NICO
The End CD

The End (also written as The End...) is the fourth studio album by Nico, released in November 1974. The album was her fifth collaboration with John Cale and third with him as producer. It carried the same harmonium-based sound heard on The Marble Index and Desertshore with the addition of Brian Eno's synthesizers and electronic instruments. The song "You Forget To Answer" tells of the misery felt when she failed to reach ex-lover Jim Morrison by phone only to find out later that he had died

All but two of the songs on the album were written by Nico: there is a cover of The Doors' "The End" and a version of the German national anthem "Das Lied der Deutschen". Her interpretation of the national song has been considered by some critics as the most significant interpretation of a patriotic anthem since Jimi Hendrix's performance in Woodstock, 1969

The End was Nico's only album on the famed Island Records label; despite strong reviews, the album, like its predecessors, was not a commercial success and Nico's partnership with Island ended. It was to be her last studio album until she found a deal with Aura to release Drama of Exile in 1981

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

The Songs:
All tracks written by Nico unless otherwise noted. 1. "It Has Not Taken Long" – 4:12 2. "Secret Side" – 4:08 3. "You Forget to Answer" – 5:08 4. "Innocent and Vain" – 3:52 5. "Valley of the Kings" – 3:57 6. "We've Got the Gold" – 5:44 7. "The End" – 9:37 (Densmore, Krieger, Manzarek, Morrison) 8. "Das Lied der Deutschen" – 5:29 (Hoffmann von Fallersleben, Joseph Haydn)

Island Records France 1974 The front and back covers feature stills from the Philippe Garrel film, Les hautes solitudes (1974), in which Nico appears.