Made to Love Magic

Artist: Nick Drake
Label: Fontana Island
Category: Music

Average customer rating:

Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1

UPC: 602498663189
EAN: 0602498663189
ASIN: B0001XLVMW

Release Date: 2004-06-22

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Tracks:

Rider On The Wheel
Magic
River Man
Joey
Thoughts Of Mary Jane
Mayfair
Hanging On A Star
Three Hours
Clothes Of Sand
Voices
Time Of No Reply
Black Eyed Dog
Tow The Line

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Customer Reviews:

Definitely Worth Having (If You Don't Have It Already).......2006-12-15

Nick Drake's body of work is getting a bit cannabilized at this point, having been packaged and repackaged several times over. This is yet another collection of tracks that did not make his three studio albums (or did, but this provides alternate takes). Drake was such a wonderful guitarist and had such a unique voice that anything he did is worth grabbing up, but for his diehard fans a lot of this is going to be duplication. The new listener might want to check out highlights such as "Mayfair," "Hanging On A Star," or "Black Eyed Dog." A better starting point, though, would be his actual albums: "Five Leaves Left," "Bryter Layter," and the haunting "Pink Moon."

Just great.......2006-03-20

In a nutshell - all Nick Drakes tracks are fine also all
this cd's tracks.

Excellent outtakes/rarities collection.......2005-06-03

Nick Drake was woefully overlooked during his lifetime, so much that the American music press virtually forgot him for many years ("Rolling Stone Album Guide" even dropped his name from their second edition in 1982). Fortunately, he had a small but devoted set of fans, and his admirers continued to grow, so much that his music found its way into TV commercials and critically acclaimed films. His three original albums are wonderful, but they're an unfortunately small legacy, making MADE TO LOVE MAGIC essential to anyone who's grown to love Nick Drake's music.

If you're new to Nick Drake, I'd suggest getting PINK MOON, FIVE LEAVES LEFT, and BRYTER LAYTER first. They're the only three albums fully realized by Drake before his early death. Outside of those three albums, you have your choice between this CD or an earlier CD called TIME OF NO REPLY (now out-of-print). Though they are very similar, both discs have distinct differences, and this one, MADE TO LOVE MAGIC, is the superior collection. The sequencing is better, and the song selection is a bit stronger.

So what are the differences? First of all, two songs, "Time Of No Reply" and "Magic" (titled "I Was Made To Love Magic" on the TIME OF NO REPLY disc) have been overdubbed with orchestrations on this newer CD, MADE TO LOVE MAGIC. Posthumous work on any artist's recordings is often dubious, but there are rare cases where it works. According to the liner notes, Drake knew Robert Kirby since his days at Cambridge University, and he had Kirby arrange orchestrations for "Time Of No Reply" and "Magic." Both songs were intended for his first album, FIVE LEAVES LEFT, but before Drake could record these orchestrations, he already had a surplus of songs, so Kirby's orchestrations remained on manuscript only and both songs were shelved indefinitely. Raw tracks for both songs were issued on TIME OF NO REPLY, but for this CD, the producers went back to Kirby's arrangements, recorded them, and overdubbed them on Drake's raw tracks. The results are excellent.

As for the other tracks, "Tow The Line" is a newly discovered song, and it's heard for the first time on MADE TO LOVE MAGIC. "Clothes Of Sand," "Black-Eyed Dog," "Rider On The Wheel," "Voices (aka 'Voice From The Mountain')," "Joey" and "The Thoughts Of Mary Jane" are heard in crisp, well-balanced mixes (the versions on MADE TO LOVE MAGIC had some echo and some more pronounced flanging). "The Thoughts Of Mary Jane" fades out a few seconds earlier on MADE TO LOVE MAGIC, cutting out a dissonant guitar note that ended the performance, but it's a very minor difference.

