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

The more I listen to Drake's few albums, the more Five Leaves Left grows on me. I think it's his best work.

 

Five Leaves Left is my favorite, too. But I love all three very much.

 

Cally is a great guy. I remember buying the Molly Drake CD in a card folio presentation. It was seal with a hype sticker. I spent ages trying to figure out how to open it without causing damage. I tried to use an x-acto craft knife but got it badly wrong - the sleeve was ruined.

I contacted Cally and he sent me an unfolded folio sleeve and unpeeled sticker. I was then able to use these components to reconstruct a mint opened example of the sleeve (perhaps the only one in the world!)

 

Cally worked for Island in the 90s. He's a huge music fan & it shows.
As much as anything the ND Estate have stopped a great deal of unauthorised stuff getting out, whilst keep the quality & integrety of what has been released.
The Molly Drake tracks being a case in point.

He tracked down a box of the Remembered For A While book & vinyl album when I finally had funds to buy it.
Bryter Music – The Estate of Nick Drake - Remembered For A While

 

I watched this video on YouTube this evening, after it was recommended to me:



This guy breaks down how Nick achieved his guitar tone (based mostly on what he is hearing on the records, as there is so little concrete information) and I found it fascinating and educational.

Would anyone who knows about guitars (@Rose River Bear ?) care to watch and see if they agree with his conclusions? He plays a bit throughout and it sounds pretty close to me, but I'm a complete layman.

 

Thanks for posting that clip and asking for my comments. I just moved and have missed some of the thread due to packing and unpacking.
Anyway, I agree with most of his analysis. I have always though Nick played dead sounding strings for a reason....he had to avoid an abundance of overtones or he would have sounded too dense due to his tunings and lots of voicings. I read Nick had strong hands and it helped in his ability to finger pick with such accuracy and steadiness.

I agree with the fingernail comments as well. I read a friend looked at his nails a few times and commented on how long and stained they were on his right hand from smoking. His comments on right hand position make sense as well.

The small bodied guitar comment makes sense as far as his guitar used on Pink Moon although I never thought of it before.
It also is clear to me that Nick played mostly in the middle of the sound hole based on his tone. The fourth thru first string all sound fairly uniform and would sound brighter or less midrange if he played outside the middle of the sound hole. The downtuned bottom strings are not too bassy as well so it makes sense he played in the middle of the sound hole or maybe more towards the fretboard as opposed to closer to the bridge.

Overall, I agree with most of his analysis.

 

Really interesting! Thanks for your insights. I started to learn to play the guitar several years ago but got distracted. I wish I had stuck with it.

 

Great insights, all.

Sorry I've been away, nursing our sick 14 year old kitty. A sweetie. She is on the mend, but please have patience if I'm a bit off on my posting the songs.

Today we have one of my truly favorite Nick Drake tunes. As a side note, for me, side one of Bryter Layter is one of the most perfect album sides ever pressed to wax (assuming you all listen to this as a two sided piece-or have at some point, mentally, with the track 'Bryter Layter' being the bridge to side two ).

I do consider Bryter Layter to be a concept album, and a complete piece; like an orchestral symphony in ten movements.




Let's have a listen, first.

4. One Of These Things First, Bryter Layter

With the wonderful lyrics included in the video:

One Of These Things First - Nick Drake - YouTube
UMG (on behalf of Island Records); CMRRA, Abramus Digital, ARESA, BMG Rights Management, and 6 Music Rights Societies



I could have been a sailor, could have been a cook
A real live lover, could have been a book.
I could have been a signpost, could have been a clock
As simple as a kettle, steady as a rock.
I could be
Here and now
I would be, I should be
But how?
I could have been
One of these things first
I could have been
One of these things first.

I could have been your pillar, could have been your door
I could have stayed beside you, could have stayed for more.
Could have been your statue, could have been your friend,
A whole long lifetime could have been the end.
I could be yours so true
I would be, I should be through and through
I could have been
One of these things first
I could have been
One of these things first.

I could have been a whistle, could have been a flute
A real live giver, could have been a boot.
I could have been a signpost, could have been a clock
As simple as a kettle, steady as a rock.
I could be even here
I would be, I should be so near
I could have been
One of these things first
I could have been
One of these things first.
Nick Drake
One of These Things First lyrics © BMG Rights Management

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

Nick Drake: vocal
Paul Harris: piano
Dave Pegg: bass
Mike Kolwaski: drums

 

So glad Joe brought Paul Harris' wonderful piano touch back in on this one. Just absolutely beautiful.

Wondering if Robert Kirby did the arrangement here, or if Harris just winged it...amazing in any event. Since there are no strings I would say that, yes, Harris winged it...perfectly.

 

By the way, Paul Harris was a member of Stephen Stills & Manassas and later of The Souther Hillman Furay Band, and also appeared on many artists LPs: including Judy Collins, BB King, Al Kooper, Dan Fogelberg, Eric Andersen, John Sebastian, Joe Walsh, & John Martyn. Paul resides in Florida today.

