"Family Tree" compiles a bunch of Nick Drake's home recordings -- many of which have been circulating as bootlegs, but a few originals as well.

The tracks on "Family Tree" are more bluesy than his studio releases -- most of them are traditional tunes or works of fellow folk artists like Dave Van Ronk / Jackson C Frank / Bob Dylan. The cool thing is that Nick's renditions seem, at times, more appropriate than their original versions!

Nick's guitar is exceptionally clean, and this can be deceptive, as it can be easy to underestimate the difficulty and complexity of his fingerpicking if you're not paying attention. As always, his distinctive voice does the tunes justice without seeming at all "British" or fakely "folky".

As a fan of Drakes work and a collector of as much of his music as possible, I'll say that "Family Tree" is essential for anyone who loves Nick's music, or anyone who enjoys traditional blues / folk music. For fans, this album represents a collection of refreshingly different, and possibly unheard, tracks -- for lovers of blues / folk, this album is a treasury of classic tunes rejuvenated by a gifted guitarist / singer / songwriter.

Give it a shot!

I think most fans find it a little unbelievable that Nick Drake has been dead for over thirty years. It is a little hard to believe. For how fresh these songs sound even decades later, it feels like Drake just left a few years ago. For an artist so precious not only to fans but to the entire American folk scene, it is a shame that so little material is in circulation. The era of this monumental artist that fans seem to appreciate most is the "less is more" themed album Pink Moon, which featured, with only one exception on the title track, only Nick Drake and his guitar. That is the spirit of this long winded rarities compilation. Most all of the songs are home recordings featuring only one instrument and vocals, and exceptions are few.

Which is why, in theory, this collection sounds like it should be completely boring. From what I hear, most of these songs can be found on other bootlegs already, and this is more of an official release of the rarities than anything. This is good. I don't have time to track down bootlegs, let alone more than one from an artist with such a sparse career, so it's nice to have all sorts of stuff worth having on an official release, with a few completely unreleased songs no less. But either way, calling the album Family Tree was probably misleading. Are Nick Drake rarities so scarce now that they must be created, as performances from Nick Drake's family? At that, these songs were probably never good enough to be on full albums anyway. Most all of the songs are simple finger picking and slow vocals.

So that sounds pretty dull, and pretty disposable. But fortunately for the casual listener, this collection is simply essential and completely different on your stereo than on paper. For one thing, the low quality of these recordings only adds to the fragility and mystique of many of the songs. And the fact that they are home recordings brings some personal vitality to the songs, sometimes when Nick Drake speaks after the cuts or makes a tiny little mistake. The fact that these songs are not studio recordings only help them. Sometimes, the fuzz in the background sounds like soft rain, and the effect is amazing. Also, the brevity of most of the songs actually helps as well. All the more room for interesting melodic nuances. For collectors, this is not only an official release from the Nick Drake estate, but it also has a lions share (if not all, after all I'm no expert) of the rarities all in one place. But for casual fans, this is a completely lovely triumph in every way.

Stylistically, I'd have to mark these songs as more bluesy than usual. Which really is an area that was not explored before in Nick Drake's released career. Some of these takes are extremely relaxing and simultaneously fun, like Cocaine Blues, If You Leave Me, and Black Mountain Blues. A good portion of the album is similarly relaxing blues, but there are other areas touched on. Songs like They're Leaving Me Behind and Rain are simple and wonderful enough to have been on Pink Moon. But there are also some things that one might not consider real, solid material here. It seems as if the Nick Drake estate was trying to milk some of Nick Drake's more obscure, some would say useless recordings. At first glance, little nuggets such as a poetry reciting called Time Piece (that features no music at all) and a tiny piano recording Paddling In The Rushes seem like they mean nothing at all. But the truth of it is, even this little "filler" songs are simply dropdead gorgeous. Nick Drake has kept up his romantic, emotional style even at home where he has nothing to prove.

Although it may seem like a blemish to include recordings from Nick Drake's family, they do add to the experience at levels not understandable unless heard. All of these songs are lovely, regardless of who sings them, and the music speaks for itself. Poor Mum, the family recital of Kegelstatt Trio, and the duet of All My Trials are all wonderful. And the best is the ending... After a touching reprise of Come Into The Garden, a girl who I assume to be Nick's sister wraps up the album with a mindbendingly fragile and wonderful rendition of the classic Try To Remember. It's almost like staring into a photograph.

For any Nick Drake fan no matter the caliber, Family Tree is an asset. It plays beautifully and delivers some truly classic songs that stand alongside other of the mans great pieces. Twenty eight songs of pure, touching Drake music. Who could ask for more? Although I'd hardly call it a 2007 "album," it is still one of the best releases of the year. I love reclining on my garage roof during the summer and listening to Nick Drake. These brilliant gems will keep me staring at the blue sky and the stars for a long, long time.

