Buckley, Frank & Drake - London October 1968
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| Tim Buckley, Jackson C. Frank and Nick Drake |
During October 1968 three now legendary singer / songwriters - Tim Buckley, Jackson C. Frank and Nick Drake - were in London, working and / or recording. Did they meet, or attend each other's performances? Who knows..... we can only guess, though, due to the relatively small network of folk singers they mixed with, and venues then present in London at the time, it is highly likely. The following article considers the possibilities.
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A new wave
On Monday, 7 October 1968, 21 year old American Tim Buckley (1947-1975) performed a concert at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London. It was recorded and belatedly released in 1990 as the 2 CD Dream Letter. At the time it was cited as the highlight of the late artist's by then extensive recording career. Whilst in London, Buckley also appeared on a number of television shows, the recordings and video copies of which began appearing during the 1990s. By the time of the 1968 visit Buckley had released two solo LPs and was in the final stages of his largely acoustic singer songwriter phase, before moving on to developing a unique blend of folk rock, free-form jazz and funk. In London he played his 12 string acoustic guitar, backed by Lee Underwood on electric guitar, British musician Danny Thompson on bass, and David Freeman on vibraphone. Buckley's repertoire at the time was a collection of mostly mellow, melancholic and mystical self-penned tunes - exquisitely beautiful in both construction and presentation.
Also in town at the time was visiting 25 year old American singer songwriter Jackson C. Frank (1943-1999). Just over a week prior to Buckley's Queen Elizabeth Hall concert, on Saturday, 28 September 1968, Frank appeared at the Festival of Contemporary Song, Royal
Festival Hall, London, with Fairport Convention, Al Stewart, The
Johnstons and fellow American Joni Mitchell. Just two days prior to the Buckley concert, on Saturday, 5 October 1968, Frank performed at Les Cousins, an alternate folk club and one of his old London haunts from a previous extended visit to England between February 1965 through to early 1967. Les Cousins was a frequent hangout of Nick Drake. Four days later, on Wednesday, 9 October, the BBC radio program Night Ride presented five live tracks by Frank over 16 minutes, namely Blues Run the Game, My Name is Carnival, Just Like Anything, Jimmy Clay and You Never Wanted Me, the latter famously covered by his former girlfriend Sandy Denny, then a member of Fairport Convention. Frank's classic self-titled 1965 LP - produced by Paul Simon and recorded in London at the end of 1965 - was a major influence on many of the British folk singers of the day, including Nick Drake, moving on, as it did, from a mere rehash of traditional tunes into the at the time little explored area of melancholic self reflection as a variation on traditional blues.
Likely in the audience at some of the aforementioned October 1968 gigs by Buckley and Frank was the young Nick Drake (1948-1974). During 1967 Drake had begun performing in folk clubs around London, including Les Cousins. During February 1968 he was 'discovered' by Ashley Hutchings, bass player with Fairport Convention and shortly thereafter introduced to producer Joe Boyd. In July of 1968 he began recording sessions at Sound Techniques, London, for his first album Five Leaves Left. On 10 October 1968 - the day after the aforementioned Tim Buckley concert - Man in a Shed and Mayfair were recorded by Drake; on 11 November Clothes of Sand and Joey; and on 20 December Time of No Reply and The Thoughts of Mary Jane. Whilst Drake is not known to have performed any Tim Buckley songs, either in public or private, it was a different case with regard to the songs of Jackson C. Frank. The release in 2017 of a number of home recordings by Drake included four Frank songs - Blues Run the Game, Milk and Honey, Kimbie and Here Comes the Blues, all originally released on Frank's 1965 self-titled album. Drake did not record any Frank songs in the studio, perhaps as a result of antipathy by Joe Boyd towards Frank, both having shared the same girlfriend, namely Sandy Denny. Nevertheless, those four home recordings reveal the influence of the American on Drake's guitar playing and songwriting, with songs such as Strange Meeting II / Princess of the Sand and Riverman reminiscent of Frank compositions such as Milk and Honey, Golden Mirror and My Name is Carnival, to name a few.
There is obviously a close connection between the music of Nick Drake and Jackson C. Frank, but less so both with Tim Buckley. However, for London audiences in late 1968 the three offered - or would offer - similar entertainment, with self-penned songs, deeply introspective lyrics, haunting, acoustic guitar-based melodies, and a general bluesy, melancholic presentation. With the release of Five Leaves Left in 1969, fans now had at their disposal that album, plus 1965's Jackson C. Frank (rare but findable) and Tim Buckley, Goodbye and Hello and Happy Sad. These classic 'solo' recordings were rare birds among the releases of the day, though highly influential over time, if not big sellers.
The first wave of modern folk had peaked with Bob Dylan and the release of Freewheelin' in 1963, opening up a world where self-penned songs and solo albums were now accepted, rather than simply a rehash of traditional works through compilations, as had been the norm in England and elsewhere. The release of Jackson C. Frank in 1965, alongside the Paul Simon Song Book from the same year, can mark the beginning of a second wave, with performers such as Simon and Garfunkel leading the way. By 1968 British guitarists such as Al Stewart, Bert Jansch and John Renbourn were releasing material, and all three were very much aware of, and influenced by the American interloper Frank, both as a result of his live performances in England between 1965-68 playing a Martin guitar, and his superb 1965 album. This second wave continued with Nick Drake through to the beginning of the 1970s. It could be suggested that a third wave then took over, as worldwide commercial success came to singer songwriters such as Cat Stevens and James Taylor. Drake spanned the two waves, as did Buckley, though his journey into jazz fusion and eventual funk was profound.
Folk and acoustic-based music had come a long way by then since the days of Dylan recording House of the Risin' Sun back in November 1961, or writing and performing Masters of War in a London pub during the cold December of 1962. Frank, Buckley and Drake were important players in that transition, with their rise and fall marking milestones as the genre developed. They were the same but different, and that difference was both telling and influential, opening up the role of the singer songwriter to something more intimate, personal and international, just as the blues of Black Americans - both acoustic and electric - had been in previous generations and was to continue to be through the 1960s and 1970s.
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Last updated: 21 November 2021
Michael Organ, Australia
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