The End...

The End... is the fourth studio album by German musician Nico, released in November 1974 through the label Island. It was recorded in summer 1974 at Sound Techniques studio in London and produced by John Cale.

Nico had performed two songs from the album a few years prior to the album release; "Secret Side" had been performed at a John Peel session for the BBC on 2 February 1971 and she had also performed "You Forget to Answer" on TV in France and the Netherlands in early 1972.

The End... is her fifth collaboration with John Cale and second with him as producer. It carries the same harmonium-based sound heard on The Marble Index (1968) and Desertshore (1970), with the addition of Brian Eno's synthesizers and electronic instruments.

The song "You Forget to Answer" tells of the misery felt by Nico when she failed to reach ex-lover, and Doors' singer, Jim Morrison by phone only to find out later that he had died. The album was her first since Morrison's death in 1971. All but two of the songs on the album were written by Nico: the cover of the Doors' "The End" and a version of West Germany's national anthem "Das Lied der Deutschen". Brian Eno plays synthesizer on "It Has Not Taken Long", "You Forget to Answer" and "Innocent and Vain".^[1]

The front and back covers feature stills from the Philippe Garrel film Les hautes solitudes (1974) in which Nico appears with Jean Seberg.

The End... was released in November 1974, on record label Island, her only album on the label. Despite strong reviews from some publications, like its predecessors, it was not a commercial success and Nico's partnership with Island ended.

En su reseña para Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981), Robert Christgau escribió (en parte con un falso acento alemán ): «No sé por qué se lamenta de vírgenes no castradas y si traicionará su odio, y no quiero saberlo . Los arreglos de Manzanera -Eno-Cale, que creo que es como se llama a este tipo de efecto sonoro elevado, son adecuadamente morbosos y exóticos. Pero, dejando de lado la ironía fúnebre, su combinación de "The End" de The Doors y "Das Lied Der Deutschens" del Führer contextualiza ambas melodías de forma más peyorativa de lo que se pretende. Nico es lo que sucede cuando los desalmados apuestan sus mentes a la sabiduría de la sangre y los suicidas hacen algo de sus vidas. Si esto es romanticismo , denme a Matthew Arnold ... y denme refugio». ^{[ 3 ]}

Nota: La edición original en CD del álbum corta erróneamente la canción «You Forget to Answer» unos diez segundos antes de tiempo. La edición de lujo remasterizada en 2 CD corrige este error.

• Nico – voz principal, armonio

Personal adicional

• John Cale – bajo, xilófono, guitarra acústica, sintetizadores, órgano , marimba , triángulos , cabaça , boobams , glockenspiel , percusión , piano, piano eléctrico , producción
• Phil Manzanera – guitarra eléctrica en "The End"
• Brian Eno – sintetizadores en "It Has Not Taken Long", "You Forgot to Answer" e "Innocent and Vain"
• Vicki Wood – coros
• Annagh Wood – coros

Técnico

• John Wood – ingeniero de estudio
• Victor Gamm – ingeniero de estudio

• El final... en Discogs (lista de lanzamientos)