Nick Drake's Fruit Tree Box Reissue Due

Fragile folk-rock icon Nick Drake coaxed three albums out of his brief recording tenure, all of which have grown in reverence from fans in the years since Drake's death.

Once upon a time, far before the folks at Volkswagen gave Drake a boost, those albums-- Five Leaves Left, Bryter Layter, and Pink Moon-- were collected together in a box set that served as the perfect encapsulation of Drake's majestic ways to blue. That box, titled Fruit Tree (and not to be confused with this year's Family Tree), has been out of print for seven years. But come November 6, as previously mentioned, UME/Fontana will give fans a crack at accruing a good chunk of Nick Drake's discography all at once.

Apart from the classic trio, the 10,000 copies of the Fruit Tree CD box and the 2,000 vinyl sets will come with a 108-page book "featuring song by song analysis by producer Joe Boyd, engineer John Wood, arranger Robert Kirby and songwriter/music journalist and friend Robin Frederick," (says the press release) as well as a DVD copy of the recent Drake documentary A Skin Too Few. This is, the manufacturers warn, a one-time-only run, so acting fast is advised.

In addition, the San Francisco City Arts & Lectures series will host "Remembering Nick Drake", which finds Nick's sister Gabrielle, his producer Joe Boyd, and songwriter Jolie Holland in conversation. That'll take place at San Francisco's Herbst Theater October 2. Both Ms. Drake and Mr. Boyd will be on hand in L.A. October 5 when the American Cinematheque presents "A Place to Be - A Celebration of Nick Drake", which features more dialogue, the L.A. premiere of A Skin Too Few, and a series of short films inspired by Drake and composed by the likes of longtime video lensman Tim Pope and Aussie dreamboat Heath Ledger. A Skin Too Few will also screen October 3 as part of San Francisco's Documentary Festival.

[via pitchforkmedia.com]

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