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

Black Eyed Dog is one of the first songs I think about when someone mentions Nick Drake.

 

Is anyone here planning on attending the Nick Drake gathering in Tanworth at the end of July? We will be in England then and wouldn’t mind sharing a pint or two with fellow Nick lovers.

 

Was this discussed?? Likely but worth reviewing again. Oddly, no interviews with Gabby or Boyd or Wood though.
Guess the family didn't want to participate.

Aside from hiring a spiritual medium to "interview" Nick himself [really??], this DVD is as good as anyone could've made it. Perhaps input from Drake's surviving relatives or some unreleased demos would've been cool; but that's for the definitive (as-yet-to-be-made) N.D. documentary. This is an introduction, and as such, it's well done and well worth its price. -Amazon reviewer


A 2007 documentary called:

Nick Drake: Under Review (90 minutes-DVD)




Discusses, dissects and appraises Drake's life, music and astonishing, albeit short, career. 90 minute documentary film which goes some way to unraveling the mystery of this enigmatic singer-songwriter, who passed away at the age of just 26. With the aid of those who were close to Nick, those around at the time and those who have studied and written about Nick Drake in depth.

 

Nice. Enjoy. I'll raise a pint to you all visiting Tanworth. Please give us an account 0f the events after the trip.

 

There is a new DVD box set (three discs) from 2018 it seems. This looks to be the 2007 Drake documentary. With Sandy and Tim on the remaining DVDs.

The Troubadours



Bull Moose. Troubadours Nick Drake Tim Buckley Sandy Denny DVD Nr

 

I haven't seen the Nick Drake Under Review, but am very familiar with the Under Reviews done for Leonard Cohen. They are unauthorized documentaries, usually meaning they have no "insiders" or close companions participating. Usually a mix of critics and familiar names in music circles as talking heads. That doesn't mean they can't be interesting, but don't expect to hear any of Drake's music included.

 

Ahhhh...no wonder there is no family participation. I read there is a lot of Drake music but as covers I guess.

 

Occasionally they'll dig up someone tangentially connected to the musician's past not close to the estate or musician's web of trust. For the Leonard Cohen docs, they got producer Bob Johnston.

 

For this doc it has other artists who love Nick's music talking Nick's music...but the strange segment with a medium trying to communicate with Nick is just silly.

 

There is a new Volkswagon commercial featuring Arthur Lee and Love. Let's hope it gives Love the kind of wide recognition that the Pink Moon VW commercial gave Nick.

Thanks, VW.

Look Down In Awe by Arthur Lee and Love
Look Down in Awe | VW Arteon

 

Hope to get more posted here on "Made To Love Magic" and more..after my holiday thru June 17...I'll be around but it'll be spotty.

Keep the love coming for Nick tho!

 

Way To Blue: An Introduction to Nick Drake was released in 1994, and is a good way to get into Nick for newbies. All except one are album tracks from his big tree...Black Eyed Dog is the only unreleased track included.

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.




All songs are written by Nick Drake.

1. "Rider on the Wheel" – 2:38
2. "Magic" – 2:45
3. "River Man" – 4:02
4. "Joey" – 3:04
5. "Thoughts of Mary Jane" – 3:39
6. "Mayfair" – 2:12
7. "Hanging on a Star" – 3:24
8. "Three Hours" – 5:12
9. "Clothes of Sand" – 2:31
10. "Voices" – 3:45
11. "Time of No Reply" – 2:47
12. "Black Eyed Dog" – 3:28
13. "Tow the Line" – 2:20

Notes

• Tracks 1, 4, 5, 9 & 12 are stereo remasters from Time of No Reply; track 5 is usually titled "The Thoughts of Mary Jane" on other releases.
• Track 2 is "I Was Made to Love Magic" from Time of No Reply, sped-up, with a posthumously added string arrangement by Robert Kirby
• Tracks 3 and 6 are Cambridge-era dorm demos (spring 1968)
• Track 7 is a different take than the version originally released on Time of No Reply (July 1974)
• Track 8 is a different take than the version originally released on Five Leaves Left, and features Rebop Kwaku Baah on congas (March 1969)
• Track 10 is a remastered version of "Voice from the Mountain" from Time of No Reply
• Track 11 has a posthumously added string arrangement by Robert Kirby
• Track 13 is possibly the last song Drake ever committed to tape (July 1974)

 

Magic... as it was originally titled by Nick, such a bittersweet song. To me this song is about the magic of music and the hopes Nick had..and his disillusioned days & years after his music received so little attention.




