Onto young Nick's head

Nadia Reid and Aldous Harding are among those playing tribute to a much lamented English folkie.

- 

THE ENDLESS COLOURED WAYS: THE SONGS OF NICK DRAKE, by Various Artists

Every decade, some well-intentioned writer in Britain's dad-rock magazines such as Mojo or Uncut reassesses the short life of Nick Drake, who died in 1974 leaving just three poor-selling albums of elegant, sometimes spare, intimate folk-pop.

Regrettably, the writers' enthusiasm barely shifts the needle on Drake's modest profile.

This year, things may be different: Uncut ran an interesting piece on the young, carefree and studious Drake before he became increasingly remote, depressive and reclusive in the years up to his suicide at 26. There's also Nick Drake: The Life, a biography by Richard Morton Jack, written with the co-operation of Drake's sister, the actress Gabrielle Drake, who curates her brother's estate.