This short book, taken from Remembered For A While, tells the stories and circumstances that surround every known recording in Nick Drake's canon (as well as a few unrecorded songs). The result is like a detailed, extended series of liner notes, something to read while sitting in your favourite chair, in your favourite room, listening to the imperishably beautiful music they describe. A Nick Drake companion.
Since his death in 1974 at the age of twenty-six, singer-songwriter Nick Drake has gained a huge international audience and come to be thought of as the epitome of English romanticism. But while his small body of work has evoked poetic comparisons with Blake and Keats, closer inspection of Drake’s music reveals many global and cosmopolitan influences that confound his status as an archetypal English troubadour. In this book, Nathan Wiseman-Trowse unravels the myths surrounding Drake and his work and explores how ideas of Englishness have come to be intimately associated with the cult musician. Probing deeply into Drake’s music for clues, Wiseman-Trowse finds hints of the English landscape that Drake would have wandered through during his lifetime, but he also uncovers traces of blues, jazz, and eastern mysticism that hint at a broader conception of English national identity in the late 1960s, one far removed from parochial nostalgia. Wiseman-Trowse then looks at how Drake’s music has been framed since his death, showing how Drake has been situated as a particular kind of English artist that integrates American counterculture, the English class system, and a nostalgic reimagining of the hippie era. An appealing story of folk music and English national identity, this book is essential reading for any fan of Nick Drake.
When Nick Drake (1948-1974) died of a drug overdose at twenty-six, he left behind three modest-selling albums, including the stark Pink Moon and the lush Bryter Layter. Three decades later, he is recognized as one of the true geniuses of English acoustic music. Yet Nick Drake--whose music was as gentle and melancholy as the man himself-- has always maintained a spectral presence in popular music. This groundbreaking biography reconstructs a vanished life while perfectly capturing the bohemian scenes surrounding the music business in London in the late '60s and early '70s. Using many newly discovered documents and all-new interviews, Trevor Dann reveals more detail on Nick Drake than ever, from his upbringing in a quintessentially English village, through his hash-fueled school days at Cambridge University, to the missed opportunities and mismanagement that defined his career. Friends and colleagues describe the difficulties that he faced as each new album was released, only to fail, and the insidious despair that consumed him. Complete with discography and rare photos, Darker Than the Deepest Sea is essential reading for anyone who has been moved by Nick Drake's unforgettable blend of beauty and sadness.
The indispensable consumers' guide to the music of Nick Drake. A thorough analysis of every officially released album by Drake, from the early albums that were largely overlooked at the time of their release in the late Sixties and early Seventies to more recent posthumous collections. Peter Hogan is among the few contemporary aficionados of Nick Drake who actually bought his records in the early Seventies when they were first released. He is an experienced music writer who has contributed to Melody Maker, Vox and Uncut, and is the author of books on The Doors, R.E.M. and The Velvet Underground.
'An exquisite portrait' MOJO 'A riveting account of the golden-boy genius' EVENING STANDARD Nick Drake was barely twenty-six years old when he died in 1974, but in his short lifetime he recorded three albums that are now recognised as classics: Five Leaves Left, Bryter Later and Pink Moon. Several decades after his death, he has amassed a huge following; his haunting songs cast a pervasive influence over the contemporary music scene, and many of today's most successful songwriters cite him as a major inspiration. In this unrivalled biography, Patrick Humphries offers real insight into the man behind the legend, through extensive interviews with family, friends and the musicians who knew and worked alongside him. This portrait of Nick Drake is an essential and uniquely personal account of his life and career. 'A rich, moving account of a troubled spirit, a mature biography of a briefly flickering talent unable to come to terms with the adult world ... The writing is zestful and intelligent and the text illuminating ... A literary memorial fit to stand alongside the songs' UNCUT
Experience the definitive biography of one of the greatest singer-songwriters of the twentieth century with this eye-opening book featuring a foreword by Gabrielle Drake and over 75 photos, many rare or previously unseen. In 1968, Nick Drake had everything to live for. The product of a loving, creative family and a privileged background, he was not only a handsome and popular Cambridge undergraduate, but also a new signing to the UK’s hippest record label, Island. Three years later, however—having made three well reviewed but low-selling albums—Nick had been overwhelmed by a mysterious mental illness. He returned to live in his family home in rural Warwickshire in 1971, and died in obscurity in 1974, aged just 26. In the decades since, Nick has become the subject of ever-growing fascination and speculation. Combined sales of his records now stand in the millions, his songs are frequently heard on TV and in films, and he has become one of the most widely known and admired singer-songwriters of his generation. Nick Drake: The Life is the only biography of Nick to be written with the blessing and involvement of his sister and estate. Drawing on copious original research and new interviews with his family, friends, and musical collaborators, as well as deeply personal archive material unavailable to previous writers—including his father’s diaries, his essays, and private correspondence—this is the most comprehensive and authoritative account possible of Nick’s short and enigmatic life.
The 1970s saw a wave of singer-songwriters flood the airwaves and concert halls across the United States. This book organizes the stories of approximately 150 artists whose songs created the soundtrack to people's lives during the decade that forever shaped musical composition. Some well-known, others less known, these artists were the song-poets and storytellers who wrote their own music and lyrics. Featuring biographical information and discography overviews for each artist, this is the only one-volume encyclopedic overview of this topic. Featured artists include Carole King and James Taylor, Joni Mitchell and Jackson Browne, Bob Dylan and Paul Simon, Bruce Springsteen, Gordon Lightfoot, Elvis Costello and dozens of other song-poets of the seventies.
'They called what they had lost the angel's share. They believed that an angel would take a little of their drink and, in exchange, bless the rest of it with a celestial flavour.' Zorawar Chauhan lives two lives. In one, he has the big-money corporate law job he used to dream of. To the young lawyer, the world tenders an endless promise of wealth and privilege. In the other life - the one in his head - he is haunted by the ghosts of a past from which he is not yet free. He relives his life on the colourful campus of the National Law School, Bangalore, playing football, getting stoned, getting into trouble and falling in and out of love. And above all, he remembers the loss of his friend, the charismatic Sasha Kapur. The Angel's Share is a story of loss and wisdom - dark, funny and relentlessly honest about youth and ambition.
This new study of British popular music shows how it engages with class in mythical ways that allow audiences to perform class-based identities. Case studies on folk rock, punk and indie rock show how this performance works and explore the implications for listeners and audiences.
Chronicling Nick Kent's up-close , personal, often harrowing adventures with the Rolling Stones, Lester Bangs, David Bowie, Led Zeppelin, the Sex Pistols, and Chrissie Hynde, among scores of others, Apathy for the Devil is a picaresque memoir that bears witness to the beautiful and the damned of this turbulent decade. As a college dropout barely out of his teens, Kent's first five interviews were with the MC5, Captain Beefheart, the Grateful Dead, the Stooges, and Lou Reed. But after the excitement and freedom of those early years, his story would come to mirror that of the decade itself, as he slipped into excess and ever-worsening heroin use. Apathy for the Devil is a compelling story of inspiration, success, burn out, and rebirth from a classic wordsmith.
