Made To Love Magic

With only three "real" albums, then, you would think they would have sold brilliantly, but alas most people never get to hearing a single Nick Drake CD. Even the diehard fans have a lack of extra material without having to resort to crackling bootlegs - the posthumous "Time of No Reply" being the only other official release.

"Made to Love Magic" uses six tracks from Time of No Reply as is, with only remastering to improve them. This is unfortunate, as "Magic" is short at only 13 tracks (most less than three minutes long), and could have been improved with other rarities. But what of the "new" songs? Two ("River Man" and "Mayfair") are taken from a tape recorded by Drake's arranger, Robert Kirby in Cambridge, and from those, "Mayfair" really stands out. Worse recording quality than the "Time of No Reply" version, yes, but a much more exuberant and joyful version. Another two tracks are also taken from Time Of No Reply, but have been given the original orchestration intended for them. Of these, "Time of No Reply" is the best, and probably the standout track on this album; made lush and truly joyful by the new arrangement.

There is also an alternative version of "Three Hours" with respected percussionist Kwaahkuh Baah and an unknown flautist and a new version of "Hanging on a Star", which I feel has a better guitar track than the original but a rather thin vocal.

That leaves us with the brand new song, found on the tape of the final session. Entitled "Tow the Line", it is a quiet but propulsive track with a droning bass string giving a backbone to the music. It is beautiful, evoking "At the Chime of a City Clock" from "Bryter Layter" and is a fitting addition to the officially recognised canon of this British musical genius.

In summary then, if you've heard Nick Drake then you'll have bought this anyway, if not it's probably best to start with "Five Leaves Left", but if this catches your eye, definitely buy it - even a newcomer will be blown away by the raw beauty present on "Made to Love Magic".

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Like many compilations of this nature though, there are songs which would have been better left in the can. Nick Drake had a very high degree of quality control but Mayfair is a terrible song by anyone's standards. I have also found it difficult to work out the differences between the versions of 'Black Eyed Dog' on this and the one contained on 'Time of No Reply'. Unlike other compilations of this nature, there seems to have been a good deal of care having gone into this release. The quality of the majority of the songs contained within it does help. Similar albums of unreleased material by people such as The Beatles, Prince and Jimi Hendrix have all suffered from tinkering, lack of good material and a feeling of trying to cash in. As far as I am concerned, none of these apply to this release.

The single of 'I was made to love magic' reaching the top 40 in the charts shows that the fan base for Nick Drake is strong and no doubt growing year on year. For those who have heard about Nick Drake and are looking to start your collection, I would recommend the collection of songs called 'Way to Blue - an Introduction to Nick Drake' as a starting point. For those who have everything else, this is a excellent addition to the collection. Now all we need is the home recordings to receive the attention they are due and then the Nick Drake recording legacy will be complete.

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