LOST RECORDING OF A MUSIC HERO
AN AWARDWINNING show telling the story of a lost Nick Drake recording rescued from a skip returns to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe next week.
Strange Face is the story of how Michael Burdett rescued a tape recording no one knew existed while working as a post-boy at Island Records in the 1970s.
“I picked it up because it had ‘Nick Drake, Cello Song’ and ‘with love’ written on the box,” Michael said. “The words made me think that it had to be Nick’s handwriting and on that basis I couldn’t let it go to the dump.”
It was more than 20 years before Michael played the tape. When he threaded it on to a tape machine, he heard an unknown version of Cello Song, one of the greatest works of the singersongwriter, who died of an overdose of antidepressants in 1974, aged 26.
During his brief recording career, Nick Drake produced just three studio albums, so Michael knew the discovery would be a significant find.
Drake’s estate manager came to hear it, bringing with him Nick’s friend and string arranger, Robert Kirby. Michael said: “When the guitar started, it was obvious from Kirby’s face that he did not recognise this version. As Nick’s voice came in, his eyes moistened.”
Realising it was not his place to copy, release or broadcast the recording Michael put the tape aside until years later when he heard news of Kirby’s death.
He allowed 200 random individuals an opportunity to hear the recording as he photographed them, including Billy Bragg, actor Martin Freeman, DJ Fearne and comedian Ross Noble. ●Strange Face – Adventures With A Lost Nick Drake Recording at Pleasance Beneath on August 3-4 (previews), and 5-29 (not 16th).
JOHN DINGWALL