Darker Than the Deepest Sea: The Search for Nick Drake by Trevor Dann Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Darker Than the Deepest Sea: The Search for Nick Drake
Book Review: New, original & controversial!
Summary: 4 Stars
Dann's book is a fine book in that it provides additional information to what is already known and is not simply a rehash of everything else already said - with the detail of Sophia Ryde's letter thrown in. Dann tells us that 'Sophia' rhymes with 'higher' and it is this type of helpful 'anorak'-style information that gives the book its page-turning hook. Dann lists every address that Nick ever lived at - complete with house number - in Burma, Tanworth-in-Arden and London; there is even a potted history of his father, Rodney's career in Burma and a brief summary of the career of Rodney's father. There are reproductions of old school and Cambridge college reports - complete with lists of exams passed and at what grade - interviews with his masters and room mates and reproductions of furious exchanges of letters - when Nick dropped out - between father Rodney and Fitzwilliam. There are new interviews with Linda Thompson, Jeremy Mason, Richard Charkin, et al. There is no direct interview with Sophia apart from a mention of the track, Free Ride, and her reaction to it +++ plus a reference to the alleged 'suicide note' addressed to her. The extra details are commendable and the writing original. Not an easy achievement on a topic that has been worked to death with little scope for new material. On the reservations side, there are unsubtantiated claims that Nick was a heroin addict, suffered from schizophrenia and also, there are various digs at his character. The source of the heroin-user claim is not revealed, so presumably it could come from either of three sources: John Cale, Velvet Underground keyboardist who appears with Nick Drake in the popular track, Northern Sky who refers obliquily to it, Scott Appel - who gets a mention in the book - but as far as I can see, Scott in his attempt to 'reveal the truth' was actually blurring Nick with himself, e.g., the 'speedballs' and 'demerol', etc., these sound very American in description. If the source is Gabrielle, and this is possible, because the letter she read out in the film 'A Skin Too Few' is reproduced here, there is clearly active input from Nick Drake's Estate. Many details possibly could only have come from Gabrielle, in which case, the claims are probably more substantial than if they were merely speculation based on hearsay. Dann's view that ND had schizophrenia caused by too much cannabis use is, he says, based on recent research, however even more recent research suggests that there is actually no link between cannabis use and mental illness, at all.
The latter part of the book has a brief track-by-track analysis of Nick's work.
All in all, the book is in easy to read print, which makes it a rather short book, but is better than I expected it to be, over all. There are many new and interesting photographs included.
Book Review: New, original, controversial!
Summary: 4 Stars
Dann's book is a fine book in that it provides additional information to what is already known and is not simply a rehash of everything else already said - with the detail of Sophia Ryde's letter thrown in. Dann tells us that 'Sophia' rhymes with 'higher' and it is this type of helpful 'anorak'-style information that gives the book its page-turning hook. Dann lists every address that Nick ever lived at - complete with house number - in Burma, Tanworth-in-Arden and London; there is even a potted history of his father's career in Burma and a brief summary of the career of Rodney's father. There are reproductions of old school and Cambridge college reports - complete with lists of exams passed and at what grade - interviews with his masters and room mates and reproductions of furious exchanges of letters - when Nick dropped out - between father Rodney and Fitzwilliam. There are new interviews with Linda Thompson, Chris Blackwell, Jeremy Mason, Richard Charkin, et al. There is no direct interview with Sophia apart from a mention of the track, Free Ride, and her reaction to it + plus a reference to the alleged 'suicide note' addressed to her. The extra details are commendable and the writing original. Not an easy achievement on a topic that has been worked to death with little scope for new material.On the reservations side, there are unsubtantiated claims that Nick was a rather heavy heroin user, suffered from schizophrenia and also, various 'digs' at his character. The source of the heroin user claim is not revealed, so presumably, it could come from either of three sources: John Cale, keyboardist, ex-Velvet Underground who provided the backing music to 'Northern Sky', obliquely refers to it, the late Scott Appel - who gets a mention in the book - but as far as can be seen, Scott in his attempt to 'reveal the truth' is possibly blurring Nick with himself, e.g., the 'speedballs' and 'demerol', etc., these sound very 'American' in description. If the source is his actress sister, Gabrielle Drake, and this is possible, because the letter she read out in the film 'A Skin Too Few' is reproduced here, there is clearly approval by Nick Drake's Estate for at least some of the content Dann's. Many details possibly could only have come from Gabrielle, in which case, the claims are probably more substantial than if they were merely speculation based on hearsay. Dann's view that Nick Drake had schizophrenia caused by too much cannabis use is, he says, based on recent research, however even more recent research suggests that there is actually no link between cannabis use and mental illness, after all.
The latter part of the book has a brief track by track analysis of Nick's work.
All in all, the book is in easy to read print, which makes it a rather short book, but is better than expected, over all. It has lilac end papers and a coverwhich is a photgraph taken by the late Keith Morris. It supplements Patrick Humprhies in-depth biography well, athough the title 'in search of', with rock writer Peter Guralnick's leit motif of a 'quest' to 'find' a mysterious long-gone figure, probably sits better with Humphries' book. A good analogy would be that Dann's book is the equivalent of the sensationalist Life & Death of Sylvia Plath by Ronald Hayman to Jacqueline Rose's learned The Haunting of Sylvia Plath in that you get a better sense of Nick Drake's true character from the cautious Humphries' biography, but the 'squalid facts' from Dann with no punches pulled nor pussyfooting around the family's possible sensibilties.
In addition,there are some new and interesting photographs included.
Book Review: Definitive, well written and authoratative
Summary: 5 Stars
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.
Book Review: Excellent Biography
Summary: 5 Stars
This is so much better than Patrick Humphries disorganised effort. Trevor Dann is a Nick fan but doesn't hero worship. We all know what happened to Nick in the end but this book reads like a novel. If you're just getting into Nick it's a good place to start.Book Review: The (Continuing) Search for Nick Drake
Summary: 4 Stars
For fans and others who have read Patrick Humphries's biography (Nick Drake, Bloomsbury, 1977) Trevor Dann's book may come as something of a disappointment. Although an enjoyable read, to the casual reader it adds little to Humphries's work. What it does have that Humphries's lacks, is permission (I assume) to quote lines from Drake's songs, which makes interpretation of the songwriter's increasingly fragile mental state a much easier task. Dann's book also suggests that Drake's drug use was far greater than is suggested in the Humphries book and as a result the reason for Drake's rapid spiral into despair appears much more clear cut. In a sense, although this "another late-60s/early 70s artist destroyed by drugs" theory may well be the case, for me it detracted from my mental image of Drake the tortured, sensitive and possibly spoilt artist who, like others before him, was simply destined never to find a comfortable fit with society nor to be accepted by it during his lifetime. The book contains a useful discography, extensive references and mini-reviews of all Drake's songs, which I enjoyed.
Darker than the Deeper Sea does move the story on in that it attempts to explain the rise in popularity of Drake's music in the 1990s and into this century; what it fails to capture, in my humble opinion, is the bleak, frightening intensity of Drake's implosion in the way that Humphries captured it. But that may simply be because I read the latter's book first.
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