Remembered For A While

"Remebered for a while", a new book on Nick Drake by Cally Callomon and Gabrielle Drake, is out in a few days.

You may want the signature box edition (at 150 GBP) containing:
"- Hardback and quarter-bound in cloth, with a printed acetate cover
- An exclusive 10ʺ vinyl of an unreleased recording of five Nick Drake tracks from a 1969 BBC John Peel session: ‘Time Of No Reply’, ‘River Man’, ‘Three Hours’, ‘Bryter Layter’ and ‘Cello Song’
- A portfolio containing three photographs of Nick taken by Julian Lloyd in 1967. Each portfolio will have a numbered authentication certificate signed by Julian Lloyd
- Over 380 full-colour pages
- Each copy signed by Gabrielle Drake and Cally Callomon
- All the contents will be housed in a cloth-covered box".

Or you may want the hardcover, straight version.

Not a biography they say, but "rather, an attempt to cast a few shards of light on Nick Drake the poet, the musician, the singer, the friend, son and brother, who was also more than all of these".

Guitar amateurs may be happy to find this in the book:
"A short musical guide to each song's key and tuning to accompany the lyrics, together with an explanatory interpretation of Nick's guitar performance, the result of several years close study by singer-songwriter Chris Healey".

Post Image with John Greaves cover Nick Drake

Enjoy a video with Post Image and John Greaves covering Nick Drake´s "Things Beyond The Sun", from the album "In an English garden".

Musicians: John Greaves (voc), Dany Marcombe (bs), Freddy Buzon (tpt), Patricio Lameira (gt), Jean-Christophe Jacques (sax), Eric Perez (ds), Frédéric Feugas (kb), special guest : Alain Debiossat (flute).

Michiyo Yagi: "River Man" (N. Drake)

Listen to Michiyo Yagi´s version of "River Man" (Nick Drake)! Played on 17-string bass koto.

I have only heard Yagi with Paal Nilssen-Love and Peter Brötzmann, and here is a grainy picture on Flickr taken at the Landmark club in Bergen in 2007.

See if you can find the album "Volda" (Idiolect ID-03, 2010) recorded during the same tour in Volda (Norway).

The English Malady?

Schizophrenia, mental problems, low self esteem, alcohol, LSD and other drugs, and lots of fantastic (and not so fantastic!) rock music!
Now is there a connection here, and is it something about England?
Clinton Heylin is at least trying to describe the mental problems - music connection in his book "All the Madmen: Barrett, Bowie, Drake, the Floyd, The Kinks, The Who and the Journey to the Dark Side of English Rock" (Constable 2012).

There are some sidetracks in this story (a.o. Peter Green), but the soundtrack may look like this:
Nick Drake: "Pink Moon"
Syd Barrett: "The Madcap Laughs"
Kinks: "Muswell Hillbillies"
David Bowie: "Ziggy Stardust"
Pink Floyd: "Dark Side of the Moon"
The Who: "Quadrophenia"

We get to hear about Soft Machine, who spent some days in the studio to record for "The Madcap Laughs" (not much left on the album though).
And Heylin is not afraid to put it bluntly, he says that David Gilmour and Roger Waters hijacked Syd Barrett´s album, making the final result too much their own. Right or wrong?

Probably a better read for the ones who really know these artists and their recordings (yes of course, all of you do, but I mean the other ones), since it is pretty detailed. Me, I realized that I did not know my Kinks and Who as well as I thought (not too late is it?).

To rub it in, Heylin´s appendix is called: "A fast rewind through 400 years of the English malady".

Come On Let´s Go!

Robert Wyatts "Free Will and testament" is on Paul Weller´s sampler, made for the April issue of Mojo (no 221, 2012).
How can you make a better choice than this song (although Weller admits he´s a bit biased, playing on that tune himself!)? New readers please take notes: The song was first released on Hugh Hopper & Kramer´s album "A Remark Hugh Made" (1995)(great version too!) and then on Wyatt´s fantastic album "Shleep" (1997).

