'Way to Blue: The Songs of Nick Drake'

[Maurice]

Tomorrow's performance at the Barbican is sold out. There may still be tickets for Warwick Arts Centre on Saturday.



http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/m...ed-a-star.html



'Mystique that created a star'

by Peter Culshaw:



Symptomatic of his increasing popularity is a tour, curated by Joe Boyd, as a tribute to Drake's work.



It features a stellar cast, including Danny Thompson (who played bass on Drake's first album, FIVE LEAVES LEFT), Green Gartside, Teddy Thomson, Martha Wainwright, Robin Hitchcock (who has recorded a song I SAW NICK DRAKE) and the highly-rated young American singer Krystle Warren - all of whom revere Drake's music intensely......



Danny Thompson, who also played bass on John Martyn's classic SOLID AIR, which is about Drake, says:



"Ultimately, it's the real beauty of his music that draws people in and his stunning guitar playing, which was so clean."



But Thompson also recognises that Drake's tragically short life gives him a glamorous allure. There are, he points out, no videos of Drake, which "makes people use their imagination" about him, and he believes that without the powerful mystique that came to surround him after he died, he might not have enjoyed this level of success.

[Freddy]

A tad late but willl be on i player



23:20 The Culture Show

Verity Sharp presents from the Celtic Connections festival in Glasgow, which is paying tribute to singer-songwriter Nick Drake 35 years after his death.



Also



BBC - Celtic Connections 2010 - Way To Blue, Songs of Nick Drake



Wednesday 20th January sees a group of musicians gather at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall to pay tribute to the legendary singer-songwriter Nick Drake, in a concert curated by Drake's producer, Joe Boyd.



The Culture Show filmed an item about the concert, and we've managed to track down full length edits of a couple of the tracks used in the show: Which Will, featuring Vashti Bunyan on vocals and Neill MacColl on guitar; and Fruit Tree, with Green Gartside on vox and Drake's original compadre Danny Thompson on bass.

[billy bentley]

I think Danny hit the nail on the head regarding Drake's mystique. The late Keith Morris's photographs couldn't have hurt either. Having said both of those things, Drake's records are very special and genuinely (for me) beyond compare.

[penfold]

I would be surprised if Martha Wainwright is there, as her mother died three days ago...

[Owlett]

Been into his stuff for 20 years. Unfortunately, name-checking him has been de rigueur for countless bands (usually earnest young men with beards) whose objective seems merely to convince all and any who will listen, how very sad they are.



Recall reading an interview with his Sister -the delectable Gabrielle- that there was a Disney biopic proposed some years back, before even, his current cult-celeb status burgeoned.

[Steve Crook]

name='Freddy']A tad late but willl be on i player



23:20 The Culture Show

Verity Sharp presents from the Celtic Connections festival in Glasgow, which is paying tribute to singer-songwriter Nick Drake 35 years after his death.



Also



BBC - Celtic Connections 2010 - Way To Blue, Songs of Nick Drake

I watched that last night. It seemed a well intentioned exercise but seemed to be just lots of people singing softly and quietly and not really managing to evoke the spirit of Nick Drake at all



Steve

[billy bentley]

It's got be near impossible to replicate what Nick Drake did on those records. For all we know he might not have been able to replicate it on stage himself. There's a feeling there, a special-ness, call it what you will... I have thousands of records and none of them are like Nick Drake's, just as well in some cases "James Brown - A Tribute To Nick Drake" might not have been such a good idea !

[Nick Dando]

I'm a much more recent convert to Nick Drake. Here is a link to something rather special.

Picturing Nick Drake back on tour | Art and design | The Guardian

When will we be able to hear this piece of music?

Nick