eaj010c : elsie and jack and nick drake : sculpting from drake : reviews

It's not a simple task to take one of the 20th century's most important songwriters and compile a tribute album in his honor.

Nick Drake, with such a distinct voice that so few can imitate, became more of an icon in the late '90s — having found a 25-year overnight success with a Volkswagen partnership — than he ever was in the '60s.

This disc in no way honors Drake's late-found popularity, but rather his inimitable voice and songwriting talent and how it shaped many members of the indie rock community.

Here, Elsie and Jack Recordings have taken a much different approach compared to the traditional singer/songwriter tribute by employing the efforts of a number of Michigan's space rock elite, among them Warn Defever of His Name Is Alive, Au Revoir Borealis, and Flashpapr. Generally, the recordings are very much what one would expect considering most of the artists involved.

The songs sound gorgeously spacious, as vocals and guitar work swell to their fullest extent, accentuating the most beautiful elements of any of Nick Drake's original records. Defever's take on "Which Will" sounds particularly homegrown, like his many solo recordings that are rather under-produced and are made to sound as though they were recorded in the earlier half of the century. And Drekka's cover of "Know" is a near-eight-minute controlled mess of esoteric acoustic guitar experiment which is by far the least Drakeish of these renditions, but one of the most interesting.

Sculpting From Drake, Vol. 1 is a brilliant dedication to one of the genre's masters. One can only wonder what took them so long.

Long before advertisements put Nick Drake on the minds and in the home stereos of European car drivers, Elsie and Jack were preparing a tribute disc.

From experience I'm now realizing that compilation discs can take forever to piece together, so the result can be quite rewarding when it's finally materialized.

Here's part one of their tribute to Nick Drake, an unlikely release from a label which has previously brought us loads of fun glitchy experimental electronic noisiness, but charming all the same with a special package to boot.

It features interpretations of Nick Drake classics by Jessica Bailiff and Jesse Edwards (billed as Northern Song Dynasty), Warn Defever, the Autumns with Simon Raymonde, Archer Prewitt and others. Drake's influence can be heard with bands like Low, Ida and Red House Painters while his songs translate well through the artists on this collection.

"Sculpting From Drake" is a compilation CD featuring many different artists performing the songs of Mr. Nick Drake, the enigmatic, mysterious singer/songwriter from the 60's. Drake's music is so incredibly sensitive and touching, and if you haven't had the pleasure of hearing his songs before, then do yourself a favor and get some of his CDs. Actually, you may have heard him on T.V. thanks to the lovely people at Volkswagen: his song "Pink Moon" is used in that haunting Cabriolet commercial. But, I digress! (...what else is new?...) You don't need to be familiar with Drake's works to enjoy this CD. The covers truly stand on their own.

The CD wisely opens with Archer Prewitt's take on "Parasite" and if you're familiar with Drake, you will be floored with how much Archer sounds like him! His voice aches with the same sincerity, and the gentle plucking of the acoustic guitar with the melodious flutes and clarinets flowing smoothly against it...dang, if it isn't the ghost of Drake himself!

But not all the covers are duplications of Drake: Au Revoir Borealis offer a Portishead-style take on "Fruit Tree" - very moody, dark and film-noir. Warn Defever of His Name is Alive, gives an odd hillbilly acoustic-romp to "Which Will" that rambles on for over seven minutes. It could be hard to stomach alone, but in the context of this CD, it fits in beautifully. Another favorite of mine from this CD is The Autumns featuring Simon Raymonde from the Cocteau Twins! They give a delicate Spiritualized-floating-in-outer-space-like take on "Time of No Reply" which is sooo delicate and lovely! And the whole CD closes out with a clever, DJ-spun sampled and synthesized take on the popular "Pink Moon" by Ray Speedway.

And all this is wrapped up in some of the most exquisite packing I've seen in all my days! So gorgeous and impressive!

Rating : shell out the big bucks for this

For reasons having equally to do with its content's breathtaking intimacy as well as its author's untimely drug-overdose suicide, the songbook of Nick Drake is one of the few musical bodies of work that begs to be left alone.

Which isn't to say anyone has written a song that should never be covered. Rather, an artist doing so needs to have the talent and respect necessary to do justice to Drake's poignant folk — to which the music of acts like Belle and Sebastian and Elliott Smith has often been compared. And while elsie and jack and nick drake's liner notes indicate plenty of respect, the collection seems to lack talent on enough occasions that this compilation from Grand Rapids, Mich. record label elsie and jack needs only to be purchased by those inclined to enjoy both Drake and four-track recorder space rock, whose devotees largely round out this album's roster.

