Lost Nick Drake Track Inspires New Show
The Strange Face Project is a fascinating new exhibition that celebrates influential singer-songwriter Nick Drake in the most unexpected of ways.
Drake took his own life in 1974 aged just 26, but his music has lived on and inspired some of today’s most high profile artists, such as Kate Bush to Radiohead, as well as millions of music lovers across the world.
One of his most famous pieces of work is Cello Song – and this exhibition is centred around a lost recording of this song.
When working as a post-boy at Island Records in the 1970s Michael Burdett was tasked with throwing away some old reel to reel tapes, but as he was in the process of setting up his own studio at the time he asked if he could take them for his own use instead and was given the green light.
One in particular caught his eye. “I picked it up because it had ‘Nick Drake, Cello Song’ and ‘with love’ written on the box. The words ‘with love’ made me think that it had to be Nick’s handwriting and on that basis I couldn’t let it go to the dump,” says Burdett
20 years later when he rediscovered the tape he was amazed to hear an unknown version of Cello Song.
Unable to broadcast or release the record for copyright reasons Burdett travelled the UK with a CD player and headphones offering individuals an exclusive opportunity to hear the recording – he documented this adventure with photographs of each listener, and its these photos that make up The Strange Face Project.
Among the 200 people he approached were some well-known faces, including Billy Bragg, Sir Tom Stoppard, Tracy Chevalier, Danny Baker, Alan Yentob, Martin Freeman, Noel Fielding, Richard E Grant, Jonathan Pryce, Fearne Cotton, Ross Noble and Paul Whitehouse.
Michael photographed everyone who listened, people from the age of two to 96, and recorded their thoughts on the newly discovered recording.
“We are living in a world where recorded music is distributed so casually and freely it’s almost lost its value. However, here was an opportunity to use a recording to create a very personal moment for a number of people and maybe give them an incredibly special memory,” says Michael.
The Strange Face Project runs at The Idea Generation Gallery until February 12.
