Hanging Gardens

Loudly touted as Nico's final studio album, Hanging Gardens was, in fact, something of a mishmash, comprising a handful of tracks from her last-ever concert, at the Berlin Planetarium in June 1988, and a clutch more drawn from sessions back in the early '80s. As such, it was a considerable letdown to anybody hoping for a legitimate follow-up to Camera Obscura, although such criticisms can in no way detract from the overall beauty of the collection. Of the four new songs on display, the lyrically brief "I Will Be Seven" is absolutely redolent of the direction in which Camera Obscura might have headed without John Cale's scene-stealing production, while versions of "I'm Waiting for the Man," "You Forgot to Answer," "Vegas," and "Saeta" (mysteriously — or deliberately — mistitled "The Line") are only tiresome if you've already gathered up every other available version. As with so many of the posthumous albums issued in Nico's name, Hanging Gardens can in no way be described as essential. But fans will not be disappointed by anything other than the album's brevity.