TS: Nick Drake's "Bryter Later" vs. "Pink Moon"

First person who uses the fact that I said "5 years" as an opportunity to quote David Bowie's lyrics gets smacked with a big wet fish.

Bryter Layter is an imperfect record. Pink Moon is a perfect record. But my favorite of the three is Five Leaves Left.

1.Five Leaves Left
2.Bryter Layter
3.Pink Moon

Bryter is the one whose individual songs I listen to the most. Five Leaves is the one which I listen to all the way through the most. Pink is the one which I listen to all the way through the most if I'm in a really fucked mood and I'm impatient.

And I think some of the best songs ended up on Time Of No Reply/Made To Love Magic

didn't like bryter later.

didn't listen to pink moon more than a couple of times. i may go back to it.

Bryter Layter is an imperfect record. Pink Moon is a perfect record. But my favorite of the three is Five Leaves Left."

-- Stormy Davis, March 11th, 2005.

what this guy said goes for me too! i agree with all of it.and i also heard five leaves left first too. i bought that, went insane, went and bought bryter layter, went insane, said fuck it, went and bought the vinyl box set, went insane again. still insane.

God I could go for some Hazey Jane right now!

can someone keep track of the score?

which is not to say that I dislike any of them.

A preference for Pink Moon makes me think of very difficult men who aren't much fun to be around, at least if they don't find it a difficult call.

Pink Moon, on the other hand, is fantastic. IMHO I think it's the "fullest"-sounding of his albums, because even though the instrumentation is "sparse" Nick is able to fill in all corners with just fingerpicking and his voice; every creaking of his fingernail against a guitar string carries the resonance of a thousand Bryter Layters. And despite the constant criticism over the mythologizing of Nick, there really is a transcendent emotional quality to the album that gets to me. It's not depressing; the whole album feels like a cool summer morning at 4 AM, with dawn just faintly lurching over the horizon. It's a feeling of solitude, brushing against sadness occasionally, but certainly not despair.

Alba, I'm not much fun to be around, but I think that's for reasons other than the fact that I'm a pretentious Pink Moon whore ;)

Plus, and this is a snark-free question, can someone explain the love for "Hazey Jane II"? A lot of you have singled it out for ILM worship, but I don't get it. Please tell me what I'm missing.

what a brilliant end lyric-wise:
if songs were lines in a conversation the situation would be fine.

I bought Pink Moon after reading this thread. The day I got it, I listened to it about 10 times. A week later, and I'm still playing it almost every day. This is simply the most beautiful music I've ever heard. I can't imagine a more perfect album.

Bryter Layter. By a mile. Then Five Leaves Left. Although I love them all.

Pink Moon. I thought he improved with every album, and what I like about Pink Moon is the way everything has been stripped back to just guitar and voice for the most part. His guitar playing is so good on that record.

ND's right hand is unimpeachable

One of the things Joe Boyd remarks upon in his book White Bicycles is seeing ND play live for the first time and noticing how strong his left hand was and how precise and articulate his picking. Even outside of a recording studio, his playing sounded that clean.

Yeah, and it's great to hear it without any orchestral parts etc. Not that there's anything wrong with the orchestral parts on the first couple of albums, god no, it's more that it always feels like the orchestral parts and the guitar parts are fighting for my attention.

"Five Leaves Left"

'Way to Blue: An Introduction to Nick Drake'

(srsly an almost perfect comp)

never liked "black eyed dog". sounds too much like a blind willie johnson pastiche or something. none of those last four songs are among my faves, honestly.

on the other hand "road" is prob my all-time #1 nick drake song. it's gotten me through a lot of bad times.

I've always been Bryter Layter (even with the two dodgy later instrumentals), but just lately Pink Moon is edging ahead. Place to Be. My word.

I was up near Birmingham recently and went to Tanworth. He's in a modest plot with his folks and with a view of a spread of fields stretching to the horizon. I traced with my fingers the inscription on the back of the headstone and had myself a little cry. The wind was in the trees. All good.

drake is playing with blues tropes on black eyed dog, but i think it's a stretch to call it a a blind willie johnson pastiche ...
i think Bryter Later is my choice now, really is one of the most gorgeous records ever.

pink moon is tops for me and yes, road in particular. if you like that bare nick drake sound the peel sessions is great and on spotify... stellar version of 'three hours'

on the other hand "road" is prob my all-time #1 nick drake song. it's gotten me through a lot of bad times

You can say the sun is shining if you really want to
I can see the moon and it seems so clear
You can take the road that takes you to the stars now
I can take a road that I'll see me through

pink moon is tops for me and yes, road in particular. if you like that bare nick drake sound the peel sessions is great and on spotify... stellar version of 'three hours'

― global tetrahedron, Friday, September 22, 2017 6:29 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I'll have to check that out... thanks!

Finally picked Pink Moon up on (reissued) vinyl today - £12 at the back of an HMV clearance rack. We've had a house full tonight: 18 yr7s for a Hallowe'en disco. Kids leave behind a strange kind of silence; I'm letting Drake enscorcell the disturbed air.

that sounds like a shock. pink moon after the tohuwabohu of a kid's party. weird choice. from total distraction to total focus. will you tell us how it was?

It was risky eh - who knows what might have been summoned? Perfect, though. Parasite standing out tonight.

Can't believe the hate for "Poor Boy" earlier on this thread; it's one of my favourite Nick Drake tracks. I love the bossa nova feel and "all those girls in the background choir should have been shot before the recording" - that's PP Arnold and Doris Troy!

yeah "poor boy" is great. it also has an awesome chris mcgregor piano solo!

It's crazy all the love for Five Leaves Left upthread. I never really am inspired to listen to that whereas I have 2 very distinct moods when the other two get airplay.

i usually just play all three original LPs straight through, once I get going, I can't stop!

yeah, they're all great imo. 'poor boy' fan as well over here

Five Leaves Left starts to drown in strings at a certain point but the opening three and ‘Cello Song are incredible, perfect for this time of year.

River Man tho

duh, part of the “opening three” of course

I recently scared my daughter by telling her she could play “Place to Be” at my memorial when I die (hopefully about 100 years hence)

i don't know if i've mentioned this before but i lost/had stolen all my nick drake records except for "bryter layter" at a greyhound station so that one's my favorite

Bryter Layter. "Over-produced" "muzak arrangements" "like I'd hear in a grocery store" rule!

Love all three obv, but I'd probably pick 5 leaves since for me it somehow captures the whole spectrum of his work

there's a pink side of the moon. yes, a pink moon. pink pink pink. pink moon

My Hannibal / Rycodisk issue of Pink Moon lists "Road" as "Radio", which brought confusion when people talked about "Road"

It was one of the first songs of his I learnt to play on guitar. Drop the high G to E and you're good to go.