 

I really feel a jazz vibe to this album. Nick's love for Mose Alison is often quite apparent here. In tone and voicing. I sometimes like to imagine wandering into an underground London jazz club in the 1971, and discovering Nick seated on a stool leading a small jazz combo, playing Bryter Layter complete.

 

One of my all time favorite Nick Drake moments captured on camera.

 

I'm late to the thread but joining in. Bryter Layter is one of my very favourite records by anyone, not just Nick Drake, and this is one of the best things on it. The playing is a bit loose, unlike many of his recordings which are perfect renditions, but I think it's all the better for being loose, as it swings along with more than a hint of jazz, and I'm sure there's a couple of stray notes in there. It reminds me of 'Mayfair' and 'Man In The Shed' in this respect. He did these kind of bouncy throwaway pieces brilliantly, except they're not throwaway at all, they just showcase a different facet of his songwriting. I've heard it said he's referring to the idea of reincarnation in the lyrics. I've never been sure about that but I do love that line about the kettle! So English! So Nick Drake!

 

I've watched this video a few times, this guy nails it. Wonderful guitar player.

 

I'm going back through the thread so apologies if I'm bringing things up that have been covered. But this book, thanks for mentioning it, it's one of the most valuable books I've read about music. Anyone interested in Nick Drake should read it. Informative, well researched, amusing, it leaves you wanting to hear the many recordings he references. It made me realise that the English folk revival of the 196os produced almost as much good music as the American folk revival of the same era, something I would have been hard pressed to believe until I started to investigate the artists and bands he talks about here. An essential read and I've lost my copy!!

 

One of These Things First
A Nick Drake classic. It may well be one of his most heard songs as well, as it was featured on the Garden State soundtrack. People like to mock that film now, but the soundtrack was excellent and a major part of the rise in popularity of indie music in the mid-2000s. It seemed like everyone in my high school (including me!) had a copy. So...this might actually have been the first Nick Drake song I heard, though I didn't investigate his complete catalog until I got to college. It's a wonderful piece of songwriting made even better by the amazing piano work. It's also a song that intrigues me because it makes reference to personal relationships ("A real live lover") in a way that most of Nick's songs do not. As he doesn't seem to have had much of a romantic life, this is interesting. Perhaps the song is not autobiographical in the slightest and is just about *all* of us could have been if we were not ourselves. Or, Nick could have been a lover if he were not Nick Drake...

At any rate, it's absolutely excellent and a highlight of this wonderful record.

 

'Three Hours' was written for one of his friends was it not. I'm quoting from one of the biographies, badly, but when 'said friend' realised this he asked Nick Drake to explain the meaning of the song to him, Drake declined an explanation. Or something like that.
The song is just a masterpiece in creating atmosphere. The trilling runs and riffs across the fretboard of his guitar are mesmerising, the melody is menacing, dark, sensual, the hand drums are hypnotic, the bass slides around the whole thing. What else can you say? You'd imagine this could be a song about sex in anyone else's hands, but this is Nick Drake, so it doesn't appear to be. So three hours was the time it took to travel from 'somewhere' to London? Like others, the meaning behind that master/slave reference has puzzled me for years.

 

Nick was under great pressure from his father not to leave Cambridge without his degree.
At the very least, a degree would be a safety net.
Back then, Nick was confident he could make it as a professional musician. He could play & sing impeccably. He had the songs. He'd played live in Aix En Provence & at Cambridge (with Robert Kirby)and that had all gone OK.
But this lyric is where the green shoots of self doubt start to show.

Nick was "crashing" at various friends flats and falling under the influence of those who dabbled in substances far more serious that "Mary Jane"
His personal life was now chaotic. His live appearances a disaster.
In the end his mentor Joe Boyd got him a flat if only to give him a reliable base and a phone where he could be contacted.

So the world of the "could have been" commuters on The Tube on their way to their predictable jobs, started to look almost enviable.
The line As simple as a kettle, steady as a rock, says it all.
His choice to live as a musician was no longer "as simple as a kettle" and he cannot commit to being reliable "steady as a rock"

A warning sign of what was sadly going to get much worse.

 

Excellent thread. Just read it in full.

I got into Nick Drake via hearing Sebadoh's cover of Pink Moon. It was around Easter 1992. I found a copy of the Fruit Tree vinyl box (1986 edition with Time Of No Reply) in Dublin's Freak Out Records later on that year, and paid by cheque. It took them three months to cash it.
I subsequently bought the albums on CD plus the compilations and later on subscribed to Jason Creed's Pink Moon zine.
Pink Moon is my favourite album; I tend to play it every few months when coming home on the train. It's a perfect length. Just watch the fields go by.

Nick's poncho (the one from the Mojo feature) was hanging in Dublin's Smile Records for years. Some background here.


