Funny that Elton could have helped the guy with his career if he was that much of a fan. Or at least gotten him better drugs.

what a find!

Pretty good renditions, indeed

Great find. Good quality, too. It's really cool to hear those songs done in a more traditional style.

If he'd put out that version of Time Has Told Me, it probably would've been a hit, and Nick might still be with us today.

Damn.

Nice find, Subby. Tracks aren't playing for me right now... but it's a bookmark, for sure.

Good stuff, good Fark submission. I'd heard these Elton John versions before (although the AD mp3s are better quality), but I had to pull out my copy of Patrick Humphries' Nick Drake biography to refresh my memory on the circumstances (and the damn book doesn't even have an index!)

This was never intended for proper release. These songs were recorded as an "album of Warlock Music songs," according to Joe Boyd. Only 100 white-label acetates were pressed. From the book: "The idea was to have something that could be sent out, for managers to play to music publishers, and on to their clients. It was a Tin Pan Alley tradition [...] Was the idea to get the likes of Tom Jones... interested in covering one of Boyd's proteges' songs? That sort of crossover was not unfeasible; there had been precedents."

The book goes on to note that around the time, "Elton was in great demand as a session singer."

So this was not a case of Elton choosing Nick's songs himself b/c he was a fan. Nor was it Boyd trying to convince Elton to put these songs on his next album. Elton was merely a hired voice who came in to help record demo versions of various songs so they could be shopped around to other artists. Elton had yet to really break big, and once he did, I'm sure Nick's songs from this session (which was apparently one of many EJ did back then), would not necessarily be the first thing on his mind.

The book does quote Elton as being "impressed by the 'beautiful, haunting quality' of Nick's songs" at the time of the session, but there's no implication that he continued to follow Nick's career after that.

Anyway, just adding some more background to the story. I'm not a big Elton fan, but these tracks are a great find.

Oh, and one of the comments at AD mentions Merle Haggard covering "Time Has Told Me." Is this true? A quick Google search didn't turn anything up.

Glenechocreek: If he'd put out that version of Time Has Told Me, it probably would've been a hit, and Nick might still be with us today.

Damn.

Yeah, that one is pretty funky and caught my attention more than the others. Not much of a Elton fan and love Drake, so I'll stick with him, but these are certainly interesting to hear. I didn't realize Drake even got that little bit of attention back then.

ArturoBandini:

The book goes on to note that around the time, "Elton was in great demand as a session singer."


He was actually booked to be the vocalist for King Crimson after Greg Lake left, and was to have sung on In the Wake of Poseidon. Robert Fripp listened to Elton's first couple of albums and canceled the sessions, commenting that Elton's singing would have been a terrible fit with the music (he also said that EJ's first two albums were crap). Fripp didn't know that Elton got paid for being canned; EJ pocketed £250 and never sang a note.

Elton would later tell Oprah that, among the other hardships of his life, he was fired from King Crimson.

GypsyJoker
He was actually booked to be the vocalist for King Crimson after Greg Lake left, and was to have sung on In the Wake of Poseidon. Robert Fripp listened to Elton's first couple of albums and canceled the sessions, commenting that Elton's singing would have been a terrible fit with the music (he also said that EJ's first two albums were crap). Fripp didn't know that Elton got paid for being canned; EJ pocketed £250 and never sang a note.

Elton would later tell Oprah that, among the other hardships of his life, he was fired from King Crimson.

wow.... i only knew the basic fact that Elton might've auditioned for them. i certainly did not know the *whole* story. thanks for the details! :-)

that makes me think, though:
was elton 'blindly' booked for the sessions? who booked him? their record company? manager?
i mean since Fripp listened to his first two records and cancelled the sessions.
[granted, "empty sky" isn't the greatest album in the world... hell it isn't even that great as far as a debut goes... "elton john" is better though...]

fripp's right, though... Elton would've been a terrible fit for KC.

now, if only Jon Anderson had sang the rest of the "Lizard" songs.... i'm not saying that Gordon Haskell is a BAD singer, he's fair/kinda good, and his vocals somehow fit the songs, but I think they were a little better when another vocalist was doing the 'lizard' songs, as in Boz on the tour for 'islands' in 1971... he did "circus" and whatnot... pretty well.

wow, I never knew that about Elton and King Crimson. if Elton John had been the lead singer for King Crimson...fark, my whole life would've turned out differently.

