On 25th November 1974, Nick Drake passed away in his parents home in Tanworth-in-Arden. His work was not well known at this time and it would take until the end of the decade that his profile began to rise. By the mid 80s, he was being mentioned by a number of musicians as an influence and in the following decade, his gained further exposure due to the BBC broadcasting radio and TV documentaries about him. Sales of his records increased significantly around this time when his song ‘Pink Moon’ appeared in a Volkswagen advert. Cue his music appearing on movie soundtracks and he is now, arguably, the most famous he has ever been. It is such a shame that he is not around to enjoy it.
Drakes recording legacy is slight. During his life time, he released three studio albums made up of 31 songs. No singles were released from these albums during his lifetime so there wasn’t any obscure non album B-Sides to boost the numbers. Over the years, there have been a few compilations which have delved into the archives and there have been a smattering of unreleased songs that have made it to market. Most famous of these would be the tracks he recorded in 1974 for what could have been his fourth album, but these demos are as far as that project went. Four of these songs were included on the ‘Time Of No Reply’ compilation which came out in 1987. Included on that album were outtakes from his first LP sessions, some home recordings and an alternative take.
The home recordings were a small window into the treasure trove of recordings he made on a tape player in his parents house, many of which had found their way onto the black market due Drake’s father making copies for fans who knocked on the door ion the family home. Some of these would eventually receive a legitimate release on the ‘Family Tree’ album in 2007. Before this, there was another compilation, ‘Made To Love Magic’ which was designed to supersede ‘Time Of No Reply’. This is did because in 2013, a box set called ‘Tuck Box’ came out containing the three studio albums, ‘Made To Love Magic’ and ‘Family Tree’. However, there are a number of Nick Drake performances that have seen the light of day in an official capacity which for one reason or another were not included in ‘Tuck Box’. This playlist is my attempt to address this by gathering together all of the lost masters for a compilation.
Side A
- Rider On The Wheel
- Joey
- My Bay’s So Sweet
- Mayfair
- Fly
- Hanging On A Star
- Clothes Of Sand
- Man In A Shed
- Plaisir D’Amour
Side B
- Time Of No Reply
- Strange Meeting II
- Betty & Dupree
- Magic
- The Thoughts `of Mary Jane
- Black Eyed Dog
- Voice From The Mountain
Side C – (BBC Session)
- Time Of No Reply
- River Man
- Bryter Layter
Side D – (BBC Session)
- Cello Song
- Three Hours
So where do these masters come from?
Rider On A Wheel – One of the ‘final four’ songs Drake recorded. The version on ‘Made To Love Magic’ was included with a crisp, well balanced mix. This is the same take as induced on the latter compilation and only included here for completeness.
Joey – The version on ‘Made To Love Magic’ was included with a crisp, well balanced mix with less flanging. This is the same take as induced on the latter compilation and only included here for completeness.
My Baby’s So Sweet – included on the vinyl version of ‘Family Tree’ as well as some version of the CD. However, it was not included on the CD included in ‘Tuck Box’.
Mayfair – A recording from Drake’s days at Cambridge University. A studio version, with a flub, was included on the ‘Made To Love Magic’ compilation.
Fly – Home recording. Only available on the ‘Time Of No Reply’ compilation from 1987.
Hanging On A Star – Included on ‘Time Of No Reply’ and a different take form the one used on ‘Made To Love Magic’
Clothes Of Sand – One of the ‘final four’ songs Drake recorded. The version on ‘Made To Love Magic’ was included with a crisp, well balanced mix. This is the same take as induced on the latter compilation and only included here for completeness.
Man In A Shed – An early studio recording. Only available on the ‘Time Of No Reply’ compilation from 1987.
Plaisir D’Amour – Included as a hidden track on the ‘A Treasury’ compilation from 2004. Was originally scheduled to be included on ‘Pink Moon’ but ultimately it was not.
Time Of No Reply – The basic track as recorded back in 1968. Orchestrations were overdubbed when this was included on the ‘Made To Love Magic’ compilation. These orchestrations had been produced on manuscript by Drake’s Cambridge friend, Robert Kirby and were not used in 1969 as the songs were deemed surplus to requirements. However, these orchestrations were pulled from the archives with wonderful results.
Strange Meeting II – Home recording. Only available on the ‘Time Of No Reply’ compilation from 1987.
Betty & Dupree – not included on the ‘Family Tree’ CD, but was released on the vinyl edition. It was not included on the CD included in ‘Tuck Box’.
Magic – Listed as ‘I Was Made To Love Magic’ on the ‘Time Of No Reply’ compilation. This has the original orchestration produced by Richard Hewson, which Drake was not happy with and he asked that his Cambridge friend, the aforementioned Robert Kirby come and work as the arranger. This 1969 Kirby arrangement was finally recorded in 2004. The recording was also sped up for the ‘Made To Love Magic’ compilation.
The Thoughts `of Mary Jane – Taken from ’Time Of No Reply’, this has a slightly extended ending with a dissonant guitar note that was faded out when this song was included on the ‘Made To Love Magic’ compilation.
Black Eyed Dog – One of the ‘final four’ songs Drake recorded. The version on ‘Made To Love Magic’ was included with a crisp, well balanced mix. This is the same take as induced on the latter compilation and only included here for completeness.
Voice From The Mountain – One of the ‘final four’ songs Drake recorded. The version on ‘Made To Love Magic’ was included with a crisp, well balanced mix. This is the same take as induced on the latter compilation and only included here for completeness.
The BBC Sessions. These five songs were recorded for legendary BBC DJ, John Peel on 5th August 1969 and broadcast a day later. Drake only performed a handful of times in the live arena, and it would seem that no recordings were made. These five songs are the closest we will get. They sound as though they have been recorded from the radio as the studio tapes were no doubt wiped, something there BBC were prone to do in that era so that they could be used again. These rare recordings have only been released in their entirety once on a physical format, and that as a 10” record in 2014. Limited to 1000 copies, it came as part of the signature boxed edition of the book, ‘Remembered For A While’.
So there we have it. All of these recordings have been released at one point or another but are now all out of print and in some cases, really hard to find and even then, you will be paying a premier to get them.
The total running time of this compilation is just over an hour so it would be easy enough to reproduce on CD.
The front cover was produced by Behance user, Dorota Kowal