Nick Drake Appreciation - Album By Album & All Things Nick Drake*

I never heard what became of the tapes that Beverly Martyn was going to auction several years ago. What happened with that situation? Lawyers still have everything in limbo?

 

Nick Drake Estate have challenged ownership. Who knows if they'll see the light of day.

Auction Of Rare Nick Drake Recordings Halted

 

I wonder how much there is left in the vault? or did they already let out the best stuff?

 

Probably, but even the home recordings of Nick are awesome...so free the tapes. Nick was top drawer in everything he did--unlike sone outtakes and demos releases of inferior material by other artists.. ..Nick is always a good listen.

 

Cally (Callomon) is in charge of the Nick Drake Estate is very cautious about the release of product.
Bryter Music – The Estate of Nick Drake - News

Doubt theres much of note remaining.
Would it contribute much to the legacy if there was?

 

The quality unofficial releases, there being two that are essential: A Day Gone By (58 tracks on 2 discs) and Time has told me (38 over 2 volumes) make up about 15% of my Nick listening time. 20% comes from the 3 official outtake sets and Peel session tracks. Leaving 65% for the three core albums. I have no idea how that compares with others here.

 

This being said, what then does a person need to obtain to have ALL the Nick Drake that has been released (with the least amount of overlap).

 

A Day Gone By is essential for sure.

 

There is a quality live recording of a 1968 gig in Cambridge.

 

Tell us more. I've never heard of a known live Nick Drake recording.

 

In the family vaults or is it out there for bootleggers??? I want!

 

Yes it seems to collect everything (at least "time has told me" 1 & 2 and "second grace" bootlegs) into one package.

I wonder how these different compilations differ in sound quality + speed. i guess all of them come from same source(s) but some state "remastered" which might or might not mean something.

However I would like to see a proper release of these since theyre already out there....

 

unless theres a small group of hoarders (which unfortunately happens with some artists trading circles) theres no live recording of nick available....

 

yes...hoarders puzzle me. What's the point? What joy is there in keeping a rare treasure to oneself? The joy is in the sharing.

 

It definitely exists. Nick playing 5 songs live with a string quartet in the Bateman Room at Caius College in Cambridge in 1968. The set was recorded by Peter Rice who ran the Cambridge University Tape Recording Society. Peter held on to the live tape as well as another recording he made of Nick solo - both tapes were made available to the estate but for some reason they don't want the live tape released.

 

^thanks for the info!

 

Wow. I have to pick up my jaw now. I respect the estate's mission to protect Nick's legacy and to exercise caution, but, man. Unless this recording is of extremely poor quality, or horrendously-performed (not likely), how could it not be received with anything other than awe and love from Nick's many fans?

 

A historical document that deserves release, if for that reason alone. At its worst to me it's like listening to a really poor audio Caruso...still a must hear.
And I'll bet it sounds pretty fine...at least like his home recordings at best?

 

Here's the story.
A bit frustrating when theres every chance that the recordings would be of good quality.

Nick Drake - Stories - Peter Rice's Story

 

Entranced by Nick's sister. Non the less I'm sure there's a big demand for this recording. No interest from Island records?

 

It would seem that The Estate dont think its worthy of release.
Its their decission & we should respect that.
Look whats been to done to the McCartney albums, its embarrasing.

Sometimes small & perfectly formed should be enough.
Thats Nick's legacy.

 

True they've given us a wealth of extra demos and home recordings so they likely know what they are doing in keeping this where it is...until we know otherwise.

I'm happy with what we have too. The Peel Sessions were a revelation and that is as good as it gets.

 

Next is
MadeTo Love Magic

(That is not to say there aren't more but they are compilations of Nick's three: "Nick Drake ( 8 tracks comp), "Way To Blue: An Introduction" & "Heaven In A Wildflower")

Made to Love Magic


Compilation album by
Nick Drake
Released 24 May 2004




Made to Love Magic is a 2004 compilation album of out-takes and remixedtracks by English singer/songwriter Nick Drake. It is notable for featuring a previously unreleased solo acoustic version of "River Man", dating from early 1968, and the song "Tow the Line", a previously unheard song from Drake's final session in July 1974. The compilation reached #27[4] on the UK Albums Chart. -wiki

 

• The backside of Nick Drake's headstone, wedged deep into the earth of Tanworth-in-Arden's parish church graveyard, reads: "Now we rise and we are everywhere." The words were penned by Drake in 1974; 30 years later, they seem jarringly prophetic.

Like nearly all prematurely buried cult figures, Nick Drake is reinvented each time he is rediscovered. In 2000, the sheepish, astral musings of "Pink Moon" became synonymous with backing a Cabrio convertible out of a house party, sparking an unlikely boost in record sales and propelling Pink Moon towards platinum status nearly 26 years after Drake's death. But with each well-intentioned revival of interest, Nick Drake slips further and further out of reach, hopelessly martyred and codified, superceded and consumed by his own tragic context. Nick Drake has become: the 26-year-old prophet, the diffident enigma, the tortured precursor to Kurt Cobain, the fallen hero, the folksinger-as-folksymbol, the self-sacrificing patron saint of lonely, disaffected teenagers-- the One who died for our sins.

Even now, being indoctrinated into the cult of Drake is stupidly easy. Line the unbearably poetic circumstances of Drake's death (swallowing a fatal handful of anti-depressants, either deliberately or by accident) against the soft melancholy of his tiny canon, and witness a very specific kind of bedroom deity being birthed: Drake's three proper studio records form a bulletproof triumvirate, synergizing to create an impossibly satisfying (and telling) arc, riddled with prescient pull-quotes and expectedly dynamic emotions. Given the irrefutable magnificence of what he left behind, it's always seemed perfectly logical to assume that every single thing Nick Drake ever did should be worth piles of attention. And really, who wants to know if it's not?

Source:
Nick Drake: Made to Love Magic Album Review | Pitchfork