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Nick Drake's debut album 'Five Leaves Left' is set for a re-release in the form of a new vinyl box set.
Island Records will release a replica of his album on July 29th. It will be re-mastered from the original un-eq'd quarter inch master tapes by John Wood at Abbey Road Studios and pressed using wholly analogue processes onto 180 gsm virgin vinyl.
The re-release includes an exact replica of the first edition sleeve, coupled with a period shop poster, lyrics to two of Drake's songs and options to download the tracks in MP3, Hi-Res FLAC files or the new DFD (dubbed-from-disc) files for an authentic listening experience.
Despite Drake's early death aged 24 in 1976, his reputation has grown today into world-wide fame. The 'Five Leaves Left' name arose from poverty stricken students of 1968 who hand rolled their cigarettes. Often using Rizla papers, Rizla kindly reminded them when they were about to run out, with a yellow interleaf paper with bold red type stating 'only five leaves left'.
Photo of Nick Drake 'Five Leaves Left' album
The debut was originally released initially only on vinyl and cassette which soon became redundant due to the rise in CDs and online downloading.
Five Leaves Left heralded a new signing for Drake with Island Records. His record verging on not traditional enough to be folk yet not weird enough to be psychedelic. Yet whilst collaborating with producer Joe Boyd, orchestrator Robert Kirby and recording engineer John Wood, Drake avoided the pitfalls of what was expected and created one of the most singular and unique record released to a largely indifferent media.
