Nick Drake

Bob-Dubery · 2009-04-04T08:04:16+00:00

I wonder if there are any other Nick Drake appreciators out there in GFSA land. For those of you not acquainted with Drake's music, he came and went very quickly, recording 3 albums between 1969 and 1972 that sold very few copies on release. He lacked confidence and fell into the grip of severe depression. In 1974 he died by his own hand. Thus there is a huge mythology that has grown around him over the years. I say ignore the legends, the music is what remains and the music is what we're entitled to consider and to speculate about. In particular I don't buy into the legend that he foretold his own demise and his posthumous reputation in the song Fruit Tree on his first album. When VW launched the New Beetle in the USA they couldn't secure permission for the song they had planned to use in the advertising campaign. Their second choice was Drake's Pink Moon. Radio stations and record stores started getting enquiries about "the song from the VW advert" and finally Nick Drake started selling records. Producer/manager/discoverer Joe Boyd and record company owner Chris Blackwell always believed that Drake's music was too good to not be appreciated. When Boyd sold his Witchseason company to Blackwell he proposed, and Blackwell readily agreed, that it was on condition that Drake's albums were never to be deleted from the Island catalog. To me this is some of the most deceptive music there is. Not deceptive in it's intent, but in that it's far deeper and there's more happening then is apparent on a casual listen. Yeah.... it's often that way, but I find it particularly so with Drake. There's this strange quality to his music - it doesn't reach out and grab you, it's just there and you have to go to it. You won't get any videos of Drake in performance, he didn't do many live shows. However there are some Drake songs with "after the fact" videos. One of my favourite Drake tracks - Cello Song Here's the haunting River Man with it's fantastic string arrangement And the beautiful Fly with John Cale on viola and harpsichord Beware of the various compilations that have appeared over the years. If you want to explore the small body of work that Drake left behind then head for the records released in his lifetime: Five Leaves Left, Bryter Later, and the short, stark and intense Pink Moon.

Bob-Dubery

racman wrote Yeh, Yeh, I know I'm a bit slow ....

Picked up the "Digitally Remastered" Pink Moon CD yesterday and giving it a listen. At first listen it seems rather stark and, dare I say boring, but after a while it becomes interesting and has a certain appeal in its raw feel and lyrical content. It will saty in the CD player for a few days now as I get to grips with it ?

I wouldn't have thought there was much to remaster. Apart from the piano overdub on the first track it's all one vocal and one guitar.

Yes... a stark album. And probably the album that Drake wanted to make. Joe Boyd (who produced the first two albums) says that Drake was very insistent about having a third album without the orchestrations and guest players of the first two. Boyd disagreed, but notes, against himself, that Pink Moon ended up being the best seller in the Drake catalog whilst his own favourite, Bryter Later sold the least of all the Drake releases.

I absolutely love music that becomes more accessible with each listen rather than the instant "take away" kind - I guess that's why it's called POPular music 'cause if it doesn't catch you with the first listen it aint POP!!

Boyd made an interesting observation about Drake's music: "The music stayed within itself, not trying to attract the listener's attention, just making itself available. His guitar technique was so clean it took a while to realize how complex it was." (White Biycles, Serpent's Tail Press, 1-85242-910-0)

So yes, I got that sense from Drake. It's like the music doesn't come to you, you have to go to it and then it reveals itself in layers. Or that's how I experience it.

racman

The CD cover says that the album has been "digitally remastered in 24-bit HDCD" and then there is also a sticker that says "Not HDCD" ???

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