____twoism

Xurbatronic wrote:I watched a documentary on BBC4 about Nick Drake on Friday - he became withdrawn and depressed, and exclaimed dismay at the fact that people kept telling him how famous and great he was, yet he couldn't afford to buy a pint of milk and was living at home with his parents in adulthood.
This sounds like an all to familiar tale in the world of music if you ask me. Very, very sad. He left some great music behind, but didn't have a pleasant life towards the end, mainly because of poverty.
I would put a link to the documentary, but the BBC haven't made it available on the iPlayer, it was called 'A Skin Too Few'.

!!!!

http://www.viddler.com/explore/digizen/videos/13/

thanks for the link Snufkin, looking forward to seeing that. I was at the live performance at Warwick Arts centre just after they did the recording at the Barbican. Very good night

diggin this thread out cuz Drake's records have been on near rotation since I was rec'd him back earlier this year

Pink Moon is my life now. That's a good and a bad thing.

The Telepathic Kid wrote:diggin this thread out cuz Drake's records have been on near rotation since I was rec'd him back earlier this year

Pink Moon is my life now. That's a good and a bad thing.

Pink Moon is my fave too. Musically beautiful, lyricly revealing, and immaculately recorded, a mere 28 minute release that offers so much more than albums twice the length. Drake's music feels richer without the lavish accompaniment imo

nick drake is incredible. his guitar work is beyong impressive, and his voice is so laid back but haunting.


pink moon is a great start to his music. and i think its the best album from beginning to end.


but i must admit, five leaves left and bryter layter contain some of his most beautiful tracks. its just that the albums themselves just dont flow as well as pink moon.



actually. i have to take a moment to thank you for bumping this thread. i havent listened to nick drake in quite some time, and now that its autumn where i live, its the perfect time of year to get back into his music.

Fireal420 wrote:actually. i have to take a moment to thank you for bumping this thread. i havent listened to nick drake in quite some time, and now that its autumn where i live, its the perfect time of year to get back into his music.

+1

I actually think that Bryter Layter is my favourite Nick Drake album, Pink Moon is so damn bleak and soul crushing, I only pull it out when I'm feeling horrible...

Bryter Layter is just so damn beautiful, the intricate arrangements, the strings, the horns.

Northern Sky is in my top 5 songs of all time.

The Telepathic Kid wrote: Northern Sky is in my top 5 songs of all time.

Absolutely-- me too!

Album-wise, I think I rate Bryter Layter as the most impressive. That sax that comes in on 'The Chime of a City Clock', as well as the way these lyrics paint such a perfect picture...

There is so much depth of creative perspective in the lyrics of Nick Drake. One of my favourite lyrical moments, in Northern Sky, is:

"...been a long time that I've wandered,
through the people I have known"

^this vision of personhood and the landscape of self, as being wholly encapsulated within the domain of collectivity and others -- I find it such a beautiful ontological and artistic provocation of perspective

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I echo the thanks of the poster above in bumping this thread. Autumn is time for Nick Drake, and it's been a while since I've listened..

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~Snufdawg

Only discovered his stuff a short while ago, like it a lot. But tend to forget about it for short periods of time, and then relisten everything again.

And Nick Drake - Remembered for a While out on Nov 6th.

Northern Sky is a phenomenal track, and one which makes me wonder why Drake wasn't hailed as a genius in his time.

Regarding Pink Moon, I've always felt the first half of the album is quite spiritually uplifting and hopeful. Whilst the second half is very bleak. Road is the signal of the change. Nick could write beautiful lyrics. Such a shame he passed.

"Poor Boy" is always there when I'm feeling sorry for myself. Easily among my 10 favourite songs ever.

fujee wrote:Northern Sky is a phenomenal track, and one which makes me wonder why Drake wasn't hailed as a genius in his time.

Northern Sky was to be our first dance at my wedding, until the b'stard who was meant to be singing it informed me that morning that he and the band hadn't learnt it.
Later on I thought - actually, your loss mate.

Written about Nick, I believe, another of my favourite songs -

Sorry to go against the trend here, but 'Bryter Later' is actually my least favourite of Nick's albums. And 'Northern Sky' is probably my least favourite of his songs, it unfortunately reminds me far too much of early Chris De Burgh (eeek!).
To me there are very few of Nick's songs which benefit from lavish arrangements, save perhaps for 'River Man' where the strings are peerless (even if they mask his voice a little too much). Most of BL feels to me like Nick under pressure from Island Records to sell more. . in fact sell at all!
By the time Pink Moon was made in '72 he'd sunk into depression and all but given up on widespread success, and in many ways the album was a contract fulfillment - the open-reel master tape delivered to Island's office without warning or fanfare. But instead of music which attempts to fit the marketplace, Nick had made an astonishingly poetic and beautiful bare bones record which felt honest and resigned (but in a good way). I don't find Pink Moon bleak at all - when I suffered severe depression myself 15 years ago this album understood me, but offered me back some magic and wonder - something I'd become very short of.

I enjoy both sides, but I'm a big jazz-folk and chamber pop fan, stuff like latter 70's period Joni Mitchell and Belle & Sebastian, so the arrangements on Bryter Layter really work for me, even if they do trudge into cheese on occasion.

They give the tracks some colour, depth, and make them individual.

You can't really pull Pink Moon apart, but then again it's only 28 minutes.

They both have their good points with which on any given day you could use to convince me one is better than the other.

Default answer is Bryter Layter though.

Pink Moon is one of my favorite albums, period. That and the Family Tree compilation are my favorite of Nick Drake's work.

Perfect Sunday morning listening. Fan for years.

Nick Drake's a bit like BoC for me, there's a real strive to hear all his unreleased early material. With him, however, there are so many different versions of these songs he recorded. There are about 7 or 8 untitled instrumentals he made, as well as some songs criminally left off any official release.
There were a shedload of bootlegs with this stuff on in the mid-to-late 90's when people who came and asked about Nick Drake would be given tapes by his dad (who was really into technology, which is why ND had so many demos recorded at home in the first place).

jcnporter wrote:

fujee wrote:Northern Sky is a phenomenal track, and one which makes me wonder why Drake wasn't hailed as a genius in his time.

Northern Sky was to be our first dance at my wedding, until the b'stard who was meant to be singing it informed me that morning that he and the band hadn't learnt it.
Later on I thought - actually, your loss mate.

Probably for the best, could quite easily be butchered by a cover.