NICK DRAKE
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Nick Leese ran the wonderful Heyday Mail Order service for many years, and he's been part of the music business for far longer than that.
In 'Recollection Box', Nick will occasionally be sharing a few of his favourite stories, bands, albums and more with followers of Fruits de Mer....
NICK DRAKE / 80s US BANDS / 60S UK PSYCH
I remember the day I bought my first Nick Drake album, it was in the mid 80s from a second hand record shop in London and it was the compilation 'Heaven In A Wild Flower'. I'd never heard of Nick Drake before and was intrigued by the cover. A little bit Donovan in appearance, Jim Morrison perhaps? A stark, tilted black and white image of just his face, his name and the album title - but what did his music sound like? The notes printed on the back of the sleeve convinced me this was worth hearing, hinting at introspective songwriting and a talent overlooked at the time, but here in your hands was a selection of songs ready for rediscovery. I sensed a lost treasure. Handing over the album at the counter to make my payment I heard a slight snigger from the members of staff. Having been mocked before by friends when I got into The Stones in the late 70s ('...what do you want to listen to that old stuff for?') and the lasting effect that band had on me, I was pretty sure I must be onto something again. Listening later, indeed I was, but this was a different listening experience. Deeper, maybe a little unnerving, and requiring concentration. The more time I spent with it, the more I felt I could relate to the songs. I was living in London and the images of 'At The Chime Of A City Clock' I could see all around me. I was also by then quite into blues music too, and although Nick's music wasn't strictly following traditional blues patterns, his lyrics definitely had that 'feel' for blues, he obviously had listened to it. Some were slightly obscure leaving me to form my own interpretations, and I could – but again, what about the music? The playing and arrangements were perfect, everything well thought out, nothing else was needed. Complete. Mesmerising!
NICE TO HEAR AGAIN...
R.E.M. / Fables Of The Reconstruction
CD My favourite R.E.M. album. For 'Fables' the band decided to explore American roots music, but strangely, recorded it in London with Joe Boyd. There's a melancholy atmosphere to the album, but it's not depressing. Perhaps the non-stop touring and recording had burned the band out a little by the time they got to begin recording the album? I do remember reading that being in London didn't agree with the band - you know what the British weather can be like! Listening again to those opening strains of 'Feeling Gravity's Pull', I remember I was lucky to catch the band on the 'Fables' tour and this track live felt like listening to the soundtrack to the end of the world (...as we know it...) – heavy! 'Maps And Legends', 'Old Man Kensey', 'Green Grow The Rushes' and 'Good Advices' are all also holding up well over time. On a good day I believe 'Life And How To Live It' may possibly be the best song ever... There's something enigmatic about this album. The 'odd one out' in R.E.M.'s history. All artists seem to have one such album and they're usually the ones I'm drawn to the most. I recall it being remaindered here in the UK not long after its release. Where's the justice...
Green On Red / Here Come The Snakes (2CD)
One of the best albums released by a 80's 'Paisley Underground' related band, though they were never typical of that scene. This album was a move away from their earlier Neil Young slant. It was recorded in Memphis and produced by Jim Dickinson. Dan Stuart is a more than capable writer and his delivery of the lyrics on 'Snakes' is emotional. They're dealing with the breakdown of a recent relationship. 'Blood On The Tracks Revisited'? 'Morning Blue', 'Broken Radio', 'Way Back Home' and 'Tenderloin' – all his feelings are laid bare in song. He's ably assisted by Chuck Prophet on guitar, who manages to translate Stuart's emotions musically. The influence of Keith Richards is everywhere on the album, particularly in Prophet's playing, which is probably the reason why I admire this album as much as I do. Apparently Stuart & Prophet had been listening to tracks on a Keith bootleg when recording 'Snakes' and zeroed in on the now country standard, 'We Had It All'. They recorded their version of the track for 'Snakes' - one take. It's perfect. It's the final song. It's heart-wrenching. Listen and weep. This double disc edition from 2005 features a plethora of outtakes and early versions of songs, but blink and you'd easily have missed it, it disappeared fairly quickly after release. What the....?
