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

But then I've never seen any footage of Nick...live. Maybe he had a half smile? Or a look of buried pleasure while immersed in his music.
I like to imagine Robert Johnson as smiling, all the way down to the crossroads.

 

Johnson? maybe with his lady sings the blues friends.

 

Some great acoustic guitar playing from Alexi Murdoch for those who want to expand their parameters...

Dream About Flying

 

Will there ever be another Nick Drake rarities album or wider release of the Peel Sessions? If not, can we start a petition/letter to the Drake family? They do seem engaged and receptive to Nick's fandom, enough to at least take notice of such a petition...

 

There is not a whole lot more to release, at least not anything that would add to Nick’s legacy: a few more home recordings of dubious quality; the Peel session. That wouldn’t make for a particularly compelling commercial release that would garner good reviews/sales.

 

Start one ..

I’ll sign!!!!

 

A wonderful jazz instrumental cover by Brad Mehldau

Things behind the Sun

 

Hello everyone. I’m hoping to expand upon alexpop’s research as I find what he presented to be insightful and perhaps the most telling as to which strings Nick Drake was using. It could be a breakthrough, so I want to say a big thank you to alexpop for digging into this. I hope to write about the strings so that people who are not familiar with the guitar will understand the information and enjoy reading.

The term “for flatpicking” shown in alexpop’s post must indicate that the string is Flat wound rather than Round wound. I decided to invest in a set of Flat wound strings, often referred to simply as ‘Flat Tops’, to give you a first-hand account of how they are characteristically having never played them myself. They are the most expensive set of stings I have ever put on a guitar. So, let us investigate what the difference is between the two types of string before anything else.



As you can see above, the difference between the strings is already visually apparent. The popular round wound at the top of the image is exactly as the term suggests, a round string wound around a core wire. The flat wound shown at the bottom has been wound the same way onto its core wire, however the string has been ground down to leave a smother finish, removing most of the ridges to create a flat surface. This makes for some significant changes to how the strings sound and feel. By removing the ridges of the customary round wound string, the outcome reduces the finger noise when sliding fingers up or down the string and when changing between the chord shapes one wishes to play. With Round wound strings there will be unavoidable squeaks and squawks by the player’s dragging of fingers. With Flat wound strings these noises are practically eliminated. They feel a lot tenser and are hard to bend, even in the low alternate tunings Nick Drake uses. They are mellower and have a cleaner sound.

On Nick Drake’s three records we have all the characteristics of a flat wound string present. There is little finger noise from Nick’s chord changes and finger slides with his fretting hand, and an exceptionally clean sound from his skin and nails on his picking hand. Compare this to his final recordings where the presence of round wound strings can be heard. The Made to Love Magic version of Hanging on a Star is a prime example of the presence of finger noise.

I hope this makes sense to you and you are doing okay.
All the best.

 

Thanks! I kinda have a pet peeve for noisy round wound strings ... with fingers sliding up and down the frets...especially if it is really loud. Noisy "scraping" up and down the frets on strings has ruined more than a few of my favorite guitar recordings.

 

I would have thought flatwound would have had a dull sound. Sure I used a set ..about early , very early seventies.

Digress.. by the mid seventies I was using Ernie Ball for EG. In one of the 1965/66 Dave Davies mentions in Beat Instrumental that he bought a few packs in the USA and was looking for them in London.

Let me know how you get on with the flat strings.

Silver plated
Monel wound
Terylene ( think nylon)

 

Always thought it was bad fingering on my part ( lazy) with the gliding scraping sound ( roundwound) ...least brand new strings.

 

What's the best doc on Drake? Love to view it. Thanks.

 

This might well be of interest to various on this thread - the Drake estate have put together something for an Island Records charity auction

 

And a similar Molly Drake one

 

Is "Nick Drake: A Skin Too Few" recommended? It's rather short.

 

YouTube i believe.

 

Plan to go to Tanworth-in -Arden. What’s the best way via train.. Kings Cross i would imagine?

 

I would have thought London Euston or Marylebone to Birmingham New Street, then a local train to Wood End, and walk the final mile to Tanworth-in-Arden.

 

From Stratford Upon Avon it’s about a half hour drive (14 miles or so) to Tanworth. Very pretty too. You might be able to get a cab there and back. No Uber there. Trains go to Stratford all the time.

 

Thx for the tips guys.

 

Anything new, narcisus? Cheers! How's life?

 

Lucky you, alexpop. Did you make it? Locked down?

 

Forty-seven minutes and one of the best DOCS of all time. Worth it, indeed!!!

I get chills immediately upon playing the DVD...here it is for viewing:

 

Yeah. I did.

Couldn’t visit relatives/ loved ones ( unless I was Governments right hand man .Had a my ND gravestone avatar pic up for a couple of weeks. Tricky place to find. Spoke to some guy who lived there ( from a distance ..natch )he said there was going to be a annual event or something this July .. now cancelled. Such a humble gravestone not only Nicks name on it but father and mother as well ( guess some space for sister...later). Far Leys itself is quite a large house four garages ( horse stables ) could be new. Affluent to say the least.

 

Disappointed with SUA, sure Shakespeare’s house is like traveling back to the 16th Century. But wasn’t impressed with surrounding houses to modern, vulgar. Guess I was expecting pilgrim’s progress period garb.