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Rating:
Calmness is the virtue of the strong, as we know.
Often, things said gently and softly find more listening and have more effect than things shouted or said with the wrong tones and out of place. For example, my wife, if she asks me for something, is more likely to get it if she tells me in a low voice, with a half-smile and maybe acting sweetly. Fortunately, she hasn't realized this yet (and she's not the only one), giving me the opportunity to get angry most of the time even if I don't want to.
The fact is that I was biased and ready to go heavy (as usual) with this "Family Tree," a posthumous album (not the first, alas) of the never lamented Nick Drake. Biased in labeling the album as yet another exploitation, another commercial operation to deceive fans, and so on.
But perhaps it was the soft and whispered voice of the artist, the innocence of certain phrases heard among various out-takes, the sweet harmony of certain barely sketched songs that retain the raw flavor of pure improvisation in the act of creation, the fact that there are very few songs already featured in other albums... in short, for one reason or another, and to my utmost astonishment, this time I had to change my mind.
But how can you inflict harm on such delicate and ethereal poetry as that contained in many compositions still in their raw state within this album? How can you disparage or doubt the artistic skill of this introverted and shy young man, who sadly passed away prematurely on November 17, '74 due to an overdose of antidepressants? How much malice does it take not to grasp the great humanity and the purity enclosed between the voice and guitar (sometimes the piano) of songs that narrate like pages of an intimate diary for a few friends, often sung in multiple voices (even with his mother and sister)? How much bad faith and arrogance are needed to attack the uniqueness of these rare tapes (discovered in a trunk by the singer's manager) containing 28 tracks including Bob Dylan’s cover "Tomorrow is a long time" and other more or less known covers?
In short, whatever the case may be, I completely shifted my initial intent of bashing and changed my mind about the preconceived idea I had of the album.
A Great Album, truly deserving, enchanting from the first note to the last!
P.S. It's nice to allow yourself the luxury of changing your mind about things and people: I did it both with this album (not with Nick Drake of whom I maintain the highest esteem since I discovered him in 1991) and with some people I've met (both in reality and here on debaser). Being able to change your mind and dismantle the walls and barriers we create in our heads can often be a very pleasant surprise. Especially to ourselves.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
11 Blossom (02:41)
Black days of winter all were through
The blossoms came and they brought you
Clouds left the sky
And I knew the reason why
They made way for you and the blossom.
The seasons cycle turned again
An april shower now and then
Trees came alive
And the bees left their hive
They came out to see you and the blossom.
People were laughing, smiling with the sun
They knew that summer had begun.
The nights grew warm, the days grew long
Spring turned to summer and was gone
It seemed so fine
All the cider and the wine
But I knew you'd go with the blossom.
When spring returns I'll look again
To find another blossom friend
Until I do
Find something new
I'll just think of you and the blossom.
23 Rain (03:07)
Thoughts of rain at sunset
Clouds of rainbow blue
Thoughts of sun on sand-dunes
Where the seabirds flew
This was our season, and we said it couldn't end
But my love left with the rain.
Thoughts of leaves in autumn
Falling from the trees
Thoughts of hoaring tree tops
Leading to the sea
This was our season, no lies and no pretend
But my love left with the rain.
Thoughts of springtime rainfall
Touching flowers that bend
Thoughts of wind in willows
Days that never end
This was our season, but sorrow waited round the bend
For my love left with the rain.
Rain's the way you move now
Sun the way you seem
Leaves the way you wonder
Flowers the way you dream
This was our season, and we said it couldn't end
But my love left with the rain
25 Day Is Done (02:20)
When the day is done
Down to earth then sinks the sun
Along with everything that was lost and won
When the day is done.
When the day is done
Hope so much your race will be all run
Then you find you jumped the gun
Have to go back where you began
When the day is done.
When the night is cold
Some get by but some get old
Just to show life's not made of gold
When the night is cold.
When the bird has flown
Got no-one to call your own
Got no place to call your home
When the bird has flown.
When the game's been fought
You speed the ball across the court
Lost much sooner than you would have thought
Now the game's been fought.
When the party's through
Seems so very sad for you
Didn't do the things you meant to do
Now there's no time to start anew
Now the party's through.
When the day is done
Down to earth then sinks the sun
Along with everything that was lost and won
When the day is done.
27 Way to Blue (02:52)
Don't you have a word to show what may be done
Have you never heard a way to find the sun
Tell me all that you may know
Show me what you have to show
Won't you come and say
If you know the way to blue?
Have you seen the land living by the breeze
Can you understand a light among the trees
Tell me all that you may know
Show me what you have to show
Tell us all today
If you know the way to blue?
Look through time and find your rhyme
Tell us what you find
We will wait at your gate
Hoping like the blind.
Can you now recall all that you have known?
Will you never fall
When the light has flown?
Tell me all that you may know
Show me what you have to show
Won't you come and say
If you know the way to blue?
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