Nick Drake's material has been packaged and repackaged extensively, but this is one posthumous release that truly provides fresh insight into his development as an artist. Comprised mostly of home demos and mixing in a generous helping of recordings of his mother, as well, this collection feels almost like a time portal, as though we've been given passage back into Nick's early life. I love the imperfections that go along with it; a flubbed lyric or dropped note here or there, his little commentaries at the end of some pieces, the sound of someone clanking a bottle in the kitchen behind him on one track. You feel like you're in the Drake's living room, and yet it doesn't just seem like the cannibalization of material from before Nick had fully emerged as an artist. There are some amazing and beautiful tracks here, including "They're Leaving Me Behind," "Winter is Gone," and even the brief "Sketch I." All the talent as a singer and player is there, just in a raw, early form. And the liner notes from his sister are a touching addition to the package.

Maybe not the best option for introducing yourself to Nick Drake's music (I might pick "Pink Moon" for that), but definitely a must-own for anyone who already calls themselves a fan.

In the 34 years since the death of this coffeehouse (though he may have never played at one) folk legend, many of Nick Drake's most rabid fans shoved off to the English countryside on a hedgerow leaping pilgrimage to Tanwerth-in-Arden, where Drake hung out with his family to be carefree, lucid and eager to create fascinatingly original music, and hone his blues folk leanings to meld with his increasing melancholic and original laments in the headiest of pop music periods in the sixties. It was also where he holed up from the pressures of life away from the family nook, and to combat his debilitating, to the point of catatonic, depression that eventually led to the much debated and murky accidental death in 1974.

It is here where the loving sister Gabrielle presided over the estate, allowing some of the diehard fans to lodge in Nick's room, after which, their gracious hostess would allow them to walk out with some cherished home recordings of her brothers music before he recorded Five Leaves Left. These recordings were decidedly cloudy in sound quality but heavily bootlegged never the less. The estate at FarLeys along with some original recordings from Aix En Provence, France provided by Nick's friends Robin Frederick and Robert Kirby has finally saw through to clean up the sound and give the recordings a much deserved official release.

This Cd comes with insightful liner notes from friends and family, and a detailed list of the recordings and their origin. It can be seen as a Holy Grail for Drake enthusiasts and a muddy but intriguing home recording for the uninitiated. Most of those unfamiliar with Drake would assume he was simply a morose folkie, but it is in these bits, more than anywhere, when his blues base is exposed. His uniqueness came about by being the hopeless romantic lost in the blues, and meandering his tunings to blues of his record collection no doubt including Rev Gary Davis, Robert Johnson, Mississippi John Hurt, to the sad fluttering folk sounds found in family gathering tunes played by his mother in these recordings. While seen as odd by some who wonder what they're doing here, it is quite easy to see the resonating sadness in his mother's voice that Nick would later have in his own timbre.

The songs are quite listenable enough to appreciate this collection as music and not just a historical document. They're Leaving Me Behind finds him already predicting his lingering depression and perhaps cluing the listeners in to what caused it all. Elsewhere, he plunges into the Jackson C Frank songbook for a lot of his 1967 blues workouts, and hones his Bert Jansch meets the acoustic rockabilly busker guitar playing that has so many listeners pining to pin down, on tunes by Jansch and David Van Ronk. He often liked to tackle traditional ballads and it's quite fascinating and rewarding to see how clearly they influenced the embryotic versions of his originals in a low-fi stripped down setting. Perhaps some of his best world weary leanings come from the duet he does with his sister in All My Trials. One can imagine what it would have been like had he saw through enough to record with eager fan Francois Hardy before his mental collapse prevented him.

While the quality is understandably shaky, it has been cleaned up enough to grab hold of those just discovering him or retracing his history. It is certain to keep his followers interested. In the world of sensitive melancholy folksingers, Nick was the genuine article and still has not been matched. This recording not only shows he was more than a folksinger; he had the blues and loads of it. It is probably the recording that best captures his true spirit. No need to get a passport and fly to England. His gracious family and friends will bring him to you.

Having been a Nick Drake fan since the mid-70s, I can say that this fascinating, heartbreaking release is a must-have for any serious fan of Nick's. The songs all pre-date Nick's first album, the sound quality is of a home recording-- but it's all great. As another reviewer said, it's like having Nick in your living room just performing some songs one after the other--just him and a guitar. (In some cases his mother performs, or he does a duet with his sister.) This is a truly beautiful CD, and kudos go to Nick's sister Gabrielle for releasing it. Thank you, Gabrielle!