Speaking of Nick Drake...

edited March 2011 in Rock Pop
Seems like Nick has been getting some chatter here lately, so I figured I'd start a thread where could talk about Nick or any of the various music projects that tie back to him in some way.

My first Nick Drake album was "Five Leaves Left". It was played for me back in approx. '98. I was going through some tough times back then, feeling sorta hopeless about life, and needless to say, Nick's music and his voice were a sublime soundtrack to my days. I picked up my own copy of it and then Bryter Later and Pink Moon soon after. Though Five Leaves affects me more than any of his albums (as often the first listen cements in my head), Bryter Later is easily my favorite. So full of sadness and hope at the same time, and a perfect album for driving through the countryside on deserted country roads.

I've never picked up any of the unreleased stuff that's since been released after the resurgence in his music following the use of Pink Moon on a car commercial (or maybe it was for something else, but the actors were listening to the song while driving at night). I've heard mixed reviews. I can understand the need to like anything we can find from deceased musicians we love, knowing that there'll never be anything truly new made from them.

I don't know if anybody is familiar with laptop musician/folktronic/ambient musician Greg Davis, but he's pretty good and he put out an album back in 2002 (or thereabouts) called "Arbor" on which he does a reconstruction of Nick's song "Introduction", the first track on Bryter Later. On Bryter, it's an instrumental piece with acoustic guitar and violins, a very pretty opening to a pretty album. Anyways, Greg's version is named "Nicolas" and it's the fifth track on "Arbor", which you can stream at Bandcamp here...

http://gregdavis.bandcamp.com/album/arbor

And here's what the original sounds like...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moKeFYOxs3w

It's the first track on the youtube video, which is a comp of all three instrumental songs from the album.

Comments

  • Hey, here's a Kickstarter page I just noticed for Jason Parker's Nick Drake tribute album...

    http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jasonparker/nick-drake-tribute-jason-parker-quartet-five-leave
  • Here's a youtube vid of Beck covering "Pink Moon".

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yq55Ia9Q-Vk&feature=related
  • A good idea Jonahpwll. I'd like to say that I became interested in Nick Drake during his lifetime. Reading Wikipedia this morning http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Drake I must have had one track because I had one of the Island samplers mentioned, but it doesn't stand out in my memory. I was first properly introduced to his music by a then girlfriend around 1976 maybe 1977. I recollect two of his albums Five Leaves Left and Bryter Layter, but she must have kept them as I don't have them. Twenty five years later my stepson, well into music, bought a best of CD ten years or so ago. He'd got a book about the hundred most influential artists or something similar, so was buying a CD from each to further his music education. I immediatly remembered the melancholy nature of many of the tracks. A very gifted artist who deserved much more fame in his lifetime. Having bought Five Leaves Left this week I must search for Bryter Layter and Pink Moon. Emusic here doesn't carry Nick Drake, so back to Amazon again.
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