An Introduction To... Nick Drake

[Thing Fish]

An introduction to Nick Drake:

Nicholas Rodney drake sadly passed away aged 26 in 1974 leaving behind only 3 recorded albums 1 compilation and a few assembled from bedroom recordings and other odds and ends.

Born in Rangoon Burma in 1948 Nick moved to the UK while still young and signed to Island records at aged just 20.

Nick was painfully shy and only managed a few gigs as a support artist, none of which were recorded or filmed. Apart from family archives very few photographs exist and to date no concert footage has ever been found…! To find some is the holy grail of all Nick Drake fans the world over.

From the moment I discovered the first of Nick’s albums I knew I had found something special. His soulful voice, sometimes painful lyrics and intoxicating guitar picking totally transfixed me and still do every time I play them.

All 3 albums have their merits and I personally find it quite hard to pick an overall favourite. So i'm not going to. At the time there were no singles released.

Among some of his ardent followers are R.E.M’s Peter Buck, Eric Clapton and Paul Weller.

If you ever get a chance to see any of the documentary’s ‘A skin too few’ or ‘A stranger among us’ I urge you to do so.

Here is a brief overview of the 3 studio albums –

Five Leaves Left – 1969 Island Records.

Nick Drake vocals/guitar
Paul Harris – piano
Richard Thompson – electric guitar
Danny Thompson – double bass

Stand out track ‘Saturday sun’

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Bryter Later – 1970 Island Records.

Nick Drake – vocals/guitar
Dave Pegg – bass guitar
Dave Mattacks – drums

Stand out track ‘Hazey Jane II’

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Pink Moon – 1972 Island Records.

Sadly his last studio album. Reportedly recorded on a chair facing the wall due to his now debilitating insecurities and witnessed only by recording engineer John Wood.

Nick Drake - vocals, acoustic guitar on all songs; piano on ‘Pink Moon’

Stand out track ‘Pink Moon’

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Whilst listening to these albums I find it hard to imagine such maturity and skill attained by someone so young. There are thousands of artists who release work all their live and in my opinion don't even come close to what Nick achieved by the tender age of 24.

Its testament to his talent that his work is still covered and talked about to this day...:)

[Alex_UK]

Great work Dave - much appreciated - I will try and follow your lead, though I promise it won't be Britney Spears :lol: - and would be good to see some others do some too and build a "library" of these. Top idea. :thumbsup:

[Dominic Harper]

No Britney??? Bugger...

[The Grand Wazoo]

I think these would be better split out as separate threads. It allows continued discussion on the subject effectively forever. But if, in a years time, someone has a view to offer on the Queen discussion, it's lost among the current banter which will probably be Britney Spears, who will finally have had her talent properly recognised.................or something!

We've had one or two things like this already and indeed it was kind of what I intended with my Gil Scott-Heron question yesterday......and for something that was intended to be done later today.

I'll split them if you agree Dave.

[John]

Brillant idea

[webby]

Much better to split these up. Q mag (yeah I know) used to do a thing called "How to buy (insert artist name here)". It would contain a breakdown of their albums categorised into something like Essential, Worthy, Hardcore fans only, and Don't touch with a bargepole. Something like that anyway :)

Of course, it's all down to personal opinion. Whenever I've wanted to know how to start with an artist that has a large back catalogue I start a post called Buying so and so.

[Alex_UK]

I've split the 3 (so far) "An Introduction To..." threads as seems to be the general consensus. Carry on!

[griffo104]

I've got Pink Moon and an SACD compilation of his.

I find Pink Moon very hard to sit through, not for any bad reason but simply because of knowing what happened to him afterwards. you can feel the intensity in the vocals and beautiful simplicity of one man - performance wise - bare doing what he obviously loved but felt so unloved doing.

It's great to see the next generation along appreciate him far more than he ever was when he was alive.

Every music lover needs a bit of Nick Drake in their collection.

[ComradeSaigon]

Yes Pink Moon is the Nick Drake introduction to me.
It's musical as a good classical music.

[alexthemusicbloke]

I find it difficult to pick out standout tracks on the Nick Drake albums, I love them all the way through although I agree with Griffo104 - his music can be very difficult to listen to when you know the context!

[Wolfie]

Nice write-up, Dave - I've been a fan for many years.

Mick

[Grez]

Nice write-up, Dave - I've been a fan for many years.

Mick

I picked up "Five Leaves Left" for a quid from a junk shop when I was a student. The reason: it had Richard Thompson playing lead guitar on "Time Has Told Me."

Since then, I got hold of the other two albums, and love them all. Strangely, although people have said they can find his stuff difficult to listen to, knowing what happened afterwards, it may seem a bit weird to you that the only one of his songs that I sing regularly is "Fruit Tree."

I love the albums, particularly "Bryter Layter", although "River Man" from "Five Leaves Left" is also a beaut!

[The Grand Wazoo]

I knew 'Time Has Told Me' from a compilation tape that a boyfriend of my sister had made. I didn't hear any other Nick Drake until years later when I bought some of his work. The track made a big impression on me at the time as did the rest of the contents of the tape, which helped form my taste in music.

[JJack]

I had no idea who he was, but someone is Stereophile mentioned him and I picked up the compilation CD this weekend, "Way to Blue"

Great stuff.

[sq225917]

Just as an aside, if you like Nick Drake, you should look out for Alexi Murdoch, some of his stuff is finger picking good in that jaunty alt/folk way.

[chelsea]

This is my favourite nick drake track.
This bloke makes a pretty good job of covering it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ft0maWVyVBA

[Thing Fish]

The sort of official Nick Drake tribute player I seem to remember is Scott Appel. He is very good guitar player. Check out vid below where he plays 'Far Leys' a Nick Drake cover and also the name of his parents home in Tamworth in Arden

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[Haselsh1]

I have the main albums on CD but last year I picked up a new copy of 'Pink Moon' on vinyl which it turns out, is sublime.

[Thing Fish]

I have the main albums on CD but last year I picked up a new copy of 'Pink Moon' on vinyl which it turns out, is sublime.

What label is the vinyl recorded on Shaun...?