Nick Drake

Nicholas Rodney "Nick" Drake (19 June 1948 – 25 November 1974) was an English singer-songwriter and musician, known for his acoustic guitar-based songs. He failed to find a wide audience during his lifetime, but his work has posthumously achieved wider notice and recognition.[1][2][3] Drake signed to Island Records when he was 20 years old and was a student at the University of Cambridge, and released his debut album, Five Leaves Left, in 1969. By 1972, he had recorded two more albums—Bryter Layter and Pink Moon. Neither sold more than 5,000 copies on initial release.[4] Drake's reluctance to perform live, or be interviewed, contributed to his lack of commercial success. No footage of the adult Drake has ever been released; only still photographs and home footage from his childhood.[5]
Drake suffered from major depression, and this was often reflected in his lyrics. On 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. On 25 November 1974, at the age of 26, Drake died from an overdose of approximately 30 amitriptyline pills, a prescribed antidepressant. His cause of death was determined to be suicide.

Love Nick Drake. Both of his other studio albums much easier listening than the bleak Pink Moon. I'd argue both are better too. Also has an album of outtakes, Time Of No Reply, which was part of the Fruit Tree boxset.

Couple of trivia tidbits. His sister, Gabrielle, ran the Crossroads Motel after Noele Gordon left. The John Martyn song Solid Air is supposedly about Drake.

just listening to Bryter Lyter sounds good

better than pink moon for sure mikael

Bryter Later is the stand out from his three albums, give it a few listens and you'll enjoy it even more.

just bought the vinyl on amazon

Northern Sky by Nick Drake is one of the greatest songs ever written

just listening to it big h

excellent

There's a great Radio 2 documentary narrated by Brad Pitt (he's a big fan} on Youtube, I think it gets the story told better than the biography I've read.

thanks creature just listening to it now

Lucky Dragon. Can't remember the last time I heard something new, to me at least, and thought 'must buy that immediately!' Possibly Antony and the Johnsons, and that was 2005! (Now a woman calling herself ANOHNI. Have to say I like the new single too.)

found him by looking at vinyls on ebay Mikael and then playing on you tube, been listening to him for last few days on my 2 and a half hours a day in the car,, great find

Time Has Told Me.

A sad brilliant prescient song by a sad brilliant individual.

amazed that he is not better known given the quality and the originality of his music

Nick Drake belongd in that category of maverick geniuses whose talents are not properly recognised or appreciated by the mainstream.


Sufjan Stevens would be a great modern day example - especially his Illinois and Carrie & Lowell albums.

Antony Hegarty's voice is sublime and his songs are generally a thing of amazing beauty to my ear; however there are a lot of people who don't seem to get him at all, for example, my sister-in-law.

I think she might be tone deaf and can only appreciate traditional singalongs where it is obvious what the next note should be.

There are a lot of people like that which is why the likes of Cowell have made a mint.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCbqvJWGI5k

Can't remember what the thread's about but...

River man, Fly and Black-eyed Dog are all great tracks

The first two are prob my 1-2 Des.

Saw him on that same tour in Dublin, clouseau. That was the song that made me say 'must buy that immediately!'

If "river man" had been written by an old, black blues singer from the Deep South, it would have been regarded as one of the greatest songs of all time, imo.

I find Nick Drake ok but dosent compare to Louden Wainwright or Mark Everett (eels ) 2 absolute genius,s when it comes to song writing

Good thread. Had never heard of the guy but am enjoying listening to the suggestions put up here.

The John Martyn track, Solid Air, I mentioned earlier:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VM6iiCXZp9Q

Nice one, Mikael. There was a documentary on TV about 15 years ago about Nick, called "A skin too Few". Well worth tracking down for anyone who wants to find more about him and hear more of the music.

great stuff roger - really glad I posted this thread now. I'm really into listening to his music now

original albums selling for a mint on ebay

3x media for Nick Drake afficianados:

a) A young German guy who does a Nick Drake cover (the sublime 'One Of These Things First')
and captures the spirit of Nick beautifully. Home video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3LEkLL0PIM

b) There's no commercial footage of Nick Drake, apart from this eerie clip from a 70s music festival
12 seconds long and many people are sceptical

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZFnCdTCSXw


c) An excellent Nick Drake podcast - Three Records From Sundown

http://99percentinvisible.org/episode/three-records-from-sundown/

cheers pd

listening now

this guy was soooooooo good and I'm 8 and listening to him for the first time amazing

An interesting chronology of Nick Drake.....

