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37th out of 44 books
—
10 voters
Nick Drake
Nick Drake was barely 26 years old when he died in 1974 following an accidental overdose of prescribed drugs. The British singer-songwriter made only three albums during his short life - Five Leaves Left, Bryter Layter and Pink Moon. All are now recognized as classics.
Since his death, Nick has been cited as a seminal influence by stars as diverse as REM, Elton John, and P...more
Since his death, Nick has been cited as a seminal influence by stars as diverse as REM, Elton John, and P...more
Paperback, 288 pages
Published
September 4th 1999
by Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
(first published 1997)
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Nick Drake is in the top 10 of my all time favorite singer-songwriters. One of his gifts, I think, was the innate soulfulness of not just the lyrics and of his voice, but also of his chord changes. You can take a song like "Saturday Sun" and play it in a blues and contemporary gospel vein (as I do) and not have to do much in the way of chord substitution. The blue notes and the funk are already built into the chord changes of the song. I love him for that. I adore his use of really flavorful dim...more
The Biography Nick Drake By Patrick Humphries
This is a great Biography on Nick Drake one of
the more misunderstood and mysterious characters
to come out of the 60's music scene this book
delves deep into Nicks short life from a young
and gifted athlete at Marlborough College where
his sprinting records lasted for over 20 years!!
To seeing the Rolling Stones in Marrakesh where
he even found them and busked for them at there
hotel!! Not bad for someone always described as
shy and withdrawn!
To go...more
This is a great Biography on Nick Drake one of
the more misunderstood and mysterious characters
to come out of the 60's music scene this book
delves deep into Nicks short life from a young
and gifted athlete at Marlborough College where
his sprinting records lasted for over 20 years!!
To seeing the Rolling Stones in Marrakesh where
he even found them and busked for them at there
hotel!! Not bad for someone always described as
shy and withdrawn!
To go...more
I like the odd tune by Nick Drake, but I find much of what he did a bit dull. I think that, to appreciate Nick Drake’s work fully, you’d need to have a proper liking of dreamy acoustic guitar music generally absent from my tastes. I know I wouldn’t have read this book had I not come across in my fave bookshop ‘the charity shop’. I put off reading it for a few years. Well, I got through it, and it was interesting enough, I guess, for somebody like Nick Drake, who led a generally unremarkable life...more
Ok, well may start by saying that while Patrick Humphries is a perfectly competent writer, I thoroughly believe that, (A) He knows nothing about Nick or his music and had absolutely no passion for the man or his music. And (B) He has done little or no research for this book.
The content of this book seems to be largely the same tired old rehashed "Nick Drake was a legendary tortured soul who disappeared in to a world that didnt understand him" nonsense. What everyone seems to forget is that Nic...more
The content of this book seems to be largely the same tired old rehashed "Nick Drake was a legendary tortured soul who disappeared in to a world that didnt understand him" nonsense. What everyone seems to forget is that Nic...more
I enjoy Nick Drake's music, and I appreciate what Patrick Humphries is trying to do, but I just don't think it works. Unfortunately, Nick Drake's life wasn't all that remarkable. It's sad to think of such a young, talented person dying in such a tragic way, but other than his dramatic death, it doesn't seem like much else went on in his life. His family life was happy, his school career was normal, etc. Add to this the fact that he was rarely interviewed, and we have a book written on what seems...more
I didn't pick up this book as a Nick Drake fan. Although Nick Drake's name faintly rang a bell, I hadn't known anything about him really and a quick look at Wikipedia told me, he was this depressed guy, who died when he was only 26.
But fortunately Patrick Humphries doesn't concentrate only on those dark days in the last years of his short life, which were undeniably there. No, he found school mates from the public school Nick went to and also friends from his time at Cambridge, who draw the pict...more
But fortunately Patrick Humphries doesn't concentrate only on those dark days in the last years of his short life, which were undeniably there. No, he found school mates from the public school Nick went to and also friends from his time at Cambridge, who draw the pict...more
5/20 - started wonderfully, got a bit repetitive and betrayed its bloated-Mojo feature milieu but then at the end it got into some more of the technical stuff about his guitar-playing which was incredible and i'd love to read some more about that - overall, really great, especially the first half (but maybe that's because I got most of that in in one sitting? Again, Mojo feature, yknow?)