I was born to love no one
No one to love me
Only the wind in the long green grass
The frost in a broken tree.

I was made to love magic
All its wonder to know
But you all lost that magic
Many many years ago.

I was born to use my eyes
Dream with the sun and the skies
To float away in a lifelong song
In the mist where melody flies.

I was made to love magic
All its wonder to know
But you all lost that magic
Many many years ago.

I was born to sail away
Into a land of forever
Not to be tied to an old stone grave
In your land of never.

I was made to love magic
All its wonder to know
But you all lost that magic
Many many years ago.

Songwriters: Nick Drake
I Was Made to Love Magic lyrics © WARLOCK MUSIC LTD., Warlock Music, Ltd.

 

Robert Kirby

 

1) Rider On The Wheel...such beautiful song
Remastered from Time of No Reply.



And now you know my name
But I don't feel the same
But I ain't gonna blame
The rider on the wheel

You know my song is new
You know it's new for you
I tell you how it's true
For the rider on the wheel

And round and round we go
We take it fast and slow
I must keep up a show
For the rider on the wheel
For the rider on the wheel

And now you know my name
But I don't feel the same
But I ain't gonna blame
The rider on the wheel
The rider on the wheel

 

Open​

 

Open​

 

I'm back....after a long holiday. Cheeers.
(Magic was covered above)

3) River Man


No strings, smoke or mirrors...wonderful. Preferred by many over the Five Leaves Left version....how do you all feel? I love both. They can't really be compared. The studio version is too much a part of me to have one preferred over the other.

Recorded in his dorm room, Cambridge, 1968. Imagine those wonderful chords wafting through your old dorm...oh man!

 

I was listening to Kings Of Convenience earlier, and I was once again struck by how much this song 'Power Of Not Knowing' is reminiscent of Nick - from the guitar to the vocal delivery and even the lyrics.




x

 

I've always liked Nick Drake's music, but recently have become enamored with him.
He evoked such a feeling of longing and peace, through a lens of sadness.
He almost puts me into a trance when I listen to him.
And, fascination with his music has got me playing guitar again!

 

4) Joey

The only word I have for this one is...magical.



Joey will come to see your flowers. Joey will come to while away your hours. But she will tell you you're not so good for her, She wouldn't be there if it could be that you were. Joey has loved, never shown no tears, So she may laugh in the autumn of your years. When you're with her you wonder if it's true, All that they said of a world without you. Where she may come from. Where she may go. Who she may run from. No one will know. Why she was late may trouble you some, Still you wait for Joey to come. Joey will come when once more it looks like snow. Joey will come when it's really time to go. And you may smile when you find that you've been wrong, You thought you'd found her but she knew you all along. But Joey will come to say hello.

©Nick Drake
UMG (on behalf of Island Records); BMI - Broadcast Music Inc., ARESA,
Abramus Digital, LatinAutor, CMRRA, BMG Rights Management, and 3 Music Rights Societies

 

Invisible Hits

Tyler Wilcox / Pitchfork / July 9, 2014


When Nick Drake died in November of 1974, at age 26, he left behind just three albums—less than two hours of music. Largely unloved during his lifetime, that scant body of work’s reputation has grown immensely over the past 40 years, inspiring deluxe reissue campaigns, countless cover versions, a host of “best of” collections and even a feature-length documentary.

Drake’s posthumous popularity has also caused various vaults to be raided in search of more releasable music from the mysterious and melancholy bard. Time Of No Reply came first in the 1980s, gathering together outtakes and alternates. Made To Love Magic, released in 2004, offered mostly cleaned-up (occasionally overdubbed) versions of Time of No Reply’s tracks, alongside a genuinely unheard song, “Tow The Line”. One might assume that the bottom of the barrel had been well and truly scraped when Drake’s estate put out Family Tree, a collection of lo-fi home recordings, in 2007. But just last week, a London auction house announced the planned sale of a 1968 master tape containing unreleased performances. We can’t hear that tape just yet, but there's some excellent, still-unreleased material floating around the internet in unofficial guises (intrepid Googlers should seek out the A Day Gone By bootleg compilation). Admittedly, some of it is for die-hards only. But with an artist like Nick Drake, every note feels precious...

For more see link below. Have a great read. Great article.
Invisible Hits: The Unreleased Nick Drake | Pitchfork

Early morning...