As posted previously, I saw him live "supporting" Fairport Convention but I know not where - I thought Richmond or maybe Putney, but this chrono does not help. I went to Cousins loads of times and remember Third Ear Band, John Martyn et al there, but do not remember him at that venue.

I bought Five Leaves Left on the day it came out, from Harlequin Records in Fleet Street. Wish I still had it. Used to pop in there to listen to the latest releases and then pop over the road to the bookies to catch a couple of races on the "blower". Denis Compton was a regular in that Fleet Street bookies.

That Drake chronology would be helpful - Here it is.......https://www.uow.edu.au/~morgan/drake2.htm

Great on the guitar the voice isn't the best though.
Came across him over 20 years ago.

He's 're-discovered' about every 10 years, just in time for a new generation.  You too can be annoying about 2024.

River Man a classic - others have sung it better, though not that much better.

I know a few Bettys - done and dusted as a name these days.

thanks bb 58 that is lol!!!!

His sister, Gabrielle Drake, is an actress, having appeared in Crossroads and others.

His dad, was, of course, Charlie Drake.

Nick's father, Rodney Shuttleworth Drake (1908–1988), had moved to Rangoon, Burma, in the early 1930s to work as an engineer with the Bombay Burmah Trading Corporation.[8] There, in 1934, his father met the daughter of a senior member of the Indian Civil Service, Mary Lloyd (1916–1993), known to her family as "Molly". Rodney Drake proposed to her in 1936, though they had to wait a year until she turned 21 before her family allowed them to marry.[9] In 1950 they returned to England to live in Warwickshire[10] at a house named Far Leys, in the prosperous commuter village of Tanworth-in-Arden just south of Birmingham, the city where Rodney Drake worked from 1952 as the Chairman and Managing Director of Wolseley Engineering.[11] Nick Drake had an older sister, Gabrielle, who became a successful film and television actress. Both parents were musically inclined and each wrote pieces of music. Recordings of Molly Drake's songs, which have come to light since her death, are remarkably similar in tone and outlook to the later work of her son.[12] Mother and son shared a similar fragile vocal delivery and both Gabrielle and biographer Trevor Dann have noted a parallel sense of foreboding and fatalism in their music.[12][13] Encouraged by his mother, Drake learned to play piano at an early age and began to compose songs which he recorded on a reel-to-reel tape recorder she kept in the family drawing room.[3]

Pleased you found and enjoy Nick Drake Dragon . I think it's admirable his label Island have never really tried to cash in on any resurgence
over the years, i am presuming it is their decision. Every now and then someone who is a fan and are in a position to publish an article be it in the press or music press
which generates an interest. Anyhow for what its worth my fav is the Album version of Way to Blue . Many prefer the Piano version but the Five Leaves Left is the one for me .

just bought five leaves - not listened yto it as yet dan- looking forward to it

Saturday Sun is as lovely as Northern Sky

this guy is soo god just listening to bryter layter - a truly excellent album by a very talented musician

Not very obscure but next on your list should be Donald Fagen - The Nightfly, sublime Fagen lyrics and musically/technically one of the best albums ever made.

IGY from The Nightfly https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sogYgHlNnqo

And of course Van Morrisons - Astral Weeks, needs several lessons for the light music listener but it really is a masterpiece.

Madame George from Astral Weeks https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrOgYjp20j0

Slightly obscure, Aphrodites Child - 666, their other two albums are also very good, but 666 is very special.

Aegian Sea from 666 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbeOTy48EjE

...Also a link to the momentus The Four Horsemen from 666, the great Demis https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KCbqhJt16k

cheers alpha will have a listen over the weekend

Dragon - have you heard Shack or Michael Head & The Strands? (Michael Head was the singer in Shack)

reminds me a lot of Nick Drake and the good news is that Michael Head is still alive

Have a listen -

Shack - https://youtu.be/I-OGoLYv0yQ?list=FLZVu6Rsf3TycHLle2dLRZoA

Michael Head & The Strands - https://youtu.be/KbxW2moT1ic

Shack - https://youtu.be/ThEO7V10JbI

cheers big h will give it a listen tomorrow evening

Hi ooO{Alpha Centauri}Ooo,I can't recall ever hearing that Four Horsemen song before...And its bloody Good!

I'll add some more to the mix.

I really liked his 70's move away from the trad jazz, Herbie Hancock - Mr Hands. Sextant, Thrust and Secrets are some of his other great albums amongst many.

