It was nine years ago when Johnny Chandler asked Neil Storey to put on his Sherlock Holmes hat and “go and have a look to see what you can find” on the old dusty shelves of Island Records. Then the man with different ears, John Wood, got hold of those tapes and remastered the lot.
… then they were sworn to secrecy until the set was released this year.
It’s a beautiful set, memorable, and special. And they deserve the nomination, indeed, if not the Grammy.
Latest Review
There’s a fabulous review of the set on Universal Music’s website with some great quotes from Neil..
Music archivist Neil Storey’s assignment to investigate the Nick Drake archives involved such intense secrecy that he drolly likens it to ‘70s cinematic thriller Day of the Jackal. “The policeman is told he has to investigate,” Storey explains, “but he cannot tell anybody what he’s investigating.”
Filling in the music’s back story makes it clearer that Drake’s work was not so much ahead of its time as it was outside of time. Nothing before or after has ever sounded remotely similar. It simultaneously occupies its own place in history and transcends the temporal. “We live in a world governed by bloody TikTok,” says Storey, “where everything has to be captioned, all that rubbish. A release like this… it’s beyond all that.”
Here’s the link to the review
https://www.udiscovermusic.com/stories/nick-drake-the-making-of-five-leaves-left-box-set-feature/
Buy direct from Universal
… here’s a link to buying the box set in LPs or CDs direct, the currency should change to your own country