Straitjacket Fits / Melt CD (1990)
It's been a while, but good to listen to this again. Early Straitjacket Fits recordings could be a little 'rough around the edges', but by 1990 the band now had Gavin MacKillop producing, and were pretty much peaking with the lush sounding 'Melt'. Shayne Carter's songs, now with echo-y vocals and swirling guitars, had a new depth to them. 'Bad Note For A Heart' and 'Missing Presumed Drowned' still sound as good now as the first time I heard them. He seemed to be more in control of his angst - better at channelling it. There was also the dreamy, melodic songwriting of Andrew Brough, as balance. 'Hand In Mine' and especially 'Down In Splendour' simply chime. 'Down In Splendour' is a masterpiece. Still brings a lump to the throat every time I hear it. Good video too. I think Gavin MacKillop sprinkled quite a bit of 'fairy dust' on the songs. It was around this time he was about to work with The Church on 'Priest = Aura' too and how 'grand' that album still sounds! He had the magic touch. These were the albums that were the 'new psych' for me at the time, cutting a new path for the genre instead of rehashing it.
Plasticland CDs
It all started with a little time on my hands one day recently and suddenly, hey, how about hearing a bit of Plasticland again? One of the most unusual psych bands from the 80s, but seemingly a best kept secret. Glenn Rehse - a unique vocalist and lyricist, very imaginative. The way he twists his voice around the words he sings reminds me of Captain Beefheart. It can also sound quite chilling at times! I never quite got on with his later Fabulon Triptometer project, it was music further than I was capable of listening to at the time. Can't fault his work with Plasticland. Of course, don't forget John Frankovic's contribution too, and his addition to the general Plasticland weirdness. I didn't mind his later solo release 'Under The Water Lily'. So, here I am on my hands and knees again pulling out my Plasticland discs as just listening to just the one album isn't enough. Luckily I still have that time on my hands, otherwise I'd have to make it! Plasticland - you're worth it!
PSYCHEDELIC SHUFFLE
Remember making compilations, either for your own pleasure or as a gift to further 'spread the word'? Compared to the instant 'push-button' technology available today for such things, it's now hard to believe how much of an effort you made to make these things. Firstly spending time amassing the necessary vinyl in a neat pile next to the sound system. Then there was the careful consideration of running order. Finally, the recording, checking levels and space remaining etc. All in all, probably well over two hours spent to compile a 90 minute tape, or later, an 80 minute minidisc, woooo – the big advancement at the time, believe me! I must have made hundreds and that was before I began trading tapes too! Although those days are now gone, and time returned, there are a handful I made that I've kept. One compilation was of my favourite psych tracks to listen to while travelling. Looking at the selection now from a few years on, I still stand by my choices, despite having listened to, and moved on from, a fair bit of music since. First love...
‘Interstellar Overdrive’ (Pink Floyd) From Syd’s crashing chords at ‘take-off’ to Nick Mason’s drum roll to signal the descent…Superb! I first heard this when I was about 15 and bought ‘Relics’ on cassette - no record player yet. That weekend I also saw ‘Wicker Man’ for the first time on TV. The person I was when I went into that weekend wasn't the one that emerged from it! It was a heavy overload for the senses!
‘We Love You’ & ‘2000 Light Years From Home’ (Rolling Stones) Psychedelia never really suited The Stones, but these two tracks are probably their best stabs at the genre. Both driven by a strong bass & drum pattern, and of course Brian Jones on mellotron.
‘Eight Miles High’ & ‘Why’ (Byrds) I first heard 'Eight Miles High' in the late 70’s on a radio programme called ‘The Rock ‘n’ Roll Years’. Every week I’d record the show. The '1966' programme featured this song interspersed with news clips discussing drug use among the youth of the time. I hadn’t a clue what the song was called, I labelled it ‘Drug Song’. Roll on a few years and while lying in bed with the radio playing I heard the same song, but this time sung by Bryan Ferry. When it was over the DJ gave the song’s title. I took note and discovered it was originally performed by a band called The Byrds. The Guinness Book of Hit Singles and Albums was the Google of the day for musical information! I found and bought a Byrds singles compilation and thus began a love of the 12 string Rickenbacker sound! ’Why’ (the single version) was also on the collection and became a firm favourite too. Cool, driving ‘Eastern’ styled rhythms…
‘Strange Days’ (Doors) A short while after starting college I remember asking a fellow student what music he was into, believe it or not things like that were important then. They could make or break friendships. All rather shallow now, looking back. Well, after reeling off a few names that immediately passed the 'friendship test', he also mentioned in a very cool manner ‘The Doors’. I'll never forget that moment – it seemed like a message for me, a sign. At that time my tastes were for the more obvious Stones, Beatles & Kinks . I was curious to hear 'The Doors', and promptly bought the first album I could find by them - ‘Strange Days’. Still my favourite. I spent hot summer days in the flat I rented, lying on a mattress on the floor playing this track over and over. Something eerie in Morrison’s voice. This was the early 80s, and the time of the Sugerman-Hopkins book 'No One Here Gets Out Alive'. The Morrison myths were being built and I was willing to catch that particular zeitgeist.
