If you have ears, a beating heart and breathe air, then you probably have a soft spot for Nick Drake, and a desire to hear anything that this brilliant musician ever touched or recorded. For me, I would even take a rare answering machine recording of him if one was available on eBay.
So the news that a new—huge—release of unheard Nick Drake material made a lot of people really excited. The most interesting part about Family Tree, to be released on June 19th, 2007 on Tsunami LG/Fontana, is that it will feature previously unreleased tracks from the vaults of the Estate of Nick Drake. The album, produced by Drake Estate manager Cally, tells the story of Nick Drake's musical development in the years prior to recording his official debut, Five Leaves Left.
The Family Tree release will include a letter written from Gabrielle Drake to her brother in which she reminisces about their growing up, their family life, and explains how she has tried to preserve his legacy as she thinks he would approve. "I hope that, in the circumstances, you could have given "Family Tree" your blessing. Or if not, that you could have at least looked on with that wry smile of yours."
Check out the tracklist below to see what kind of material you’ll get your hands on.
1. Come In To The Garden (introduction) (Nick Drake)
2. They're Leaving Me Behind (Nick Drake)
3. Time Piece (Nick Drake)
4. Poor Mum (M.Drake) performed by Molly Drake
5. Winter Is Gone (Traditional, arr: Nick Drake)
6. All My Trials (Traditional) performed by Nick and Gabrielle Drake
7. Kegelstatt Trio for clarinet, viola and piano, (W.A. Mozart)
8. Strolling Down the Highway (Bert Jansch)
9. Paddling In Rushmere (Traditional)
10. Cocaine Blues (Traditional)
11. Blossom (Nick Drake)
12. Been Smokin' Too Long (Robin Frederick)
13. Black Mountain Blues (Traditional)
14. Tomorrow Is A Long Time (Bob Dylan)
15. If You Leave Me (Dave Van Ronk)
16. Here Come The Blues (Jackson C. Frank)
17. Sketch 1 (Nick Drake)
18. Blues Run The Game (Jackson C. Frank)
19. My Baby So Sweet (Traditional)
20. Milk And Honey (Jackson C. Frank)
21. Kimbie (Traditional)
22. Bird Flew By (Nick Drake)
23. Rain (Nick Drake)
24. Strange Meeting II (Nick Drake)
25. Day Is Done (Nick Drake)
26. Come Into The Garden (Nick Drake)
27. Way to Blue (Nick Drake)
28. Do You Ever Remember? (M. Drake) performed by Molly Drake