Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #27630 in Books
• Published on: 1998-09-24
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

Synopsis
A biography of the British singer songwriter who died aged twenty six, having made three albums, all now recognised as classics.

Customer Reviews

Fascinating but badly written
This book is worth reading if you're a Nick Drake fan because there is a fair bit of research and a lot of interviews with his friends and colleagues and it builds a picture of the tormented life and death of a gifted and tragic young man. Where it is let down is in the writing style and structure:
- it jumps about too much chronologically
- there is a lot of repetition (eg we are told twice, in successive paragraphs, that Churchill nicknamed his depression "a black dog")
- he is hampered by an inability to quote Drake's wonderful lyrics that would have illuminated and enriched the book's theme; instead the author tries to wax lyrical himself, not particularly effectively
- there is too much scene painting, trying to capture the mood of the 60s and 70s pop culture - much of the references are obscure and fairly narrow in scope
- it's hard to escape but there is a lot of speculation, about Drake's motivations, influences, sexuality, drug use
- the lack of cooperation from the Drake family is unfortunate as it limits the amount of childhood background that could be so revealing
- there is not enough technical data on his tunings and songwriting techniques, guitars and playing style - which are unique and also his drug habit and medical history.
- there is a tendency to laziness in comparing Drake to other "victims" of the music industry eg Hendrix and Joplin. The comparison with Robert Johnson is a bit ridiculous (by the author's own admission)although interesting.
Humphries doesn't come across as a particularly big fan of Drake (this isn't important) and I didn't find the work to be hagiographic but there is little room for a view of Drake as a spoilt, upper-middle class, public school boy who couldn't bear it that his debut album didn't receive universal acclaim and guarantee stardom. I don't think that's the case but I'm sure there are those near him who may have felt that at the time.
Don't let this put you off - I'm glad I read the book and discovered what many contemporary musicians thought of Drake, his therapeutic driving excursions and the way Island recorded his stuff and managed him. There is just so much superfluous, mixed up baggage in this book that, as in his short life, it is sometimes a surprise when Drake just appears unannounced on the page. There's a better biography to be written.

Slightly repetitive but otherwise brilliant biography
Having recently been introduced to Nick Drake, I was held entranced by this account of his oh so short life and career. I agree with other reviewers that it is slightly repetitive at times, but feel that Humphries has got the essentials of ND's life and the times in which he lived just about perfectly right. The trivia he includes throughout is all at least tangentially relevant and, to me, all rather fascinating; such as the fact that Chris de Burgh was in the year below Drake at Marlborough, and as an overkeen upstart was spurned by our hero. All in all an essential read, particularly for those who have come lete to his music and knew little of his life, which was simultaneously inspirational and deeply tragic.

What a load
I recently picked this up, having been a huge ND fan. It is one of the worst books I have ever read. Not only is it repetative, filled with completely irrelevent information and lots of very simplified history from the period, but it is clear that the writer has no idea what he is on about. The language is laughable, at one point referring to Wadworth's bitter as a "potent brew" - FFS!! It completely stereotypes the whole of Nick's upbringing - I never knew the guy nor was I alive during the period but can still tell that the writer is essentially recounting his own impressions of what life must have been like at the time based on his own preconceptions of the era. Where there is original source material - he directly quotes it which makes for very tiring and incoherent reading, despite the fact of the information itself and people's opinions being quite interesting. With all these things in mind, I cannot believe that Humphries has got any nearer to the true character of the artist and in some respects I am quite angered by the book. If he couldn't find enough source information to write properly, then he should have made it a more factual account or just not have bothered at all. I realise that he was curtailed by the non-cooperation of Gabrielle Drake and Nick's producer, but this should be all the more reason to hold back. Getting to the end has been a real trial, despite the fact that I am a huge fan of Nick and really interested in finding out more about him. I just continued for the few snippets of information with give the book its very slight worth, and are hidden amongst quite a lot of BS - it might as well be a story, and even then it wouldn't be a very good one. Humphries is not a talented biographer, and my final point is the irony of the situation - great and extremely talented artist but his biography is so poor.