Month: November 2024

On 25th November 1974, Nick Drake passed away in his parents home in Tanworth-in-Arden. His work was not well known at this time and it would take until the end of the decade that his profile began to rise. By the mid 80s, he was being mentioned by a number of musicians as an influence and in the following decade, his gained further exposure due to the BBC broadcasting radio and TV documentaries about him. Sales of his records increased significantly around this time when his song ‘Pink Moon’ appeared in a Volkswagen advert. Cue his music appearing on movie soundtracks and he is now, arguably, the most famous he has ever been. It is such a shame that he is not around to enjoy it. 

Drakes recording legacy is slight. During his life time, he released three studio albums made up of 31 songs. No singles were released from these albums during his lifetime so there wasn’t any obscure non album B-Sides to boost the numbers. Over the years, there have been a few compilations which have delved into the archives and there have been a smattering of unreleased songs that have made it to market. Most famous of these would be the tracks he recorded in 1974 for what could have been his fourth album, but these demos are as far as that project went. Four of these songs were included on the ‘Time Of No Reply’ compilation which came out in 1987. Included on that album were outtakes from his first LP sessions, some home recordings and an alternative take. 

The home recordings were a small window into the treasure trove of recordings he made on a tape player in his parents house, many of which had found their way onto the black market due Drake’s father making copies for fans who knocked on the door ion the family home. Some of these would eventually receive a legitimate release on the ‘Family Tree’ album in 2007. Before this, there was another compilation, ‘Made To Love Magic’ which was designed to supersede ‘Time Of No Reply’. This is did because in 2013, a box set called ‘Tuck Box’ came out containing the three studio albums, ‘Made To Love Magic’ and ‘Family Tree’. However, there are a number of Nick Drake performances that have seen the light of day in an official capacity which for one reason or another were not included in ‘Tuck Box’. This playlist is my attempt to address this by gathering together all of the lost masters for a compilation. 

Side A

1. Rider On The Wheel
2. Joey
3. My Bay’s So Sweet
4. Mayfair
5. Fly
6. Hanging On A Star
7. Clothes Of Sand
8. Man In A Shed
9. Plaisir D’Amour

Side B

1. Time Of No Reply
2. Strange Meeting II
3. Betty & Dupree
4. Magic
5. The Thoughts `of Mary Jane
6. Black Eyed Dog
7. Voice From The Mountain

Side C – (BBC Session)

1. Time Of No Reply
2. River Man
3. Bryter Layter

Side D – (BBC Session)

1. Cello Song
2. Three Hours

So where do these masters come from?

Rider On A Wheel – One of the ‘final four’ songs Drake recorded. The version on ‘Made To Love Magic’ was included with a crisp, well balanced mix. This is the same take as induced on the latter compilation and only included here for completeness.

Joey – The version on ‘Made To Love Magic’ was included with a crisp, well balanced mix with less flanging. This is the same take as induced on the latter compilation and only included here for completeness. 

My Baby’s So Sweet – included on the vinyl version of ‘Family Tree’ as well as some version of the CD. However, it was not included on the CD included in ‘Tuck Box’.

Mayfair – A recording from Drake’s days at Cambridge University. A studio version, with a flub, was included on the ‘Made To Love Magic’ compilation. 

Fly – Home recording. Only available on the ‘Time Of No Reply’ compilation from 1987. 

Hanging On A Star – Included on ‘Time Of No Reply’ and a different take form the one used on ‘Made To Love Magic’ 

Clothes Of Sand – One of the ‘final four’ songs Drake recorded. The version on ‘Made To Love Magic’ was included with a crisp, well balanced mix. This is the same take as induced on the latter compilation and only included here for completeness. 

Man In A Shed – An early studio recording. Only available on the ‘Time Of No Reply’ compilation from 1987.

Plaisir D’Amour – Included as a hidden track on the ‘A Treasury’ compilation from 2004. Was originally scheduled to be included on ‘Pink Moon’ but ultimately it was not. 

Time Of No Reply – The basic track as recorded back in 1968. Orchestrations were overdubbed when this was included on the ‘Made To Love Magic’ compilation. These orchestrations had been produced on manuscript by Drake’s Cambridge friend, Robert Kirby and were not used in 1969 as the songs were deemed surplus to requirements. However, these orchestrations were pulled from the archives with wonderful results. 

