Nick Drake
Second ever single release: 'River Man'
release date: 13 th September 2004
“…Drake is one of English music’s untouchables: a diffident bard whose three albums from the late 1960s and early 1970s have become a touchstone for any singer-songwriter with an acoustic guitar, a grasp of the bucolic and a deceptively genteel…take on melancholia…the sense of an introvert struggling to articulate hopelessness with dignity and restraint is what, still, makes his music so irreducibly moving.”
The Times 22 May 04
On Sept 13 th 2004 Island records will release ‘River Man’, the second ever single release of a Nick Drake song. Taken from his debut album ‘Five Leaves Left’ and also featured on the forthcoming ‘Best Of’ collection ‘A Treasury’ (4th October ) ‘River Man’ is one of Nick Drake’s best known and most haunting songs.
Arranged by Harry Robinson and produced by Joe Boyd, the single will be available in CD and 7” vinyl formats. The enhanced CD will feature ‘River Man’, a cover of the Nick Drake song ‘Day Is Done’ by Norah Jones and a pop promo for ‘River Man’, which has been put together by renowned video director Tim Pope (The Cure, Talk Talk, Soft Cell, The The etc.) Combining classic photographs of Nick by Keith Morris with newly commissioned work by Paul Rider, Tim has made his own impressionistic film about Nick Drake and the world of ‘River Man’. The 7” vinyl format of the single will feature both the original album version and the demo version of ‘River Man’.
In May 2004 the first ever single release of a Nick Drake song ‘Magic’ entered the UK chart at No 32. Taken from an album of rarities and remixes entitled ‘Made To Love Magic’, ‘Magic’s success was aided and abetted by a Radio 2 documentary narrated by Hollywood film actor and Nick Drake fan Brad Pitt.
A singular talent who passed almost unnoticed during his brief lifetime, Nick Drake produced three studio albums of sombre beauty: FIVE LEAVES LEFT (1969), BRYTER LAYTER (1970), and PINK MOON (1972). It’s impossible to keep count of the contemporary artists who cite Drake as an inspiration, but a cursory round-up includes R.E.M., Paul Weller, Travis, Portishead, The Coral, Coldplay, David Gray, Super Furry Animals and Beth Orton. Along with household names of his creative lifetime – the Stones, The Beatles, Marley, Hendrix – his albums have become an unofficial set text for anyone passionate about music.