Third_Uncle_Eno: GypsyJoker
He was actually booked to be the vocalist for King Crimson after Greg Lake left, and was to have sung on In the Wake of Poseidon. Robert Fripp listened to Elton's first couple of albums and canceled the sessions, commenting that Elton's singing would have been a terrible fit with the music (he also said that EJ's first two albums were crap). Fripp didn't know that Elton got paid for being canned; EJ pocketed £250 and never sang a note.

Elton would later tell Oprah that, among the other hardships of his life, he was fired from King Crimson.

wow.... i only knew the basic fact that Elton might've auditioned for them. i certainly did not know the *whole* story. thanks for the details! :-)

that makes me think, though:
was elton 'blindly' booked for the sessions? who booked him? their record company? manager?
i mean since Fripp listened to his first two records and cancelled the sessions.
[granted, "empty sky" isn't the greatest album in the world... hell it isn't even that great as far as a debut goes... "elton john" is better though...]

fripp's right, though... Elton would've been a terrible fit for KC.

now, if only Jon Anderson had sang the rest of the "Lizard" songs.... i'm not saying that Gordon Haskell is a BAD singer, he's fair/kinda good, and his vocals somehow fit the songs, but I think they were a little better when another vocalist was doing the 'lizard' songs, as in Boz on the tour for 'islands' in 1971... he did "circus" and whatnot... pretty well.

Apparently EG booked Elton to do the vocals without Fripp's knowledge. He expressed amazement that EJ got paid; he found out after going through the bank statements during his protracted court battle with EG.

As far as Haskell goes, I loved his vocals on Lizard and "Cadence & Cascade," but he absolutely hated every moment he was with the band, and it drove a wedge between him and Fripp for decades (they were childhood friends; Fripp taught Haskell [and Boz, too] to play bass). And yet Fripp was the first one to congratulate Haskell when "How Wonderful You Are" made the Top Ten.

I love the Lizard-era stuff with Boz singing it--and especially the snippet of "Court" they did 12-bar blues style--on the Ladies of the Road live set. (Oddly, the only two deceased Crims are Boz and Ian Wallace, and they were the rhythm section there.)

You've gotta get Sid Smith's In the Court of King Crimson. An awesome book, with great stories from just about everyone in the group over the years. Hard to find, though.

GypsyJoker
Apparently EG booked Elton to do the vocals without Fripp's knowledge. He expressed amazement that EJ got paid; he found out after going through the bank statements during his protracted court battle with EG.

As far as Haskell goes, I loved his vocals on Lizard and "Cadence & Cascade," but he absolutely hated every moment he was with the band, and it drove a wedge between him and Fripp for decades (they were childhood friends; Fripp taught Haskell [and Boz, too] to play bass). And yet Fripp was the first one to congratulate Haskell when "How Wonderful You Are" made the Top Ten.

I love the Lizard-era stuff with Boz singing it--and especially the snippet of "Court" they did 12-bar blues style--on the Ladies of the Road live set. (Oddly, the only two deceased Crims are Boz and Ian Wallace, and they were the rhythm section there.)

You've gotta get Sid Smith's In the Court of King Crimson. An awesome book, with great stories from just about everyone in the group over the years. Hard to find, though.

p.s. thanks subby for this article link. very cool find. i'm a fan of both Nick Drake [have "bryter layter" and "pink moon"] and Elton John, so good stuff!!
[i don't know any song from the list in the article, so i'm thinking they're from his first album or something]

back to your reply, GypsyJoker:
re: haskell
as fripp said, "king crimson is a way of life" indeed!

i have a KC b**tleg from Detroit 1971, i think they played the "court 12 bar blues" at the end of it. maybe you have that album, or maybe not, but anyway here's some other neat things about it:
- fripp has a speech about how they were tired of people writing "learn 'epitaph'" on their tour van's dirty windows. that while they still retained some old numbers [ie. "schizoid man", "pictures...", etc.] they wanted to play new stuff as well.

- the audience was quite rowdy in spots, and one of the members [99% sure it was boz] said "SHUT UP, FOR F**K SAKES!!!" when fripp begins to make his speech amidst crowd rowdyness.

- Sinfield often went overboard with the VCS3 'white noise' in places on that b**tleg.

- i remember reading a story somewhere that fripp gave the drummer a tape of "circus" to listen to, to learn the drum part from, and the tape played slower than normal, so he learned (and played) the beat / the song slower than normal.