With six of the 10 tracks coming from Pink Moon, Drake's minimalist swan song is a bit over-represented, which is likely the case both because its songs are Drake's best while also being easiest to play.

Electroscope is one of those space rock bands whose "songs" don't always resemble what most folks call "music." Thankfully, the group has diverted from that format here, rendering a lush, reverby take on "Things Behind the Sun," the closing track from Pink Moon.

While the song begins with the group's trademark arrhythmic, treated guitars, "Things Behind the Sun" begins to resemble the original after about three-and-a-half minutes of noodling, which is pretty and all, but about a minute too long. Once angel-voiced Gayle Harrison starts singing Drake's exquisite lyrics, though, Electroscope's studio wankery becomes a moot point. The last five minutes or so of the song are the album's most soul-stirring moments, nearly matching Drake in emotional intensity while not really sounding anything like him. If you were into English group Flying Saucer Attack in the early '90s, you'll love this.

Au Revoir Borealis comes close with Stephanie Halpert's crooning vocals and gorgeous piano on "Fruit Tree," from Drake's debut album, Five Leaves Left. Sounding a lot like a hushed Fiona Apple fronting a mellow Cocteau Twins (whose Simon Raymonde appears elsewhere on the album), this Michigan group may be onto something.

Archer Prewitt, of The Sea and Cake fame, sounds nice, but a bit too much like Drake, though the additional instrumentation he gives "Parasite" works well enough. Meanwhile the singer from Flashpapr has the unfortunate curse of sounding like a slacker version of Darius Rucker, that guy from Hootie and the Blowfish. Similar mishandlings largely round out the album.

But most of these missteps at least have their moments, and some are downright listenable. Which is something that can't be said for the album's two real clunkers, one of which — Ray Speedway's cover of "Pink Moon" — falls inoffensively at the end of the album.

The only real disruptive, irritating track is Warn Defaver's sorry treatment of "Which Will," off of Pink Moon. Warn was a lot better when he was known as Warren Defaver, the driving force behind the group His Name Is Alive. That band's albums Home is in Your Head and Mouth by Mouth helped define the lonely, beautiful 4AD records sound of the early '90s and, frankly, some of Defaver's work along those lines would be a much more welcome addition to a Drake tribute than what he's come up with.

But instead, Defaver comes across as an alcoholic lead singer of a mediocre Pavement cover band gone solo. In typical pretentious art-rock fashion, Defaver has listed his address in the album's liner notes as, "united states of america".

But Defaver's moronic address gag perfectly encapsulates the biggest criticism of this album. Its lowercase title, elsie and jack and nick drake — sculpting from drake, volume one, is ridiculously pretentious, yet the musicians on the album for the most part lack the talent that pretense would hopefully imply. What we're left with instead is a few songs — Prewitt's, Electroscope's, The Autumns' and Au Revoir Borealis' — that hit or come close to hitting the mark.

Those four tracks alone make the album worth picking up for any Drake fan who might be hip to the un-Drake-like space rock sound. It's all too unfortunate that the rest of the album is composed of tunes that make you yearn for the originals. This might have been better off as an EP.

This disc is first in the aptly titled Sculpting From Drake series of tribute compilations celebrating the work of Nick Drake. The only other releases I've heard on Elsie and Jack have been from Japanese noise artist Aube (Pages From the Book) and Tabata's experimental Brainsville, so needless to say I was ill prepared for this well-rounded collection of predominantly folky tunes.

Admittedly, I'm unfamiliar with Nick Drake's work, but that didn't prevent me from thoroughly enjoying this CD (though it did take quite a few listens before I really got into it -- most of the best music seems this way). In fact, these cover versions have definitely inspired me to track down the originals... what better testament to their quality?

Archer Prewitt and Flashpapr do Drake's deeply poetic lyrics justice, armed with their acoustic guitars and a candid style that I imagine is quite faithful to the original tunes. Au Revoir Borealis' take on "Fruit Tree" is slow and subtle, with a clear beauty -- stylistically it reminds me of Portishead. Other artists take a less literal approach to the music, such as with Drekka's instrumental take on "Know," an abstract, unconventional guitar piece that comes across as quite disjointed and experimental, especially in contrast to many of the other contributions. The diverse collection of tracks that Elsie and Jack set out to assemble was definitely realized.

Sculpting From Drake ends with Ray Speedway's take on "Pink Moon," which was used to score a car commercial a while back. Simple synth progressions and a deft, liberal use of sampling (including many sounds lifted from the original song) characterize the track, melded together with a spattering of faint vocals. A strong note to cap off an even stronger disc.

