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In Search of Nick Drake
With every passing year, it becomes a little less accurate to say that Nick Drake has a cult following. Cults, by their very nature, tend to exist on the margins, the subject of their admiration unknown or even unloved by the vast majority of people. Mention Nick Drake to a music fan and chances are you won't have to explain yourself.
Thirty three years have now passed since Nick Drake's death. Original pressings of his records change hands for around $500. Dedicated fanzines and Web sites continue to interpret and second-guess every note and utterance. The town where Drake grew up, attracts a steady trickle of visitors somehow seeking to climb further inside the music. And yet as his father recalled, " I remember in one of his reports towards the end of the time at his first school, the headmaster said at the end that none of us seemed to know him very well. And I think that was it. All the way through with Nick. People didn't know him very much."
It's impossible to keep count of the contemporary artists who cite Drake as an inspiration, but a cursory round-up includes R.E.M., Snow Patrol, Norah Jones, Radiohead, and Coldplay. Along with household names of his creative lifetime - the Stones, The Beatles, Marley, Hendrix - his albums have become an unofficial set text for anyone passionate about music. In 2007, he has become so much more than the sum total of his work. The greater our fascination with him, the more we reveal about ourselves. Perhaps his music allows us to feel a little less like, as Drake put it, "a remnant of something that's passed."
An Introduction to Nick Drake
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Nicholas Rodney Drake (June 19, 1948 - November 25, 1974) was an English singer-songwriter and musician best known for his acoustic, autumnal songs. His primary instrument was the guitar, while he was also proficient at piano, clarinet, and saxophone. Although he failed to find a wide audience during his lifetime, Drake's work has since grown steadily in stature, to the extent that he is now widely considered one of the most influential singer-songwriters of the last 50 years.
Drake signed to Island Records when he was twenty years old, and released his debut album Five Leaves Left in 1969. By 1972 he had recorded a further two albums, although none sold more than five thousand copies during their first release, and his reluctance to perform live or be interviewed contributed to his lack of commercial success. Drake battled with depression and insomnia throughout his life, and the topics were often reflected in his lyrics. Upon completion of his third album, 1972's Pink Moon, he withdrew from both live performance and recording, retreating to his parents' home in rural Warwickshire, UK. On November 25, 1974, Nick Drake died from an overdose of antidepressants, at the age of 26.
The Search for Nick Drake
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Darker Than the Deepest Sea: The Search for Nick Drake
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Volkswagen Cabrio Commercial
Pink Moon by Nick Drake
Pink Moon Rising
By Mark Morford, SF Gate Columnist
Every once in a whimpering while you have to confess you've succumbed to the advertising ruse, you've been successfully seduced by the smirking leeches of Madison Avenue and fallen for something they've hawked your direction via some otherwise cloying TV commercial, like it or not and usually not.
And it's a rather sad and sickening feeling when you realize you've given in to these ad execs, this nefarious breed who we all know would sell the souls of their own despondent mothers for an irresistible Snapple or aspirin or deodorant catchphrase, ever seeking the perfect marketing campaign swiped straight from youth culture and sold right back to them as nifty repackaged crap-on-a-stick.
But in this case I'll confess: I'm one of those reluctant lemmings who fell for that winsome VW Cabrio ad, the one where a quartet of cute 'n' stubbly youth are cruising down a winding moonlit highway on a warm summer night, top down and stars resplendent and the warm air blowing through one of the precious little blond girls' hair, some deliciously mellow and husky folk singer strumming a quiet ballad in the background.
And I, apparently like about a million others, hook into the song, ears perking up at the slightest hint of authentic musical talent in this prefab prerecorded day and age and saying hey, screw the car, what's this music, this guy's good, who the hell is this and why haven't I heard it before and where can I get it?
A few investigative clicks later and the tune in question of turns out to be "Pink Moon" by an English folk singer named Nick Drake, a total of three CDs the guy has out there on the market (plus one posthumous), terribly underappreciated for a whole lot of years and never really given much airplay, not much of a celebrity either and never a platinum-seller but apparently still enjoying a loyal, mildly cultish following - and oh yes, by the way, the poor chap's been very, very dead for upward of 25 years.
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Nick Drake Albums
Nick Drake's untimely death in 1974 not only cut a life tragically short, but also a musical career. Nick released just 3 albums, with a 4th released after his death containing unreleased material, demos and the 4 songs that were to be on his 4th album. Though during his life his music went relatively unnoticed, over the years his popularity and influence has continued to grow.
For the newcomers wishing to hear more Nick Drake, knowing where to start is a tough decision. Way to Blue, the Nick Drake 'best of', does indeed contain many of the highlights of Nick's albums, but with so few albums available, a copy of his 'best of' can quickly become redundant should you decide to explore further.
