The Artist/Album: Nico, Chelsea Girl (Verve, 1967)
The Reason(s) We Can’t Stop Listening: As crucial as her collaborations with the Velvet Underground are—including this solo debut—Nico’s Chelsea Girl LP revolves around her otherworldly voice and presence, an oft-imitated, rarely replicated mix of effortless cool and pure melancholy that’s epitomized on instant classics like “The Fairest of the Seasons,” “These Days” and that old Elliott Smith favorite “Chelsea Girls.” Or as the singer puts it on the album’s back cover, “I like sad songs, tragic ones…I like to improvise with the notes, with the feeling I have at the time about the song.”
