Family Tree : Nick Drake : Review : Rolling Stone

The three LPs Nick Drake had completed by the time of his 1974 death - each of them pretty, vaguely haunting and emo before there was such a thing - have gone from cult treasures to consistent sellers, which explains the demand for this twenty-eight-track collection of rarities, covers and alternate versions, many of them home-recorded. Too bad Drake's back pages are so forgettable. A couple of songs stand up: The gorgeous pastoral daydream "Rain," a low-fi take on Dylan's "Tomorrow Is A Long Time" with bottles clinking in the background, and "If You Leave Me," a blues standard transmuted by Drake's pale-eyed croon. But an early version of the 1969 signature song "Way to Blue" has all the presence of doodles in a sketch pad. And only hard-core enthusiasts or biographers could have much interest in the cameos from Drake's mother or the family-assisted version of Mozart's "Kegelstatt Trio," which shows Drake could play clarinet.

CHRISTIAN HOARD

(Posted: Jun 14, 2007)

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Track List

Play All

Come Into The Garden (Introduction)
They're Leaving Me Behind
Time Piece
Poor Mum
Winter Is Gone
All My Trials
Kegelstatt Trio For Clarinet, Viola And Piano
Strolling Down The Highway
Paddling In Rushmere
Cocaine Blues
Blossom
Been Smoking Too Long
Black Mountain Blues
Tomorrow Is A Long Time
If You Leave Me
Here Come The Blues (track not available in Rhapsody)
Sketch 1
Blues Run The Game (track not available in Rhapsody)
My Baby's So Sweet
Milk And Honey (track not available in Rhapsody)
Kimbie
Bird Flew By
Rain
Strange Meeting Ii
Day Is Done
Come Into The Garden
Way To Blue (Family Tree)
Do You Ever Remember?

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Review 1 of 1

4of 5 Stars

There is so much revenue produced from supposed “never before heard” scratchy-surfaced demos, home-cooked alternative versions, and “new” pieces of famous dead musicians’ work these days, I have become less convinced that their “death” was actually a physical “death” at all, but a cover for a secret flee to a secluded island. I wouldn’t be surprised if Tupac, Biggie, and Elvis were spotted sprinting across the screen in the next season of LOST. Go ahead and add Nick Drake to that list.

After countless box sets and special-editions arrivals on the market shelves, over thirty years after his passing, yet another bonus album makes its way to the commercial highway. Drakes’ originally discography includes the three Five Leaves Left (1969), Bryter Layer (1970), and Pink Moon (1972), the latter two were most prominently crowned his autumnal masterpieces. In comparison to most Drake album tributes and compilations, Family Tree is commonly cast aside as a shallow volume of sorry covers that fail to capture Drake’s pastoral magic, and if you’re a diehard Drake fan, you’d probably agree. But for the generations that lost out on the opportunity to experience Drake the first, second, or third time around, and only recognize his wistful croon from that Volkswagen commercial or Garden State, Family Tree could very well serve as charming, training-wheel-type of an album.

The 28-track offering consists of covers and unreleased home tapes recorded just before his debut in 1969. It’s Drakes’ expression of the folk repertoire, as much of the tunes are his own signature somber version of traditional folk tunes (“Winter is Gone,” “All My Trials,” “If You Leave Me”) or tributes to the 60s singer/songwriters (“Been Smokin’ Too Long,” Bob Dylan’s “Tomorrow Is a Long Time”) country blues (“My Baby’s So Sweet”), and even classical clarinet (Mozart’s “Kegelstatt Trio”). Drake expresses the vast range in which he places his gentle, atmospheric deliver and it’s an astonishing range.

Despite the criticism of the homely recording quality in contrast to his studio-shined albums, it is this homely characteristic that makes Family Tree a soothing event. The rough-around-the edges sensibility that sounds fuzzy with age and magically enchanting makes for an intimate and therapeutic encounter. Including contributions from his sister Gabrielle (voice) and mother Molly (piano), Family Tree is like walking -in on a Drake family recital and you end up their only, but lucky, audience member. It’s warmly earnest and a joy to experience.

Jun 28, 2007 21:29:25

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