Track Listing

1. Introduction
2. Hazey Jane II
3. River Man
4. Cello Song
5. Hazey Jane I
6. Pink Moon
7. Poor Boy
8. Magic
9. Place To Be
10. Northern Sky
11. Road
12. Fruit Tree
13. Black Eyed Dog
14. Way To Blue
15. From The Morning
16. Plaisir D'Amour

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3722 in Music
• Released on: 2004-10-04
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: SACD
• Dimensions: .23 pounds
• Running time: 158 minutes

Album Description
A Treasury is the definitive collection of 16 classic songs by Nick Drake. The Times write "...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."

CD Description
While there was no shortage of Nick Drake collections on the market by 2004, the options for Drake fans with high-end stereo systems and/or SACD players was pretty limited (that is to say non-existent) before the release of A TREASURY. A hybrid disc remastered in Super Audio Surround Sound, it offers 15 cuts from the Drake catalog; considering that he only released three official albums, that's a healthy chunk of the British singer/songwriter's oeuvre.
With unprecedentedly crisp quality, we're given masterfully orchestrated folk-rock ("Hazey Jane II", "Northern Sky"), bleak, strikingly minimalist, haiku-like solo-acoustic pieces ("Pink Moon", "Black Eyed Dog"), and lush, mournfully elegant ballads ("River Man", "Way to Blue"). Throughout, Drake's hushed, breathy voice, nimble Joao Gilberto-meets-John Fahey guitar work, and hauntingly beautiful lyricism shine through, making it clear why this doomed troubadour's slim repertoire has been revisited so many times over the years.

Customer Reviews

Superlatives fail me
To somehow distill the work of Nick Drake into a 'best of' seems almost cruel to his genius and could detract from the need to buy his three original albums, but do not be deterred.

Before I bought this album I had no idea of his work, but took a chance and was rewarded with some of the most delicate, intricate songwriting I have ever come across. It's ethereal, yet somehow challenging and immediate.

For those looking for points of reference, perhaps Jeff Buckley without the edge, early blues or simply the most wistful folk music I've heard. It's just exquisitely done from start to finish.

Any serious music buff should already have these songs, but I would ask that someone with Damien Rice, folky Led Zep, Buckley, Belle and Sebastien, oh forget it, every music fan, just go and buy this record and write a review with 5 stars by it.

There are few records I would insist that everyone should own. This is one of the few.

Fine Collection
As an introduction to the work of Nick Drake, this album competes with the Way to Blue collection. Except for Hazey Jane I & II, Cello Song, I Was Made To Love Magic, Place To Be and Road, all the tracks are the same although the sound quality is better on this one, at least as far as my copies are concerned.

Drake's individual albums are all classics but they are very much self-contained units. From the album Bryter Layter come Hazey Jane I and II, Poor Boy and Northern Sky. Five Leaves Left contributes Cello Song, Way To Blue and River Man, whilst the stark minimalist album Pink Moon supplies Place To Be, Pink Moon, From the Morning and Road. Black Eyed Dog comes from the posthumous Time Of No Reply album.

On Sweet Old World Lucinda Williams beautifully covered Which Will and Swans made a bloodcurdling version of Black Eyed Dog, found on their Various Failures 1988-1992 album. The Dream Academy dedicated the song Life In A Northern Town (1985) to Nick Drake. His song Mayfair had already been covered by Millie (of My Boy Lollipop fame) in 1970.

My complaint about both Way To Blue and Treasury is the omission of Fly, a song that first appeared on Bryter Later and was then included, in a different version, on Time of No Reply. In my opinion, it is one of his most moving songs. Besides that, this compilation contains a fair selection of Drake's eerily compelling music but it is still better to investigate the original albums.

Now we are in 5.1, and we are everywhere.
Of course, this material was superb before it was cleaned up (as it was for the reissues a few years back) to make it sound even bryter. Any collection of this quality is worth 5 stars. The key thing here for existing fans is the value of the 5.1 mix. Well, its OK as it is neither invasive or inventive. There aren't any "we've got 5.1 and we're gonna use it" features that sometimes afflict these products (with the instruments panned wide to all corners) but I don't feel that it leaves me anymore enlightened by the music. The bonus track (Plasir d'amour) only lasts 30 seconds so the disc isn't work buying for that alone. Nevertheless, its a good 'best of' and a great gift for the uninitiated.