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

The Record Store Day pressing of the US “Nick Drake” comp is quite nice indeed. It tided me over until I got the new vinyl issues of FLL and BL. I still spin it since it happens to have my absolute favorite tracks from those two albums. It sounds fantastic as well.

 

My first exposure to Nick Drake was nearly twenty years ago. I was with a lady friend and we had just become more than friends. Afterward she put on Pink Moon. I immediately forgot where I was and what I’d been doing. Totally transcendent experience. Not a week has passed since then that I haven’t listen listened to Nick Drake. It’s sacred music for me.

 

My first in was this silly thing; The Volkswagon commercial.

Oh, is that the guy with the ridiculously overpriced records?
What struck me is the fact his strings were obviously old and dead sounding. A real nice effect.

Then I found an Antilles US copy of Leaves for $4 at a flea market. Since then, bought the Japanese and UK Boxes, etc - Watched the documentary.

I believe Leaves and Pink should be on the single digit must-listen lists next to Miles.

 

I think I agree - no matter how good the original tapes are for these demos and rarities - they aren't going to magically sound as good as the album material. I also tend to go towards "Time Of No Reply" when wanting other versions - a beautiful collection it itself!

 

Finally I bought the FLF 2013 reissue LP . I'm very happy with it

 

Nick Drake have any affinity with Marc Bolan ?

 

Good to see Five Leaves Left getting a mention, albeit brief, in the book which accompanies the deluxe version of the new Beatles Abbey Road set.

In a nutshell the comment is that Nick's debut LP was released around the same time as Abbey Road and came in a gatefold sleeve, unlike Abbey Road itself.

 

Was disappointed with the AR cover in 1969, and lack of extras like TW&Pepper before it.They made up with Let It Be, pity about the music though.

 

A few questions.

Nick before he died lived in a barge in Paris for two weeks.

Island records gave him money prior to recording Pink Moon to go to Spain for a holiday.

He recorded songs with Francoise Hardy but they’ve never been released.

Source: Nick Kent ( 1975)

Any more information about these stories?

 

Keep seeing the 1986 Nick Drake box at Bull Moose that is haunting me. The box is a little worn but CDs within are NM. For $30.
Wonder if I should bite? Have the 2007 Fruit Tree box with the DVD and everything individually that is in the 1986 box, but...this looks cool.

 

Mantelpiece eye candy

 

Very smooth sound on that older box. I probably prefer their sound to the newer CD remasters.

 

Saw the Mr. Rogers movie today with my dear folks. Spoiler alert below -

Perhaps my favourite Nick song is beautifully placed in the film. The movie starts with the sound of a celeste and the Nick song shortly after has a celeste in it. Magic.

 

RIP Nick. Nov. 25th, 1974.

 

Here's a little something I wrote in 2011, about the connection between Françoise and the British singer-songwriter Nick Drake.

Did the French singer Françoise Hardy ever record songs Nick especially wrote for her?
The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll (Simon & Schuster, 2001) clearly thinks so. In the entry on Nick drake it is stated:
"He lived for a short while in Paris at the behest of Françoise Hardy (who never released the recordings she made of his songs) and then settled in Hampstead..."

Here are the facts, at least how I see them:

As with many thinks in Nick's life, information is rare and often contradicting. Some even think they had a relation and lived together for some months. Others just think he had a crush on the beautiful chanteuse - like many schoolboys in the Sixties. The only thing that is certain is taht they have met a few times.

The first time was at the beginning of the Seventies. Producer Joe Boyd wanted more people to know the acts on his Witchseason label. A good way to do so was to get some famous artist to cover their songs. Possibly for contractual reasons he didn't chose to compile simply some songs from Fairport Convention, The Incredible String Band and Nick Drake on an album. Instead he booked some studiotime, in July 1970, and hired a few session singers. One of them was his own girlfriend, Linda Peters - later to marry Richard Thompson and become known as Linda Thompson - and a young man called Reginald Dwight. He was just starting a career as Elton John and payed the rent by covering hitsongs of the day for cheap compilations.
Some hunderd actetates of those new versions were pressed and sent to potential clients.

One of the few who showed some interest in Nick's songs was the French singer Françoise Hardy. She contacted Boyd to let him know that she thought the songs were great and that she would like him to write some for her. A meeting was arranged in her Paris apartment. That visit wasn't exactly a great succes. Arriving in the apartment on the Isle St. Louis Drake withdrew in himself." He never said a word," remembers Hardy in the documentary A Skin Too Few.
"It was excruciating," said Joe Boyd. "Nick sat there, head down, drinking his tea and didn't say a word the whole time; and I had to fill in the awkward silences." (The Sad Ballad of Nick Drake - Mick Brown in The Telegraph, July 12, 1997.)

They nevertheless agree that Nick will write some songs and Françoise will come to London to record them there. Time is booked in Studio Sound Techniques (the studio where Nick recorded all his albums with engineer John Wood).
But before Hardy could come to London, Boyd received an offer from Warner Brothers to go to California. It was too good to refuse, so he sold Witchseason to Island Records.

Some of the finest British folkmusicians were hired for the Hardy sessions. Richard Thompson played guitar on a few tracks. Another was Fotheringay guitarist Jerry Donahue. He confirms that Nick showed up at least once to watch the sessions.

