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| photo by Keith Morris |
The boxset 'The Making of Five Leaves Left' is a lovingly detailed account of how a shy young university student came to make a richly melodic and timeless album.
As a historical record, it is pretty much faultless and a credit to the various people involved, from the Island Records archivists, to producer Joe Boyd and engineer John Wood, and the Nick Drake estate who are keepers of the flame. It's certainly worthy of the Grammy Award.
Will it win? Well, it's up against Queen Joni - nominated for the Joni Mitchell Archives - Volume 4: The Asylum Years (1976-1980) - so probably not. Joni can seemingly do no wrong right now, and she deserves the acclaim. But if you know his story, it would be tremendously fitting to see Nick Drake get a Grammy.
{Post-awards note: As I thought, the award went to Joni Mitchell}
Nick Drake died in 1974, having made three albums that failed commercially. But the quality of his music would not be denied. Today there is considerable demand for 'new' Nick Drake material. Hence this box set, which documents the making of Nick’s first album from 1969, starting with the two earliest semi-formal recording sessions where Nick showcased his material.
The Making of Five Leaves Left
Albums were not generally done as slowly as this. Nick was still at Cambridge during the making of Five Leaves Left, and so the album was recorded over 14 months' of sessions in London. That would have been an age in this period of musical revolution. By way of comparison, in a 14-month period in the mid-60s, the Beatles recorded Rubber Soul, Revolver and half of Sgt. Pepper.
On The Making of Five Leaves Left, we hear the evolution, from March 1968 to April 1969, of Nick Drake’s musical vision, guided by producer Joe Boyd and engineer John Wood, with the support of his university friend and string arranger, Robert Kirby.
Any work of musical archaeology will only be as successful as the treasure unearthed in the process. In this case, the almost miraculous retrieval of two early reel-to-reel tapes that pre-date the first formal recording sessions, are the holy grail items.
The so-called Beverley Martyn tape, which was the first showcase for Joe Boyd, kept safe by Nick’s friend (and John Martyn's wife) Bev, helps fill in the picture of how Five Leaves Left came to be commissioned in the first place.
The second key piece of the jigsaw that makes this package such a compelling collection, is the nine-song tape of Nick playing and talking, recorded at Cambridge in early 1968 by another university acquaintance, Paul de Rivaz and incredibly, preserved by him. Strangely, despite the tremendous interest in Nick Drake's music in the past 25 years, de Rivaz had kept it to himself, until recently.
The assurance displayed in his singing and playing from the earliest tapes is striking. Here was someone with immense confidence in his material and determined to show it.
I've listened through to the four record/disc set a few times now, and there are many aspects worth highlighting. Here are some of the things that have jumped out to me.
- There’s a piano line on Strange Face (Cello Song) from the
first proper studio session in September 1968 (volume 1, track 7). It doesn’t really work, but it’s
still an excellent accompaniment. Who is playing that piano is not clear from the session notes. It is possible Paul Wheeler was present at the session.
- It's interesting to see how Day Is Done progresses between the
April and November ’68 sessions at Sound Techniques. Nick’s guitar playing during this period is so
clear and well articulated, you can hear his confidence, and understand how
Joe and John were so impressed with him. I think I almost prefer Day Is Done without the string
quartet, because it makes Nick's guitar much more prominent.
In the garden at Belsize Park - The jaunty early versions of Time Has Told Me - on the Beverley and de Rivaz tapes - with great assurance in the guitar playing, contrast with the relatively sluggish final album version. It’s a different dynamic at play, and quite effective.
One of my long-held views is that not enough prominence was given to Nick Drake the guitar player. Why, for example, does the album version of Time Has Told Me place Richard Thompson as the main accompanist?
Thompson - who also played electric guitar on an unused version of Thoughts of Mary Jane, that later appeared on the album Time of No Reply - regarded Nick as “quite extraordinary’ in his guitar playing.
“He played immaculately and uniquely on acoustic guitar, which isn’t an easy instrument to play in a flawless way. You get buzzes, you get fret noise. Not with Nick. He’d really worked at it very hard.”
Nick’s time in France and Morocco in 1967 intensified the focus on his guitar playing and would have broadened his musical vocabulary, resulting in the different rhythmic and tonal ideas, alternate tunings and the relative exoticism on display in Three Hours.
