Nick Drakes music can really pull on your soul somehow. Very strange and so beautifully sad. Can make you tear up for sure. Im in awe of Nick guitar playing. Astonishing really for such a young man. RIP
Nick Drake is one of my most favorite artists and my favorite guitar player, the way he used tunings was so beautiful and interesting, thank you guys for putting a spotlight on an artist that I still feel isn't known well enough. Cheers from the states.
Hi Scott! I'm American and was just 2 years younger than Nick. I have played guitar, banjo, piano, harmonica... just as a pastime most of my life and never heard of Nick, or his contemporaries like John Martyn, Sandy Denny, Fairport Convention... I only heard of them now because I moved to a big city and started playing first time at open mics. 3 times people told me I reminded them of Nick Drake so I looked him up about 3 years ago thus the wondrous chain reaction. "Shame?" If I were you I'd keep that out of your vocabulary, more like "unaware and now aware", or "discovered while on my musical journey!" Thanks too Bob and Ramon!!!
What a treat. "Oh he's kinda nice" said no one after hearing Nick for the first time. The usual reaction is "Oh my God why have I not heard of this guy!". Thank you! I was fortunate to see John Martyn perform for me and 5 other people in 1995 and got to met him after the show Unfortunately he was in no mood to chat about Nick or anything else for that matter. Bless you for sharing.
Nick Drake was brilliant. I’ve been a fan since 1990, when I first heard his music. I especially love his ‘Bryter Layter’ LP. How cool that Bob managed to see him play live - twice! Really enjoyed the insights here and also the excellent interpretations of Nick’s playing style by you both.
Excellent video. Got into Nick through listening to and finding out the story behind John Martyn’s Solid Air. Always come back to Nick’s works. Thanks.
Thanks for doing this!!! I've been a big fan of Nick Drake's since around 1994 I think. Rich Robinson from the Black Crowes talked about Nick Drake and open tunings during interviews & I thought he sounded really interesting. I went out and grabbed the Way to Blue compilation that had recently come out and fell in love. He's been one of my favourites ever since. We had a rainy night the other day here near Toronto - It was very difficult to see the Pink Moon in the sky - I did however play some Nick Drake to celebrate the night though. So glad you Gents took the time to put this together
I first became aware of Nick Drake via Peter Buck in an interview in a guitar mag. Buck described ""Pink Moon" as the loudest quiet album he'd ever heard of which intrigued me,
Thanks Connor. I was so impressed that you knew of him and his tunings when we first met. Although his,picking is unique, it’s much easier to unravel many pf his songs once you have the tunings 👍.
I always enjoy you two. I didn't see this one coming. Fabulous! I was a late comer to Nick Drake. I really got into him in the last 7-8 years. Thanks for this!!
This was a great and unexpected episode, gents! Thanks so much. I was first introduced to Nick Drake when I pinched a "Way to Blue" compilation CD from the corner of a grubby little recording studio my buddy owned back in 1996 (I eventually gave the CD back). Mr. Drake changed a lot about the way I approach song writing. Thanks again!
Kate Bush is also one of the few genius artists that I get emotional to when I hear the music. Thanks for the insights into Nick's life and music - awesome broadcast.
You possibly know this already, but there are a lot of superb KB demo recordings available on you tube, if you haven’t checked them out already I’m sure you will enjoy them.
Interesting early on. I bought a Columbia sampler Fill Your Head With Jazz back about 1971. Evidently the same run as Fill Your Head With Rock, which I never heard of. It was one of my first jazz records, and was a double album that introduced me to many different artists. Kids these days have no idea how hard it was to learn about music that wasn't on the radio every day.
Thanks guys. Great stuff, especially the social commentary around Morocco. This last weekend’s Word in Your Ear episode features Richard Thompson and his hew book!
You gotta love Nicky Drake! I played the Precision bass Dave Pegg played on Bryter Later! Ramon didn't use any of the stuff I told him about Nick! Thanks for your 'Horn' Bob!
As an American born in 71 I was never exposed to Nick until the Cadillac commercial that used Pink Moon. My mind was blown. I don't think there's a single song he wrote that I don't like.
You guys are brilliant , great video , learnt so much of my late hubbie 's favourites Nick Drake and John Martyn , amazing info , luv , River Man and Pink Moon 😊
Great vid boys. +Always interested in the Goose's migratory patterns;) Marrakesh sounds amazing. River Man on a "chill out" sampler in 2002 was my first entry point into this mysterious, commercially unviable chap.
Wow Bob actually saw Nick Drake. The albums originally sold next to zero. I think the pink moon revival started with an American VW ad 😱if my memory is working. BTW anything written by the late Ian MacDonald is worth reading particularly Revolution in the Head. The best Beatles book written by a musicologist without an agenda. Although the Lewisohn tomb is also excellent. Gr8 show.
I live not far from where Nick Drake lived in Tanworth in Arden , we as kids (16/17 year olds) back in the 90s used to go to his grave , smoke a joint there , sounds weird saying it now but there were lots of letters written to him , guitar picks , painted stones and joint ends on his grave , most from people in Europe such as Germany etc., He shares the grave with his parents . It’s now cordoned off , you can still visit but not leave anything ! I’m interested in the Q or Mojo magazine literature , any chance of a photocopy ?? Big fan of the show , always great content ! PS favourite Nick Drake song ‘Northern Sky’
Brilliant video, thank you! The Ian McDonald article was in MOJO in December 1999, and you're right, it's one of the finest pieces on Drake. McDonald was a superb music journalist, one of a fading breed. I've loved Nick Drake since the mid-eighties: The first track I ever heard was 'Fruit Tree', and I still think it's a little masterpiece!
Great episode guys. That outro by Bob is amazing... love it !! I have a couple of those books that you mentioned earlier, i need to hunt down some of the others. Thanks again !!
Salut Goose mon ami! have all Nick's albums great songwriter very sad what happened to Gabrielle's brother, she co-complied & edited the 'Remembered for a While' book
Wow, thank you. Truth is, it was the only thing I could think of when confronted with 15 minutes of free time in Abbey Road Studio 2! Glad it turned out ok. Very expensive acoustic, a Greenfield or a Kostal, as I recall. Big and big sounding.
i’m a big fan of the guild m-20, owned several over the decades. have three now, one ghost label, probably 1960, and two chinese built fron the early 2000’s, before they abandoned the one piece neck. excellent guitars.
Hi Bob and Ramon. Just caught up with this. Yes, a nice refreshing departure from the norm. Good to see more like this. A number of years ago I too read as much as I could surrounding Nick Drake and came to the conclusion that part of ND's appeal (worldwide) is recognising Nick's own fragility within ourselves. This, coupled with the articulate and deeply sensitive music he wrote and recorded, one quickly realises there's something very personal and identifying in his songs. The tragedy is in knowing he wanted to share them, but time ran out. I also found researching ND a little easier than "over-listening" to his records which after a while rather pulled me down. I don't mean this to be disrespectful, but that's what it could do to me. So I for one cannot allow myself to be saturated by his work, as good as it is. You both did a great job on this. I'm Bob's age. The iconic compilation albums Bob mentioned at the start were indeed highly influential and accessible to many of us, especially those at boarding schools where we could share stuff around, partly solving our lack of money. Ten Years After was big in my school, The Allman Brothers was big in another, and of course Cream was everywhere. Profound memories of a time when so many of us were immersed in a broad spectrum of exciting music. Nick Drake wouldn't have known he'd later become such a massively respected part of it.
There was a Dutch Nick Drake documentary on BBC or Channel4 (it's on RU-vid) 15 or 20 years ago that first alerted me to his music, I'd never heard of him before that nor that Solid Air was written about him. My favourite tracks are Road and Time Has Told Me.
Just ordered the new Nick Drake book by Richard Morton Jack. I ordered my copy from Blackwell's in the U.K. so it will be more, in the words of Mark Agnesi, authentic.
Nick only played three songs in standard on his three main albums, river man being one of them. The other two were day is done and things behind the sun, Altho them being in standard doesn’t make them any easier lol
Nice video! Towards the end of his life Nick had a Martin 000-28. There's a shop that did a tribute type of reissue of the guitar - Martin Custom Shop Nick Drake Model 000-14 Limited Edition. You can find sold listings on Reverb.
Hi ive visited this alley going down to hampstead heath lake where the photo was taken and its not really changed that much , prob a bit thinner than it was due house/wall renovation, but it still has that nick drake vibe and isnt really that known for a famous music photo shoot location..btw love your shows ❤
I believe John Wood said he had to record guitar and vocal separately for all of pink moon. Because Nick's emotional/mental problems had rendered him incapable of doing them simultaneously.
If I remember correctly, I think that might have actually been in reference to his final recordings of Black Eyed Dog, Rider On The Wheel, Voices, Hanging On A Star, and Tow The Line; Those that were supposed to be on his fourth album. I read somewhere that Nick was actually in a fairly better place than usual around the time _Pink Moon_ was recorded, and I think that comes through pretty well, given the album’s (In my opinion) slight hint of hope.
I have to add this...funny point you made about tuning. And I can relate....I'm a busker with a low budget. I like to play in open tunings.....its a crowd killer for sure
Thank you, gents, thank you. MOST enjoyable. I always found it humorous that the Guild M 20 is referred to as the Nick Drake Guitar and so many people (Bob included) sought them out to achieve the Nick Drake sound and it wasn't actually his guitar. As far as I have read, Bob is right, that the Guild M 20 originally belonged to Eric Clapton when he lived at The Pheasantry and was left there. Nigel Waymouth, the photographer who took the Bryter Layter cover, took over Clapton's flat and had possession of the guitar, which was used as a prop in the photo shoot. The shoes reportedly belonged to Waymouth and the chair, Charles Dickens. Waymouth sold the guitar to Nick Claird- Lowes of The Dream Academy in 1973 for 100 pounds, who still owns it. Here's an interesting video- ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-CnNfeJnXn5A.html&ab_channel=StuartAnthony
Bob, on your website in the comments below the Guild M20 you said when you saw Nick Drake he was playing the M20. In this video however, you said you saw him play with a Levin. Any chance of clarifying this? Excellent show btw.
On his later album pink moon, I noticed some of the notes are imbalanced, which could be due to the guitar he was using at the time. Maybe a Levin Goliath? A less concise sound compared to his smaller bodied spanish, perhaps. But what I notice about Nick is he is unkept, looks good from afar but please don't wander to close kind of ordeal. I think how he dressed, (a bit tattered?) also was a reflection of how he kept his instruments and also is seen in the scenery or lack of in which he practiced most from (his bedside). Don't fix it if not an issue. And I think playing on an imbalanced instrument actually suited him just fine. You can really here it in in the 3rd track of pink moon "road" he was so skilled in deliverance that he could manipulate the strings to make an otherwise broken instrument to most ears and fingers sound breathtakingly pure and on point. He was truly amazing
let's face it, had his manager at the time bought him a few more guitars so he didn't have to spend so much time between songs retuning, he might been a huge hit live... nice tribute, gentlemen :)
Was musician Eddie Boyd related to Joe Boyd? Also, Nick's original guitar, is that kept maybe by his sister? Where did it end up? What brand and model was it?
Yeah except... He wasn't perfect everytime. And that's one tidbit I find troubling on most accounts and a convolution. Because during the john Peele session on I believe the track time has told me he even stated in the dialogue after messing up that he had gotten the tempo wrong. Which is why I love that performance even more. But I think there's even more to explore. On how he played was... Unorthodox and not ordinary. Which might be the case with most self taught guitarists. It even comes out in how he sings long windedly. Most trained vocalists wouldn't take the breaths in how he did, very apparent in pink moon album. Might I even add I have reason to believe he used his pinky finger as a plectrum. Which is highly unusual but I too do the same. I believe he had a different way but was not in any way less beautiful
