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Rating: Contemporary rock music cannot ignore the influence of some milestones from past decades.
From this perspective, 'Desertshore', Nico's first studio attempt without the Velvet Underground, is one of those milestones. An album that makes its gloominess and spectral theatricality its strong point.
An extreme music that, after the astonishment of the first listen due to its atypical melodies, manages to hit straight to the core and rarely lets go. Dark and new wave enthusiasts cannot afford to have 'Desertshore' absent from their discography for the simple fact that, with its chilling melodies and themes always addressed with coldness, it anticipates by a decade the various dark wave bands of the '80s.
It's pointless to analyze the tracks one by one; this record consistently adheres to the same theme: negativity in all its forms. However, standing out among the others is the French ballad "le petit chevalier," a minute of oblivion in a claustrophobic music marked by a child's voice.
Essential album.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Janitor of Lunacy (04:05)
Janitor of lunacy
Paralyze my infancy
Petrify the empty cradle
Bring hope to them and me
Janitor of tyranny
Testify my vanity
Mortalize my memory
Deceive the Devil's deed
Tolerate my jealousy
Recognize the desperate need
Janitor of lunacy
Identify my destiny
Revive the living dream
Forgive their begging scream
Seal the giving of their seed
Disease the breathing grief
02 The Falconer (05:43)
The falconer is sitting on
His summersand at dawn
Unlocking flooded silvercages
And with a silverdin arise
All the lovely faces
And the lovely silvertraces erase
My empty pages
The falconer is sitting on
His summersand at dawn
Beside his singing silverwaves
And his dancing rebelrace
That compose ahead of timeless time
A sound inside my candle light
Father child
Angels of the night
Silverframe my candlelight
Father child
Angels of the night
Silverframe my candlelight
The falconer is sitting on
His summersand at dawn
Unlocking flooded silvercages
And with a silverdin arise
All the lovely faces
And the lovely silvertraces erase
My empty pages
05 Abschied (03:05)
Seinem Geiste bekenne Ich Mich
Ein Sehnen verzehret sein schones Gesicht
Das ermattet von Gute beschattet allmachtig ist
Sein Korper bewegt sich nicht
Im Traume sich endlich sein Zwingen vergisst
Den heulenden Jubel erkenne Ich nicht
Der Mir den heiligen Frieden zerbricht
Sein schweigender Mund, seine schlafende Brust
Harren zartlich der sussen Lust
Sein Korper bewegt sich nicht
Im Traume sich endlich sein Zwingen vergisst
06 Afraid (03:31)
Cease to know or to tell
Or to see or to be your own
Cease to know or to tell
Or to see or to be your own
Have someone else's will as your own
Have someone else's will as your own
You are beautiful and you are alone
You are beautiful and you are alone
Often the adolescent plague
Reward your grace
Often the adolescent plague
Reward your grace
Confuse your hunger capture the fake
Confuse your hunger capture the fake
Banish the faceless reward your grace
Banish the faceless reward your grace
08 All That Is My Own (03:28)
Your winding winds stood so
All that is my own
Where land and water meet
Where on my soul I sit upon my bed
Your ways have led me to bleed
Every child will be able to weep
Every wise man spoke of him
Every keeper will be sleeper
And a guide to ways unsure
Your winding winds did sow
All that is my own
Where land and water meet
Where on my soul
I sit upon my bed
Your ways have led me to bleed
He who knows may pass on
The word unknown
And meet me on the desertshore
Meet me on the desertshore
Your winding winds did sow
All that is my own
Where land and water meet
Where on my soul
I sit upon my bed
Your ways have led me to bleed
He who knows may pass on
The word unknown
And meet me on the desertshore
Meet me on the desertshore
Meet me on the desertshore
Your winding winds stood so
All that is my own
Where land and water meet
Where on my soul
I sit upon my bed
Your ways have led me to bleed
He who knows may pass on the word I know
And meet me on the desertshore
Meet me on the desertshore
Your winding winds did sow
All that is my own
Where land and water meet
Where on my soul
I sit upon my bed
Your ways have led me to bleed
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Other reviews
By egebamyasi
Describing this monument is not simple, it is indeed impossible.
"Desertshore" cruelly reveals to you that this is not true, it is your tenuous construction.
By alaindelon
Apathetic and calm, this cry gently cradles itself amidst a swirling and gloomy orchestral ensemble dominated by the harmonium and an imperious organ.
In the immobile and icy panorama of infinity, Desertshore is a mere, superb instrument in which Nico... seeks successfully in the impossible endeavor to untangle that very intricate knot that prevents Man from glimpsing the Truth.
By luludia
A divine and human voice (all too human).
Desertshore is a perfect title, but The Inner Scar would have been perfect too.
By Caspasian
The temple of Pöffgen is a psychic construction; the brazier burns eternally.
The High Priestess is surrounded by nothing, the noise of nothingness is deafening.
