Nick Drake

[sun_set_bravely]

Okay, I'm not going to try to make this a deep, elegant entry about Nick Drake, because I know there's a lot to be poetic about and I can't be bothered to compose a poem.

The name has entered my sub-conscious slowly throughout the past year. Somehow I keep running across the "Way to Blue: An Introduction to Nick Drake" CD in every music store I enter. So now that CG has downloaded several of his songs, including "Pink Moon" ("oh! that VW commercial"), I find that I like his sound, and want to know more about him. Not too much more, as it's kind of irrelevant, since I already like his sound. But a little bit. For reference. This is where the SPIN Doctor comes in.

P.S. Thanks to my lovely CG, who is always expanding the horizons of my world, musical and otherwise.

Comments

[bobbydrake007.livejournal.com]

Dude, who's that in your mouth?

[sun-set-bravely.livejournal.com]

har har

[bobbydrake007.livejournal.com]

No dude, seriously. Who the hell is that?

[sun-set-bravely.livejournal.com]

Oh, I thought you were just being funny. It's Chris G. You know, my boyfriend. It's a bad scan job, admittedly.

[bobbydrake007.livejournal.com]

I couldn't see his facial hair. That could be because you're sucking his face, but I'm not sure.

[sun-set-bravely.livejournal.com]

Possibly it could be that. Possibly it's also because this was when we first met in England, and I'm not sure that he had full facial hair at the time. I think he only had a moustache.

Time Has Told Me

[gmoneyjonesiii.livejournal.com]

Hot lovin' in the thumbnails! Whoo!

It's funny about that whole "great minds think alike" thing--I had a few things scribbled down on some Post-It™s over here about the CD I was going to burn for you (short update: yes, I haven't forgotten about it, but you trucked off to England and I had been all worked up over the SPIN deal and I just decided "let's wait until things calm down a little". Which, hey, I guess they are, so...okay! Guess I better get to that, then!), and a note I had was "Definite Nick Drake," with "Pink Moon" and a couple other titles shuffled in there. Rock and roll.

Drake had an incredibly short recording career--only three albums released during his lifetime, and virtually every studio note he recorded available on the Fruit Tree box set, which is apparently one of the few box sets NOT in The Wall Of Sound but will be at some point--but had a marked influence on everyone who heard him. He was born in Burma (some of that humid Eastern sound unquestionably filtered into his music) and dwelt in Cambridge, a sort-of distant cousin of the sylvanic and rather remarkable English folk-rock scene of the early 70's (e.g. Fairport Convention, Richard and Linda Thompson, Led Zeppelin's "The Battle Of Evermore").

Drake had a smoky, sensual voice that probably finds its most likely contemporary comparison with Seal (but you knew that already). And despite a crippling depression that eventually killed him in 1974 (at the age of 26--ugh), he was able to weave some legitimately beautiful and inviting songs, not just with his cryptic and often mystical lyrics ("One Of These Things First"), but often simply with his guitar.

All four albums have an admirably high consistency to them (Bryter Later (1970) seems to be the only serious deviation from more-or-less straight acoustic guitar works, employing strings and Fairport Convention members), and it's tough to recommend any one as "better" than the others. My personal favorite is the outtakes collection, Time Of No Reply, as it seems a shade more diverse in emotionality ("I Was Made To Love Magic" practically throbs with wide-eyed wonder and optimism, while "Black Eyed Dog", as funky as it may be, is almost painful to hear, so close to home does it hit in hearing another fellow so depressed he barely cares how he sings) and instrumentation (I think Richard Thompson shows up for a couple tracks), and has the added historical significance of covering everything from his earliest home demos to the very last songs he recorded in 1974. All are worthy, though. (Curiously, Time Of No Reply remains the lone Drake disc that wasn't remastered following the recent resurgence of interest in his career after the Volkswagen Cabriolet commercial.)

I hope this answers your questions...? Regardless, I have Way To Blue, and can completely recommend it for purchase. Awesomely sexy music. Make sure you turn those lights down low when you put it on. Many more thumbnails like the above will ensue. Good ear, CG.

GMoney Has Told Me

[sun-set-bravely.livejournal.com]

Thank you for sharing your knowledge with me. Fascinating. I look forward to that CD (and no worries about the delay; I've been so crazy that I'm still delinquent in listening thoroughly to Echoboom's CD). Funny that you pegged me for liking Nick Drake before I knew I did. I remember you flipping through my CD collection when you visited, and now I realize that for the trained eye (and ear), it was probably as revealing as reading pages from my journal. Veeery interesting....