Nick Drake thing on R2

[wu be eel]

yeah yeah yet another nick drake profile thing ...this time its from the voice of Brad Pitt ! could be crap, could be good. this is just to inform any drake fans :)

starts in 20mins. 9-10pm.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/r2music/documentaries/nickdrake/index.shtml

[m...wW(wwMww)Ww...m]

Thankfully the Pitt levels seem to have been kept to a minimum.

[wu be eel]

yeah, its alright. better than crap famous people going ''ohh hes great'', which i expected for some reason. Its EXACTLY the same as that article in the observer the other week, but still worth it. i dont think i ever hear songs as artists mean them so this radio-docu-thing lets you hear them with understanding of what was going on for him at the time.

apologies for short notice too btw.

[The Region Legion]

Well they're premiering that unreleased track "Tow The Line" at the end, so I'll have to turn it off afterwards, want to save that until Monday.

Nice to hear all these people who knew him talking about him though. It can't be said enough that the guy was a genius.

[Bogey]

Did anyone see the thing about him on BBC4 that was on afterwards?
More to the point, does anyone know if there's a torrent of this available anywhere?

The radio thing was good and interesting, and I didn't have a problem with Pitt; he is a fan after all.

[quadraspazzed]

I'd never heard Drake before (other than on a Guardian CD I got yesterday - ie the same day as the bbc4 thing). But after listening to the docu I'm gonna have to get some stuff. Drake is one of those you always hear namechecked, but I find it difficult to part with cash just cos someone I like, likes someone, y'now? But the music... man. Colour me jawdropped. Even the song where its just him and a simple repeating riff was amazing.

[Uncle Gripper]

Here i come, begging bowl in hand............

Did anyone tape or digitally record the R2 docu and is willing to share,  i was working and missed the broadcast.  Any help is much appreciate.


ps
i 'do' soulseek

[mr rou-rou]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/

listen again,

internet, cracking stuff :)

[Uncle Gripper]

aaaaaaaaaaaaaah

i was thinking on that last night, but that streaming, low res business does me head in, still, better than nought.  I'm more used to crystal clear high definition playback.  I was born with a silver fm ariel in my mouth

[weekender]

Thankfully the Pitt levels seem to have been kept to a minimum.

Not sure how to take your comment there.  Admittedly, it's much more interesting to hear Joe Boyd, Gabrielle Drake etc speak (as they were involved in Nick's life), but I don't think Pitt does that bad as a narrator.  Besides which he's obviously a fan, and I think you can hear that in the sincerity with which he's presenting.

But after listening to the docu I'm gonna have to get some stuff.

I would seriously recommend the 'Fruit Tree' box set.  It contains his three studio albums - 'Five Leaves Left', Bryter Layter' and 'Pink Moon' - along with 'Time of No Reply', a collection of previously unreleased tracks.  Apart from the recent CD release - 'Made To Love Magic', that's everything 'official' that's ever been released by Nick Drake.

There are a couple of bootleg albums out there - 'Tanworth In Arden I' and 'II', which are good (I think there's maybe a couple more bootlegs as well, but I don't have the details to hand) but these are probably more for the 'real fans' as it were.  If you don't want to go for the box-set there was a good compliation released a few years ago called 'Way To Blue', which contains tracks from 'Fruit Tree'.  If you want an individual album to start with, I'd suggest 'Bryter Layter'.

There is a general consensus that 'Pink Moon' is bleak, so as an introduction to Nick I wouldn't recommend that.  It's a beautiful album though.

[quadraspazzed]

thanks for the information weekender (and incidentally thanks for the weekenders download you provided in CC - which i still havent watched yet).

However, funds are a bit low at the moment (just bought a shitload of dvds) so i'll be going round the relation's seeing if can scrounge up at least some Albums. Also, I know a couple of people who are quite easily 'persuaded' to buy things (people with money to burn usually are for some reason) so a few subtle hints will be dropped.

You mention Pink Moon, which is the only Drake album I was actually even aware of - i think its generally listed in top 10s. If I have to actually buy something, that'll probably be the first thing. Bleak is good imo, but then my favourite album is Closer by Joy Division :-/

[The Region Legion]

There is a general consensus that 'Pink Moon' is bleak, so as an introduction to Nick I wouldn't recommend that.

Well I'm going to have to disagree, Pink Moon was my introduction to Drake and it was a religious experience. Five Leaves Left was my next purchase and I thought it was good, but not AS good, and Bryter Layter, when I finally got it, I thought was shit. I can enjoy it now, but considering the guy went onto Pink Moon, it's depressingly whimsical with all those horns and stuff. Apparently even as they were mixing the album Drake said "the next album is going to be just me and the guitar". Bryter Layter strikes me as being a fantastic album weighed down by overeager producers chucking on horns and backing vocalists.

The way I'm talking about it, perhaps it sounds like I still hate it - really, anything by Nick Drake is automatically fantastic, and Bryter Layter IS good, great in fact, but it doesn't touch Pink Moon or Five Leaves Left.