Smile Records closed in 2003. The owner has been described "as one of the grumpiest, most condescending c**ts ever to sell a scratched Bob Dylan record."
I bought many records off him over the years and barely got a "thanks" in return. I mustn't have been "the right type of customer" as some people seemed to get on okay with guy - I often saw them laughing and chatting with him. Depends on who you are I suppose.

 

I actually still like that film...and the use of Nick's tune and the rest of the soundtrack is excellent.

 

Track 5, side 1. The perfect ending for an absolutely perfect album side...beautiful.

5. Hazy Jane I, Bryter Layter



Listen...
Hazey Jane I - Nick Drake - YouTube
UMG (on behalf of Island Records); ARESA, BMG Rights Management, CMRRA, Abramus Digital, and 3 Music Rights Societies

Do you curse where you come from,
Do you swear in the night
Will it mean much to you
If I treat you right.
Do you like what you're doing,
Would you do it some more
Or will you stop once and wonder
What you're doing it for.
Hey slow Jane, make sense
Slow, slow, Jane, cross the fence.

Do you feel like a remnant
Of something that's past
Do you find things are moving
Just a little too fast.
Do you hope to find new ways
Of quenching your thirst,
Do you hope to find new ways
Of doing better than your worst.
Hey slow Jane, let me prove
Slow, slow Jane, we're on the move.

Do it for you,
Sure that you would do the same for me one day.
So try to be true,
Even if it's only in your hazey way.

Can you tell if you're moving
With no mirror to see,
If you're just riding a new man
Looks a little like me.
Is it all so confusing,
Is it hard to believe
When the winter is coming
Can you sign up and leave.
Hey slow Jane, live your lie
Slow, slow Jane, fly on by.

Nick Drake
Hazey Jane I lyrics © BMG Rights Management


Nick Drake, guitar, vocal
Dave Pegg, bass
Robert Kirby, strings arrangement

 

The opening lines are genius and tragic. Hauntingly beautiful.


Do you curse where you come from,
Do you swear in the night
Will it mean much to you
If I treat you right.

 

"A member of the the Nick Drake Appreciation Society (yes, there is such a group and you can join it on Facebook) emailed us awhile back with a link to the video [below], a version of the song “Hazey Jane 1” from Nick Drake’s 1971 album Bryter Layter, minus everything but guitar and vocals.
Without the string and woodwind arrangements, Drake’s complex fingerpicking and delicate vocals are heightened. We can’t stop listening to it." -acoustic guitar.com

Nick Drake - Hazey Jane 1 (vocals and guitar) on Vimeo

 

Good choice of colourised Keith Morris photo LK

The cover shot of Bryter was done by Nigel Waymouth of Hapshash & The Coloured Coat as Keith was out of town.
The picture on the back is by Keith Morris of Nick on a flyover close to Keith's flat.

Outside the basic facts, the sleeve tells nothing of who or what Nick Drake was.
The guitar isn't his.
The shoes, "Brothel Creepers" shout late 1950's Rock & Roll Revival music.
Fine for a Sha Na Na sleeve.
The photo on the back is just out of focus and shows the back of Nick's head. Until Keith confirmed it years later, people were unsure if it was actually Nick himself!
Early UK copies are textured, like sacking.
Unlike the music, its got early 70's all over it and has dated badly IMHO.

Thank the lord the music is flawless.
But if you'd seen this in a record store....what would make you buy it?

 

I missed Dave Mattacks on drums..keeps a wonderful rhythm going throughout.

5. Hazy Jane I...thoughts from Robin, John, Joe...

Robin: By this time, Nick had fully defined his songwriting style, and was demonstrating a complete mastery of the craft. There is a well-developed introduction with a strong guitar figure. Throughout the song, vocal phrases begin just after beat threee(see 'Cello Song for more about offset melodic phrasing.) He uses warm cluster chords in the verses. The memorable bridge ("Do it for you...") features a key change at the top and a gospel-tinged chord progression with an elegant turnaround at the end to effect a return to the original key.

The intricate guitar arrangement on this song is among Nick's best work [listen to the Nick and guitar only video above]. There are memorable guitar phrases at the top of the song and in the fills between verses. He also displays his ability to keep a rock-solid rhythm going, even when playing a complicated, fingerpicked arrangement like this one. The vocal floats over the rhythm in a manner that is so relaxed it seems almost disconnected from his playing.

John: One thing I had forgotten was that Nick plays the Hammond Organ on 'Hazy Jane I'. If you listen you can just hear. I never realized it until we mixed it on 5.1 and that was subsequent to Cale's overdubs. I reckon it was something he picked up from Cale.

Joe: I remember it being a lot of fun just hearing all those rhythm players. They were fantastic players and to hear them bouncing off Nick was just great, I think Nick enjoyed it too.

--from the Fruit Tree box liner notes.