Nick Drake’s Estate has authorized the July 25 release of The Making of Five Leaves Left, coming from Island/UME. The impending deliverable is rooted in 30+ demos, unheard studio outtakes, and previously unreleased songs that spawned from the sessions linked to the musician’s debut album. The tracks are presented chronologically, allowing the listener to feel part of the studio process and unearth the progression of cultivating the final product. 

The Making of Five Leaves Left features a 60-page book with full recording details, charts, and more. Written by Neil Storey in collaboration with Richard Morton-Jack, it follows the last-mentioned author’s examination of Drake’s path in the 2023 revealing biography The Life. The set is completed by the addition of a 4LP vinyl and 4CD box set.

Originally recorded on Island Records in July 1969, Five Leaves Left features Drake’s first sessions at Sound Techniques. At the storied London location, the artist discovered a mono listening reel that Beverley Martyn had fuddled with for 50 years. This machine ultimately yielded the first six songs of Drake’s Sound Techniques sessions upon renewed search to piece together the process upon its rediscovery.  

Given the natural order of the four LP presentation, the development of the songs and tweaks to the material can be sonically observed by presenting the same track recorded on different days, like “Strange Face,” listeners can process the moves made to get Drake’s 1969 release to its final stages. 

An undated Paul de Rivaz reel believed to be an outline for Drake’s Feb. 23, 1968 concert is part of the the collection, and represented on the second disc. “The first seven songs are all from the de Rivaz reel, and the following five are the best never-before-heard takes from the first two days of Nick’s collaboration with Danny Thompson,” the press release states. 

Disc Three presents eight selections that have “more or less stayed in sequence of recording dates. There is no way of being certain, but since ‘River Man’  had not been previously recorded possibly indicates Nick had only recently completed writing it,” Drake’s estate suggests. Disc four represents the completion of the cycle and finds the set as it has been sequenced initially and first heard by Drake. 

The late musician’s sister, who was involved with the project, shared, “I suspect I got the very first copy. Nick must’ve had that moment of seeing himself on the cover, his music inside, and, it is so typical of Nick because all he said was, ‘Well… there you are.’ As I’ve said many times, he really was a man of few words.” 

As an initial listen, the estate has shared “Strange Face–1st Sound Techniques Session, March/ 1968,” “Way To Blues–Cambridge/ Winter 1968,” and The Original Album – Released 3rd July 1969. Listen here.

LP1 – 1st Sound Techniques Session aka The Beverley Martyn demo & Alt Takes from February 1968 to April 1969

Side A

1. Mayfair – 1st Sound Techniques Session – March 1968

2.Time Has Told Me – 1st Sound Techniques Session – March 1968

3. Man In A Shed- 1st Sound Techniques Session – March 1968

4. Fruit Tree – 1st Sound Techniques Session – March 1968

5. Saturday Sun – 1st Sound Techniques Session – March 1968

6. Strange Face – 1st Sound Techniques Session – March 1968

Side B

1. Strange Face – Rough Mix with Guide Vocal – September 1968

2. Day Is Done – Take 5 – April 1968

3. Day Is Done – Take 2 – November 1968

4. Day Is Done – Take 7 – April 1969

5. Man In A Shed – Take 1 – May 1968

6. My Love Left With The Rain – Cambridge, Lent Term 1968

LP2 – Paul de Rivaz Reel – October 1968 / Out-Takes November 1968

Side A

1. Blossom – Cambridge, Lent Term 1968

2. Instrumental – Cambridge, Lent Term 1968

3. Made To Love Magic – Cambridge, Lent Term 1968

4. Mickey’s Tune – Cambridge, Lent Term 1968

5. The Thoughts of Mary Jane – Cambridge, Lent Term 1968

6. Day Is Done – Cambridge, Lent Term 1968

7. Time Has Told Me – Cambridge, Lent Term 1968

Side B

1. Three Hours – Take 2 – November 1968

2. Time Has Told Me – Take 4 – November 1968

3. Strange Face – Take 1 – November 1968

4. Saturday Sun – Take 1 – November 1968

5. Fruit Tree – Take 4 – November 1968

LP3 – Out-Takes from December 1968 to April 1969

Side A

1. Time of No Reply – Take 3 into Take 4 – December 1968

2. ‘Cello Song – Take 4 – January 1969

3. Mayfair – Take 5 – January 1969

4. River Man – Take 1 – January 1969

Side B

1. Way To Blue – Cambridge – Winter 1968

2. The Thoughts of Mary Jane – Take 2 – April 1969

3. Saturday Sun – Take 1 into Take 2 – April 1969

4. River Man – Take 2 – April 1969

LP4 – The Original Album – Released 3rd July 1969

Side A

1. Time Has Told Me

2. River Man

3. Three Hours

4. Way To Blue

5. Day Is Done

Side B

1. ‘Cello Song

2. The Thoughts of Mary Jane

3. Man In A Shed

4. Fruit Tree

5. Saturday Sun