Search - Nick Drake :: Fruit Tree (limited)

A distinct poignancy. A true talent.

peterhoof | London, UK | 12/04/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This boxset is likely to increase the route to the mainstream of an artist long seen as anything but. Shades of upbeat wonder at life will make "Fruit Tree", and Drake's legacy, less of a cult depressant's bible.

The sad story of Nick Drake is well documented, yet the question remains unanswered. Why was he unknown when he was alive? Though his work is timeless, it transports the listener to another England, a beautiful, rural, melancholy place.

A career defined by three albums that had sold, in total, a startling, insignificant 4,000 copies did not make Drake's passing headline news.

Few beyond his family and a coterie of fans and musicians had paid much attention to his records, and a crippling shyness, made worse by chattering audiences, meant he played no more than a dozen concerts. In 1970, he pulled out of his one UK tour halfway through, never to perform on stage again.

Neither was he, in his own time, the cult hero critics have identified since. His producer and mentor, Joe Boyd, a key figure in the recording of folk rock acts from Fairport Convention to John Martyn, was instantly convinced.

In an age when singer-songwriters were all the rage, Drake's delicately worded, intricately chorded songs about girls, trees, and the passing of time somehow failed to connect.

By the end, Drake considered himself a failure. Living back at home with his parents in rural Warwickshire, he was treated for chronic depression. Whether or not he meant to kill himself, the general view when he died was that Nick had given up on the world and - or, maybe, because - he felt the world had given up on him.

"Fruit Tree" is a box set comprising his three albums, "Five Leaves Left", "Bryter Layter" and "Pink Moon", plus the album of outtakes, demos and early material, "Time Of No Reply". The latter, in the previous edition, contained some lovely outtakes such as "Joey" and "Mayfair", and the early blues song that would make Afroman hang his head in shame, "Been Smoking Too Long". Yet it is the final songs he ever recorded which shine the most, in particular "Hanging From A Star" and of course the eerie fortelling that is "Black Eyed Dog".

What we have here are four works of gold.

"Five Leaves Left" captures Drake before what confidence he had began to waver and he became disillusioned with the music industry. "The Thoughts Of Mary Jane" is joyous, as is "Man In A Shed", proving that not all Drake's lyrics were morbid or maudlin.

"Bryter Layter" is what producer Joe Boyd considers to be the best album he has ever worked on.

Most of the songs are given arrangements boosted with flutes and stunning orchestration. This album is magnificent and contains three of the greatest songs ever written. "One Of These Things First" displays Drake's thoughts on reincarnation, and "Hazey Jane I" and "Northern Sky" could melt the coldest of hearts. However, like "Five Leaves Left", "Bryter Layter" was a commercial failure, and this troubled Nick greatly.

Thus "Pink Moon" was comparitively stark and haunting, the only sound being Drake's voice and guitar, save for a piano overdub on the title track.

"Place To Be" mourns the loss of childhood's carefree innocence, and "Road" suggests Nick had seen the direction his life was heading. However, the album finishes on a positive note, the promise a new day can bring in "From The Morning". Unfortunately, this promise never came true for Drake.

"Time Of No Reply" has been replaced in the 2007 new version of "Fruit Tree" by a DVD, "A Skin Too Few", a 48-minute documentary with interviews with Boyd, Gabrielle Drake (Nick's sister), Wood, Paul Weller Boyd, Gabrielle Drake (Nick's sister), Wood, and Paul Weller.

Drake is not as easy and comfortable listening as his soft voice suggests, but fans persevering through the box set are likely to be rewarded. Throughout the three studio albums, his songs progress with a true sense of not knowing where they are headed. The fierce spontaneity of tracks like River Man allow his ruminations on life to take him into the fearful unknown, which is where his music is at its most complex but also its best. No Nick Drake song will leave you fully satisfied in itself- but in the completeness of an album or, better, the anthology of his work, the rich possibility seeming to drive his acoustic wanderings is more appreciable and more durably likeable.

Success painfully eluded Drake while alive and as impeccably remastered as this boxset remains, this retrospective collection holds many chances of great success.

One can only hope that somehow Nick Drake knows how much he is now appreciated by so many.

In US, where none of Drake's records was released in his lifetime, REM have waxed lyrical, Norah Jones has recorded his song "Day is Done", and Volkswagen have used "Pink Moon" as the soundtrack for a TV commercial.

Any day now, sales of his albums should finally hit one million.

It is the least he deserves.

Songs from the Analog Playground

Day Is Done

Remembering Nick Drake"

A fruitful tree

E. A Solinas | MD USA | 03/25/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Nick Drake was one of those rare artists who had great talents, but too little time on this earth. When he died in his mid-twenties in 1974, Drake left behind only three albums of poignant folk pop. Three albums, and a demo/B-side collection -- sadly, that was all he created.



"Fruit Tree" collects all four albums together, in the order they were released: The first is his enchanting debut "Five Leaves Left," a wistful and startlingly polished first album. "Five Leaves First" is followed by the masterful, brooding "Bryter Layter," which many consider to be his best work of all.



His swan song was the beautiful, tormented "Pink Moon," which hints at Drake's inner turmoil, but not in a raw or obvious way. Coming after that was "Time of No Reply," a solid collection of non-album tracks. Admittedly, it's a bit of an anticlimax after the veiled emotion of "Pink Moon," but still extremely good.



It's a rare thing when am artist's entire discography is made up of beautiful songwriting and equally exquisite music. There is literally not a single bad song on the entire collection -- the worst songs on it can simply be said to be pretty good, but never bad. That in itself is a rarity.



Drake's music is of a nearly-uniform mood -- wistful, brooding, soft and melodic. Normally a repeating theme is a bad thing, but Drake managed to keep it always interesting. He has a few catchier songs, a few bland-ish ones, and a few hopeful ones. But the overall sound is of a young man with romantic sensibilities, who was also sad and fragile.



But despite his loneliness, Drake had immense writing ability. His songwriting has a simple eloquence, with poetic overtones. He also was a pioneer of the "folk pop" sound, mixing his finger-picking guitar style with viola, strings, piano, and other such instruments. It adds extra beauty -- and often ethereality -- to the grounded guitar.



This particular edition of "Fruit Tree" is also graced by an exquisitely produced DVD documentary, "A Skin Too Few." Lots of interviews with musicians, family members and the like, clips of film, the atmospheric overlay of Drake's music and beautiful landscapes, and a regretful reflections on his all too short life (including the reminiscence that he said "I've got no more songs").



Nick Drake left behind only a few albums, but "Fruit Tree" allows you to hear them all together. Exquisite, understated, and truly timeless."

A Perfect Piece Worth Waiting For

Michael Pate | Long Beach, NY | 12/09/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Literally about 7 years in the making if you count the DVD "A Skin Too Few"....the entire presentation is perfect. A fitting monument to one of the world's finest songwriters. Bravo to All those involved in it's release. Nick Drake is Beloved."