Strange Meeting II – Home recording. Only available on the ‘Time Of No Reply’ compilation from 1987.

Betty & Dupree – not included on the ‘Family Tree’ CD, but was released on the vinyl edition. It was not included on the CD included in ‘Tuck Box’.

Magic – Listed as ‘I Was Made To Love Magic’ on the ‘Time Of No Reply’ compilation. This has the original orchestration produced by Richard Hewson, which Drake was not happy with and he asked that his Cambridge friend, the aforementioned Robert Kirby come and work as the arranger. This 1969 Kirby arrangement was finally recorded in 2004. The recording was also sped up for the ‘Made To Love Magic’ compilation. 

The Thoughts `of Mary Jane – Taken from ’Time Of No Reply’, this has a slightly extended ending with a dissonant guitar note that was faded out when this song was included on the ‘Made To Love Magic’ compilation.  

Black Eyed Dog – One of the ‘final four’ songs Drake recorded. The version on ‘Made To Love Magic’ was included with a crisp, well balanced mix. This is the same take as induced on the latter compilation and only included here for completeness.

Voice From The Mountain – One of the ‘final four’ songs Drake recorded. The version on ‘Made To Love Magic’ was included with a crisp, well balanced mix. This is the same take as induced on the latter compilation and only included here for completeness.

The BBC Sessions. These five songs were recorded for legendary BBC DJ, John Peel on 5th August 1969 and broadcast a day later. Drake only performed a handful of times in the live arena, and it would seem that no recordings were made. These five songs are the closest we will get. They sound as though they have been recorded from the radio as the studio tapes were no doubt wiped, something there BBC were prone to do in that era so that they could be used again. These rare recordings have only been released in their entirety once on a physical format, and that as a 10” record in 2014. Limited to 1000 copies, it came as part of the signature boxed edition of the book, ‘Remembered For A While’. 

So there we have it. All of these recordings have been released at one point or another but are now all out of print and in some cases, really hard to find and even then, you will be paying a premier to get them. 

The total running time of this compilation is just over an hour so it would be easy enough to reproduce on CD.

The front cover was produced by Behance user, Dorota Kowal

I have raised this point in the past, but I feel it is worth saying again. The biggest complaint I have about reissue programmes of most bands is the way the record labels and in some cases, the artists themselves have treated their fans so badly down the years. A case in point is the deluxe edition of ‘Then Play On’ by Fleetwood Mac that I produced back in June of 2023 (INSERT LINK). Another artist where I feel the fans have been badly treated is David Bowie, Bowie, when he was alive, was one of the first artists to re-released his albums on CD with bonus tracks. Granted, they were a bit thin on the ground compared to the Deluxe Editions we have come to expect since then, but at least it was a start. 

Take for instance the 1990 re-release of 1969’s ‘David Bowie/Space Oddity’ album. That version came with three bonus tracks including a B-Side and a re-recording of an album track that was released as two sides of a single. Not bad, but when the album came out again in 1999, there were no bonus tracks what so ever. The same thing happened when the album was given another dusting down through the first seven years of the 21st Century. No bonus tracks at all. Then in 2009, the 40th Anniversary Edition finally came with a second disc of bonus tracks but this was followed by another re-release in the mid 2010’s in certain territories where once again, there were no bonus tracks to be seen. For the 50th Anniversary in 2019, there was at least a remix of the album which on certain tracks sounded very different from the original as well as a box set called ‘Conversation Piece’ which collected lots of demos and otherwise stray tracks. However, a lot of these demos had been released in vinyl box set mimicking acetate singles that were one of the few ways an artist could listen their tunes once they had recorded them in a studio. That is quite a lot of re-issues and rereleases. 

What I have attempted here for the 55th Anniversary of this album being released is to create an all encompassing box set of the ‘David Bowie/Space Oddity’ album that includes the various mixes of the album, single mixes, demos, BBC Sessions and curios that have come out down the years to create the most comprehensive version of the album I could create. 

