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

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by lemonade kid, Aug 29, 2018.

  1. lemonade kid

    lemonade kid Forever Changing Thread Starter

    Tell me again...when was this sent to Nick? No answer, I assume.
     
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  2. Psychedelic Sounds

    Psychedelic Sounds Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Zealand
    I don't know if this letter is known. If it is a new find and genuine?
     
  3. Chris M

    Chris M Senior Member In Memoriam

    Gabrielle Drake owns it. Richard Morton Jack of Flashback Magazine fame shared it on FB recently. It may be in the Remembered For Awhile book.

    October 1971.

    100% genuine..
     
    Last edited: Oct 1, 2018
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  4. Psychedelic Sounds

    Psychedelic Sounds Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Zealand
    Thanks. Interesting that you said Nick Drake carried this in his pocket. A very mysterious letter.
     
  5. Psychedelic Sounds

    Psychedelic Sounds Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Zealand
    According to Wikipedia, that is the month when he recorded Pink Moon. 30-31st October.
     
  6. Psychedelic Sounds

    Psychedelic Sounds Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Zealand
    That letter would be a week before Nick Drake recorded the album.
     
  7. Chris M

    Chris M Senior Member In Memoriam

    Mysterious? I found it incredibly poignant.
     
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  8. Psychedelic Sounds

    Psychedelic Sounds Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Zealand
    It is also fortunate that Pink Moon was even recorded and released.
    And that they still have the Pink Moon original master tapes.
     
  9. beccabear67

    beccabear67 Musical omnivore.

    Location:
    Victoria, Canada
    Chrissie Hynde wrote something in NME around that time about Tim Buckley. Not sure if she was aware of him when back in the U.S. or after coming over to England.
     
  10. flaxton

    flaxton Forum Resident

    Location:
    Uk
    Did Nick not reply to the letter as he did not receive much fan mail.
     
  11. Buddys Dad

    Buddys Dad Forum Resident

    Location:
    melton mowbray
    Invitation to Keith Morris Private View at Redferns
    Plus Keiths message that my Running Man photo is ready

    [​IMG]
     
  12. lemonade kid

    lemonade kid Forever Changing Thread Starter

    It would have been unlikely from such a shy man. But that letter must have been a comfort and a touchstone (it's so worn from carrying it in his pocket). A love letter from a fan in America, when Nick felt his music was going unappreciated. It is a comfort to me to know he had this touching letter from a fan in America.
     
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  13. ...surely that letter was from a fan in England NOT America. Bristol postcode BS5 6RJ - you can look it up on Google Street View if you are interested.
     
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  14. lemonade kid

    lemonade kid Forever Changing Thread Starter

    A few extra notes on Hazey Jane II and At The Chime Of A City Clock before we move on...

    2. Hazey Jane II

    Robin: With it's traveling rhythm and cascade of images, 'Hazey jane II' introduces to us Nick's cityscape, a crowded place with a dangerous edge. Despite the determined, getting-on-with-things rhythm and lines like 'Weigh up your anchor and never look round', Nick is still looking back, thinking of the friends he left behind, the books and records that once gave him a sense of security. Now, the melancholy but comforting image of the fruit tree has given way to the darkness of a forest hiding sharp-toothed weasels.


    Joe: 'Hazey Jane II' is a revelation because Robert came up with this fantastic horn part, which didn't sound like anything else at the time. It had nothing to do with R&B horns or with Jazz horns. It was unique without being weird and very mainstream in many ways. Yet the sensibility of it was quite different. One of the things I remember about this record was how much fun it was to see Nick playing with a rhythm section.

    [​IMG]


    3. At The Chime Of A City Clock

    Robin: The ambivalent feelings about city life that Nick expressed in 'Hazey Jane II"' are more fully expressed here. Shifts between minor and major in the music parallel the mixed emotions described in the lyrics. One minute everything's looking sunny, the next he's on his knees praying for warmth.

    Both the verse and chorus feature the same musical descending, single note bass line, but the verse (A city freeze...) is in Ab minor , while the chorus ("at the chime of a city clock...") is in Ab major. We're essentially in the same place but there's a big difference in the emotional tone: the minor is sorrowful and anxious, the major chorus upbeat and positive..--
    from Fruit Tree box notes.

    Such a diverse and wonderful song and the mood is so perfectly set by Nick. I love this song so much. And that sax...
    :love:


    [​IMG]

    Great discussion all...I'll try to get to 'One of These Things First' within a couple days. Busy busy. But keep the love for Nick's music going in the meantime...

    :tiphat:
     
    Last edited: Oct 2, 2018
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  15. lemonade kid

    lemonade kid Forever Changing Thread Starter

    Thanks...either way, a comfort.
     
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  16. lemonade kid

    lemonade kid Forever Changing Thread Starter

    Correction--a letter for a fan in England. Sorry.
     
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  17. BTW I visited Tanworth in Arden a year ago:-

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
  18. Parachute Woman

    Parachute Woman Forum Resident

    Location:
    USA
    Beautiful photographs. Just looking at them made me a bit teary. I'd like to be able to pay my respects some day. I think the inscriptions on his gravestone are beautiful and simple. "Now we rise / And we are everywhere"... And his parents there with him as well. Even with the difficulties they had towards the end of his life, I think the Drake family seems quite lovely.
     
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  19. Buddys Dad

    Buddys Dad Forum Resident

    Location:
    melton mowbray
    Gabrielle & Cally.
    Fiercly protective of the Nick Drake legacy.
    An utter delight to talk to.

    [​IMG]g drake by photos sd, on Flickr
     
  20. HappyFingers

    HappyFingers Forum Resident

    Location:
    London, England
    I've not seen the similarity mentioned before, but I'm wondering if Nick heard this before writing At The Chime Of A City Clock:
     
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  21. HappyFingers

    HappyFingers Forum Resident

    Location:
    London, England
    'Electric' version:
     
  22. lemonade kid

    lemonade kid Forever Changing Thread Starter

  23. Buddys Dad

    Buddys Dad Forum Resident

    Location:
    melton mowbray
    List of photographs for Keith Morris, Nick Drake, 3 Days exhibition in 2004

    [​IMG]
     
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  24. flaxton

    flaxton Forum Resident

    Location:
    Uk
    I wonder what effect nicks father was on him as he was 40 when nick was born.
     
  25. The "Now we rise / And we are everywhere" inscription is on the reverse of the gravestone. You see that side first as you approach from the church (through a creaky centuries old wooden gate). You cannot miss Nick's grave - it is right next to a big old oak tree:-

    [​IMG]
     

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