The Marble Index (album)

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The Marble Index
The Marble Index cover
Studio album by Nico
Released 1969
Recorded Elektra Sound Recorders, Los Angeles, September 1968
Genre Avante-Garde Folk
Length 30:48
Label Elektra
Producer Frazier Mohawk
Professional reviews
Nico chronology
Chelsea Girl
(1968)		 The Marble Index
(1969)		 Desertshore
(1970)

The Marble Index is the name of a gothic-folk album with neoclassical and avant-garde elements, recorded and released by Nico in 1968.

The album featured long-term associate John Cale, an experimental musician who had worked briefly with Nico during her stint in The Velvet Underground. Cale had an extensive background in various avant-garde settings, working with minimalist composer LaMonte Young, among others. Cale and Nico created an album that radically deviated from traditional rock music song structures. Cale said it was the first rock album to do so. He also said that The Marble Index had made a seminal contribution to the body of modern classical music.

Nico wrote all her own songs on this album and accompanied herself on the harmonium, which has also been referred to as an "Indian pump organ". The arrangements are abstract and, musically speaking, "cold". The effect is kindred to the psychological sound experimentation of electronic and serial composer, Karlheinz Stockhausen. The Marble Index has been described as a "nightmare in sound". It has influenced a wide array of genres in contemporary independent music. Artists such as Coil, Jocelyn Pook and Dead Can Dance, as well as numerous contemporary goth bands have all cited Nico as a seminal influence.

Contents

[edit] Lyrics

Nico employed images of power, cold, fear, dreams, terror, resignation, and loss (among others) on The Marble Index. Her lyrics might be described as Romantic or Gothic as they focus primarily on the fragility of life and the imminence of death.

[edit] Track listing

All tracks written by Nico

[edit] Side one

  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

[edit] Side two

  1. "Julius Caesar (Memento Hodie)" – 5:02
  2. "Frozen Warnings" – 4:02
  3. "Evening of Light" – 5:40

[edit] On CD release only

  • "Roses in the Snow" – 4:10
  • "Nibelungen" – 2:43

[edit] Personnel

[edit] References

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[edit] External links

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Albums by Nico
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