Molly Drake – Molly Drake (1960 - 1993)
Molly Drake – Molly Drake (1960 - 1993)
01. Happiness 02. Little Weaver Bird 03. Cuckoo Time 04. Love Isn't a Right 05. Dream Your Dreams 06. How Wild the Wind Blows 07. What Can a Song Do to You? 08. I Remember 09. A Sound 10. Ballad 11. Woods in May 12. Night Is My Friend 13. Fine Summer Morning 14. Set Me Free 15. Breakfast at Bradenham Woods 16. Never Pine for the Old Love 17. Poor Mum 18. Do You Ever Remember? 19. The First Day
The mother of British singer/songwriter Nick Drake, Molly Drake was never a recording artist during her lifetime. She died at the age of 77 in 1993, nearly 20 years after her son's passing. At the time Nick Drake's cult was already substantial, but had yet to grow to such large proportions as it would within a decade. However, until the 2000 Nick Drake documentary A Skin Too Few, it wasn't known that his mother might have wielded a substantial influence upon his music, as that film included a couple of recordings of Molly Drake that bore some eerie resemblance to her son in style. A couple of recordings of her playing (on piano) and singing her own compositions, "Try to Remember" and "Poor Mum," appear on the 2007 Nick Drake compilation Family Tree. ---Richie Unterberger, Rovi
This is surely the most unexpected, strangely compelling release in years – a home recording of self-composed songs made in the 1950s and 60s by Molly Drake, the wife of a successful Warwickshire businessman and mother of Nick Drake, the struggling singer-songwriter who acquired legendary status after dying of an overdose of antidepressants in 1974, aged 26. Nick Drake found posthumous fame thanks to his fragile, haunting songs, and his mother was clearly an influence. As his producer Joe Boyd has written, she was "the missing link in the Nick Drake story – there, in the piano chords, are the roots of Nick's harmonies". Molly's piano-backed songs are brief, some just over a minute in length, and are influenced by the popular music of the day, from show tunes to sentimental ballads. But they are remarkable for their blend of confidence, sadness and quiet intimacy. ---Robin Denselow, theguardian.com
Last Updated (Friday, 28 April 2017 08:48)