2007, Tsunami Label Group
Yet another posthumous release by Nick Drake suffers from poor sound (and song) quality. In addition, several songs feature Drake’s mother and sister, which goes along with the title but detracts from the fact that it’s a Nick Drake album.
The songs on this release were recorded by Drake at his home in Tanworth on a reel-to-reel long before he recorded his first album, Five Leaves Left. The songs on the record have been, for the most part, accessible to fans on various bootlegs thanks to the willingness of his family to share his tapes with polite fans. This is the first professional mastering released of these songs, although it is not a spectacular leap in quality.
Noticeably missing from the album is the version of Bob Dylan’s “Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright” present in the bootleg recordings and fan-made compilations. This collection contains a surprisingly large number of songs Nick Drake wrote himself, showing that he was writing music long before he even had a recording career.
This album is really only for NIck Drake completists like myself. If you’re trying to get into Nick Drake, start with the three albums he was alive to see released. Nothing he recorded will ever top those records.
C+
Adding further insult, one of the songs included on this album was ALREADY RELEASED. “Been Smoking Too Long” was present on the first posthumous Nick Drake release, Time Of No Reply.