‘Paper Sun’ (Traffic) Another song I heard on the radio during my college days. I love the sound of the sitar. It was a warm spring morning, and the song fitted the mood perfectly. This time, the DJ didn’t mention the band or the song after it finished, but I gathered it was called ‘Paper Sun’. Back to the book shop and Guinness Book of Hit Singles and Albums. ‘Paper Sun’ - Traffic. Noted. Hotfooted it to my local record shop and bought the single.
‘See My Friends’ (Kinks) The Kinks were a band I got into quite early in my music listening, around the time I was listening to The Stones quite heavily. My elder brother suggested that if I liked The Stones, I’d like The Kinks - it was that simple. Probably his intention was to get me to listen to something else and give everyone a break! Still one of my all time favourite bands. Again, it was the Eastern sounds that drew me to this song, and this typifies psychedelia for me, conveniently leading to…
‘A Child’s Guide to Good & Evil’ (West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band) & ‘Dark Side Of The Mushroom’ (Chocolate Watchband) By the 80s and 90s there was a surge in compilations available of (then) 60s musical obscurities. I was hungry to hear more mind bending sounds and these albums, once I knew of their existence, were now the ones to seek out. 'Nuggets', 'Pebbles' and many more of slightly dubious origin - I lapped them up! I probably stumbled on these two tracks from such releases, although I do remember buying the Watchband's 'Forty Four' on vinyl in Liverpool around that time. I was getting more into the U.S. psych scene after hearing The Byrds and The Doors. ‘The rest of the world is wrong, don't let anyone change you’, how that line still resonates...
‘Can You Travel In The Dark Alone’ & ‘I Watch The Moon’ (Gandalf) I heard these songs much later, when living in London. Thank you Sundazed. They’re the standout tracks of their self-titled album. It remains for me a mellow ‘late night’ listen. Cool cover too.
‘Burning Of The Midnight Lamp’ & ‘Are You Experienced’ (Jimi Hendrix Experience) Not a week goes by without some Hendrix playing in this place! These are two of my favourite tracks by him, although as I've delved deeper into his work over the years, more of the later material now appeals. It's all about the 'feel' with Hendrix. What he could do with the songs he didn't write was also amazing -'Watchtower'. Oh, to have heard what he could have done with a track like 'Gimme Shelter', now there's a thought...
‘Itchycoo Park’ (Small Faces), ‘Happenings Ten Years Time Ago’ (Yardbirds), ‘Defecting Grey’ (Pretty Things) I could have chosen several Small Faces tracks, but this one wins out for its ‘feel good’ factor. ’Happenings…’ is a real freakout and an example of how far reaching The Yardbirds could be. Imagine this being released as a single in the mid 60s? Makes you realise how safe everything has become since then. The ‘push and pull’ of ‘Defecting Grey’ has the ‘whimsy’ of the British psych movement, but with a hidden ‘killer’ punch. I always thought LSD made the British bands hark back to childhood and nursery rhymes, while it took the American bands into space and beyond!
‘Tomorrow Never Knows’ & ‘Rain’ (Beatles) 'Tomorrow Never Knows'. The beginning of psychedelia? I think so. Ringo’s drumming - hypnotic. The whole tape loop thing, Lennon’s Leslie ‘speakered’ voice. A giant leap in popular music, but now it needed to be called something else. Dylan had hinted at this a year earlier. Things were moving away from 'pop' and new boundaries were being drawn up. An exciting time. 'Rain' is its perfect 'drone-laden' companion - more forwards and backwards malarky. Whatever was going on in the heads of those lads?
A few years later I transferred this compilation to minidisc and the shuffle button gave me endless hours of fun! I also made a similar collection of my favourite neo-psych tracks from the 80s and 90s, and a bit beyond. Maybe that's for another time, gotta go for now.
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