Drama of Exile

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Drama of Exile
Drama of Exile cover
Studio album by Nico
Released 1981
Recorded Music Works Studio, Watford, Hertfordshire, UK, April-May 1981
Genre Rock
Label Aura/Cleopatra
Producer Jean-Marc Philippe Quilichini
Professional reviews
Nico chronology
June 1, 1974
(1974)		 Drama of Exile
(1981)		 Do or Die: Nico in Europe
(1982)

Drama of Exile is the name of a rock album recorded by Nico in 1981 and originally released by indie label Aura. The album featured a Middle Eastern rhythm section and was produced by Corsican reggae bassist, Philippe Quilichini.

The original album was plagued by suspicious circumstances. There are different versions of the story, so the truth remains ambiguous.

During the recording a sound engineer stole the unfinished record and sold it to the company Aura which released it immediately. Of course we sued them. We re-recorded the album but the court trial took forever. I had neither money nor strength to go on. The most commonly sold version of Drama Of Exile is unauthorized. We released the original form with Invisible Records but only in a very small edition and so it’s more a collector’s item.

— from an interview with Jacques Pasquier

Aura offered to finance one album, to be recorded in London and produced by P. Quilichini. Contracts were drawn up, Aura advanced the production costs and recording began almost immediately. Recorded at Gooseberry Studios in Tulse Hill, London, with a band comprising of Quilichini, guitarist Mahammad Hadi, drummer Steve Cordonna, Ian Dury's sax player Davy Payne, and Andy Clarke, the keyboard player who so sparkled on David Bowie's Scary Monsters album. With the album nearly finished, and sounding great, A.S. received a tip-off from the studio that N. Duget (Nico's unofficial manager) had arranged to steal the master tapes from the studio and sell them, without reimbursing Aura. A.S. scuppered those plans by taking possession of all the tapes. A legal battle ensued, which was to last almost 3 years. Duget claimed Nico had not signed the contract. True, but an agreement was made and Aura had paid out considerable sums in production costs. Ownership therefore rested with Aura. During this period of legal machinations, Nico recorded a single Sãeta/Vegas which emerged on the Flicknife label in 1981. In 1982, Nico, tired of all the legal wranglings, abandoned N.D. and P.Q. and asked Aura to finally release the Drama of Exile album. At that time she also signed over the publishing rights to her original Drama songs to Aura Music. In 1983, having won the legal battle, Aura proceeded to release the album. P.Q. was angry and taking no notice of the legal restrictions involved, went back to Paris with some tapes he had secretly copied during recording, he remixed those tapes and had an illegal version of the album released in France. Aura quickly put a stop to this album and it was subsequently withdrawn.

— Dave Thompson,  liner notes for Nico-Icon CD

Quilichini and his girlfriend also hatched a plan to steal the tapes in a bid to cheat Aura Records and sell them on to another company. Aaron Sixx managed to rescue them with a last minute dash to the studios, but with their plan thwarted the couple severely delayed the release of the album by trying to take him to court. But with the record finally released and lauded by many critics as her best ever, Nico embarked on the usual round of promotional interviews.

— Fraser Massey ,  Liner notes for Drama of Exile, UK CD edition 1996

The two versions had slightly different personnel and instrumentation. A version of the original LP recordings was released n 1981 by Aura Records in the Netherlands and Sweden only, several months after the debacle with the masters. The re-make was held up for two years, and was finally released in 1983 by Impossible Records. The original version of the LP was released in CD for the first time in America by Cleopatra Records in 1993.

Contents

[edit] Original recording

All tracks composed by Nico; except where indicated

  1. "Genghis Khan" (3:52)
  2. "Purple Lips" (4:10)
  3. "One More Chance" (5:38)
  4. "Henry Hudson" (3:54)
  5. "I'm Waiting for the Man" (4:13) (Lou Reed)
  6. "Sixty/Forty" (4:50)
  7. "The Sphinx" (3:30)
  8. "Orly Flight" (3:55)
  9. "Heroes"(6:06) (David Bowie, Brian Eno)

[edit] Personnel

  • Nico: vocals
  • Mahamad Hadi (Mad Sheer Khan): lead guitar, frettless bouzouki, snitra, backing vocals, piano
  • Philippe Quilichini: bass, African percussions, rhythm guitar, synthesizer, backing vocals
  • Steve Cordona: drums
  • Davey Payne: saxophones
  • Andy Clarke: organ, piano, synthesizer

[edit] Remake

  1. "One More Chance" (4:13)
  2. "The Sphinx" (4:00)
  3. "Sãeta" (3:40)
  4. "Genghis Khan" (3:34)
  5. "Heroes" (5:41) (David Bowie, Brian Eno)
  6. "Henry Hudson" (3:46)
  7. "60/40" (4:35)
  8. "Orly Flight" (2:48)
  9. "Vegas" (3:30)
  10. "I'm Waiting For the Man" (4:14) (Lou Reed)

[edit] Remake personnel

For the remake, the lineup was without Davey Payne and with additional help from:

  • J. J. Johnson: percussion, trumpet
  • Thierry Matiozek: electric violin, backing vocals
  • Gary Barnacle: saxophones, drums

[edit] External links

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