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| Graphic by Ken Sinyard |
“Bryter Later: The Songs of
Nick Drake”
St. Ann’s Church
Brooklyn Heights, NY
November 8, 1997
FM Broadcast (on 11-25-97)
Repercussion: For
a few years in the late 1990s, Peter had the enviable job of organizing
tributes to some of the great, lesser-known artists of popular music. This one,
performed in honor and memory of Nick Drake, is a beauty. Peter
assembled quite an impressive roster of artists — which is a
tribute to Drake, of course, but also an implicit recognition of Peter’s
influence, particularly among musicians in the greater NYC area. My only regret is that Peter's voice can only be heard at the end in brief thank-you remarks, but at least we get to hear him play on the instrumental "Horn" and as a backing musician on other songs.
BIG
THANKS to WFUV-FM in New York for broadcasting the concert, thanks also to the
original taper and uploader, and whoever posted this in cyberspace for me to
find and share here.
This
is the first of similar shows I will post here, since Peter and Chris have been
involved in at least a good handful over the years.
1.
Intro
2.
I Was Made To Love Magic - Syd Straw
3.
One Of These Things First - Sloan
Wainwright
4.
Joey - Terre Roche
5.
Things Behind The Sun - Richard Davies
6.
Which Will - Duncan Sheik
7.
From The Morning - Dana & Karen
Kletter
8.
Cello Song - Richard Barone
9.
Pink Moon - Syd Straw
10.
River Man - Katell Keineg
11.
Poor Boy - Terre Roche
12.
Crowd
13.
Horn - Peter Holsapple
14.
Been Smoking Too Long - Peter Blegvad
15.
Way To Blue - Susan Cowsill
16.
Time Has Told Me - Katell Keineg
17.
Clothes Of Sand - Peter Blegvad
18.
Black Eyed Dog - Mimi Goese
19.
Time Of No Reply - Sloan Wainwright
20.
Northern Sky - Richard Barone
21.
Fly - Richard Davies
22.
Hazey Jane I - Duncan Sheik
23.
Fruit Tree - Rebecca Moore
“House
Band” Musicians:
Peter
Holsapple - guitar, piano, bass
(musical director for the show)
Chris
Cunningham - guitar
Michelle
Kinney - cello
David
Mansfield - violin, mandolin
Deni
Bonet - violin
St. Ann's looks like a cool place for a concert!
The following
is part of the New York Times review
of the show. (Note the reference to Peter as “Mr. Holsapple”!) You can read the
whole thing here.
Spare, Poetic Songs of a Gentle Dreamer
Copyright: The New York Times
By ANN POWERS
Published: November 11, 1997
The word
fetish is often misused in describing objects of passion, but it fits Nick
Drake's body of work. Fans of the English songwriter, who died in 1974 at the
age of 26, treasure the 31 songs he recorded as if they were amulets to be
meditated upon privately and shared with the sympathetic few. To love Nick
Drake's meditative folk-pop is to join an esoteric society. Organizing an
evening in which more than a dozen singers interpret him is a daring,
iconoclastic move.
Peter
Holsapple clearly knew this when he arranged “Bryter Layter: The Songs of Nick
Drake,” presented on Saturday night at the Church of St. Ann and the Holy
Trinity in Brooklyn. (“Bryter Layter” was Drake's second album.) His musical
direction showed great delicacy, while his selection of singers insured that
the evening would not grow reverentially leaden.
Peter Blegvad,
Terre Roche, Syd Straw, Richard Barone, Richard Davies, Mimi Goese, Susan
Cowsill and Mr. Holsapple himself all know what it is like to be working
artists beloved by the few while fame only teases, a situation that contributed
to Drake's fatal depression. For them, his music is not frozen iconography but
a code unlocking key elements of the song forms they embrace. The evening's
younger artists -- Duncan Sheik, Katell Keineg, Sloan Wainwright, Dana and
Karen Kletter and Rebecca Moore -- similarly used Mr. Drake's songs to explore
the inner workings of pop.
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| Nick in London; photo by Jef Aerosol |
