Nico: Do Or Die - Diary 1982 (Nico In Europe)

Editor's info:
NICO, the punk princess of the mid '60's Warhol entourage, joined the Velvet Underground as a singer in 1965 after a brilliant European career as a top model and actress. This began a new career for one of the truly unique vocalists and rock personalities of our times.

Noted for her Teutonic inflections, amazing beauty and heartbreaking baritone, she exuded a deep-seated sense of European worldliness and angst. She in many ways set the stage for the "gloom and doom" English romanticism and the Goth movement so popular today.

Truly an individualist, in style, presentation and her approach to material, NICO created a unique vision that in time became her own personal reality.

NICO "Do or Die" was originally released by ROIR as a cassette-only in November 1982. It is a collection of live performances, both solo and with her band, from her 1982 European tour that garnered considerable interest from collectors, press, her fans and also the followers of The Velvet Undoerground. It has now been 24-bit digitally remastered and re-edited for CD release by Doug Pomeroy.


"Drawn from five European gigs and featuring the best of Nico's many bands, The Blue Orchids, 'Do or Die' is the greatest hits package Nico never got. The power she unleashes dismisses any doubts regarding her role in rock and roll. Skillful beauty - spine-chilling isolation" - Alternative Press

"At 44, Nico looks like a shipwreck, smokes incessantly and is still alluring with her trademark Teutonic lisp and Marlene Dietrich baritone." - Trouser Press, 12/82. (Live performance)

"The solos were compelling and excruciating, Nico sat at the keyboard with downset eyes and pumping feet, wailing anguished poetry like a latter day Cassandra, while her harmonium ostinatos linked her to New York's '60's minimalists." - Jon Pareles, The New York Times (Live performance)

"The black beauty of Nico's music, magnificent in it's sound yet terrible in it's scope proves quite resilient on 'Do or Die.' It is an ironically appropriate title for music by a woman who has already died several times during her long romance with drugs and Warholian decadence, yet continually summons up the emotional strength to translate her tragic experience into strangely uplifting songs." - David Fricke, Melody Maker, UK

"No better example for the hard-core revivalist than Nico's 'Do or Die.' An artist trapped by her fan's dreams." - Op

"One of the better '80's Nico titles." - Record Collector, UK

"I'm impressed by this fabulous collection of live European performances." - Jonathan L, Newsreal

"The original Goth rocker, Nico's albums are demanding and bleak, but map a unique and starkly powerful vision that has become more influential with age. One of the most fascinating figures of rock's fringes." - All Music Guide to Rock

"A lengthy live sampler of Nico's work minus the production flourishes of her studio albums." - Trouser Press

"This is the end - my beautiful friend. May I have some beer, please?" - Track 14, "The End", Nico.