View credits, reviews, tracks and shop for the 1994 Cassette release of Nico's Last Concert Fata Morgana on Discogs.

Camera Obscura is the sixth and final solo studio album by German singer Nico, featuring the backing band the Faction. It was recorded in March–April 1985 and released later that year by Beggars Banquet Records. It was produced by John Cale, marking their first studio collaboration since The End.. in 1974. It was Nico's final studio album before her death three years later.

Recording[edit]

Nico's vocal style on Camera Obscura is somewhat different from her prior records, with some songs bearing similarities to Dead Can Dance's Lisa Gerrard.^{[citation needed]} The jazz standard 'My Funny Valentine', by contrast, has a more standard legato vocal style, despite her very deep contralto. Many of the tracks offer a refined version of the new wavegothic rock of her previous album Drama of Exile.^{[citation needed]} The album is dedicated to her then-manager, Alan Wise.

Sonically, the album follows on from Drama of Exile in that Nico's core songs are given full band arrangements. Whereas Drama of Exile carried a strong North African influence and exotic, new wave-inspired instrumentation, Camera Obscura makes use of synthesizers.

Composition[edit]

The album's oldest composition, 'König', was originally recorded for Desertshore and re-recorded some fifteen years later for Camera Obscura. A version was included in the Philippe Garrel film La Cicatrice Intérieure (1972). John Cale reportedly wanted to produce the song with a more percussive, synth-based arrangement in keeping with the rest of the material, but Nico insisted it should be kept as a solo harmonium piece.

Another early song re-imagined for the recording sessions was 'Tananore', which Nico had performed at a Cale concert in Marseille on April 12, 1975, and kept in her set ever since. Nico had incorporated 'My Funny Valentine' into her set since February 1982, and previously at her earliest live performances (at the Blue Angel nightclub in New York City). 'My Heart Is Empty' and 'Fearfully in Danger', meanwhile, had been set mainstays since her Library Theatre appearance in Manchester on June 16, 1983.

'Das Lied vom einsamen Mädchen' ('The song about the lonely girl') originally derives from the 1952 film Alraune.

Release[edit]

Camera Obsura was released in 1985 by Beggars Banquet Records. The album received mixed reviews from critics. AllMusic gave the album two-and-a-half out of five, whereas Trouser Press received the album in a favorable light.

A music video was filmed for 'My Heart Is Empty' at the Fridge in Brixton.

Nico performed songs from Camera Obscura up until her death, although there are no known performances of the opening instrumental 'Camera Obscura' or the song 'Into the Arena'.

Track listing[edit]

All songs written by Nico except where noted. All arrangements by the Faction.

Side one

1. 'Camera Obscura' – 3:42 (Nico, John Cale, James Young, Graham Dids)
2. 'Tananore' – 4:24
3. 'Win a Few' – 6:10
4. 'My Funny Valentine' – 3:23 (Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart)
5. 'Das Lied vom einsamen Mädchen' – 5:40 (Robert Gilbert, Werner R. Heymann)

Side two

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1. 'Fearfully in Danger' – 7:26
2. 'My Heart Is Empty' – 4:37
3. 'Into the Arena' – 4:12
4. 'König' – 4:08

Personnel[edit]

• Nico: voice, harmonium
• The Faction
  • James Young – keyboards, piano on 'My Funny Valentine' and 'Tananore'
  • Graham 'Dids' Dowdall – percussion (a.k.a. Gagarin)
• John Cale – additional vocals on 'Camera Obscura'
• Ian Carr – flugelhorn on 'My Funny Valentine', trumpet on 'Into the Arena'

Technical

• David Young – engineer
• Brett Wickens, Christiane Mathan, Peter Saville - sleeve design
• Anton Corbijn - photography

References[edit]

1. ^Thompson, Dave. 'Camera Obsura – Nico Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards AllMusic'. AllMusic. Retrieved 10 March 2015.
2. ^Isler, Scott; Robbins, Ira. 'TrouserPress.com :: Nico'. TrouserPress.com. Retrieved July 5, 2016.

Nico's Last Concert: Fata Morgana is a live album documenting Nico's performance at a show called Fata Morgana – Wüstenklänge im Planetarium (Fata Morgana – Desert Sounds in the Planetarium), held on June 6, 1988 in West Berlin as part of the European Capital of Culture festival that year. The concert (organized by musician Lütz Ulbrich) took place at the planetarium of the Wilhelm-Foerster-Sternwarte. Except for the album's closing song (which was previously released on The End..), Nico and her backing band the Faction composed all the pieces specifically for the show, during which they were accompanied by optical effects and Moon-themed projected pictures and films.

As the title of the album indicates, the concert was Nico's last, and the material on the album is among the last she (co-)wrote. Six weeks later, on July 18, she died while on vacation in Ibiza.

Track listing[edit]

All songs written by Nico, Young, Dowdall, and Olsen; except tracks 4, 6 and 8, which are by Nico alone.

1. 'The Sound I' – 10:42
2. 'The Hanging Gardens of Semiramis' – 9:17
3. 'Your Voice' – 7:17
4. 'I Will Be Seven' – 6:41
5. 'Fata Morgana' – 6:49
6. 'All Saints' Night' – 6:23
7. 'The Sound II' – 6:17
8. 'You Forgot to Answer' – 3:57

Personnel[edit]

• Nico – vocal, Indian pump organ
• James Young – piano, synthesiser
• Henry Olsen – guitar
• Graham 'Dids' Dowdall – drums, percussion

Technical

• Robert Sydow – engineer
• Otto Schönthaler – mixing engineer

References[edit]