Nick Drake - Family Tree (Dig)
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Free Music Notes for Family Tree (Dig)
Free Music Review: Nick's Blues
Hit: 5 Stars
In the 34 years since the death of this coffeehouse (though he may have never played at one) folk legend, many of Nick Drake's most rabid fans shoved off to the English countryside on a hedgerow leaping pilgrimage to Tanwerth-in-Arden, where Drake hung out with his family to be carefree, lucid and eager to create fascinatingly original music, and hone his blues folk leanings to meld with his increasing melancholic and original laments in the headiest of pop music periods in the sixties. It was also where he holed up from the pressures of life away from the family nook, and to combat his debilitating, to the point of catatonic, depression that eventually led to the much debated and murky accidental death in 1974.
It is here where the loving sister Gabrielle presided over the estate, allowing some of the diehard fans to lodge in Nick's room, after which, their gracious hostess would allow them to walk out with some cherished home recordings of her brothers music before he recorded Five Leaves Left. These recordings were decidedly cloudy in sound quality but heavily bootlegged never the less. The estate at FarLeys along with some original recordings from Aix En Provence, France provided by Nick's friends Robin Frederick and Robert Kirby has finally saw through to clean up the sound and give the recordings a much deserved official release.
This Cd comes with insightful liner notes from friends and family, and a detailed list of the recordings and their origin. It can be seen as a Holy Grail for Drake enthusiasts and a muddy but intriguing home recording for the uninitiated. Most of those unfamiliar with Drake would assume he was simply a morose folkie, but it is in these bits, more than anywhere, when his blues base is exposed. His uniqueness came about by being the hopeless romantic lost in the blues, and meandering his tunings to blues of his record collection no doubt including Rev Gary Davis, Robert Johnson, Mississippi John Hurt, to the sad fluttering folk sounds found in family gathering tunes played by his mother in these recordings. While seen as odd by some who wonder what they're doing here, it is quite easy to see the resonating sadness in his mother's voice that Nick would later have in his own timbre.
The songs are quite listenable enough to appreciate this collection as music and not just a historical document. They're Leaving Me Behind finds him already predicting his lingering depression and perhaps cluing the listeners in to what caused it all. Elsewhere, he plunges into the Jackson C Frank songbook for a lot of his 1967 blues workouts, and hones his Bert Jansch meets the acoustic rockabilly busker guitar playing that has so many listeners pining to pin down, on tunes by Jansch and David Van Ronk. He often liked to tackle traditional ballads and it's quite fascinating and rewarding to see how clearly they influenced the embryotic versions of his originals in a low-fi stripped down setting. Perhaps some of his best world weary leanings come from the duet he does with his sister in All My Trials. One can imagine what it would have been like had he saw through enough to record with eager fan Francois Hardy before his mental collapse prevented him.
While the quality is understandably shaky, it has been cleaned up enough to grab hold of those just discovering him or retracing his history. It is certain to keep his followers interested. In the world of sensitive melancholy folksingers, Nick was the genuine article and still has not been matched. This recording not only shows he was more than a folksinger; he had the blues and loads of it. It is probably the recording that best captures his true spirit. No need to get a passport and fly to England. His gracious family and friends will bring him to you.
Free Music Review: Going Back in Time
Hit: 5 Stars
Nick Drake's material has been packaged and repackaged extensively, but this is one posthumous release that truly provides fresh insight into his development as an artist. Comprised mostly of home demos and mixing in a generous helping of recordings of his mother, as well, this collection feels almost like a time portal, as though we've been given passage back into Nick's early life. I love the imperfections that go along with it; a flubbed lyric or dropped note here or there, his little commentaries at the end of some pieces, the sound of someone clanking a bottle in the kitchen behind him on one track. You feel like you're in the Drake's living room, and yet it doesn't just seem like the cannibalization of material from before Nick had fully emerged as an artist. There are some amazing and beautiful tracks here, including "They're Leaving Me Behind," "Winter is Gone," and even the brief "Sketch I." All the talent as a singer and player is there, just in a raw, early form. And the liner notes from his sister are a touching addition to the package.
Maybe not the best option for introducing yourself to Nick Drake's music (I might pick "Pink Moon" for that), but definitely a must-own for anyone who already calls themselves a fan.
Free Music Review: Essential for Nick Drake fans
Hit: 5 Stars
"Family Tree" compiles a bunch of Nick Drake's home recordings -- many of which have been circulating as bootlegs, but a few originals as well.
The tracks on "Family Tree" are more bluesy than his studio releases -- most of them are traditional tunes or works of fellow folk artists like Dave Van Ronk / Jackson C Frank / Bob Dylan. The cool thing is that Nick's renditions seem, at times, more appropriate than their original versions!
Nick's guitar is exceptionally clean, and this can be deceptive, as it can be easy to underestimate the difficulty and complexity of his fingerpicking if you're not paying attention. As always, his distinctive voice does the tunes justice without seeming at all "British" or fakely "folky".
As a fan of Drakes work and a collector of as much of his music as possible, I'll say that "Family Tree" is essential for anyone who loves Nick's music, or anyone who enjoys traditional blues / folk music. For fans, this album represents a collection of refreshingly different, and possibly unheard, tracks -- for lovers of blues / folk, this album is a treasury of classic tunes rejuvenated by a gifted guitarist / singer / songwriter.
Give it a shot!
Free Music Review: Beautiful Stuff Here!
Hit: 5 Stars
This CD is quite a treat for the fans of Nick Drake. I can't help but echo another reviewer here at amazon who wrote that it feels as if your sitting right there in the Drake family living room. Between the very informative & intreagingly personal booklet that comes along with the CD & the recordings themselves you really do feel a little closer to the untold story of such a unique & ghostly folk singer. As a musician/music fan with a real sweet tooth for raw lo/fi recorded music from such artists as Patrick Fitzgerald and Danial Johnston to find a treat like this is just what the doctor ordered for this Nick Drake fan. Now if only someone could come out of the woodwork with a Nick Drake live album!Free Music Review: I bought this on a whim and I am glad I did
Hit: 5 Stars
I was browseing through the music at best buy (where it was way cheaper than here...) and picked it up. How could this be? a Nick Drake album that I didnt have?! I bought it and listend to it as soon as I got home.
For once I was glad that I am an impulse buyer! Its not only great because its Nick Drake we havent heard before but because some of the tracks include his family members and friends we get a glimps into his life even deeper than we did before just through his music. The letters from his sister mother and friend in the album liners are very touching and help to explain alot. I am glad that I bought this. and I would suggest it to any person who knows of and loves Nick Drake!