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

Travels.

Went to Abbey Road as well ( McCartney’s nearby house big wooden fence .. now). Something wasn’t right with AR zebra crossing.. then noticed it was smaller. Guess they enlarged the pavements.

 

Did you go to Anne Hathaway’s home? We enjoyed that.

 

Ha! Where in England is there a PilgrimsProgress village?

 

This? Looks lovely! Love all those English thatched roofs...we get to enjoy those "rustic" and historic scenes while watching "Midsomer Murders"...our favorite part. A special affection for the seasons with DCI Tom Barnaby with Jonesy, thru season 13.

 

That’s it! We especially enjoyed walking through the beautiful gardens, but then we’re both gardeners so...

 

We're attempting a bit of English Garden in our small northern New England seaside cottage. In its humble beginnings.

 

It is such a rewarding hobby. Keep at it!

 

Clothes.
America in the 16/17 Th Century was basically English settlers.

 

Sunnier earlier. Late afternoon starting to get windy. Did go to the canal : Victorian Shakespeare statues. I didn’t do homework/ plan to go there ..so was surprised to see Shakespeare house in a modern pedestrianised street with metal fencing around it. Most people walked bye non plussed.

 

Ah! The irony.. when I found the church/ graveyard I wasn’t expecting so many gravestones I literally felt like Tuco in the GB&U end scene ( with Ennio Morricone score ) him running about manically looking for a name on a headstone. Well, I wasn’t exactly running .. but so many gravestones I was thinking I wouldn’t find it. Luckily there was a gardener cutting grass and he pointed it to me. There’s also a large wooden placard on a tree telling not to leave stuff next to ND headstone.

 

Thanks, Kid! You done came through again! Cheers!

 

I hope you had a chance to explore the entire graveyard. Lots of interesting stories and a magnificent view once you make your way to the very back

 

Yeah! Took photos.
Two clean cut Emo teenagers dressed in black walked bye, they had heard of Nick Drake but weren’t interested)very Buffy. I thought it odd Molly Drake‘s headstone inscription from 1993 looked the same as ND 1974 inscription identical fading. Had to be the smallest gravestone in the graveyard somebody left a wooden cross next to it.

 

On the Sunday morning we were leaving Stratford, I went to do laundry at the laundry mat several blocks from our hotel. While the stuff was in the washer I took a walk down by the canal to the church where William Shakespeare is buried. I had tried to get inside during the week but it was locked. But now because there was going to be a service it was open, and I went in. Sat down in a pew, and for about a half hour before the service started I had several wonderful conversations with parishioners. I didn’t go up to see the grave as it was behind the altar, and like I said there was a service coming up. I love interactions like that while we are on vacations

 

Noticed quite a few of the graves were recent about 20 years old. The gardener was telling me someone from Crossroads was buried there with one of his kids, tragic car crash story. Gardener was missing the pub ( only pub) couldn’t see any shops. The mysterious Far Leys held my interest, located at the end of a road, as you turn left ..a steep descending hill. Fat chance of a cat burglar trying to climb the steep hill on the estate perimeter..which had a 12 feet wooden fence.

 

Yes! Interactions; most people are friendly.
When I got off the train at Wood End. I had no clue to get to Tamworth asking a cyclist the direction he pointed in the opposite direction ( thank you . Luckily two old boys also cycling told me it was the other direction which it was.

 

Tanworth-in -Arden.
Nick Drake .. paying respect.
That’s one of my to -do bucket list.

If your a fan it’s well worth the effort making a pilgrimage.

 

I didn't check to see how many times I've posted in this thread or what I've previously said. I wanted to say this evening how incredibly influential Nick's music has been to me since 1973 and I was first introduced to it. It's amazing that only three albums (I own a couple of the compilations also) has had such a great and lasting impact on me.

 

Hi Lemonade Kid! I’m getting by thanks, and you?
I was hoping to have posted a recording for you on here by now, to provide some sense of what the strings sound like. I'm feeling down on myself for not doing so. Hopefully in the near future I can record Hazey Jane I or something and perhaps the subtle difference will show. It has been rewarding to experiment with things and play guitar as much as possible. When I strung up my Levin with the Flat-Wound strings I found the change difficult. They were not easy for me to play at first, yet the sound that can be harnessed from them with patience has been pleasing. I mentioned in my previous post that they feel a lot tenser and they certainly are. Thus, may I offer a word of warning for people who may be considering a set of Flat-Wound strings, especially if put on older instruments which are on the delicate side, is to factor in a considerable amount of tension difference. To put said difference of tension into perspective, a 32' Round-Wound 4th string tuned to G will pull 29.01 lbs. A 32' Flat-Wound 4th string tuned to G will pull 35.25 lbs.

