Nick Drake - Made To Love Magic

  by Jon Rogers

published: 11 / 4 / 2004

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Review

For many a musician that died in their prime, most notably Tim Buckley and Ian Curtis, widespread fame has only come, somewhat cruelly, after their demise. It has only been in recent years that the English folk singer Nick Drake - who died mysteriously back in November 1974-has also gained the popularity he deserved. The actual biographical details of Drake's short life are probably known to all by now due to endless articles and radio shows (even Hollywood actor Brad Pitt has decided he's a fan, presenting a recent documentary on Radio 2) endlessly raking over the same old facts with the same old people, once again saying just how brilliant and talented he was. And Pennyblackmusic isn't in any doubt about just how brilliant and talented he was. 'Made to Love Magic' is a posthumous Drake collection of alternate versions, new arrangements and, the most exciting of all, a long-forgotten about track called 'Tow the Line'. In short, it's a sort of companion piece to compilations like 'Time of No Reply' and 'Heaven in a Wild Flower'. The album is largely down to the work of Drake's arranger Robert Kirby who managed to dig out some of his early recordings of Drake whilst they were both studying at Cambridge. Some songs - like 'Time of No Reply' - are presented with new orchestration while some -'River Man' - are stripped back to the bare essentials of guitar and vocals. Either way, Kirby has kept in tact Drake's original melancholic beauty that yearns for sympathy. Throughout there is his despondent, shy vocals, accompanied by a plaintive guitar that drew on the Romanticsim of William Blake and the French Symbolists as well as, later, the existential thought of Albert Camus. Through all his songs, the black beauty at their centre shines through. Perhaps blackest of the lot were the final four songs that he committed to tape after he'd vowed never to record again having finished the bleak, sparse album 'Pink Moon'. 'Made to Love Magic' includes properly mixed versions of 'Voice from the Mountain' (here called 'Voices'), 'Hanging on a Star', 'Black Eyed Dog' and 'Rider on the Wheel' and all four document Drake's deteriorating mental state. And then there's the previously unreleased 'Tow the Line', apparently discovered by Kirby after he left a tape running. It's probably the last ever song that Drake ever committed to tape. Fans won't be disappointed and has all the ususal characteristics of hesitant vocals and swirling guitar picking. It isn't a long-lost classic in the calibre of 'Pink Moon' or 'Northern Sky' but it is still something of great beauty.

Track Listing:-

1 Rider On The Wheel
2 Magic (Orchestrated Version 2)
3 River Man (Cambridge Version)
4 Joey
5 Thoughts Of Mary Jane
6 Mayfair (Cambridge Version)
7 Hanging On A Star
8 Three Hours (Alternate Version)
9 Clothes Of Sand
10 Voices
11 Time Of No Reply (Orchestrated Version)
12 Black Eyed Dog
13 Tow The Line

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