« Back to Top Level | Nick Drake

Nick Drake - The Complete Home Recordings (1968)

Track listing:
  1. Come Back Baby 1:46
  2. Get Together 1:57
  3. Dont Think Twice Its All Right 2:22
  4. Believe Me Pretty Mama 2:03
  5. Courting Blues 2:35
  6. Strolling Down The Highway 3:05
  7. Blues Runs The Game 2:24
  8. Winter Is Gone 2:39
  9. Here Comes The Blues 3:47
  10. All My Trials 1:52
  11. Tomorrow Is A Long Time 3:18
  12. Cocaine Blues 2:05
  13. True Song 2:49
  14. Summertime 1:35
  15. Black Mountain 2:38
  16. Season Of The Rain 3:08
  17. The Reasons For The Season 2:50
  18. To The Garden 2:00
  19. Princess Of The Sand 3:23
  20. Joey Will Come 4:57
  21. The Seasons 2:34
  22. Must Have Been Smoking Too Long 1:59
  23. Nick Drake Interview 2:56
  24. John Martyn Interview (85-5-25) 5:40

Notes

Liner Notes;
"The tracks on this CD were recorded by Nick Drake at his mother's house in Tamworth-in-Arden [sic - the village name is actually Tanworth-in-Arden] during 1967 and '68. The tape was then allegedly given to his mother as a present. According to his sister, Gabrielle Drake, in an interview with Melody Maker many years later (who was, by then, an actress starring in the popular TV soap opera Crossroads) a copy of the tape was given, after much persuasion, to one of the many American pilgrims who regularly beat a path to the door of their fallen idol.

Although the recordings here were clearly made on some fairly primitive equipment they provide a fascinating insight into Nick's early influences and techniques.

The guitar style displayed throughout this recording is straight out of the Davey Graham / Bert Jansch /John Renbourn school of thought (with a nod towards the early work of Nick's future great friend John Martyn) and the material chosen is culled largely from the same source, most of the traditional Blues tracks played here having been exposed first in the U.K. as cuts on the early solo albums of Jansch and Renbourn.

Although there must have been numerous ambitious young folkies making similar noises around the time these recordings were made, the most remarkable thing about this particular collection was what came next. Within 12 months Island Records had released Nick's debut album, Five Leaves Left, a stunning and highly individualistic piece containing only original songs and a brand new guitar technique. The traditional picking style displayed here was largely absent.

Purchasers of a previous collection of Nick's earliest recordings, called 'Tamworth-in-Arden 1967/68' may wish to know that the first 18 tracks on this compilation are the same recordings as mentioned above. The difference in titles and writer credits is solely in the interests of accuracy. The '12 Original Songs Of Nick Drake' claimed on that disc sadly do not exist"

Boyds Music BSM CD 002