Nico 'Drama of Exile': C / D?

As far as the songs go, they're some of my fave of hers, but the problem was I heard the versions on the "Nico-Icon" CD first and when I heard the versions on Drama later, they sounded really overdone production-wise, had a more eastern flavor, etc. It wasn't the same at all.

Come on, there's gotta be more people caring about this album.
It's true that despite the poor sound quality the 'Nico-Icon' versions are superior and actually they're some of her best material. I loved the funked-up "Vegas". What was again the story behind those different versions? I seem to remember that the Icon tapes were actually the original ones.

Just read a Nico bio called called You Are Beautiful and You Are Alone and it made me curious to hear some of her 1980s work, not being familiar with either this album or Camera Obscura. And then which of the two Drama of Exile versions is more credible and what label can you find it on? And what are the "Nico-Icon" versions exactly? With both of these albums there seems to be a lot of people saying "they're not good but I still listen to them a lot" or some such.

How is that book? It popped up in some feed but I took a pass.

Tbqh I don't think it is particularly well-written. The author conducted a lot of interviews with principal characters, but these are kind of just regurgitated with little critical skepticism or attempt to reconcile people's varying takes. The author is very fair to Nico, but maybe too kind to her in some ways. Also there's some sloppy editing - quotes or passages repeated and things like that. Or a thing that always irks me - when you read "...and then in April she did this..." where there's no indication of what year we're talking about. All that sounds negative, but as a big information dump I got a lot from it. Most of what I knew about Nico amounted to whatever bits I had remembered from seeing Nico-Icon decades ago.

Thanks. I saw some really negative reviews online. I think I may already know all I need to know or will read other sources for now.

This seems to be the least consensual Nico lp.

I have never consented to listening to it but I might check it out at some point; Camera Obscura was better than I expected.

This seems to be the least consensual Nico lp.

Cancel Drama of Exile!

I'm finally ready to consent to listening to it now. When the album first appeared I was too young to consent.

Oops wrong translation from my native language there. What I meant was “with least level of consensus”. Never realized that was lost in translation! Never mind, do go on.

Listened to it once and thought it wasn't very good tbh.