Show Notes
Think of any number of singers of the 20th century to take to a stage: Elvis Presley, Aretha Franklin, Bon Scott, Nina Simone.....”shyness” would not be any sort of adjective you'd use to describe these people.
We're not focusing on any of them this time around.
Welcome to episode 152 of Love That Album Podcast.
To say that Nick Drake suffered from shyness could be the greatest understatement you could make about him. He only performed live a few times in his short life, and from all documented accounts, those performances were memorable for the wrong reasons – not acknowledging his audiences, looking down, walking off stage mid song....the same can be said for his interactions with people off the stage.
However, it would also be fair to say that Drake knew his way around a song – both as composer and musician.
I am joined by fellow Nick-Head, Antony Rotunno. Antony is the host of three excellent podcasts: Life & Life Only, Film Gold, and Glass Onion: On John Lennon. It is the third of these shows that got my attention. On every show he tackles Lennon related subjects (with occasional forays into The Beatles) to work out what made Lennon tick. I am sure that he relished the opportunity to talk about a musician with no Beatles connection whatsoever for a change. The focus of the show is Drake's debut album, Five Leaves Left. However, we speak in detail about all three of his albums as well as events in his life, his string arranger Robert Kirby, similar musicians, and speaking in a posh accent.
In addition, there are two real treats for you this time around. We hear from Antony's friends, Kester Jones and Melanie Lawrence who pre-recorded their take on a beloved Nick Drake tune, and Antony himself armed with his guitar tackles another tune. These performances are wonderful and a great part of the show.
My gratitude to Antony for bringing his time and thoughts to the show. A really exciting development is that going forward, Glass Onion: On John Lennon will be part of the Pantheon Network.
You can find much Antony related shenanigans (blog posts, albums, podcasts) at https://www.antonyrotunno.com/
Kester's music can be heard at https://soundcloud.com/kesterjones
Download this and any other episode of LTA from wherever you prefer getting your podcasts.
Love That Album is proudly part of the Pantheon Podcast network. Go to http://pantheonpodcasts.com to check out all their great shows.
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