Nick Drake: why???

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shortly before his premature death, and on board a house boat in the seine where he was drafting new material for Francoise Hardy, Drake discovered a hitherto unknown species of gibbon indigenous to the area of Saint Paul/The Bastille. His hauntingly beautiful and melancholy drawings of the simian creature and accompanying stark and hauntingly beautiful biological tracts may well be what eventually earns him his haunting place in history. (Reuters)

― Pulpo, Friday, 19 July 2002 00:00 (10 years ago) Permalink

senor pulpissimo is my new best friend

― mark s, Friday, 19 July 2002 00:00 (10 years ago) Permalink

I think we've found Mike Hanle y's long-lost British cousin.

― Ned Raggett, Friday, 19 July 2002 00:00 (10 years ago) Permalink

The more I've thought about this, the more I've come to the conclusion that Nick Drake would be a terrible artist if there were more variety to his work. The whole complex, singular construction of What Drake Is relies upon his actually being this thing, this hermetically sealed closed-loop entity that presents itself as a (melancholy) solace of sorts, morphing moods but never the overarching framework. No one wants Drake to turn out to the crowd and trying different things: his entire appeal is the way he stands in the corner with his back to you, clutching his guitar and mumbling mournfully. The whole point of listening is to somehow squeeze yourself between him and the corner walls, where you can hear him.

― nabisco%%, Friday, 19 July 2002 00:00 (10 years ago) Permalink

(He is less a friend with whom to go drinking and talk politics than a friend with whom to get locked in an empty room.)

― nabisco%%, Friday, 19 July 2002 00:00 (10 years ago) Permalink

If you and Nick Drake were in it the room wouldn't be empty now would it.

― Tracer Hand, Friday, 19 July 2002 00:00 (10 years ago) Permalink

11 months pass...

Oh but it would!

― amateurist (amateurist), Friday, 27 June 2003 05:40 (9 years ago) Permalink

funny, I put on 5 Leaves Left for the first time in a while yesterday. I think the repetition is completely part of the charm, whereby some of the songs put the listener in a sort of state of trance, which is really unusual for this type of music. I'm thinking of material like 'Things behind the Sun' or 'Cello Song'

― Fabrice (Fabfunk), Friday, 27 June 2003 07:40 (9 years ago) Permalink

Nick Drake was in a band in high school with Chris DeBurgh.

― Chris V. (Chris V), Friday, 27 June 2003 10:36 (9 years ago) Permalink

I thought Drake refused to let Chris DeBurgh be in his band because DeBurgh was "too short"?

fwiw I love all of Five Leaves Left but onyl sporadic tracks from his other two LPs and the TONR set.

― Nick Southall (Nick Southall), Friday, 27 June 2003 11:18 (9 years ago) Permalink

yeah your right. Ok, they were almost in a band together in hs.

― Chris V. (Chris V), Friday, 27 June 2003 11:34 (9 years ago) Permalink

Nick made beautiful music. He doesn't deserve the hate he gets on this thread. =(

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Friday, 27 June 2003 17:20 (9 years ago) Permalink

I do not hate him.

― Chris V. (Chris V), Friday, 27 June 2003 17:21 (9 years ago) Permalink

3 years pass...

So forget this cruel world
Where I belong
I'll just sit and wait
And sing my song.
And if one day you should see me in the crowd
Lend a hand and lift me
To your place in the cloud.

beautiful song.

― Curt1s Stephens, Friday, 1 June 2007 02:27 (5 years ago) Permalink

Drake is lovely and his production is so suprisingly clear, a friend of mine was quite suprised when I told him it was 60s music I was playing. I wish I had more of his stuff. Or hell, any.

― Trayce, Friday, 1 June 2007 02:53 (5 years ago) Permalink

quite a bit of hatred on this thread.

I like him. I liked him more about 5 years ago when I knew less about music.

― Drooone, Friday, 1 June 2007 03:01 (5 years ago) Permalink

Pink Moon is one of those albums that I can't stop listening to once I've started. Whenever I play a track it's like "if you give a mouse a cookie..."

― Curt1s Stephens, Friday, 1 June 2007 03:10 (5 years ago) Permalink

I agree, Pink Moon is mind blowing.

― Drooone, Friday, 1 June 2007 03:13 (5 years ago) Permalink

I can't play Which Will without playing Horn, and I can't play Horn without playing Things Behind The Sun, and I can't play Things Behind The Sun without playing Know...

― Curt1s Stephens, Friday, 1 June 2007 03:15 (5 years ago) Permalink

I've always had a lot of love for Things Behind The Sun.

― Drooone, Friday, 1 June 2007 03:16 (5 years ago) Permalink

Have you heard Sebadoh's cover of Pink Moon? It blows me away in a similar way that Dinosaur Jr doing "Just Like Heaven" does, its like "haha omg", they totally MURDER the "pink, pink, pink, pink" bit with screaming, somehow it kind of works.

― Trayce, Friday, 1 June 2007 03:19 (5 years ago) Permalink

Anyway, his lyrics are just awesome, I have to say that much. "Northern Sky" is beautiful.

