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 (sixteen years ago) link
Damn Nick you have to stop making me scramble to find songs you keep describing like this.
― Trayce, Friday, 1 June 2007 09:24 (sixteen years ago) link
IT'S MY JOB, INNIT. Sort of.
― Scik Mouthy, Friday, 1 June 2007 09:27 (sixteen years ago) link
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 (sixteen years ago) link
His lyrics are often pretty twee
― Tom D., Friday, 1 June 2007 11:35 (sixteen years ago) link
"Fwuit Twee" for instance (sorry)
Unlike his sister in There's A Girl In My Soup...
― Marcello Carlin, Friday, 1 June 2007 12:30 (sixteen years ago) link
Who would have thought Nick Drake's sister would end up as Kelly Monteith's wife?
― Tom D., Friday, 1 June 2007 12:31 (sixteen years ago) link
wait, Gabrielle Drake is Nick Drake's sister? I didn't know that...
― Roz, Friday, 1 June 2007 12:37 (sixteen years ago) link
Same hairstyle:
http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/thumb/6/64/200px-UFOEllis.jpg
― Tom D., Friday, 1 June 2007 12:41 (sixteen years ago) link
The chin is the giveaway!
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/2/20/Nick_drake_way_to_blue.jpg/220px-Nick_drake_way_to_blue.jpg
^^ I want this outfit
― Curt1s Stephens, Friday, 1 June 2007 12:42 (sixteen years ago) link
You want to wear a rug?
― Trayce, Friday, 1 June 2007 12:46 (sixteen years ago) link
short answer: yes
― Curt1s Stephens, Friday, 1 June 2007 12:48 (sixteen years ago) link
There should be more carpet sample inspired musicians out there.
― Trayce, Friday, 1 June 2007 12:51 (sixteen years ago) link
Just walk into any curtains shop and you will find clothes like that.
― Geir Hongro, Friday, 1 June 2007 12:52 (sixteen years ago) link
there's a weak pun to be made here somewhere...
― Roz, Friday, 1 June 2007 12:55 (sixteen years ago) link
Pull yourself together, man
― Tom D., Friday, 1 June 2007 12:57 (sixteen years ago) link
Yup, there was.
-- Geir Hongro, Friday, 1 June 2007 11:34 (1 hour ago) Bookmark Link
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pink moon is far from twee. So you are half right.
― Mark G, Friday, 1 June 2007 13:04 (sixteen years ago) link
That was precisely the same rug in which his sister concealed Ronnie Corbett in No Sex Please We're British.
― Marcello Carlin, Friday, 1 June 2007 13:09 (sixteen years ago) link
Seriously, y'all have to hear Sebadoh murdering "Pink Moon", its kind of awesome in the gall it has.
― Trayce, Friday, 1 June 2007 13:09 (sixteen years ago) link
I can wait another decade or six.
― Marcello Carlin, Friday, 1 June 2007 13:11 (sixteen years ago) link
Pft, I suppose you dont like Dino's cover of "Just Like Heaven" either?
― Trayce, Friday, 1 June 2007 13:13 (sixteen years ago) link
i certainly don't.. sorry. i haven't heard the sebadoh pink moon though
― electricsound, Friday, 1 June 2007 13:15 (sixteen years ago) link
Well you'd hate it I reckon, in that case Jim :)
― Trayce, Friday, 1 June 2007 13:16 (sixteen years ago) link
In fairness, it isnt particularly amazingly great, the verses are nice but the chorus is FUCKED UP.
― Trayce, Friday, 1 June 2007 13:18 (sixteen years ago) link
Dean Martin did "Just Like Heaven"????? Why didn't Nick Tosches tell me this?
― Marcello Carlin, Friday, 1 June 2007 13:31 (sixteen years ago) link
I think a Dean Martin album of Nick Drake covers would have saved several lives.
― Marcello Carlin, Friday, 1 June 2007 13:32 (sixteen years ago) link
Can I mention Elton John now?
― Tom D., Friday, 1 June 2007 13:33 (sixteen years ago) link
Who would have thought that Nick Drake's best mate at school would have had a worldwide number one in the eighties about his wife when he was actually having it off with the nanny?
― Marcello Carlin, Friday, 1 June 2007 13:52 (sixteen years ago) link
Me for a kick-off!
― Mark G, Friday, 1 June 2007 13:53 (sixteen years ago) link
That's the one Nick Drake album I don't like.
― Geir Hongro, Friday, 1 June 2007 23:31 (sixteen years ago) link
Bryter Later is entwined with perfect early summer evenings over looking the Calverley Grounds at Tunbridge Wells in 2003. Perfect mesh of music, time and place.