Weller on "Free Will and Testament": "So, yes, it´s sort of bleak but, like a lot of music, when you listen to it, it actually pulls you out of depression"

Paul Weller´s cover of Nick Drake´s "River Man" is on the album too. This song was recorded for the 50th anniversary CD to celebrate the company Island, called "Island Life" (2009).

River Man

We have had some posts on Nick Drake covers in the blog already (look here), and now it´s time for a Norwegian duo to try (and succeed!).
Listen to Ola Kvernberg and Kirsti Huke do "River Man" at Credo in Trondheim,  November 2010.

They also do Tom Waits´ "Lonely".

Smoke ´em if you got ´em

We are still waiting for the results of  Jason Parker Quartet´s workings on  jazz versions of Nick Drake´s songs (but the album is almost ready now). This is probably the first album ever (?) that have gotten a remix album prior to it´s own release, and you may download Spekulation´s "Smoke ´em if you got ´em. Jay-Z and The Jason parker Quartet" for free. I have posted the single "Can´t knock the hustle" some time ago.

I think this is pretty cool stuff, but it might be too little Nick Drake for the Drake fans and too little Hip Hop for that camp? What do you think?

The Unthanks: Last

Just pull out your credit cards, The Unthanks are back with a new album called "Last" (!) (Rabble Rouser 2011). They blend traditional folk songs and cover songs into fine modern folk (as they have done on previous albums too).
Since they already made covers of Robert Wyatt´s "Sea song" and Nick Drake´s "River man", and have done concerts with songs by Wyatt and Antony and The Johnsons, I want to mention the cover songs on "Last" here.
We get Jon Redfern´s "Give away your heart" (Redfern being a new name to me), Tom Waits´ "No one knows I´m gone" (a bit nicer than the original, and perhaps not so terribly sad) and my favorite,  King Crimson´s "Starless". "Starless" is great on Crimson´s "Red" from 1974, but The Unthanks makes it their own song, with beautiful vocal and letting a trumpet (played by Lizzie Jones) play the guitar melody.
Adrian McNally writes this in the liner notes: "Like Robert Wyatt, King Crimson are one of the few prog acts from that time that outside the prog world still have some cred...".

The Unthanks are: Rachel Unthank (voc), Becky Unthank (voc), Niopha Keegan (violin), Adrian McNally (piano) og Chris Price (bass).

Smoke`Em If You Got `Em

It´s probably not a joke, even if  Spekulation claims that the new EP  "Smoke`Em  If You Got `Em", with a mix of Nick Drake, Jason Parker Quartet and Jay-Z, mentioned several times in the blog already, will be released February 29th.
The first video is ready, and the EP will be ready for download the first day of March (my guess!).

You should probably be just a little bit careful here, if you prefer your Nick Drake only as the sad man´s soundtrack.

Nick Drake and Jay-Z

I had  a couple of posts on The Jason Parker Quartet in 2010,  on their plans to record jazz versions of Nick Drake songs. I don´t think we´ll have to wait too long before the album is ready.

As if jazz and Nick Drake was not enough, Parker sendt his recorded material to "rapper/hip-hop guru" Spekulation, who mixed Jay-Z ("Can´t knock the hustle") with the mellow Drake ("When the day is done").

Read more over at "One Working Musician".

Five Leaves Left

I  already mentioned Jason Parker and his plans to record Nick Drake´s "Five Leaves Left", and the need for funding. He needs 5000$ before 24 December. If you are interested check out this site, and see if you are willing to pay a few (or lots of)  dollars. You get downloads, signed CDs, tickets and so on, or your money back if the project can not be funded.

Nick Drake Tribute

Jason Parker Quartet will record a jazz tribute to Nick Drake´s "Five Leaves Left", but they need  $ 5000 before Christmas! So far they have got only half the sum.

Read about the project here and here, and support them by pre-ordering the album, if you think this sounds like a good idea!

Jazz and Nick Drake have been tried before, just check out Brad Mehldau´s versions (see "River Man" on YouTube).