― Trayce, Friday, 1 June 2007 03:24 (5 years ago) Permalink

Few singers can get away with doing that excessively tender and exposed thing all the time, but he's one of them. It's unfortunate that he's inspired so many others to attempt the same thing.

― Hurting 2, Friday, 1 June 2007 03:37 (5 years ago) Permalink

lol

― Drooone, Friday, 1 June 2007 03:39 (5 years ago) Permalink

I'd never really heard of him until a month or so ago, when I went to hear Joe Boyd read. Just today, I listened to Bryter Layter. Tomorrow, Pink Moon.

― Jaq, Friday, 1 June 2007 03:44 (5 years ago) Permalink

i'm jealous! have fun

― tremendoid, Friday, 1 June 2007 03:59 (5 years ago) Permalink

I lurve Pink Moon.

― St3ve Go1db3rg, Friday, 1 June 2007 05:04 (5 years ago) Permalink

sebadoh > nick drake

― stephen, Friday, 1 June 2007 05:15 (5 years ago) Permalink

sebadoh is shit. anyway this thread is for nick drake lo-- oh right.

― tremendoid, Friday, 1 June 2007 05:28 (5 years ago) Permalink

Few singers can get away with doing that excessively tender and exposed thing all the time, but he's one of them.

And so is Mark Kozelek.

― Trayce, Friday, 1 June 2007 05:33 (5 years ago) Permalink

A 'new' album up soon, right?

― Mark G, Friday, 1 June 2007 08:35 (5 years ago) Permalink

And I thought the Pistols were champions in the "horse, dead, flogging of" category.

― Marcello Carlin, Friday, 1 June 2007 08:50 (5 years ago) Permalink

They aint even in the southern prem league!

Hendrix, Marley, etc.

― Mark G, Friday, 1 June 2007 08:56 (5 years ago) Permalink

although..

― Mark G, Friday, 1 June 2007 09:00 (5 years ago) Permalink

Tupac, dudes (xp)

― Tom D., Friday, 1 June 2007 09:01 (5 years ago) Permalink

I stand by what I said upthread, in that I love FFL pretty much whole, but only find other songs beyond that really compelling. I like Drake, and loved him, possibly, for a while when I was about 17.

Consistency or un-variation I don't see as a problem at all; in fact an artist exploring their aesthetic over a number of years and records is often very compelling.

Possibly the crux of Drake for me, and the moment which proves he's not just an emotional one-trick pony, is the miraculous, soaring, joyous (to me, at any rate) acoustic guitar solo which sears through the centre of "Black Eyed Dog"; possibly it's Drake's saddest tune, his most defeated - he certainly sounds to me as if he's crying as he sings it - and then this solo tears the song in two, elevates the mood incredibly, exposes blue skies where there was really only black before.

― Scik Mouthy, Friday, 1 June 2007 09:15 (5 years ago) Permalink

Damn Nick you have to stop making me scramble to find songs you keep describing like this.

― Trayce, Friday, 1 June 2007 09:24 (5 years ago) Permalink

IT'S MY JOB, INNIT. Sort of.

― Scik Mouthy, Friday, 1 June 2007 09:27 (5 years ago) Permalink

In my view, the great thing about Nick Drake is that he wrote these beautiful melodic songs, with very pastoral arrangements, no rough edges and a musical style that would have been considered "twee" hadn't it been for the lyrics and his tragic life history. And yet, this "twee" music has received a lot of critical acclaim. Which is great, but other "twee" artists should have just as much love too :)

― Geir Hongro, Friday, 1 June 2007 11:34 (5 years ago) Permalink

His lyrics are often pretty twee

― Tom D., Friday, 1 June 2007 11:35 (5 years ago) Permalink

"Fwuit Twee" for instance (sorry)

― Tom D., Friday, 1 June 2007 11:35 (5 years ago) Permalink

Unlike his sister in There's A Girl In My Soup...

― Marcello Carlin, Friday, 1 June 2007 12:30 (5 years ago) Permalink

Who would have thought Nick Drake's sister would end up as Kelly Monteith's wife?

― Tom D., Friday, 1 June 2007 12:31 (5 years ago) Permalink

wait, Gabrielle Drake is Nick Drake's sister? I didn't know that...

― Roz, Friday, 1 June 2007 12:37 (5 years ago) Permalink

Same hairstyle:

― Tom D., Friday, 1 June 2007 12:41 (5 years ago) Permalink

The chin is the giveaway!

― Tom D., Friday, 1 June 2007 12:41 (5 years ago) Permalink

^^ I want this outfit

― Curt1s Stephens, Friday, 1 June 2007 12:42 (5 years ago) Permalink

You want to wear a rug?

― Trayce, Friday, 1 June 2007 12:46 (5 years ago) Permalink

short answer: yes

― Curt1s Stephens, Friday, 1 June 2007 12:48 (5 years ago) Permalink

There should be more carpet sample inspired musicians out there.

― Trayce, Friday, 1 June 2007 12:51 (5 years ago) Permalink

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