"Hanging On A Star" is presented here in a different take that is preferable for the stronger vocal (Drake actually recorded his voice and guitar separately for the first time on this recording). "Mayfair" is presented here in an earlier version - it sounds like a rough demo, and some say it's better than the 'proper' version on MADE TO LOVE MAGIC, but I actually think it's inferior. "River Man" is presented here in a pleasant solo acoustic version, and there's a nice alternate take of "Three Hours"; neither of these two are on TIME OF NO REPLY.

Several outtakes and alternate takes, including "Man In A Shed," "Fly," "Been Smoking Too Long," and "Strange Meeting II," cannot be found on MADE TO LOVE MAGIC, but are available on TIME OF NO REPLY. They're interesting, but not essential, so unless you're a completist, MADE TO LOVE MAGIC will suffice.

...and now you know my name...........2004-12-11

This beautiful cd should be rewarded a grammy , John Wood , Joe Boyd, Robert Kirby , and Gabrielle Drake accepting. This would be a fitting and deserved act to acknowledge Nick's legacy. Music awards are basically meaningless but in this case we are talking about the BEST unrecognized songwriter ever , basically ignored even though he was head and shoulders above his peers- literally and figuratively. Much of this disconnect in fate had to do with Nick's reluctance to tour and play live , again ahead of his time .

It is very cool to hear the first lines of this cd from the song Rider on the Wheel "and now you know my name" because now many people do know the music of Nick Drake , 30 years after his death I might add. If you are reading this you probably know the story , that Nick wrote and recorded some of the best music ever from 1969 to approx 1972 when he personally delivered his last recording to Island without much of an explanation. I don't think they even knew what he had dropped of until weeks later as it was difficult for him to converse with people at that point. Fortunately that recording made it to vinyl and is titled Pink Moon, probably the best voice and acoustic guitar record ever recorded. Funny how it took a snipet of the song in a Volkswagen commercial to add fuel to the fire , shows you how great his writing was. It is unfortunate that Drake did not receive the acclaim due during his short life but in a case of romantic irony Nick's path through life was set before him and any straying may have kept this music from being created in the fashion that it was , similar to the story of Van Gogh. If you have read much about Nick he was obviously consumed by music and was very introspective to the point of eccentricity . It is eerily evident that he existed in order to make these recordings as he shut himself off from much of the world , especially from 1971 to 1974. The music was all that mattered to him , not marketing etc. Fortunately after giving up music for a while Nick began to write again and he recorded much of the music on Made to Love Magic , although it was not released until well after his death.

This new cd contains many of the same songs as the last vault release "Time of No Reply" however the takes are different on many and some new arrangements have been superbly applied , mainly on the title track. Nick apparently did not like the string arrangement for this song and now on this cd Robert Kirby has corrected that for Nick , stunning piece. The take of "River Man" on this cd is really cool as well, it sounds the way it probably did when Nick was originally writing it and playing it for friends- just that wonderful voice and guitar. The version on his Five Leaves Left album is no slouch either-sheer genius . Other highlights on this cd include "Black Eyed Dog" which is a very haunting song supposedly about depression and a new song called "Tow the Line" which is really good. It is a good thing that Island can share these rare recordings as Nick Drake was a very unique writer and his fans are rabid .

Musically Drake was a paradox as well, he apparently was very obsessive about inventing new ways to tune the guitar and was able to create sounds that suited his vocal tone very well. Many of his tunings are still unknown , he did not necessarily use the stand by drop "D" or DADGAD tunings, yet another mystery to solve. Drake also used odd finger patterns -inverted thumb , odd time signatures etc. This combination of inventiveness , intuition , musical skill , and poetry is what makes Nick a must listen for anyone. I highly recommend all of his recordings , they will touch upon a part of your being that has not been explored musically.

True Magic .

companion to Time Of No Reply.......2004-10-14

I would give this CD 5 stars, but there are a few tracks that double when put with the Time Of No Reply CD. Some songs are re-worked and/or put under altered names.

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