Nico
Squat Theatre
256 West 23rd Street
New York City, NY
"July 21, 1980"
with John Gilmore - Occasional Saxophone *

Disc One - "Early Show"
1. Entrance (0:39)
2. Valley of the Kings (3:15)
3. We�ve Got the Gold (4:18) *
4. Purple Lips (3:03)
5. You Forget to Answer (2:54)
6. Das Lied Der Deutschen (4:00)
7. Henry Hudson (2:58)
8. Janitor of Lunacy (4:06) *

Disc Two - "Late Show"
I. False Start (1:56)
2. The Falconer (4:35)
3. Henry Hudson (3:27) *
4. Edit / Announcement (0:13)
5. Janitor of Lunacy (4:02) *
6. No One Is There (3:40)
7. Procession (2:54) *
8. Secret Side (3:17) *
9. Innocent and Vain (2:27) *
IO. Genghis Khan (2:49)
II. Abschied (2:41)
I2. Valley of the Kings (3:12)
I3. Frozen Warnings (4:12)
14. The End (Part I) (3:56)
15. The End (Part II) (4:15) (from Reims Cathedral, Notre Dame, France 12/13/74)


I've included some decent cover art in a separate file
with a few nice Nico photos from around this time period
(at least ones with dark hair !)
One particularly beautiful shot at a harmonium in what looks like an apartment room.

This is rare and good quality recording appeared here about a month ago
in it's raw form, but had some serious technical problems.
It is still available for anyone who wants it here
http://www.dimeadozen.org/torrents-details.php?id=169199
Thanks to mjs820 for this original upload.
I've also included the original notes that accompanied this
original upload as it provided very useful information.

These issues have largely been corrected here
with tremendous results, making it very worthwhile.
A number of comments and information from other members
have also been incorporated here with thanks.

Enjoy !

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Known Lineage : Audience recording with unknown equipment > analog master > CDR > WAV (EAC) > FLAC Level 8 (TLH) > UnFLAC > Wav > Wavelab 4.01 Remastering > WAV > FLAC
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Repairs, Remastering, technical details :
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1) Massive level boost with limiter (approx +22 db !)
2) Rebalancing of left and right channels
3) Low end boost on harmonium
4) Occasional midrange compression on Nico's vocals to compensate for giant leaps in volume when she would sing loudly.
5) Declicking towards end of disc two in original upload from either degraded CDR or extraction method.
6) Resequencing and splitting into two separate performances
7) Attachment of missing conclusion of "The End" (for the purposes of continuity)
from a pitch matched Reims Cathedral 1974/12/13 performance from a French radio broadcast.
8) An intentional gap was left to show an audible edit in the late show
9) Irrepairable tape munching occurs during Procession
10) A short edit occurs just prior to the start of Procession, but appears to only represents the taper hitting the pause button
and not a large missing gap or a jump to a new performance.

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Performance details :
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Aside from these technical issues...
a great pair of shows, especially the sadly incomplete "early show".
Nice to hear these raw, harmonium only versions of the songs
that would later appear with (inferior IMHO) full band interpretations on
the Drama of Exile LP.
In addition, an escalating exchange occurs between Nico
and an offstage "ballerina dancer", finally resulting in Nico yelling at her
and telling her to "get out of here or I'll cut your head !",
followed by "dumb ass !" etc ...
Most amusing.

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Performance date research :
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The original upload consisted of at least two different shows,
which I think I have separated accurately.
It is based on edits in the tape, sound quality differences
and logic, due to the songs performed and where they would
normally appear in her shows.
It does seem very reasonable to assume it is all recorded at this venue
and from this time period.
John Gilmore on sax and the mention of Cheetah seems to confirm this,
as well as similar audience sizes, PA sound etc.

However, it is extremely unlikely that Nico
would have played the same songs in the same show.

It's possible she performed more than one show a night.

It's also possible these are from different dates entirely.

Nico apparently was living at the Squat Theatre during this time
and was the resident artist.
According to the website historical chronology, she played there
about 10 times starting in October 79 through to the end of 1980.
However this particular date of July 21 is not listed.
No one else apparently performed that night either.
http://squattheatre.com/concerts1980.html

This leaves a number of possibilities that may never be known.

1) It IS all from July 21, 1980 and she played an early and a late show.
This seems unlikely for a Monday night.
I'm guessing this date is entirely wrong and is a mislabeled cassette.
Perhaps the original uploader or taper can recheck it.

2) The "early show" is from July 12, 1980 and the "late show" is from November 21, 1980.
Both shows are her solo and have similar days or months in 1980.
This does makes sense as Nico mentions in the "late show" that she is
without her guitarist Cheetah (Cheetah Chrome from the Dead Boys).
Apparently something went wrong with his guitar.
His first show with her was not until Sep.12, 1980.

3) Some variation of the above.

4) None of the above !

5) A Nico recording on July 21, 1982 exists from San Francisco,
but does not include saxophonist John Gilmore who is present on both "shows"
and that set list does not resemble either of these shows.

So I guess you can all draw your own conclusions unless someone
has further information.

Images for all shows as well as full size images for this show.

Images for this show: