I fell for Nick Drake's music during my earliest days working behind the counter of a record shop, via the 1979 career spanning 'Fruit Tree' box set. At the time I knew next to nothing about him and can remember being quite shaken by the bleakness of 'Black Eyed Dog', one of four hitherto unreleased performances contained in that original set.
Nick's short life ended 50 years ago today and it's remarkable to think that he'd only be 76 if he was still with us. The acoustic demo 'Time of No Reply' is my favourite Nick Drake song. It was originally released as part of the expanded CD re-issue of the 'Fruit Tree' set in 1986, before receiving detrimental orchestral overdubs for another compilation in 2004.
When Bruce Springsteen & the E-Street Band toured Europe during the Summer of 2023, the only London date scheduled was for the vast, flat, atmos-free, chatterbox-infested Hyde Park. My E-Street buddy and I hummed and hawed, consulted our wallets, took a deep breath and headed out to catch a gig in Amsterdam instead, flying back via Edinburgh for a second show a couple of days later. In spite of coming hot on the heels of a nasty bout of Covid, it was a truly glorious experience, though, for a man of my meagre means, catastrophically expensive. Still, at their advanced age, we figured that these were probably the last precious opportunities to see the E-Street Band in full effect. How wrong I was.
When another European jaunt was announced for the Summer of 2024, my pal and I, convinced that this really would be the last time, hocked our family heirlooms and caught two UK shows, at Sunderland and Wembley. 43 years after my first Springsteen gig just across the road in the Arena, I left Wembley Stadium tired and elated after a staggering three hour performance. A great one to finish on I thought, as I shuffled down Wembley Way towards the tube station.
So now Bruce is coming back to Europe yet again next Summer, ostensibly to mop up a few 2024 shows in Italy and Spain that had to be postponed when he fell ill, but he's also added a handful of UK dates to the run. This time I was absolutely going to give it a miss (as indeed I am with Dylan's potential UK concert farewell this very week), as money, in the immortal words of The Valentine Brothers, really is too tight to mention. My E-Street buddy talked me round though and consequently I now have debts no honest man can pay, because I've stumped up for one more night on E-Street in Manchester next May.
A moving solo acoustic interpretation of I'll See You in My Dreams has closed practically every show for the past couple of years and call me an old fool, but it gets me every time. Here's Bruce performing it at the 20th 9/11 Memorial Ceremony in New York.
Lord knows I carry a few regrets around with me as I hurtle towards my dotage and pretty near the top of the list is never having learned to play the guitar. Periodically throughout my adult life, little made-up tunes have spent time rattling around the void between my ears in search of a home, only to disappear forever into the ether when it becomes clear that I have no means with which to transcribe them. In particular, I'm an enthusiast of what is usually tagged as American Primitive Guitar, though it's a descriptor that I'm not altogether keen on. The (mostly) solo acoustic music attached to the aforementioned genre is invariably anything but primitive in either composition or performance. Also, flicking through my collection, both physical and digital, a growing number of my favourite performers in this field aren't even American.
Take for example Doctor Turtle from Brighton (or Simon Ounsworth to his mates), who has a big ol' pile of tunes to die for over on his Bandcamp page. The Turtle archive is set at a Name Your Own Price level and he's more than happy for us to enjoy the music without digging into our pockets at all, though should you wish to contribute towards Simon's strings and biscuits fund, you can of course drop a few coins into the tin on your way out.
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