A huge new four-disc examination of Nick Drake’s seminal debut album ‘Five Leaves Left’ has been confirmed.
The record was released in the summer of 1969, matching Nick Drake’s incredible artistry as a guitar to his blossoming potency as a songwriter. Housed in beautiful arrangements, the record failed to break through, but achieving a devoted cult audience over time.
Everyone from R.E.M. to Laura Marling and beyond have fallen under Nick Drake’s spell, with the brevity of his output – the songwriter sadly died in 1974 with just three albums to his name – if anything enhancing the magic.
The Making Of Five Leaves Left’ is a project some nine years in gestation, a four-disc examination of this fabled record. The original Joe Boyd produced tapes have been spruced up, with the story of the record set to be told with some incredible extras, many of which will be released for the first time.
This Nick Drake Estate authorised edition arrives on July 25th via UMR/Island Records, and it includes material from two new outside sources, plus music uncovered through a wholesale re-ordering of the Universal tape library.
Gems include Nick’s first ever session at Sound Techniques, taken from a mono listening-reel which close friend Beverley Martyn stored over fifty years ago. The box set also includes the much-discussed reel recorded at Caius College by Cambridge acquaintance Paul de Rivaz, with the whole set being mastered by John Wood and Simon Heywood.
‘The Making Of Five Years Left’ will contain a lavishly illustrated 60-page book; written by Neil Storey in collaboration with Richard Morton-Jack – who released the acclaimed Nick Drake biography The Life – it contains fresh insight into the songwriter’s brief but artistically outstanding life.