Therefore, we have four different mixes of the album, even though to my untrained ears, the version from 1969, 1990 and 2009 sound pretty similar to each other. There are also a couple of stray tracks from the time Bowie was signed to Decca. These were included because they were not included in the rather good Deluxe Edition of his debut album from 1967, also confusingly called ‘David Bowie’. It is no wonder John Peel took the piss out him a year later in BBC broadcast for the Sunday Show for naming his first two albums the same (Peter Gabriel should have taken note). 

Disc 1 – 1969 Album Mix & Singles

1. Space Oddity – 1
2. Unwashed & Somewhat Slightly Dazed (including Don’t Sit Down) – 1
3. Letter To Hermione – 1
4. Cygnet Committee – 1
5. Janine – 1
6. An Occasional Dream – 1
7. Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud – 1
8. God Knows I’m Good – 1
9. Memory Of A Free Festival – 1
10. Space Oddity (UK Mono Single Edit) – 1
11. Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud (Mono Single B-Side) – 1
12. Conversation Piece (Mono B-Side) – 1
13. Regazzo Solo, Ragazza Sola (Italian Single A-Side) – 2

Disc 2 – 1990 Remaster & BBC Sessions

1. Space Oddity – 3
2. Unwashed & Somewhat Slightly Dazed – 3
3. Don’t Sit Down – 3
4. Letter To Hermione – 3
5. Cygnet Committee – 3
6. Janine – 3
7. An Occasional Dream – 3
8. Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud – 3
9. God Knows I’m Good – 3
10. Memory Of A Free Festival – 3
11. in The Heat Of The Morning (BBC Session Recorded 13/5/1968) -1 
12. London Bye, Ta-Ta (BBC Session Recorded 13/5/1968) -1
13. Karma Man (BBC Session Recorded 13/5/1968) -1
14. When I’m Five (BBC Session Recorded 13/5/1968) -1
15. Silly Boy Boy (BBC Session Recorded 13/5/1968) -1
16. Let Me Sleep Beside You (BBC Session Recorded 20/10/1969) – 4
17. Unwashed & Slightly Dazed (BBC Session Recorded 20/10/1969) -1
18. Janine (BBC Session Recorded 20/10/1969) -1

Disc 3 – 2009 Digital Remaster & Sessions

1. Space Oddity – 4
2. Unwashed & Somewhat Slightly Dazed (including Don’t Sit Down) – 4
3. Letter To Hermione – 4
4. Cygnet Committee – 4
5. Janine – 4
6. An Occasional Dream – 4
7. Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud – 4
8. God Knows I’m Good – 4
9. Memory Of A Free Festival – 4
10. Space Oddity (Love You ‘Till Tuesday Version) – 5
11. In The Heat Of The Morning (Decca Mono Version) – 1
12. Ching-A-Ling (Mono) – 1
13. Conversation Piece (Stereo Version) – 4
14. Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud (Alt. Album Mix) – 4
15. Janine (Mono Version) – 1
16. Regazzo Solo, Ragazza Sola (Full Length Stereo Version) – 4

Disc 4 – 2019 Mix & Sessions

1. Space Oddity – 1
2. Unwashed & Somewhat Slightly Dazed (including Don’t Sit Down) – 1
3. Letter To Hermione – 1
4. Cygnet Committee – 1
5. Janine – 1
6. An Occasional Dream – 1
7. Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud – 1
8. God Knows I’m Good – 1
9. Memory Of A Free Festival – 1
10. Conversation Piece (2019 Mix) – 1
11. Regazzo Solo, Ragazza Sola (2019 Mix) – 1
12. Space Oddity (Morgan Studios Alt. Take) – 1
13. London Bye, Ta-Ta (Decca Alt. Version) – 1
14. Memory Of A Free Festival (Alt. Album Mix) – 4

Disc 5 – Demos

1. April’s Tooth Of Gold – 1
2. The Reverend Raymond Brown (Attends The Garden Fete On Thatchwick Green) – 1
3. When I’m Five – 1
4. Mother Grey – 1
5. In The Heat Of The Morning – 1
6. Goodbye 3d (Threepenny) Joe – 1
7. Love All Around – 1
8. London Bye, Ta-Ta – 1
9. Angel, Angel, Grubby Face (Version 1) – 1
10. Angel, Angel, Grubby Face (Version 2) – 1
11. Animal Farm – 1
12. Space Oddity (Solo Fragment) – 1
13. Space Oddity (Version 1) – 1
14. Space Oddity (Version 2) – 1
15. Space Oddity (Version 3) – 1
16. Lover To The Dawn – 1
17. Ching-A-Ling – 1
18. An Occasional Dream – 1
19. Let Me Sleep Beside You – 1
20. Life Is A Circus – 1
21. Conversation Piece – 1
22. Jerusalem – 1
23. Hole In The Ground – 1