52 minutes of music for Drake's 52nd birthday... it doesn't get much more perfect than that. Also fitting, since this is the only music I've ever reviewed that I'm actually considering for my Mother's upcoming birthday present. Elsie and Jack is a label sworn to quality, and Sculpting from Drake exemplifies this dedication and once again converts it into sound.

Brand new tribute disc with 10 artists interpreting songs by Nick Drake. Recently there have been reissues of many of Nick Drake's records, but I have to admit that I have never listened to any of his work except in the briefest passing. I have never enjoyed the singer/songwriter folkish sound in general, which is exactly what Nick Drake trucked in before his death. I don't really know enough about that subject to write about that either, except to say that he was apparently very depressed and took his own life while still young.

So now for THIS disc.

Elsie & Jack releases always come in packages that are visually and texturally beautiful. Several years ago James Rodriguez (E&J is a label run by 2 brothers: James lives in Grand Rapids MI and Phil lives in Seaton Carew in Hartlepool England) sent me several discs so elaborately packaged that I never opened them before I left on a 3 week trip to Poland. I lost track of them and never did get to add them to WZBC or even listen to them. This time I knew better, plus I had no trip to distract me (sadly).

The back cover to the CD says in small letters "this copy belongs to WZBC". What detail! He printed up this series of copies individually, though this is hardly DIY homemade chic. The cover, the accompanying letter, the whole thing is very professional.

Enough on the artist featured and the presentation. what about the music?

For me there are 3 songs out of the 10 that I really love. They are Northern Song Dynasty "Place To Be", Electroscope with Zurich "Things Behind The Sun", and Drekka "Know".

In my world Electroscope is the big name artist on this comp. They are a duo from Glasgow that have put out many 7"s and a few LPs. For most the big names would be Archer Prewitt (The Coctails, The Sea & Cake) who does the folky "Parasite" and Warn Defever (His Name Is Alive), who does the lo-fi folkish "Which Will". Au Revior Borealis do a goth-ish "Fruit Tree", Flashpapr play a folkish band sound with bells and violins on "Northern Sky", Ben Vida does a quiet acoustic instrumantal "Horn", The Autumns with Simon Raymonde do "Time of No Reply" as a shimmering lazy guitar, harmony voiced, rock buildup song. Ray Speedway closes out the disc with an electro version of "Pink Moon" that is the (I'm sure) widest stretch between the original artist and the cover on this disc. I like the Ray Speedway song a lot, but the three faves still are those sited earlier, as they call me to re-evaluate my feelings about Nick Drake's work, which is the goal of this comp: to introduce Nick Drake's work to a new generation of listeners.

Nick Drake is enjoying yet another renaissance from his Tamworth-in-Arden grave. Every few years, another generation of music fans discover his small catalog of unassuming, delicate folk tunes. Usually, the interest seed is planted by new bands citing him as an inspiration, or-- as with his 1994 resurgence in popularity-- through series of reissues. This time it stemmed from a Volkswagen ad.

When the German car manufacturer featured Drake's timeless "Pink Moon" in a recent campaign, stockbrokers around the country demanded to know who sang this song and, in God's name, where could they find it? Drake's albums began to sell out everywhere, even charting for several months in the Top 100 at Amazon.com. New pressings came stickered with the announcement that his music had appeared on television, promoting a flashy convertible bug.

If it takes a corporation getting behind Drake's music to spark public interest, it says more about our culture than it does about record labels profiting from Drake's back catalog. But these are highly marketable times we're living in. And now that his music is back in the spotlight, it's time to milk it for every penny it's worth. This is not to say the Michigan-based micro-indie Elsie and Jack Records has released this album specifically for wallet-padding purposes, even if the timing is a bit suspect. What matters here is that they're finally paying tribute to a man whose tribute has rarely been paid.

Archer Prewitt opens the record with an uncanny impression of Drake on Pink Moon's "Parasite." Initially, it seems his intention is to replicate the original as closely as possible, but as the song develops, Prewitt adds subtle flourishes of orchestration lacking in the 1972 version. For the song's second verse, Prewitt backs himself with a multi-tracked vocal harmony, shuffling percussion, airy keyboards and elaborately orchestrated woodwinds. Drake's recording was wholly acoustic and somewhat more intimate. Nonetheless, this track serves as an excellent leadoff because it manages to keep the spirit of the song intact while attempting to add more depth to a skeletal arrangement.

His Name is Alive's Warn Defever contributes a slaughtered take on "Which Will," also from Pink Moon. The track begins with potential, as chopped-up female voices are rearranged, reverbed, reversed and looped. However, in a few short seconds, the song reveals its true self-- a painful experiment in lo-fi home recording. The song itself is buried under a sludge of tape hiss, and seemingly recorded straight to a 1970s Radio Shack microcassette recorder. And as for the rendition, Defever is either playing the song from distant memory or didn't have the technique to replicate Drake's basic chord progressions.