- Hearing Nick explain his ideas for the arrangement of the unused song My Love Left With The Rain from the Cambridge tape, is one of the delightful
surprises of this boxed set. Nick tells Kirby and de Rivaz “This is the one I want to have as expansive a sound as possible”, which makes it all the more curious why the song was never taken further.
- Another of the May 1968 Cambridge tape curios, Blossom is a pleasant but unremarkable tune, notable for the work tape section at the end, where Nick shows the bass part, again demonstrating how prepared and assured he was in presenting his songs.
“The most striking thing about Nick to me was how musically literate
he was,” Wood told biographer Richard Morton Jack. “I’ve never worked with anyone
else of that age who had that level of musical understanding and ability, as
well as such a wide taste and knowledge of music.”
- On Thoughts of Mary Jane (Vol 2, track 5), Nick sings and plays
the flute melody. Similarly, he knows that Day Is Done will have a string
quartet accompaniment well before it is recorded.
- Nick talks about his ideas for I Was Made To Love Magic (Vol 2, track 3). Since this was only a matter of weeks after he had played the song at The Roundhouse, on the fateful day he met Ashley Hutchings, the version of Magic we hear on this tape must be close to what he played at the gig. Richard Hewson gets a bad rap generally for his arrangement work with Nick, but I've always liked what he did on Magic as it appeared on the Time Of No Reply album.
On the Cambridge tape, Nick apologises, “so badly played” (by his high standards) and then talks about his ideas for a different rhythm on Magic, with a latin-esque bass pattern.
Another Jobim-esque song (though possibly inspired by The Pentangle) follows. This is Mickey’s Tune, which was known only for its lyrics before the Cambridge tape was unearthed. And in the studio session on November 12 ’68 (Vol 2, track 12) it sounds like Nick is trying for almost a flamenco feel at the very beginning of Fruit Tree.
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| Alternative track order noted |
That slightly hesitant, exploratory guitar line at the beginning of Fruit Tree is a more beguiling introduction to Nick’s world, and I feel it's rather hidden away on side two of Five Leaves Left.
- On the final series of sessions, on album 3, the version of
Time Of No Reply is, to my ears, the same as the one that appeared on the 1980s
album of the same name.
- Along with Time Of No Reply, Mayfair was the other early song still being tried out at this late stage for inclusion on FLL. Both were ultimately discarded and never considered again for inclusion on a subsequent album.
Richard Morton Jack wrote that it was striking that Nick
remained loyal to Mayfair, in particular. “Perhaps he was fond of it as an echo of his mother’s
style… although there’s a consensus that by 1969 it didn’t fit comfortably
alongside his other material.”
Joey, a favourite of mine, and Clothes of Sand were likewise omitted in the final analysis and again, despite being an excellent showcase for Nick’s elegant guitar melodies, they were never considered for his following albums. They were all included on the posthumous Fruit Tree box set as part of a fourth album, Time Of No Reply.
- Another musical snippet that was discarded by the final studio sessions is Nick’s lead into River Man, from the January 1969 session (Vol 3, track 4).
- Way To Blue, with just Nick on piano, is another revelation from the 1968 Cambridge tape (Vol 3, track 5). You might think it actually sounds good like this, but when Robert Kirby came to Sound Techniques for the first time in April 1969, to conduct the strings, he blew Joe and John away.
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| photo by Keith Morris |
Joe and John were sceptical. Having set up levels for each
instrument, John gave Robert the nod.
“Suddenly, John pushed up all the faders. We heard this string part and we were both knocked back in our seats,” remembers
Joe. “We thought, this is exquisite, just amazing.”
For anyone who knows and loves the original album, The Making of Five Leaves Left is a fascinating glimpse at the inner workings of an emerging talent. The weaving together of the varied source material, and the meticulous detail contained in the accompanying book, are truly a credit to the production team.
Credit is also due to Michael Burdett, for his role in bringing
the Paul de Rivaz Cambridge tape to the attention of this album's compilers. Burdett will be familiar to anyone who has seen his one-man show - Strange Face - Adventures with a lost Nick Drake recording - about travelling the UK talking to random folk and a handful
of celebs, while playing them a discarded early recording of Nick's Cello Song.
At the conclusion of one of these shows, Paul de Rivaz approached Burdett and explained that he had known Nick
Drake. What's more, he had a recording of him.
Not just any old recording, it turned out.
A Visit To The Annual Nick Drake Gathering
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