It all depends on what you want really - either buy Pink Moon and be stunned and amazed, but find that the next albums you buy of his will never match up or buy in chronological order and go "...yeah, that was definately his best album".

[weekender]

Good points, most of which I wholeheartedly agree with.  I was merely offering a particular opinion to try and help someone make a decision about a purchase - a contrasting opinion to that is more than welcome, then quadraspazzed can make up their own mind based on what they've read.

Some people can get into 'Pink Moon' straight away, I've no quarrel with that.  However, most people I've introduced to Nick Drake have found it easier to get into him via the first two albums as opposed to 'Pink Moon'.  That's not to say that everyone will fall into that category of course - that's the beauty of music, subjectivity etc.

Personally, I would rate the albums in reverse chronological order - 'Pink Moon' being my favourite, 'Five Leaves Left' being my least.  I can understand why you think that 'Bryter Layter' is a bit 'over-produced', but as an album I prefer it to 'Five Leaves' because I think that the songs themselves are of a higher quality.  It would be interesting to hear a kind of 'sparser' version of 'Bryter' I think - it does come across as more of a 'joint effort' album.

Incidentally, most of the people I mentioned above have also said that they find 'Pink Moon' the most rewarding album after repeated listens, so I guess we agree that it's his best album in the long-run.  As I said in my initial post, it's a beautiful album.

[mr rou-rou]

I still have the ND documentary 'a skin too few' on video, I expect it will get another airing soon, there is a nice poem his sister reads out about him written by his mum, it's a tear jerker.

I got into Nick Drake because my mate lost his mum in a tragic death and when I went around to see him he said 'recommend some music to me, all I can listen to is Nick Drake'

...and that was my introduction.

[Marty McFly]

i did see a torrent for this on www.suprnova.org earlier on. or it might have been yesterday.. either way, it's on the site.

[Bogey]

Any idea whereabouts? The search function still doesn't work.

[Marty McFly]

http://66.90.75.92/suprnova//torrents/1792/Lost%20Boy%20-%20In%20Search%20of%20Nick%20Drake%20-%20BBC%20Documentary%20Presented%20by%20Brad%20Pitt-mp3.torrent

first link on yesterday's music section!

[m...wW(wwMww)Ww...m]

Thankfully the Pitt levels seem to have been kept to a minimum.

Not sure how to take your comment there.  Admittedly, it's much more interesting to hear Joe Boyd, Gabrielle Drake etc speak (as they were involved in Nick's life), but I don't think Pitt does that bad as a narrator.  Besides which he's obviously a fan, and I think you can hear that in the sincerity with which he's presenting.

OK, I'll explain my comment:  Pitt was obviously asked to narrate this as not only is he a fan of Drake, but he is also very very famous indeed.  Obviously, his involvement would attract quite a few listeners who otherwise would not have tuned in, even though they would be listening primarily for Bradley.  As such, I was expecting his presence to be more pervasive.  "Next came Pink Moon, which for me, the actor Brad Pitt, is surely Drake's finest work."  

Also, you say that Pitt doesn't do that badly as a narrator -- but he doesn't do too well either.  He read the script in a monotonous, almost lifeless, drone.  And his enunciation isn't the clearest I've heard either, but now I'm just nit-picking.

[Pilf]

There was nothing 'new' information wise in it (apart from the new track, which I won't talk about as I someone was waiting until tomorrow to get the album), but it was fine and gave me another excuse to go back to my albums again. Brad Pitt was okay (although he did say his name a few too many times. "I'm BRAD PITT") and if having him on it introduces a few more people to Nick Drake then he's done his job.  I always forget how young Nick was when he made those albums - I mean, *19* when he made Five Leaves Left, jeez.

Favourite albums for me in order: Pink Moon, Five Leaves Left, Bryter Layter.

Anyway, I got the Brad Pitt doc on tape, an I videoed the Skin Too Few documentary as well, from the last time it was on. All old fashioned analogue stuff though, and no way to transfer to PC still living in the dark ages, but I am willing to make copies for anyone that needs it.

[Bogey]

I was rather expecting Pitt to say the phrase "I made this" at the end.

Also, Marty, that's the Radio 2 thing though, isn't it? Not "A skin too few"?

[Tom Pynchon's Photo]

, *19* when he made Five Leaves Left, jeez.

He was 21 actually - when Five Leaves Left was made he had five years left to live. He died at 26.

The Skin Too Few documentary pissed me off, only because I saw a documentary fthree or four years ago on Nick that was hidden away on BBC2 after Newsnight; a documentary which was better in every respect. not least because it interviewed people like Joe Boyd and Nicks sister and many other in an informal way - as opposed to  In A Skin Too Few in which everything everyone said looked rehearsed. In that  BBC2 Documentary the camera had clearly been shoved in their face of whoever  and all their reactions to whatever question had been put to them were clearly honest, instant and in the case of his sister when talking about what caused Ncks death, immensly painful.