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Made to Love Magic

Nick Drake - Made to Love Magic Audio CD

A fair review of the Nick Drake "Made to Love Magic" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Nick Drake reviews here, or go back to the Nick Drake tabs.

Band: Nick Drake
Title: Made to Love Magic
Rating:

Release Date: 2004-06-22
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Rider on the Wheel 2: Magic 3: River Man 4: Joey 5: Thoughts of Mary Jane 6: Mayfair 7: Hanging on a Star 8: Three Hours 9: Clothes of Sand 10: Voices 11: Time of No Reply 12: Black Eyed Dog 13: Tow the Line

The essential Nick Drake album
But that was always the edge of Drake's work. Made to Love Magic is both definitive and tentative. In a way, this album sounds like the world's best demo album.

There are amazing songs on this album. It's like Nick playing for you in your living room. That intimacy gives this album its fragile beauty, and it's also why Drake could never become a pop star.

Drake's acoustic guitar work in this album is nothing less than astounding.

Certainly, Drake was a conflicted person. The song "Three Hours" describes the dark side of a gay slave and victim world. The songs "Joey" and "Clothes of Sand" slide between genders. Who knows. And who cares. The tragedy of love knows no gender or skin color.

Regardless, Drake's vulnerable beauty could never assult the tough walls of the pop world. And that's why this is one of the best acoustic songwriter albums, period.

Made to love magic (Nicholas Rodney Drake) cd review
Strange album

This would seem to be an attempt to update the earlier Time of No Reply album. Hm. There are a couple repeat tracks from that album (like Joey, Thoughts of Mary Jane) that reappear on this. And I would swear that the odd repeat is a second or 2 longer! perhaps they mastered differently

First, the new song (Towing/Toeing the line) - its great. Its been heard on bootleg for years (well, the guitar backing track) but its a superb song, found by engineer John Wood after long years (since recorded in February 1974 to be precise)

And Nick sets down his guitar at the end, so that would seem to be the last of "new" tracks

For years before the release of the 4 (now 5) 1974 tracks (Hanging on a star, Rider on the wheel, Black eyed dog, Voice from the mountain, Towing the line)on Time of No Reply it was always said the tracks were destroyed in accord with Nicks wishes

This is very odd cos the version of Rider on the Wheel here is very different from the songs first release on Time of no reply! It has different vocals for a start, and intro (maybe Nick did more than one take?)

It would seem theres a lot of stuff thats unreleased. Mojo Magazine noted some years back there were 100 hours of Nick on tape, stuff he recorded at Tanworth in Arden. . .

So, if you are into Nick, you will need to get this. Of course a lot of this will be familiar (Three Hours originally appeared on Five Leaves Left, the jam on the song here seems to feature Chris Wood from Traffic on flute!)

And the version of Mayfair is a little different from the earlier performance of the song on Time of no reply (no whistling!)

The Rykodisc issue of Time of no reply now seems to be out of print, so this is the one to buy. Check out Time of no reply though. Although this Magic package has nice liners, so too does Time (its liners talk about Nicks work tape, from which a lot of this stuff comes, and also includes lyrics for the (then) 4 1974 tracks)

That being said, the best stuff seems to be only available on bootleg, like the fingerpicked version of Place to be. That not turning up on the Family Tree (2007) album was a sin. .

So after
picking up this album, buy Time of no reply (its liners include lyrics, notes on the recordings). Then try to find the two volumes of Time has told me (with 2 (incomplete) tracks of Nick playing on the BBC) along with Tanworth in Arden v2

Give Family Tree a pass. Its not really worth listening to, though the liner notes by Nicks sister are wonderful

Just a shame the fingerpicked Place to be was left off.

This Is Magic
Nick Drake put simply was (and still in my mind is) the greatest folk singer Britain has ever produced. The tragic genius that he was, so unknown during his lifetime and now celebrated and rightly so. Forget, Fairport Convention and Vashti Bunyan, Nick is the real deal.

His music moves me in ways no artist has ever done. The autumnal beauty of his songs take me on a journey through his life, I feel like I'm standing in that recording studio with him on "Pink Moon" and I feel his breath on "Five Leaves Left". Currently I don't own "Bryter Layter" but that is my life's top priority at the moment, screw everything else, I won't be a complete human being till I own every song Nick's voice appears on.

Some people may see this as a bit over the top, but if they listen to this album they will see my point. A collection of rarities and previously unreleased b-sides "Made To Love Magic" is a worthy eulogy to Nick's grandeur. Every song is flawless.

There are three immediate distinctions of Nick's music: his voice, guitar style and unique sound.

His voice is husky and changes over the course of his catalogue. This collection has a wide array of his vocal timbres as many were recorded in the desperation of his last days. Chilling, yes, but a lot of hope can be heard in his depressing voice. It has a very quaint English accent to it and sounds very feminine.

I consider Nick to be the greatest guitarist that ever lived, unlike Hendrix or Cobain he never had to rely on mass amplification and fuzz that overshadowed the techinical ability of their playing. Nick's solely acoustic playing adds a new dimension to music, his tunings were simply genius and have basically never been repeated. He plays the guitar with such finesse and intuition it often takes away from the integrity of his lyrics.

I have never heard folk music sound so unique, the string infusion into Nick's music on his earlier music especially give folk a lushness never heard before or again since. This collection picks up on that well. These b-sides rival any of Nick's album work.

Nothing Nick has done could be called bad. While this is an amazing collection I am still under the agreement that "Pink Moon" is his best work.

Serendipity
I fell in love with "The Northern Sky" and they also use the beginning of the song "Black Eyed Dog" here and there about the movie. I first discovered Nick Drakes music while watching the movie Serendipity. His music Haunted me, I downloaded them and listened to them and continue to this day to listen to his words.
I never read anything on him until today, I didnt even know he passed. His music formed new meaning as I discovered more and more about his life.

.

Simply Magical
I stumbled across this CD a week or so after visiting Tanworth in Arden and Nicks grave. a coincidence I am sure but still !!!

This does Nick justice, and everyone involved in putting this compilation together should be proud of their achievements.

The fact that many of the tracks on this CD did not make an 'official' appearance when nick was alive does NOT diminish them

If you have never heard Nick Drake before then this is as good a place to start. . . then go and buy Five Leaves Left.

You can see a complete list of all Nick Drake discography, or go back to the Nick Drake tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.