News Archive  

2007 & PREVIOUS

 

Nick Drake: XM15 Special Edition hosted by Mary Sue Twohy

Drake's name has become a byword for a certain kind of acoustic music. Gentility, melancholia and a seemingly casual mastery of the fretboard - in the minds of many listeners, any combination of these traits warrants comparison to Nick Drake. As a result, Drake is perpetually referenced across the reviews sections of every music title. That quite often the records in question bear no meaningful resemblance to Drake's music speaks volumes.

Sat Aug 18, 6 pm ET

Sun Aug 19, 12 PM ET

Mon Aug 20, 6 am ET

'A Place To Be' debuts at 'Bumbershoot' festival in Seattle

Over the years Nick's music has had a singular impact on other artists from many different disciplines. The Nick Drake estate (Bryter Music) has decided to celebrate these by exhibiting a selection - both as static displays (photography, writing, painting, collage) and as film pieces. A few were specially commissioned for the event, but most were submitted as self-generated homages.

Bryter Music have called the event 'A Place To Be' and plan to tour it for as long as people want to see it and to add to it as they go.

Contributions have come in from such artists as Heath Ledger, Tim Pope, Jonas Mekas, Paul Rider, The Books, Keith Morris, Julian Lloyd, Russell Mills, and the poet Nick Drake. There will be 30 pieces in all, plus screenings of the film 'A Skin Too Few'.

'A Place To Be' debuts as part of the 'Bumbershoot' festival in Seattle USA on September 1st - 3rd 2007.

Click here for more details of the Bumbershot Festival.

On Sunday 3rd there will be an accompanying panel discussion hosted by freelance music writer Kurt B Reighley (The Advocate, No Depression, MSN Music, The Stranger) which includes performing Bumbershoot artists such as Ian Ball (Gomez), Damien Jurardo and John Wesley Harding.

Family Tree delays

Nick Drake’s forthcoming album, "Family Tree", is coming later than originally planned. The album, due this month, has been pushed back slightly to July 9th in the UK and July 10th in the US due to delays in the intricate packaging, which features a 24-page book and never-seen-before Drake Family photos. The US version is set to be a limited edition DigiPack.

A "Family Tree" track 'They’re Leaving Me Behind' can currently be heard on Myspace & Brytermusic.com. The album will be available in shops and online everywhere on the dates above and can be pre-ordered now via Amazon.

Nick Drake’s "Family Tree", featuring never before heard recordings, to be released June 19, 2007 by Tsunami LG/Fontana

Family Tree, to be released on June 19th, 2007 on Tsunami LG/Fontana, will feature previously unreleased tracks from the vaults of the Estate of Nick Drake. The album, produced by Drake Estate manager Cally, tells the story of Nick Drake’s musical development in the years prior to recording his official debut, Five Leaves Left.

Family Tree explores the upbringing of an artist who-- in his tragically short career-- produced three albums which continue to be treasured by fans. Recorded in the late 1960’s, the 28 tracks feature lo-fi recordings made on a reel-to-reel tape recorder at his home, Far Leys in Tanworth In Arden, as well as eight songs recorded on cassette during his sojourn in Aix En Provence. The inclusion of two songs, “Poor Mum” and “Try to Remember”, written and performed by Molly Drake bears testament to her musical influence on her son, conscious or otherwise.

After Nick Drake’s death in 1974, his parents Rodney and Molly Drake began to receive visits from fans compelled to understand more about the source of his music by traveling to the place where he lived and died. For Rodney and Molly, this was no invasion of privacy. On the contrary, aware that this might be the beginning of the recognition that their son had longed for in his lifetime, they invited those fans in and quite often shared the music a  young Nick had recorded on an early reel-to-reel recorder. Often fans left with their own cassette tapes of those songs.

Some third and fourth generation versions of these tapes circulated among collectors on rare bootlegs for decades. The overwhelming fan demand for unreleased material or stronger versions of these poor-quality bootlegged songs has thrown up a challenge to the estate to release something worthy of his legacy.

The Family Tree release will include a letter written from Gabrielle Drake to her brother in which she reminisces about their growing up, their family life, and explains how she has tried to preserve his legacy as she thinks he would approve. “I hope that, in the circumstances, you could have given “Family Tree” your blessing.  Or if not, that you could have at least looked on with that wry smile of yours.”

Family Tree, unlike Nick’s albums which contained only his own material, features the young artist mastering the compositions made famous by Bob Dylan, Blind Boy Fuller, and Jackson C Frank. It also showcases his early songwriting skills on tracks like “They’re Leaving Me Behind”, “Blossom” and “Come Into The Garden”. In segues between tracks, the listener hears Nick speaking aloud to himself, even laughing in between takes. The album also includes two versions of songs that ended up on Nick’s first album ‘Five Leaves Left’ which were recorded by his arranger Robert Kirby whilst they were both studying at Cambridge University in 1968.

You need only hear Nick and Gabrielle’s exquisite blood harmonies on “All My Trials” – or Nick playing clarinet with his aunt and uncle on “Mozart’s Kegelstatt Trio” – to realize that this was a house whose inhabitants entertained themselves and each other by playing music. In the album closer “Do You Ever Remember?” Molly Drake sings not just for their sorrow, but also for the laughter that once resounded throughout a happy, loving home. It’s a laughter that resounds – sometimes literally – throughout the whole of Family Tree. In doing so, it brings us closer to who Nick Drake was than perhaps any written account of his life thus far.

In addition to the release of Family Tree, 2007 will see the release of an upgraded version of the Fruit Tree Box Set – which includes Nick Drake’s three original studio albums; a new book; as well as a DVD of the “A Skin Too Few” documentary.  Fruit Tree will also be available in limited edition vinyl.

http://brytermusic.com

http://myspace.com/nickdrake

Magic Numbers Album/Robert Kirby

Those The Brokes, the new album by the Magic Numbers is out now and features 3 tracks orchestrated by Robert Kirby.

New Forum!

We've totally overhauled the forum to minimise spam and make it easier to track the progress of individual topics.

Lyrics

We now have the full and official lyrics for all songs from Nick's 3 studio albums up on the site. You can access them via the relevant album page or see the index on the lyrics page.