Disc 6 – Demos & Sessions

1. Memory Of A Free Festival (Harmonium Mix) – 5
2. Space Oddity – 1
3. Janine – 1
4. An Occasional Dream – 1
5. Conversation Piece – 1
6. Ching-A-Ling – 1
7. I’m Not Quite (AKA Letter To Hermione) – 1
8. Lover To The Dawn – 1
9. Love Song – 1
10. When I’m Five – 1
11. Life Is A Circus – 1
12. Space Oddity (Home Demo Version 3 – Unfaded Start) – 4
13. Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud (Single B-Side – Spoken Intro) – 4
14. Memory Of A Free Festival (Moonage DayDream Mix Edit) – 5
15. Cygnet Committee/Lazarus (Moonage Daydream mix) – 5
16. Space Oddity (Moonage Daydream Mix) – 5

The image I have used for this cover was on the Steve Hoffman forum, but I am afraid I do not know who created it. 

1 – Conversation Piece Box Set

2 – Five Years (1969-1973) Box Set

3 – 1990 Rykodisc Version

4 – Space Oddity 40th Anniversary Edition 

5 – Moonage Daydream – A Brett Morgen Film OST

I did not include all of the variations of this album, especially not the RCA CD release form the early 1980s which I have not heard, but it is meant to be terrible. I am sure that there is the odd stray track out there that I did not include as it was most probably hidden on an obscure compilation somewhere. I did decide that the mixes produced for the ‘Moonage Daydream’ film, including s mix between ‘Cygnet Committee’ and ‘Lazarus’ with the later appearing on Bowies final album. It seemed correct to include it here though. Please let me know in the comments if there is any missing tracks. However, this just goes to show what could have been produced if Bowie or his record labels had taken the time and care to produce one of these for the 50th Anniversary back in 2019. A missed opportunity I feel.

The second post this month is another volume of songs tracking the last days of Britpop. Like Volume 1, which was posted last month, this is a selection of B-Sides, single edits and the odd different recording, be it demo or rough mix. All the main players are here along with some recordings but some of the eras also rans. There is also a song from one band called Polarbear who would sell a lot more records when they changed their name to Snow Patrol. 

Side 1

1. Cosmonaut No.7 – Scarfo
2. Step Right Up (Full Version) – Mainstream
3. M.O.R. (Road Version) – Blur
4. Jump or Be Sane – Catatonia
5. Heads High – Don
6. Stay Young – Oasis

Side 2

1. Cardboy King – Salad
2. Filmstar (Orignal Version) – Suede
3. Mary Wana – Nicotines
4. Roadie – The Boo Radleys
5. I’m A Man – Sleeper
6. Stay – 18 Wheeler
7. We Still Ned More (Than  Anyone Can Give) (Dust Brothers Recording) – Supergrass

Side 3

1. Holy Cow – Polarbear
2. Scumbag – Pink Kross
3. Michaela – Pippi & The Butcherbirds
4. The Face Smiles Back Easily – Ocean Colour Scene
5. Fill Me – Elcka
6. Superstar – Superstar
7. Raspberries – Comet Gain

Side 4 

1. Oh Yeah, Baby – Dweeb
2. Let It Lie – Dustball
3. Air Hockey – Bennet
4. Bar Bar Bar (Demo) – Elastica
5. Golden Skin – Silver Sun
6. Times Up – Sussed
7. Tomorrow Never Dies (Rough Mix) – Pulp

As this was produced to be a double LP, this is what the artwork for the gatefold sleeve.

I cannot remember where I found this image, but if it was produced by Double J (who has included their name in Damon Alban’s head), I think you. It is wonderful.

Volume 1 can be found here – https://www.thesquirepresents.co.uk/various-artists-1997-the-last-days-of-britpop-vol-1/