Darker Than the Deepest Sea: The Search for Nick Drake [Paperback]

Trevor Dann (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 12, 2006

When Nick Drake (1948-1974) died of a drug overdose at twenty-six, he left behind three modest-selling albums, including the stark Pink Moon and the lush Bryter Layter. Three decades later, he is recognized as one of the true geniuses of English acoustic music. Yet Nick Drake--whose music was as gentle and melancholy as the man himself-- has always maintained a spectral presence in popular music. This groundbreaking biography reconstructs a vanished life while perfectly capturing the bohemian scenes surrounding the music business in London in the late '60s and early '70s. Using many newly discovered documents and all-new interviews, Trevor Dann reveals more detail on Nick Drake than ever, from his upbringing in a quintessentially English village, through his hash-fueled school days at Cambridge University, to the missed opportunities and mismanagement that defined his career. Friends and colleagues describe the difficulties that he faced as each new album was released, only to fail, and the insidious despair that consumed him. Complete with discography and rare photos, Darker Than the Deepest Sea is essential reading for anyone who has been moved by Nick Drake's unforgettable blend of beauty and sadness.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A British acoustic-psychedelic entry into the ever-swelling hall of artists who died young, Nick Drake received little recognition during his short life. Yet more than 30 years after his death, his celebrity has never been greater and has been accompanied by reissues, documentary films and biographies—one Drake tune even rated a Volkswagen commercial. Born to a wealthy family, Drake showed early interest in music; by his university years he had developed a unique guitar style and brooding songs that had little to do with the hippie noodlings of the era. Heavy drug use and commercial failure pushed the already introverted Drake deeper into isolation and despair; he died of an overdose at the age of 26. To this day, questions swirl around every aspect of Drake's life, from his musical influences and sexuality to whether or not he intentionally killed himself. Unfortunately, Dann, producer of Live Aid, brings little insight to the Drake mysteries. While he covers Drake's Cambridge years thoroughly, other aspects of the musician's life are barely mentioned; even interviews with Drake's closer friends reveal little—it just might be that no one really ever got close enough to him. By contrast, the book's discography is comprehensive and informative. (Oct.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Nick Drake, the English songwriter who has come to personify the young, sensitive, gloomy, and doomed composer of navel--gazing songs, released only three albums and 31 tracks of music before his fatal overdose in 1974 (he was 26). Ignored in his own time, his music gradually obtained a wider audience and a measure of popular acceptance. Dann sets out to reveal the person behind the virtuoso guitar playing and soft English lilt in this new biography. The problem is, his subject was elusive to those who knew him and remains so to his biographer. Nobody really knew Drake well, not even his friends. Too often Dann compensates by focusing on trivia (for instance, directions to Drake's Cambridge dormitory). By the end, we know things about Drake, but we don't know the man. Funny, then, how affected readers are by the loss when they arrive at the point of his death. Somehow, Dann captures enough of the shadow that was Drake that we care when the light is extinguished and the shadow lost. Given Drake's fierce reserve, this is no small accomplishment. Jerry Eberle
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Da Capo Press (September 12, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0306815206
• ISBN-13: 978-0306815201
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #462,121 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Definitive, well written and authoratative, April 5, 2006

By 

Blueshawk (Carpinteria,CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Darker Than the Deepest Sea: The Search for Nick Drake (Paperback)

This book is a real achievement. Trevor Dann has done what no one has done before for Nick Drake. Based upon extensive research and careful reconstruction of known data Dann has put together a coherent description of Nick's childhood, school years, recording years and final decline. Important new facts were uncovered, many of which were crucial to the assembly of a coherent understanding of Nick's life, music and death.

I never understood how someone with such talent, from a background of such privilege and from a much touted loving home found so little solace, in the love and support that family provided when he was depressed because his records didn't sell. Now I believe I understand.

Questions about his sexual orientation are answered from new interviews, in the words of many people who knew him.

In short, after reading this book, all of the remaining questions that I had regarding Nick have been answered, and what is more, the answers "feel right".

The book is also a wonderful read. It is very well written, and each sentence is packed with information. There is no sense of things having been added as filler. All such supporting materials are put in appendices at the back of the book. This is an extraordinary first book for Dann, tackling a difficult subject, three decades after Drake's death; it surely is an excellent example of careful, respectful, forensic research, that comes off both literate and authoritative.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Easy to read, but tinged w/some speculation, November 4, 2006

By 

Sylvia Majka (Florida, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Darker Than the Deepest Sea: The Search for Nick Drake (Paperback)

Dann's writing style makes this book perhaps more user friendly than Humphries. I enjoyed the book, with the exception of some speculative aspects, especially concerning possible childhood abuse and his characterization of Nick as a much heavier drug user than the majority of the sources suggest. All evidence available points to a loving family, with a sister still dedicated to preserving her brother's legacy to this day. It could be easy to see how a Father hoping his son would become a doctor or engineer like himself might be disappointed with a musical career choice, but there is nothing to indicate anything untoward. Had there been, perhaps Nick would have gone to live with good friend Billy Squier, rather than go home to Far Leys towards the end. The book is easy to read and with a more streamlined approach than Humphries, with all it's information on the music scene in London in the late 60's. But then, Humphries didn't go to Cambridge as a student and request Nick's old room number, as Dann evidently did. Both books together dovetail nicely, but in Joe Boyd's brief chapters on Nick in White Bicyles, the man came alive more than in either of these two books.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars the 2nd book of nick, January 19, 2007

By 

Todd Sinclair (Ma, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Darker Than the Deepest Sea: The Search for Nick Drake (Paperback)

While it has been compared to Patrick Humphries scholarly biography, for not having revealed new insight, it does act as a worthy companion. Especially for Drake'o'philes. Much like his posthumous recordings, they are not definitive, but every new little artifact helps piece a bit more of this man's remarkable (and very short) career together.