ARTS
The Michigan Daily Wednesday, September 10, 1986 Page 7
Records
Nick Drake--Fruit Tree
(Hannibal)
It is twelve years after his
death, and Nick Drake's musical
legacy is now available for all to
appreciate in the most complete
collection yet, the beautiful four-
record Fruit Tree box. The set
was originally released as an
import on Island records, a re-
release of Drake's three records
always that refreshing lightness
to Drake's touch, his ephemeral,
soft singing.
Having read the biography, a
listen to Drake's records back to
back is chilling. And the
inclusion of the ten previously
unreleased tracks on the separate
record, Time of No Reply, only
adds more unanswered questions
to Drake's story.
Nick Drake's first record was
Five Leaves Left It was recorded
over 1968-69 with Joe Boyd, and
sets the stage for several themes
which will be picked up again and
again throughout Drake's brief
career: namely, feelings of being
on the outside, loneliness, and
unfulfilled desires. "Time Has
Told Me" opens the record
beautifully, a quest for a listener,
Time will tell you/ To stay by my
side/ To keep trying/ Till there's
no more to hide. On "Riverman"
he draws a parallel between
himself and another person,
apparantly a lost soul's club;
"Betty" prays for answers, but
Drake asks the riverman: He
tells me all he knows, about the
way the river flows/ I don't
suppose it's meant for me.
Strings weave in and out of the
album's pieces, in particular
adding a touch of pathos to the
glorious "Day is Done." The.
record also includes the track
"Fruit Tree," an ironic foreteller
of the path Drake's career was to
take. In this song he makes the
beautiful analogy, Fame is but a
fruit tree/so very unsound/ it can
never flourish/ Till it's stalk is
in the ground. He goes on to
assure his symbol, Don't you
worry/ They'll all know that you
were here when you're gone.
On Bryter Layter, the string
arrangements are considerably
brought to the forefront and the
record takes on a much stronger
tone. This album is more varied
in texture, with a brass section
adding an upbeat, inspirational
rhythm to Drake's outreaching
"Hazey Jane II." And on "One of
These Things First" he considers
the other lives he could have led,
trying to come to terms with how
uncomfortable he is with his own
place, I could have been your
statue/Could have been your
friend he posits to a dreamy
piano, his voice as wistful as ever.
Pink Moonis probably Drake's
most befuddling collection of
songs, all sung to acoustic guitar
strumming. He is noticeably
more cynical, as indicated on the
title track, where he states Pink
moon gonna get ye all, and on
"Things Behind the Sun," where
he warns Please beware of them
that stare. Instead he urges one to
open up the broken cup / let goodly
sin and sunshine in. Drake's
inner turmoil also comes to full
boil on "Place to Be," which finds
him confessing Now I'm weaker
than the palest blue / Oh so weak
in my need for you.
The addition of the separate
Time of No Reply LP is
rewarding in the context of
Drake's first three records, for it
is then that one can recognized the
changes that he went through,
artistically and possibly,,
personally. Indeed, Drake
reaffirms his position as an
outsider on the first two tracks.
The title song is a tale of
loneliness, siting a dispersing
crowd I turned to speak as they
went by/ but this was the time of no
reply. Like the rejection he faced
on some of his love songs, the
silence which greets heim here is
not malicious; it simply serves to
quietly prove that Drake is a
world apart. "I Was Made to Love
Magic" follows, one of the
songwriter's earliest comp-
ositions. On this song he reveals
that he was made to love no one but
magic, and to the almost waltzing
guitar strumming, he softly sighs
I was born to sail away /Into a
See RECORDS, Page 8
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CHARGE-BY-PHONE -763-TKTS
.. :::
x
including
10 previously unreleased tracks,.
7 completely new-songs, plus the 4 'last session' x rocks.
Nick Drake: A sensitive artist who died too soon.
plus four unreleased tracks.
Now, Hannibal Records has
brought the box to the states with
the addition of one extra whole
album of ten unreleased tracks.
No one could ever be as loving in
their packaging of this find as
Hannibal Records, and Fruit
Tree in this domestically
available collection is a rare
gem. It is to be enjoyed and
cherished for years to come.
Drake's story is a
heartbreaking mystery. The
wunderkind \of producer Joe Boyd
during the late '60s, he was
encouraged to reach for the stars,
yet was never able to achieve any
commercial success. Why his
music was relatively unheard of
will always be a secret, despite
critical acclaim. His haunting
folk songs are probably as
beautiful and lasting now as
ever. It is as tragedy that Drake
died at the age of 26 in 1974, and
no one will ever know whether his
overdose on anti-depressents was
intentional or not.
The enclosed biography (which
also contains lyric sheets)
describes Drake as a chronicly
reclusive, depressed young man.
Yet, as sad and longing as his
songs may be, they are not self
pitying or woe-begotten; there is
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