What has worked best for me is to keep my old 56' Round-Wound Monel Steel as the 6th string, for the Flat wound was too dead sounding to my ear, and dropped the very much established CGCFCE tuning I had been using down a step to BF#BEBD# and use a capo one fret up accordingly to play the Nick Drake songs which fall into this tuning.

What has been quite nice to think about recently is how much consideration Nick Drake put into every aspect of his music. Also how brave it was for him to reveal so much of his soul. His guitar has always been a go-to for me because I have found it to be the main thing rooting the man and his songs to this world. One could imagine his music like the form of a tree, with everything naturally rising up and branching outwardly, with the guitar knowingly rooted yet part of this beautiful sky bound whole. That said, his guitar parts are ethereal to the point of transcending the guitar itself, where echoes of piano and even harp blend with what we hear from his guitar playing, and in doing so, sway along with the branches and leaves on the flourishes of the wind. Things will have come naturally for Nick in terms of song writing but only after a life consuming dedication. John Keats wrote that “If poetry does not come as naturally as leaves to a tree, it had better not come at all”. So, with this truth from Keats, one must not ignore that Keats most likely experimented with the tools at his disposal aside from harnessing his writing through practice; had he a fancy for a particular type of paper after much searching; was the pen he used and the ink he submerged it in both as finely sought out after trying many kinds? The same could be said for Nick Drake and his chosen tools. Was his Levin LS-18 chosen over many; were the strings he used on it winners over experimental trial and error, not only with compound but with gauge also?

Unfortunately I can’t remember which book I read this in but it was an anecdote from someone who had seen Nick Drake live, so perhaps this will ring a bell with most of you; Nick broke a string during one of his songs and awkwardly replaced the string on stage to an applause from the audience when he completed the task. This is evidence that his strings broke, and he replaced them individually, as most people do, and with this one can imagine some strings on his guitar being older than others and also their gauge being modified along the way creating a balanced mixture. What has been the main factor for sound has been the guitar itself. It seems like whatever string goes onto the Levin with be characterized by the tone woods, especially the Maple back and sides which distinguishes the guitar from the crowd of possibilities - in my opinion.

It is nice to know people find this mystery a worthy pursuit, at least to some degree of curiosity. Perhaps one thing that is beneficial for others in this research is knowing what exactly that something was which Nick Drake spent so much time with and brought him some kind of solace and happiness in this world.

 

Cheers. Good to hear from you!

 

Don’t know about the U.S., but UK guitar stores ( hands on ) should be open on June 15th. Assuming your looking for a Guild / Martin/Levin acoustic ..or gtr strings per se. Shame live venues are still closed indefinitely..though pubs will be open . So maybe some live entertainment there.

Aside: New Shindig ( issue 104) out, got a nice article on Judee Sill and Tim Buckley.

 

Nick putting on a new string in a live setting especially accoustic is not for the weak at heart as I guess he was forever tuning up that new string ( hopefully between songs ). No probs for Jimi Hendrix with a strat no doubt a good teeth gnashing sorted out that new string. Nick.. it would be a delicate matter. In folk club settings 50 years ago you probably just used the guitar you came with( few spare strings just in case).

 

Nick and Molly make it into the movies again...

Swallow (2019) starring a breath-taking Hayley Bennett has a song by Molly Drake in it.

A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood (2020) starring Tom Hanks has Nick Drake’s Northern Sky play the opening credits.

 

Wonder if the Drake’s knew the Mills family Hayley/ John. Maybe a englishness sort of thing.

Aside, noticed a blue plaque above Trident studio for David Bowie who recorded Hunky Dory & Ziggy Stardust there. Always thought Bowie’s Space Oddity (1969).. had a affinity to Five Leaves Left, perhaps the era of the recording.

 

New fan here.

I just wanted to thank @lemonade kid and all the rest of you who have contributed to this wonderful thread.

Nick Drake is one of those names that I occasionally saw pop up in interviews and various lists, and I made a note to check out his work someday. Over the past couple years as this thread would periodically float to the top of the forum, I'd read through the posts, just out of curiosity. I was really impressed by the amount of love, devotion, and scholarship.

I recently had an opportunity to purchase the original Hannibal CDs for Nick's three studio albums and have been listening to them in constant rotation.

I understand the loss for words that many here have mentioned. But thank you all for pointing the way.