- Mel Collins played mellotron, [presumebly on "circus" and "mars"], along with his usual sax.

- near the end, before the "court of the..." Boz says [i'm quoting from memory here, so it may not be 100% correct] "i'm drinking a seven up, does that make me more american for ya, hey?"
after "in the court", he asks the crowd, sneeringly, "THERE. *now* are you satisfied?"


thanks, i'll be on the lookout for that book next time i'm in a bookstore!

Great find, Subby. Thanks!

GypsyJoker: Elton would later tell Oprah that, among the other hardships of his life, he was fired from King Crimson.

I'm just trying to picture Oprah having any clue whatsoever who King Crimson was/are. Somehow I'm not seeing her ever saying Now, if you all look under your seats, there's a signed copy of "Lark's Tongues in Aspic", courtesy of the band!

Oh my God.

A couple of the songs are on YouTube, but the quality is horrible. I couldn't get the MP3's to play on the link.

If anyone finds these in a better quality, like FLAC, let us know. ;)

I regard the story of Nick Drake as among the most tragic events in music history.

Really sad.
If anyone truly needed(deserved) more support it was Drake.

I only wish the handful of those who were aware of his gift had done or said more.

Drake's story is also a grim reminder of how utterly pathetic the music "industry" can be. A guy can be that amazingly great and die in obscurity....


....only to be finally recognized for a f*cking car commercial decades later.

craigdamage: ....only to be finally recognized for a f*cking car commercial decades later.

I just now watched that commercial for the first time. I found out about him because allmusic.com listed him as an influence/similar artist to Elliott Smith.

thanks for the find.

Solid find

What a fantastic musician Elton John is. For all the costume silliness and private life shenanigans, the man simply lives and breathes music. I wish he'd do a proper tour with his band again instead of all those Vegas gigs or tours with Billy Joel. I saw him about 5 years ago, he played 2:45 and he could have done a completely different set of songs and it'd have been just as good, his catalogue is that deep.

Tumbleweed Connection FTW.

Thanks for the link, listening to it now, hard to believe these were quicky demo sessions.

craigdamage:

"I regard the story of Nick Drake as among the most tragic events in music history."

Agreed. It's said that Nick Drake quickly grew to dislike playing live in front of people, because nearly every time, they would act like he wasn't even there. So the music industry has always been a big, dumb machine, but so are the masses that it caters to. If you can't shake your ass to it or bang your head to it, most people want no part of it.

I wish there were more of Drake's work out there, but sadly, the 3 albums and the "Fruit Tree" set are all there is. It's all incredibly brilliant stuff, though.

GibbyTheMole:
I wish there were more of Drake's work out there, but sadly, the 3 albums and the "Fruit Tree" set are all there is. It's all incredibly brilliant stuff, though.

Also, there's the "Time of No Reply" posthumos album. It's (very) good. Fruit tree only has some of the songs from that album.

Add me to the list of people who thank subby for the great find.

I have nothing intelligent to add so I'll just leave this bookmark here.

Half Star: GibbyTheMole:
I wish there were more of Drake's work out there, but sadly, the 3 albums and the "Fruit Tree" set are all there is. It's all incredibly brilliant stuff, though.

Also, there's the "Time of No Reply" posthumos album. It's (very) good. Fruit tree only has some of the songs from that album.

Add me to the list of people who thank subby for the great find.

Plus at least 3 boots of unreleased and home recordings - Tamworth-in-Arden, Saturday Sun and Second Grace are three that I have, TiA is pretty common, but the other two might circulate under different titles.

A number of these songs were collected on the official release, "Family Tree." Most of the songs are supposedly cleaned up versions of the long-circulated tracks, but I've yet to pick up this disc, so I can't say how they compare. But based on the discs I do have, I'd say that "Family Tree" is probably a good disc to get, if you haven't heard the boots.

As for the VW ad -- I've been contemplating this for years now. By almost all accounts, Nick was honestly concerned about his popularity and wanted to reach a wider audience. So, would he have agreed to do commercial work if given the chance? Based on what I've read/heard, it seems he could have laughed in your face one day, but given it serious thought on another.

The main problem is that the VW ad wasn't his decision, though.

Hey - Thanks Half Star for the info. I'm a huge fan of Nick Drake's work & will check that stuff out without delay.

Peace,
Gib :-)

And many thanks to you too, ArturoBandini.