The Music of Nick Drake
Available at Amazon.com
Way to Blue: An Introduction to Nick Drake
This is an excellent introduction to the work of Nick Drake. It also provides an entirely new perspective on his genius since the tracks are not arranged in chronological order. The individual albums are all classics but they are very much self-contained units that make one associate a particular song with the album. Way To Blue thus lends a new angle in the mix of songs.
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Five Leaves Left
For those wishing to jump straight into an album, bypassing the 'best of', I'm sure you won't be disappointed. Five Leaves Left, named after the warning message found near the end of packs of cigarette papers, was his first album. The album was recorded while Nick was still at Cambridge University and contains many of his most memorabe songs such as Fruit Tree, 'Cello Song , Time Has Told Me, and River Man.
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Bryter Layter
His second album, Bryter Layter, both producer Joe Boyd and engineer John Wood cite as the only perfect album they ever made, the album they thought would make Nick a star at the time.The album features a full backing band of 'house' musicians including Dave Pegg (bass), Dave Mattacks (drums) and Richard Thompson (lead guitar) of Fairport Convention and John Cale (celeste, piano and organ) from the Velvet Underground. Notable tracks include Hazey Jane I, Hazey JaneII, At the Chime of a City Clock and Northern Sky.
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Pink Moon
Pink Moon was Nick's third and final album and was very stark in comparison to the first two, stripped bare of their lucious orchestration. With the exception of the small piano part on Pink Moon, only Nick's guitar and vocal appear on the album. For some the album is not as immmediately accessable as the others, but many (myself included) consider it to be his finest work.
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Made to Love Magic
This album of unreleased rarities, remixes and re-arrangements follows the discovery of an unheard Nick Drake song 'Tow The Line' found at the end of a tape reel over 20 years old. 'Tow the Line' is thought to be the last song Nick ever recorded and is similar in vein to his other 4 previously released final recordings. Two of those songs also appear on the album - an unreleased version of Hanging On A Star and a remix of Black Eyed Dog. Other unreleased versions include 'Three Hours' and a solo rendition of 'River Man'.
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What is your favorite Nick Drake song?
1
Pink Moon
2 points
2
Black Eyed Dog
My personal favorite!1 point
3
Fruit Tree
0 points
4
River Man
0 points
Soundtrack Appearances
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Star Maps (1997) - "Horn"
Hideous Kinky (1998) - "Road"
Practical Magic (1998) - "Black Eyed Dog"
Serendipity (2001) - "Northern Sky"
The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) - "Fly"
Me Without You (2001) - "Cello Song"
Garden State (2004) - "One of These Things First"
Fever Pitch (2004) - "Northern Sky"
The Lake House (2006) - "Time Has Told Me"
Source
Soundtracks containing Nick Drake songs
Available at Amazon.com
Practical Magic: Music From The Motion Picture
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Serendipity: Music from the Miramax Motion Picture
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The Royal Tenenbaums (Collector's Edition)
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Additional Resources
- Byter Music
- The official Web site of the Estate of Nick Drake
- NickDrake.com
- NickDrake.com - a place to be
- NickDrake.net
- Dedicated to the music and memory of Nick Drake
Visitor Feedback
Welcome fellow Nick Drake fans! Ever since an ex-girlfriend gave me the "Pink Moon" CD many years ago I have been hooked on this English folk singer. Please let me know if you have any suggestions on how to improve this lens.
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- Renagade Renagade May 23, 2008 @ 5:54 pm
- Great Lens!!! 5 stars!! Please visit Music Collecting (not just owning a few CDS) and add this lens to my plexo list of music lenses!
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- FoxMusic FoxMusic Nov 12, 2007 @ 4:27 pm
- Great Lens - have been a Nick Drake Fan fo some time now - Thanks -- There is a also New Release out Nick Drake - "Family Tree"
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- Jodi Jodi Sep 3, 2007 @ 7:09 pm
- Last Winter I was introduced to Nick for the first time and it was like I was already familiar with his work as the songs I was hearing for the first time seemed to be songs that I felt I already knew... but didn't. I now own several of his works and love it all!
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- Signhappy Signhappy Aug 21, 2007 @ 9:32 am
- Thanks for this informative lens. I was not familiar with this artist, and it's always exciting to get hooked on a new artist.
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- rejoicemusic rejoicemusic Aug 17, 2007 @ 9:28 am
- Wow - EXCELLENT lens! Thanks for opening up my world to Nick Drake. FYI - I saw you on the Squidoo 70's Group. 5 STARS! Patrice
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Emory is a seasoned, results oriented marketing professional with 12+ years of marketing experience, specifically within eMarketing and eCommerce.
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