Although certainly not a new album, Jackson C. Frank's self titled album is a fairly recent discovery for me. I have heard his songs for a number of years though, as will many other Nick Drake fans.
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| Nick Drake, undoubtedly a fan |
Drake recorded some cover versions of Jackson's songs which, in some ways, became more famous than the originals after the Drake family started to hand out copies to fans which and subsequently made their way on to numerous bootleg releases.
There is good reason for Nick Drake to record the covers. You can hear Jackson's influence on all of Drake's album, and they share a very similar style. Jackson, like Nick, was a solo singer/guitarist/song writer with some deep roots in both blues and folk.
The tracks on this album almost seem to be too short even though the are mostly over three minutes long. I think this is because there's something so captivating about his voice, the power and the slight drool quite reminiscent of Tim Buckley. This has to be one of the most influential albums of the folk genre, even though a lot of people have never heard of him. The production credit going to Paul Simon certainly attests to the standard of the album, not only in production but also in song writing and musicianship.
Get this if you haven't heard it before.
takes its name from the 
song of the same name which hints at the nature of this album. It is an album of cover versions (although not entirely, there are a few original songs) but all played as jazz. Jazzy Nick Drake I hear you ask. I know, it sounds strange and hard to imagine but somehow it works, probably a lot better than you would expect it to. The title track is upbeat and fairly lengthy, weaving the melody from the original vocal line in and out throughout the song, using it as a theme to keep coming back to and to improvise around.
