Family Tree

repackaged in mint-packs. 'family tree' features previously unreleased tracks from the vaults of the estate of nick drake. the album tells the story of nick's musical development in the years prior to recording his official debut album 'five leaves left'. recorded in the late 1960's, the 28 tracks feature lo-fi recordings made on a reel-to-reel tape recorder at his home, far leys in tanworth in arden, as well as eight songs recorded on cassette during his sojourn in aix en provence. the inclusion of two songs, 'poor mum' and 'try to remember', written and performed by molly drake bears testament to her musical influence on her son, conscious or otherwise. after nick's death in 1974, his parents rodney and molly drake began to receive visits from fans compelled to understand more about the source of his music by traveling to the place where he lived and died. for rodney and molly, this was no invasion of privacy. on the contrary, aware that this might be the beginning of the recognition that their son had longed for in his lifetime, they invited those fans in and quite often shared the music a young nick had recorded on an early reel-to-reel recorder. often fans left with their own cassette tapes of those songs.