Fata Morgana 1988 (Nico's Last Concert) - Nico > Reviews > Fata Morgana (Nico's last Concert) - Nico

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Definitely a cut above the rest
Lyrics	Standard
Quality and consistency of tracks	A couple of weak links
How does it compare to the artist's other releases	Good
Value for Money	Satisfactory

Advantages:	the whole final gig, lots of new material, well recorded
Disadvantages:	hard going for newcomers

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Nico (born Christa Paffgen) first came to prominence as a Warhol acolyte in the mid 1960s. Andy Warhol had the bizarre idea of placing the statuesque german model into the grimy New York avant garde rock band The Velvet Underground despite her limited singing experience and vocal range. But somehow it worked. For Nico, Lou Reed wrote three of the best songs he'd ever write - "All Tomorrow's Parties", "I'll Be Your Mirror" and what became Nico's signature song "Femme Fatale".
Nico then branched out on her own and over the next twenty years recorded a sporadic series of sometimes brilliant albums but a serious heroin addiction seemed to have stopped her ever making the impact that should have. By the late 1980s Nico had finally kicked her habit and sat down to write a series of new songs.
These were showcased at this concert at the Berlin Planetarium. Presented as a work in progress the new pices were long, experimental mood works, based around Nico omnipresent harmonium and augmented by bass, drums, guitar and piano. The lyrics were fragmentary at best, and frequently the vocals were just wordless chants. But for all the unfinished nature of the pieces it is clear that here are the bones of some stunning new works, and best of all, Nico's vocals were her strongest and most accomplished in ages.
This cd presents the whole concert, unedited, and closes with the encore of "You Forget To Answer" one of Nico's favourites of her own songs. It was to be the last song she would ever perform. Just a few weeks later she fell from her bike in Ibiza. The damage to her brain was too much and she died shortly afterwards.
Fata Morgana is recommened to Nico fans, but perhaps newcomers would be better off starting with something like The Marble Index.