Spiraling Prism from Mr Hands https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MD2qCQ8x218

Not the highest rated amongst the Canterbury fanboys, but I like Caravan - Cunning Stunts

Welcome The Day from Cunning Stunts https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLfnhr-hWTo

Probably their finest album, hugely underated, Camel - Moonmadness

Lunar Sea from Moonmadness https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLncD0ta2jQ

alpha c have now listened to the nightfly by Donald Fagan - excellent stuff m8 going to buy the cd- vinyl's are again very expensive - originals that is

Also a link to the momentus The Four Horsemen from 666, the great Demis https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KCbqhJt16k
Fantastic guitar solo !!!!!!!!!!!!

working my way through them

Demis Roussos looks so young with hair and thin

A Greek band of the late '60s and early '70s, Aphrodite's Child scored only one European hit, "Rain and Tears." Though it was a big one, the group became little more than a trivia answer after keyboardist Vangelis Papathanassioudropped his surname and hit number one with the theme to Chariots of Fire in 1981. Aphrodite's Child also included drummer Lucas Sideras and vocalist Demis Roussos, who enjoyed some solo success himself as a pop vocalist. The band formed in Greece in the mid-'60s, and the title track from the second album was a hit throughout Europe. The 1971 album 666 was generally agreed to be the best, but it proved to be the last, though the single "Break" was also a hit in Europe.
An amazingly bombastic concept album about the Apocalypse of St. John seen as a rock spectacle.Demis Roussos wails the lyrics in a frantically operatic falsetto, while the band pound fiercely throughVangelis' furiously complex music. It certainly has its moments, but the entire set eventually becomes too overwhelming to sit through.
'
you can buy the '72 album on ebay for 80 quid

There is the annual Nick drake gathering at Tanworth in Arden, Warwickshire. Next year 21/22 July.
http://nickdrakegathering.wixsite.com/nickdrake

thanks bix  amazing may give it a visit

Nice to see Caravan getting a mention. One of that short but interesting list of bands one can have seen live 40 years apart.

This Guy sounds really good if your into Nick Drake type stuff he's playing a handful of U.K dates very soon.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtZFEDqxxIk

Time for a modern band, top class ambience, they just don't do bad albums, the exquisite Marconi Union - Weightless

Weightless Pt 1 from Weightless https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfcAVejslrU

Put simply, you don't have an album collection if you haven't got Miles Davis - Kind Of Blue

Flamenco Sketches from Kind Of Blue https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTwp1sgUJrM&list=PLyJEmmIbNPylHZmHOTQZvcQXM44Y9O1HG

The best live rock album ever? Yes..just yes, was lucky enough to see them perform the whole album with Mogg and Schenker, UFO - Strangers In The Night.

Rock Bottom from Strangers In The Night https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0OatiI5XcE

Most American New Wave/Art rock left me cold except for these guys, they came, nailed it, were gone, the excellent Television - Marquee Moon

Marquee Moon from Marquee Moon https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlbunmCbTBA

I also have a love/hate thing for this band, and this album is mixed but it includes their best track imo, Utopia - Adventures In Utopia

Caravan from Adventures In Utopia https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXnfMc8lqOg

Another must have album, full of superb cover versions and reference quality live acoustic tracks, Shawn Colvin - Cover Girl

Satin Sheets from Cover Girl https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=raGFDP1-Dew&list=PLB0xGdhVdMlZ4visT2CpKLJqMM...

And another from Cover Girl, You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9v_feZAQAs&list=PLB0xGdhVdMlZ4visT2CpKLJqMM...

The 1971 album 666 was generally agreed to be the best- bought this as an original vinyl on eBay

An episode of Live from Daryl's House featuring Rumer with Daryl Hall, what a great voice she has, check out the other tracks as well.

I Can't Go For That https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5hzeKlRYNM

ttt so I don't have to keep finding it

Save it in your (forum) favourites and it will always be listed on the left hand side when you're logged in.

ah ok will do cheers

If your a fan of vinyl you should grab your yourself a copy of Kraftwerk's 'Tour de France Soundtracks', it sounds fantasic on vinyl and a good test of your system, don't get the later remastered version which was called just 'Tour de France'.  Remastering seems to be becoming a lost art, many remastered albums now sound carp imo, over compressing for the digital generation.  The Japanese remastered CD's which used to be such good quality (especially the Sony remasters) are even suffering.

currently listening too Donald Fagan

bought the album on ebay.. good inverstmebt