Nick Drake: why???

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This misses the point again, amal25. What is being called into question is your continued insistence that repetition (or "uniform tone, uniform rhythm and vocal dynamics" for that matter) is "objectively" a fault.

At no point have I "insisted" that it should be seen as a fault. I have presented this standard as my own and supposed that it will be shared to some degree by some of the people reading. And so it seems to be; many responses have offered evidence contrary to my claims of sameness or simply dismissed them, but two at most have attacked the values inherent in them. Alex was doing the former (as was Tom, despite his initial wavering), and so I fail to see how my response misses the point.

No. Your contention was flat-out wrong the second someone said they liked repetition.

Subjective approval doesn't counter subjective opposition. You have to ignore or shine on a lot of what I've written, including responses to your posts, to say that I have been forcing my standards on people who don't share them. Only the "sameness is damning" comment, which should have been introduced by "for me" (but which was appropriate in context), suggests this.

, Thursday, 18 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

ok then

The Actual Mr. Jones, Thursday, 18 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

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 (twenty-three years ago)

senor pulpissimo is my new best friend

mark s, Friday, 19 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

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

Ned Raggett, Friday, 19 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

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 (twenty-three years ago)

(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 (twenty-three years ago)

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 (twenty-three years ago)

eleven months pass...
Oh but it would!

amateurist (amateurist), Friday, 27 June 2003 05:40 (twenty-two years ago)

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 (twenty-two years ago)

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

Chris V. (Chris V), Friday, 27 June 2003 10:36 (twenty-two years ago)

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 (twenty-two years ago)

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

Chris V. (Chris V), Friday, 27 June 2003 11:34 (twenty-two years ago)

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

Curt1s St3ph3ns, Friday, 27 June 2003 17:20 (twenty-two years ago)

I do not hate him.

Chris V. (Chris V), Friday, 27 June 2003 17:21 (twenty-two years ago)

three 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 (nineteen years ago)

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 (nineteen years ago)

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 (nineteen years ago)

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 (nineteen years ago)

I agree, Pink Moon is mind blowing.

Drooone, Friday, 1 June 2007 03:13 (nineteen years ago)

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 (nineteen years ago)

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

Drooone, Friday, 1 June 2007 03:16 (nineteen years ago)

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 (nineteen years ago)

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

Trayce, Friday, 1 June 2007 03:24 (nineteen years ago)

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 (nineteen years ago)

lol

Drooone, Friday, 1 June 2007 03:39 (nineteen years ago)

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 (nineteen years ago)

i'm jealous! have fun

tremendoid, Friday, 1 June 2007 03:59 (nineteen years ago)

I lurve Pink Moon.

St3ve Go1db3rg, Friday, 1 June 2007 05:04 (nineteen years ago)

sebadoh > nick drake

stephen, Friday, 1 June 2007 05:15 (nineteen years ago)

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

tremendoid, Friday, 1 June 2007 05:28 (nineteen years ago)

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 (nineteen years ago)

A 'new' album up soon, right?

Mark G, Friday, 1 June 2007 08:35 (nineteen years ago)

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

Marcello Carlin, Friday, 1 June 2007 08:50 (nineteen years ago)

They aint even in the southern prem league!

Hendrix, Marley, etc.

Mark G, Friday, 1 June 2007 08:56 (nineteen years ago)

although..
http://i12.ebayimg.com/07/i/000/9d/99/9c57_1.JPG

Mark G, Friday, 1 June 2007 09:00 (nineteen years ago)

Tupac, dudes (xp)

Tom D., Friday, 1 June 2007 09:01 (nineteen years ago)

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 (nineteen years ago)

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

Trayce, Friday, 1 June 2007 09:24 (nineteen years ago)

IT'S MY JOB, INNIT. Sort of.

Scik Mouthy, Friday, 1 June 2007 09:27 (nineteen years ago)

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 (nineteen years ago)

His lyrics are often pretty twee

Tom D., Friday, 1 June 2007 11:35 (nineteen years ago)

"Fwuit Twee" for instance (sorry)

Tom D., Friday, 1 June 2007 11:35 (nineteen years ago)

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

Marcello Carlin, Friday, 1 June 2007 12:30 (nineteen years ago)

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

Tom D., Friday, 1 June 2007 12:31 (nineteen years ago)

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

Roz, Friday, 1 June 2007 12:37 (nineteen years ago)

Same hairstyle:

http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/thumb/6/64/200px-UFOEllis.jpg

Tom D., Friday, 1 June 2007 12:41 (nineteen years ago)

The chin is the giveaway!

Tom D., Friday, 1 June 2007 12:41 (nineteen years ago)

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 (nineteen years ago)

You want to wear a rug?

Trayce, Friday, 1 June 2007 12:46 (nineteen years ago)


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