5/19 - Now it's getting great! I think I'd read all of the primary sources this is mostly written from, but as...more
5/19 - Now it's getting great! I think I'd read all of the primary sources this is mostly written from, but as...more
I didn't actually like this book at all. It's hard to "like" books about nice young men from ordinary backgrounds who happen to be brilliant musicians and also suicidally depressed and so kill themselves. It's a perfectly fine book, but it proves two things very conclusively: 1)people who make beautiful music don't necessarily have exciting lives and 2)depression and suicide are not interesting, glamorous or romantic, they're just miserable and tragic. Not that I personally needed to have the la...more
Loving scrapbook
270 pages long Patrick Humphries collects in this 1997 biography all he could find about the singer songwriter and put it together: anecdotes of rare performances, descriptions of ads in music magazines, a solid and complete discography, he talks with Francoise Hardy about her contact with Nick Drake and discusses every release (unfortunately only 3 albums of course) but also the records that are in the Island catalog numbered before and after Drakes albums! Humphries has an incr...more
270 pages long Patrick Humphries collects in this 1997 biography all he could find about the singer songwriter and put it together: anecdotes of rare performances, descriptions of ads in music magazines, a solid and complete discography, he talks with Francoise Hardy about her contact with Nick Drake and discusses every release (unfortunately only 3 albums of course) but also the records that are in the Island catalog numbered before and after Drakes albums! Humphries has an incr...more
this book covers the life and works of one of my all-time favorite composers and musicians, nick drake. patrick humphries wrote this book quite nicely -- somehow he manages to tie in the emotional obsession with nick along with all the factual data about how/where/when he grew up.
there's also quite a bit of interesting information about the cultural/social/environmental climate surrounding nick's life - the political goings-on as well as a bit of history of rock for those interested. for instan...more
there's also quite a bit of interesting information about the cultural/social/environmental climate surrounding nick's life - the political goings-on as well as a bit of history of rock for those interested. for instan...more
Listening to Pink Moon over and over, I had to try to find out more about Nick Drake. "Parasite" crept into my consciousness day and night for a couple of weeks. I began to suspect myself of a shallow form of sick happiness and rampant self-disgust. I was untrue to Nick. I left him where I wanted him, pathetically written off to the wastes of biography. I am always so untrue to Nick Drake when I think about him.
Humphries provides us with a rare, if not complete, insight into the mind of Nick Drake, and his bizarre decline from outgoing young boy to social reclusion and offers interesting insight into his artistic process through the minds of the producers and musicians he worked with — Joe Boyd to Richard Thompson.
Aug 05, 2011
Anna Chapman
added it
Really interesting account of a singer who is still relatively unknown to a lot of people. It gave a good insight into his troubles and the enigma that still surrounds his music. A very deep character and consequently quite an interesting personal story to read about.
I found this book a disappointing read.I did not feel that I actually gained any knowledge of Nick Drake as a person which was what I was looking for in this book.
As a music biography it does its job but Nick Drake just isn't a particularly interesting subject even for someone like me who is a big fan of his music.
A sad story about a misunderstood talented artist who decided to jump ship in this mortal coil with only a couple hours of intriquing music.
very nice book about this British Musician. Very loving tribute. I learned tons about him and have a greater love for the songs and his albums.
Jul 20, 2009
Tara
marked it as to-read
His story breaks my heart; what a wonderful talent. Reading this as soon as I can get my hands on it.
Like Mojo wrote...a short sweet and sad story.
A good account of Drake's life and work.
This book was such a romanticized piece of garbage playing on the (unfairly) romanticized mythos of Drake's untimely death. Since he seems to have been a fairly private guy, all the book really provides is contradictory conjecture about the man's life, and by the end one finds that the book hasn't really taught you anything about Drake, what he did with his life, or what kind of person he was. All you get really is a lot of other people's guesses as to what Drake was like. This was a real piece...more
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A beautiful account of the tragically short life of a man unloved in his time. Drake's story is perfectly told with respect given to the smallest of details which helped to shape his life.
Jun 25, 2008
Rand
added it
Very good book on a man who left 3 albums behind,as well as very little clues as to what happens to a troubled soul.
I thought I would learn something about his life..apparently he didn't talk much. Fans only.
This is one of the saddest books I've ever read though it is written beautifully.
Jan 07, 2008
Randy Costanza
added it
Oh Nick Drake...... "Which Will" goes through my head at least thirty times a day..
Chronologically confusing, but otherwise well-written with nice pictures.
As interested as I was the writing, was really uninteresting.
Sad, sad, sad...
May 21, 2013
Haven
added it
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