Ray Speedway is given the honor of covering "Pink Moon," here, and it's anyone's guess what possessed him to base it around a cheesy electronic backdrop. Taking into account the various vocal samples Speedway stole from British football games (including a guy yelling "Yes! Yes! Yes!"), the samples from Nick Drake's original, laser sounds, beeping Casio tones, and a pulsating hip-hop beat, the song comes across like a day's worth of drunk studio pastiche, and with all the flair of a Big Audio Dynamite II art installation. This isn't even considering that the track bears no conceivable structure, and hardly even references "Pink Moon" at all.

Northern Song Dynasty more than make up for the hell Ray Speedway has unleashed, though. The duo, which consists of Kranky Records' Jessica Bailiff and Jesse Edwards of the Dithering Effect, offer an astral version of "Place to Be." The track is slowed to a Dextromethorphan-like pace and doused liberally with reverb, shimmering, strummed guitars, and beautiful distortion.

Electroscope and Zurich also weigh in with a constellatory, 9+ minute-long take on "Things Behind the Sun," a brilliant song that not even Ray Speedway could destroy. (Well, maybe.) The collaborating space-rockers open the track with an admittedly gratuitous, but extremely pleasant, three-and-a-half minutes of pre-song effects, backwards guitars, and nebulaic organ. Upon traveling 42 astronomical units, vocalist Gayle Harrison's ethereal echo beckons, siren-like, to the heart of the song and explodes in bursts of time and space.

My primary issue with Sculpting from Drake is that seven of these ten tracks draw from Pink Moon. Yes, Pink Moon is considered the epitome of Drake's career, but let's not disregard "At the Chime of a City Clock" from Bryter Layter, one of his finest accomplishments, or other amazing moments from Time of No Reply and Five Leaves Left. Just some advice for the impending second volume.

The long awaited compilation tribute to the timeless music of Nick Drake.

Elsie and Jack have put together another stunningly gorgeous effort – both in packaging and musical wonder – that will set your heart aflutter.

Although the artists contributing to this release are quite varied in their musical endeavors usually, here they all come together and make sense cohesively. Some are even spooky in the way they so easily conjure up the ghost of Nick Drake himself.

Gorgeous stuff.

Tracks from Archer Prewitt, Au Revoir Borealis, Flashpapr, Ben Vida, Northern Song Dynasty (Jessica Bailiff +1), Electroscope with Zurich, Warn Defever (His Name is Alive), Drekka, The Autumns with Simon Raymonde (Cocteau Twins), and Ray Speedway.

Packaging is stunningly gorgeous with printing on photo-quality massively thick paper.

A must see/hear!

It has occasionally occurred to me that the sole purpose of tribute albums is to render the listener conscious that, in fact, you would rather be opining on the joys of the Real Deal. Bullshit-clad renditions of your favourite songs - whether in the guise of charity or not - just send you packing to the original works.

Not so with 'Sculpting from Drake', a befitting tribute to the tragic singer-songwriter Nick Drake and his tender yet melancholic lyrics. Twenty-six years after his death the simple, almost feminine, eloquence of his music stands alone - heralding the fact that he was way ahead of his time and, sadly, of the 'Prozac Nation' in which we now operate.

Without doubt, the most recognisable artist to put name to this CD is Simon Raymonde ('Cocteau Twins'), who collaborates with 'The Autumns' on a version of 'Time of No Reply'. The other artists are less well-known. Somehow though, this tessellates well with the artist that Drake was. Humble and mentally debilitated by his own instability and apparent drug usage, an underground following of his indie-folk genius seems to be what is required. Madonna covering his work? Nah mate. Even the more fragmented electronic reworking of 'Pink Moon' (Ray Speedway) appears to categorise the mental decline of Drake, appropriately the final song on the album. 'Autechre' it ain't, but what the Hell?

Despite such retrospective connotations, however, these tracks are strangely uplifting in their beauty. Archer Prewitt's cover of 'Parasite' is a case in point. Haunting in its elegy, the song sets the tone for the album and does so effortlessly.

For those uninitiated to Nick Drake, 'Sculpting from Drake' will serve as an excellent introduction. Talented performers in their own right, the artists' versions of various songs stand as testament to a gifted and brave force.

Yes brave. As 'Dakota Suite' say at the end of 'Blue 7', "They'd clearly never given themselves the option of suicide". In Drake's case, it put an end to the torment that was his life - but also to a creative energy with which to reckon.