Nick Drake Best Box

The standard Back to Black reissues currently in print are the same as the versions in the boxes, no need to get the overpriced boxes. BL is from a safety copy but sounds great. I also have a 1U of BL.
If you can pick up the 86 Island box for a reasonable price it’s excellent. The 79 box is also great but TONR included with the 86 makes it the essential one to pick up if you only want one.

 

Sounds reasonable, be patient for the box, get the back to blacks in the meantime.
The single album boxes are nice, but do take up space.

Do you know if the 86 box was digital or analog by the way?

 

It was years since I did the research so can’t point to where I got the information but Analog seemed to be the general concensus from what I read. When I compared directly with the 3LP set there wasn’t much between them so I ended up selling the 3LP box.

 

Nope, sorry.

 

That's a different version of the song. Much studio magic was used for that version, and supposedly it's closer to what Nick Drake actually intended for the song, but the first version, the one on Time of No Reply, is one of my favorite songs of all time and it doesn't appear on any later releases.

 

Just to clarify - not a different version per se. The original was unfinished - work was stopped after the basic track was recorded and the original string arrangement was deemed unsatisfactory. Nick's friend Robert Kirby was asked to try his hand at it, wrote a new arrangement, but it was never finished, and work on the track stopped.

Magic is the same master take with the unused string chart newly recorded and added.

There's no new Nick to mess with here.

Cheers,
Paul

 

So the box has like a Demo version and the separate release has the fully realized one, correct?

 

Sorry updated my post a bit. This one, and Time Of No Reply were the unfinished outtakes. Both had the original, unused charts from Robert added with newly recorded string sections. In addition, they had to change the pitch and tempo of Magic slightly to match the original string voicing, if I remember correctly.

But yes - that's the basic idea - or what the producers have told us anyway.

Cheers,
Paul

 

My 1979 UK box is my go-to for listening to Nick, and sound as good as original pressings.

 

I have the Fruit Tree 4 LP box set and it is excellent. It includes an LP size booklet with lots of quality pictures and an essay about Nick's life and music. The version that I have has the LPs in individual LP sleeves which duplicate the original LP covers. I don't know how much these go for now but at the time it was an inexpensive way to get high quality versions of Nick Drake's original 3 LPs plus the additional (and excellent) Time of No Reply compilation album.

Nick Drake - Fruit Tree

Scott

 

The real interesting part is if anyone has compared these, the 79 and Hannibal boxes, to see which is better, not counting Pink Moon as it unfairly has extra tracks on the 79.

 

79‘ Pink Moon
What extra tracks would they be ?

 

F4 Voice From The Mountain
F5 Rider On The Wheel
F6 Black Eyed Dog
F7 Hanging On A Star

 

3 LP box set?

 

Yes from 79:
Nick Drake - Fruit Tree · The Complete Recorded Works

 

The first pressing has 14 cuts above.. the Second pressing has 15 cuts( including Hanging On A Star).
I just had a look at my box. Looks like I have the glossy second pressing( ND 1003) box with 15 tracks. 16 Pages booklet/ black inners.

 

Doesnt exist on discogs it seems, you should upload it.

 

Both 1979 boxes listed different track listings.

Upload ..what ?

 

Theres only one UK 1979 box on discogs.

 

I stand corrected. Getting pink eye checking Discogs.

 

I have both the '86 and the '07 boxes...in CD format. The 1986 is superior sonically, just slightly. The '86 box is great with the inclusion of "Time Of No Reply" disc. But the '07 boxed CDs replaces that for a DVD....the immortal documentary "A Skin Too Few"...available nowhere else.

The '07 CD box has been reported to have playback issues but I have found none. So I see no reason to not have baoth, if you can find them. I recently found a NM '86 CD box for $30. Too good a deal to turn down. Fortunately for me it sat there on the record sho display for months with no takers. I gave the rest of the world a chance (not wanting to hog all the Nick Drake), but, well...they had their chance!

 

I had the mid 80s box I think. Had to return it at the time because it seemed really sibilant but not sure that's not Nick himself.
But from what I remember it sounded like it was sibilant on letters i wasn't aware could be sibilant before I heard the set.
Had to wait a few more years before really discovering his work.
Must have been 1989 I had the box bought new so would presumably have been Hannibal one from 1986

 

I have the original 1986 Hannibal/Ryko CD edition of Fruit Tree (much nicer in the 12” x 12” box than the later slipcase edition), the 2007 Fruit Tree reissue, and the 2013 Tuck Box:



The sound is quite different between the 1986 CDs and the two later box sets. The 1986 CDs sound quieter and smoother, and I believe the masters used were originally EQ’d for vinyl. They do have a nice late-night vibe to them, though. By contrast, the later CDs sound more present and detailed. If pushed, I’d choose the later CDs, although I’m happy to keep both sets for reference purposes.

Content-wise, the 1986 Fruit Tree includes the long-OOP Time of No Reply, which is my favourite compilation of Nick Drake outtakes; superior to the later Made to Love Magic. If you can pick up a stand-alone CD of Time of No Reply then you could possibly do without the 1986 box.

The 2007 Fruit Tree includes the A Skin too Few documentary DVD, which is, of course, essential, but Island missed a trick by not including any of the outtake compilations (by then there were three). Otherwise, no complaints. Love this compact little set. Very detailed booklet, too.

At one time, you could pick up Tuck Box for as little as £15, which is when I bought mine. The presentation is nice, although some complained that it was too gimmicky. On the plus side, it includes Made to Love Magic and Family Tree, but no Time of No Reply or A Skin too Few, unfortunately. The Drake estate doesn’t like to put all its eggs in one comprehensive basket. Also, rather churlishly, they dropped one track (“My Baby So Sweet”) from Family Tree, even though the back cover of the box set says the track is included; naughty. You can find the two additional CDs of outtakes as stand-alone releases, so this box set is the least essential of the three. It is still nice to have, if you can find it cheaply enough, which isn’t easy these days.

 

And the 2007 Fruit Tree cd box booklet is essential as it contains informative track by track commentary by John Wood and others.

 

I picked up my copy at a record show too a couple of years back for about the same price.
I was surprised to find that I prefer the later Island remaster of Five Leaves Left to the Hannibal. I don't have any of the other remasters so I can't speak to them.