― acrobat, Saturday, 2 June 2007 01:02 (sixteen years ago) link
I've not listened to it in about 5 years, but I seem to remember Pink Moon being perfect if I was in good mood and just as perfect if I was sad about something.
So yeah, it's probably twee.
― Gukbe, Saturday, 2 June 2007 01:12 (sixteen years ago) link
Why is his music "twee"? Is all folk music twee?
― Bimble, Saturday, 2 June 2007 01:44 (sixteen years ago) link
Please. Nick Drake is not twee.
― St3ve Go1db3rg, Saturday, 2 June 2007 01:47 (sixteen years ago) link
is this a u.k - u.s divide? i know twee is strictly pejorative over there and isn't over here (as much), though I don't think it qualifies as twee either way personally a case could be made.
― tremendoid, Saturday, 2 June 2007 02:05 (sixteen years ago) link
Wait, where do you think twee is strictly pejorative? I often think it's funny the way twee is sometimes used as a favorable or neutral descriptor and other times as a sneering insult, depending on who says it and how it's said.
― St3ve Go1db3rg, Saturday, 2 June 2007 02:27 (sixteen years ago) link
the u.k., i thought. My impression is that it didn't have any connotation over here (u.s.), so when people called sarah stuff or whatever 'twee' we just picked it up and ran with it as a neutral quasi-genre descriptor. heh I've read 'twee as fuck' more than once, i have no excuse to be so fuzzy about such things.
― tremendoid, Saturday, 2 June 2007 02:44 (sixteen years ago) link
xpost
I think of "twee" as being specifically associated with Sarah records, bands like Heavenly, Talulah Gosh or I guess even Belle & Sebastian. I normally don't like that kind of music, so to me it is pejorative. I don't think it has much to do with nationality, really.
Now is the time to confess, though, that what I dread even more than the term "twee" applied to Nick Drake is "emo". I do believe there are special torture chambers in hell for people who would call him that.
― Bimble, Saturday, 2 June 2007 02:50 (sixteen years ago) link
I didn't read the older parts of this thread earlie, but this:
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.
Is amazing. Nabisco, that is awesome, and spot on.
― Trayce, Saturday, 2 June 2007 02:52 (sixteen years ago) link
Yeah, I confess I'm a Nabsico fan, too. Amen.
― Bimble, Saturday, 2 June 2007 03:42 (sixteen years ago) link
So leave your house come into my shed Please stop my world from raining through my head
Sigh. So lovely. So sad. So right.
― Trayce, Saturday, 2 June 2007 03:48 (sixteen years ago) link
I think the first time I heard "Road" off of Pink Moon was my awakening to quite how beautiful and powerful music can be.
Pretty much responsible for everything I've loved about music ever since.
― Uptoeleven, Saturday, 2 June 2007 13:47 (sixteen years ago) link
"Road" is oftentimes my favorite Nick Drake song and is also proof that Nick Drake has the most incredible fingerpicking technique of anyone ever.
― Curt1s Stephens, Saturday, 2 June 2007 21:23 (sixteen years ago) link
I can't make my thumb move like that.
― Curt1s Stephens, Saturday, 2 June 2007 21:25 (sixteen years ago) link
"Road" is definitely some super badass guitar playing.
As for twee, the origin of the term as a musical descriptor is definitely British, but I've heard it used in the US.
I lived in England for a bit but I'm not sure I ever actually heard anyone say it over there. I believe that it may have started as a strictly pejorative term, but then so did "baroque." I think it's all about context, really. Some people love twee and some people hate it. I just think it's funny the way both groups seem to use the term without explanation and expect their audience to know whether they mean it as a compliment or an insult.
― St3ve Go1db3rg, Saturday, 2 June 2007 22:43 (sixteen years ago) link
Dave Grohl, Heath Ledger and Norah Jones: why?
― Yehudi Menudo (NickB), Tuesday, 20 January 2009 12:06 (fifteen years ago) link
A forthcoming album celebrating the cult singer-songwriter will include controversial footage of the late Heath Ledger simulating suicide to Drake's Black Eyed Dog. Nice!
― Yehudi Menudo (NickB), Tuesday, 20 January 2009 12:07 (fifteen years ago) link
I'm sure the Drake family will be delighted, they've never accepted his death was suicide - but who cares what they think anyway, eh?
― Vicious Cop Kills Gentle Fool (Tom D.), Tuesday, 20 January 2009 12:11 (fifteen years ago) link