For many years after his death, unreleased home tapes that
Nick Drake made shortly before beginning his official recording career have been bootlegged among collectors. The 28 songs on Family Tree add up to an extensive (though not quite complete, missing some minor covers like "Get Together," "Don't Think Twice, It's Alright," and "Summertime") compilation of the performances he recorded on such equipment before he cut his debut album, 1969's Five Leaves Left. The bulk of it, and the part that's been oft-bootlegged, was recorded on a reel-reel at his family home (and include a vocal duet between him and sister
Gabrielle Drake on "All My Trials," though otherwise they're all solo performances). Less familiar, and hence probably new even to many hardcore
Drake collectors, are eight songs taped on cassette somewhat earlier during his spring 1967 stay in Aix-En-Provence in France, as well as a couple of earlier versions of songs that later appeared on Five Leaves Left that were taped by
Robert Kirby in 1968, and a couple recordings of songs sung and played (on piano) by
Nick's mother,
Molly Drake. Many
Drake fans will already be familiar with the performances he taped at his family home, but the cleaned-up sound here makes this disc much easier to listen to than those earlier unauthorized releases, though everything's still (inevitably given the sources) a little lo-fi.
As for the music, it's a very pleasant and listenable portrait of
Drake's
folk roots, though not on par (and not meant to be) with his studio releases. For one thing, at this point, he wasn't playing much of his own material; most of the songs are
traditional folk tunes, or covers of compositions by '60s
folk songwriters that were obviously big influences on
Drake, such as
Bert Jansch,
Jackson C. Frank, and
Dylan (and, on "Been Smokin' Too Long," a friend he met in France,
Robin Frederick). Also, both his guitar work and singing are more derivative of the likes of
Jansch,
Donovan, and
country bluesmen such as
Blind Boy Fuller (whose "My Baby's So Sweet" he covers here) than they would be by the time he settled into his own style on Five Leaves Left. Still, much of what makes
Drake special does come through, even with the relatively low percentage of original material and primitive recording conditions. His
folk guitar work is already nimble, but more striking are his vocals, which already boast his characteristic mixture of assured slight smokiness and English reserve. And the few
Drake compositions put his reclusive yet poetic world view in greater, more original focus, though it's really only on the songs later used on Five Leaves Left (and, perhaps, the haunting if
Donovan-esque "Strange Meeting, Pt. 2") that it becomes fully mature. The two
Molly Drake songs, incidentally, aren't mere completist add-ons; they make it clear that she was likely a substantial influence upon her son's melancholy melodies and songwriting, if perhaps a subliminal one. Less essential, though still illuminating for the dedicated
Drake fan is a
classical instrumental (by "the Family Trio") with
Nick on clarinet. ~ Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide
