1. Chelsea Girl - Nico [1967]

Consider.

The years spent modelling and vamping around Europe in the rubble of WWII, tail-gating auteurs, lead nowhere.

The cameo in Fellini's Dolce Vita fails to parlay into an acting career.

Strip Tease, an early recording with arch diddler et trésor national Serge Gainsbourg, is passed over for Juliette Greco. (Nico's voice is not to the old rogue's breathy and infantile taste.)

A spell in London with manipulator a la mod Andrew Loog Oldham fails to generate pop magic.

And so....

Nico washes up in New York to be taken up by Andy Warhol (as in "Hols") as his latest superstar and touted as such to the VU crew. She and Andy are briefly inseparable.

Chelsea Girl is the perfect album created for a model. Nine of the ten tracks are written by ex-lovers, including co-writes by Reed and Cale. Subsequent albums, Marble Index and Desertshore are superior because they reflect her vision, her songs presented on the instrument she makes her own, the baby harmonium.

For now, enjoy the debut Nico hated. It works close up magic. Conjures washed out regret, degradation and loss. Worlds of beauty and decay in miniature. 

Oddi wrth y brawd