book yesterday at a 'thrift shop' and at the counter was charged 15 cents!
The book doesnt surprise me [her life, decline, death] and its well written.
Thanks Mr Young.

This book is tedious, sad, sometimes confusing and sickly funny. In other words, it's a complete success. James Young captures the twilight years of the Velvet Underground's once-beautiful (and unwelcomed) lead vocalist, Nico, in all her drug-addled, unwashed, apathetic glory. He humorously conveys the sad silliness of the burned-out "Queen of Addicts" and the motley crew of cut-rate musicians and scam artists who follow her on several world tours during the 1980s.

Much of this book is dull and montonous. Another bad gig. Another distasteful description of an addict's habits. Another strange character popping up to join the ride for a while. At first, this bothered me. But I ultimately realized that this boredom and repetitiveness is crucial to the book's effectiveness. Failure is not exciting, nor is it climactic.

Attention Britney Spears: This is what happens to the pop stars who get left behind.