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Bryter Later

I can't recall hearing anything about Nick Drake until the early '90s, and the release of the Way to Blue compilation. If I'd caught any of his songs on the radio before that, they had failed to register. Previous re-issues and compilations of his music had passed me by. In the late '70s and '80s, his sister Gabrielle's name was undoubtedly better-known than his, owing to her work as a TV actor. Over the last twenty-odd years his posthumous fame has seemed only to spread ever more widely, and was long-established before I belatedly acquired any of his records.

The first one I picked up was Pink Moon. On a rare visit to the HMV shop at the Cribbs Causeway mall a few years ago they had copies of the 2013 re-release on offer, and I thought "why not?" The pandemic was in full swing before it was joined by Five Leaves Left. A copy of Bryter Later - again, from the 2013 release - completed the set last summer. Unlike the other two albums, this one doesn't have a gatefold sleeve, but rather a textured finish on the cardboard, thereby mimicking some '70s re-issues of it.

My favourite tracks are 'One Of These Things First', 'Poor Boy' and 'Northern Sky', the last with John Cale sticking his musical oar in to exquisite effect. If it has a weak point, I think 'Fly' might be it. I was fascinated when I learned, quite recently, that Nick's and Gabrielle's mother Molly had written poetry and songs (though those remained within the Drake family until some time after her death). The similarity between her voice & her son's, though hardly surprising, is really very striking.

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