"When we were doing Françoise's album, Nick Drake came up and sat next to me in the control room. I was just making some friendly conversation. He was very quiet in between questions; there would just be a gap. Then I'd ask another question. And each time I did, his eyebrows would raise way up, his eyes would widen, and it was like an effort to kind of get the answer out to satisfy the situation at hand - 'I've gotta deal with this - somebody's putting me on the line, they've actually addressed me and asked me a question. I will do my best to get an answer out.'
Then having successfully managed to crank an answer out, he would withdraw again into silence, until which time I might feel inclined to ask him another question, and the same sequence of events would take place. It was very bizarre. I've never known anybody like him. And he wasn't unfriendly. But you just really felt like you were putting the guy on the spot when you'd ask the most simple harmless questions. I thought he had a real rough time with himself. It was impossible to get to know him, certainly in that brief encounter."
(Richie Unterberger in Unknown Legends of Rock 'n' Roll (Backbeat Books - 1998))

When the album If You Listen is released in Spring 1972, there's no sing of song written by Nick Drake. But his shadow hangs over the album. (There are covers of songs by Beverley Martin, Buffy Ste Marie, Randy Newman and Neil Young.)

If he had written any songs for her they must have ended up on Pink Moon, which he recorded around the same time, during two sessions in October 1971.
When that album, like the two before, disappeared without making much noice, the Youngman sank even deeper in a depression. He returned to his parent's house, but even there he felt like a stranger.

In 1974 it appeared like he was getting better. He recorded some songs in February and June, but this time he found it hard to sing and play guitar at the same time.
In the first week of October he took up an invitation of some friends to visit them in Paris, where they lived in a barge on the Seine.
While he was there, he decided to pay a visit to Françoise Hardy. But when he rang the bell, he didn't recognize the voice on the parlophone. "It's Nick... Nick..." is all he could mutter before returning on his steps. After a few weeks he returned home where he wanted to improve his French before going back to France. But that was nevcer to be. Four weeks later he was death.


Françoise Hardy talked about meeting Nick Drake for the first time, to Patrick Humphries.

"For me, he didn't belong to a particularly British tradition: his style was quite different from that of The Beatles, the Stones and other groups that I was listening to a lot around this time. It is the soul which comes out of his songs that touched me deeply - romantic, poetic... but also the refined melodies. As well as the very individual timbre of his voice, which adds to the melancholy of the whole thing.
Nick seemed - and was no doubt - so shy, so wrapped up in himself, that in retrospect I'm astonished he managed to come and see me two or three times, even knowing that I appreciated his enormous talent. Communication between us was never great, but I had the impression that to know himself appreciated, loved, gave him confidence; and that to feel that his silence presence was accepted was enough for him."
(Patrick Humphries - Brief Encounter in Mojo 39 - February 1997)

 

45 years ago.

 

Great read.
Thx!!!!

 

Keith Christmas any connection to Nick Drake?

 

I finally decided to grab the Hannibal Records "Fruit Tree" box that has been haunting me (it was on the wall of special box/collections for $30)...it was there just staring at me, every time I went into the Bull Moose store. Got it for $21, after trading back some old video/DVDs and CDs I never play. It completes my Nick Drake collection quite nicely.

A little worn at couple corners corners of the box, but that is expected from something that was released in 1986. It is otherwise in excellent condition. Hardly played, with very few scuffs on the CDs. Booklet is in great shape too.

 

Was finally going to spring for one of these myself when I saw it at an online retailer who was offering 30% off any one item. Went to buy it and saw they'd raised the price on it by at least $20 bucks.

 

Bummer. It can go for a lot nowadays, so jumping on it at $30 seemed like a good idea. Glad I did!

Discogs seems to have a few at a reasonable price but unsure about condition of those offered.

 

Ahhhh...the John Cale produced track. Nice.

 

I revisited Bryter Layter today because of another thread--"Best Nick Drake Album?", and the debate on its merits.
So I posted this in my appreciation of Nick's middle child...

..............................................................

Some of Nick's best are on Bryter Layter:

Hazy Jane II- a great opening vocal track, that gets the beat starting
At The Chime Of The City Clock- is quite wonderful. Jazzy yes. Deeply contemplative and full of mood....love it as one of Nick's best. And love the arrangement.
One Of These Things First-just an amazing song that gets me thinking deeply at all Nick's imagery. The tune is sublime.
Hazy Jane I-absolutely perfect, and those lyrics
Bryter Layter-I love the way Nick wanted to link sides one and two with instrumental pieces. They add much more to the LP than many admit. Of course they work best listened to on vinyl. The transitional purpose is a bit lost on CD.
Fly-probably my favorite Drake song.
Northern Song-the Nick & John Cale collaboration that Cale insisted on producing and playing celeste piano and organ on...he dropped everything to do this for Nick, whom he had just met the day before. A BEAUTIFUL SONG INDEED.

So yeah, I love Bryter Layter and the others, equally. How can you choose between Nick's children...all three LPs are perfect.

And Poor Boy has a fun, lightly mocking, self parodying vibe...and yes, I love the female chorus. If you let yourself just enjoy it, it is pure fun, tongue in cheek, which is always good...keeps one from taking oneself too seriously, once in a while.

So many emotions.

 

I am going to be in the UK next summer and would love to visit some Nick Drake locations while there. Tanworth in Arden is an absolute must but what else should be on the list? Any suggestions or tips would be great!

 

In addition to making the pilgrimage to Tanworth in Arden last summer, while in London we took an excellent rock and roll tour. One of the drive bys was the studio of Island records where Nick Recorded.