It appears we've never had a Nick Drake poll

"Made to love Magic" isn't a comp.

well, it's certainly not one of his proper albums ...

Put it this way: "Black eye dog" isn't on any of those three.

It appears there will soon be two Nick Drake polls.

Haven't listened to him in ages - like, decades! But I'll be voting "Five Leaves Left".

next poll can be nick drake posthumous albums: Time of No Reply, Made To Love Magic, Tanworth in Arden 67/68 ...

but yeah, a toughie to choose from these three -- depending on mood, I could vote for any one of them. Might be Bryter Later at the moment, which is funny, because for a long time that was my least favorite. But it's overripe romanticism has won me over in a big way. Maybe I'm just less depressed these days.

I think I'll go with 5 Leaves Left, simply because it seems to cover the whole spectrum of his stuff.

Not bad for a 20 year old!

not sure if you're being ironic here - but Pink moon always seemed a bit too dry and BL too jaunty (although i still love them both).

I like "Bryter Later" most, the arrangements work, and it has more of what those "I'm really inspired by Nick Drake" type sensitive poet guitarist types seem to disinclude.

Yeah and Bryter Later has those incredible John Cale collabs on there, "Fly" and "Northern Sky".

No irony, I already voted 5LL. (xxp)

Yeah, JC on good form on "Bryter Later". "Pink Moon" is my least favourite, tbh. (xp)

"Bryter Layter" all the way. Also like the debut, while "Pink Moon" is a bit too demo-like for me to really get into it.

One thing I like about Nick Drake is how different the three records are from each other. I struggle to think which one I like best, but will probably go for Pink Moon, partly to salute its dreadful cover.

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/images/n21/n105438.jpg

i reckon the pink moon cover is great.

i love all of these albums, and they're all strikingly different from each other. 'five leaves left' is the mysterious, romantic one, 'bryter layter' is the cruisy, assured one, and 'pink moon' is the tortured, rawboned one.

'pink moon' is the sentimental favourite.

all three are good but Pink Moon is pretty perfect imo

Five Leaves Left. for some reason i haven't ripped these to itunes yet, will take care of that. maybe i'll change my mind to Pink Moon

this is a tough tie between pink moon and bryter layter. pink moon doesn't have any songs i skip though (unlike BL's poor boy).

can't wrap my head around all the 5LL lovefest goin on here... imo v v weak compared to the next 2!

Pink Moon

imo v v weak compared to the next 2!
I don't know, 5LL is a pretty strong album -- "Way To Blue" "River Man" "Cello Song" ... what are the weak tracks? (for the record, I like Man in a Shed quite a lot ...)

Pink Moon was my introduction to Nick Drake about 20 years ago, and I spent a long time in the 90s learning to finger-pick those songs on guitar (thanks to a guy called Chris Healy). So I can't but go with that one.

My favourite song by ND is "Hanging on a Star" (the version on the Time of No Reply collection, not the later-released version). The guitar playing on that song is simply fantastic.

Bryter Later is favourite album, though 'Saturday Sun' from 5LL is my favourite song.

I've still yet to listen Pink Moon enough to give it fair judgement, but it doesn't grab me

Pink Moon was the first i heard and it might be my favourite album of all-time. All are good though, right now I'd rank FLL second and BL third, but others have pointed out BL's qualities, and they're right too.

And I spent a long time in the 90s learning to finger-pick those songs on guitar (thanks to a guy called Chris Healy).

i tried too, but i failed, not enough skills and patience. Could play Things Behind the Sun though.

Pink Moon, because I could cut nothing from this record, and "Know" remains mesmerizing. "Fly" almost knocks Bryter Layter to the top but it has a lousy title and that counts for a lot.

Bryter Layter because the peaks are strongest: Fly, Northern Sky...but it does contain the only Drake track I have to skip: "Poor Boy." Those back-ups just don't do it for me.

yeah i used to hate "poor boy" but i kind of love it now. and it's got chris macgregor on it!

poor boy is very funny!

love the back-ups on Poor Boy. Been on a Nick Drake kick since finishing the Joe Boyd book a few days ago.

even though Nick Drake's whole narrative is the "unappreciated in his time" thing, gotta be thankful that people like Joe Boyd and John Wood for getting him to record these three records. From most accounts, he wasn't the easiest person to motivate career-wise, so it's nice that those guys (and others, I'm sure) pushed him to get into the studio.

Boyd book on Drake is crucial; isn't it there where it says that Mike Heron's "Feast of Stephen" was recorded the same day as "Fly"? And maybe a Nico track too? Quite a day's work!

I much prefer the demo of "Fly" that is just Nick and guitar. Not knocking John Cale's contribution, I just really love Drake's guitar playing on the song and the Bryter Layter version has so much more than Nick's guitar.

I think the flute instrumental on BL is a little too much for me (can't remember the title right now).

As regards 5LL: it's been said often, but River Man is a great song.

And the orchestration on River Man gets the balance just right, IMO

this is sorta interesting - unreleased Nick material that apparently exists (via http://www.nickdrake.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t=4571&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=60):

BBC1 JOHN PEEL SESSION - 06-08-1969

01 Time of no Reply
02 Cello Song
03 River Man
04 Three Hours
05 ?????

There is a 5th song that supposedly has turned up recently.

---

BBC2 RADIO SESSION - 23-03-70

4-8 songs with flautist - probably includes:

Saturday Sun (performed on celeste)
Three Hours

---

LIVE - CAIUS ROOMS, CAMBRIDGE - march 1968 (?)

01 Time of no Reply
02 My Love Left with the Rain
03 I was made to love Magic
04 Day is Done
05 The Thoughts of Mary Jane

This seems to be highly unlikely to ever recieve a public release, due to problems with the performance.

i've heard a bit of the first peel session, but the quality is cruddy and it's not complete ....

Sure we've done this before, sure the goth/emo vote swung it for Pink Moon, sure it will do this time, absolutely sure Bryter Later is the best by a long distance. Fully-realised is a good thing, kids.

Well, there's no accounting for taste or preference, you know.

Things that probably don't need saying on ILM but probably do anyway.

dunno, Pink Moon seems "fully realized" to me ... just because it's spare, doesn't mean it's not "realized".

Pink Moon is half good songs and half back-story.

should probably have a pic of Nick's sis in here.
http://www.universeguide.com/Pictures/LtGayEllisFace.jpg

oh shit
http://www.bobworld.me.uk/Gabrielle_Drake.jpg

she's a little spaced out

Word to the wise, don't GIS Nick Drake's sister at work.

there are boobs

I don't know whereabouts you guys are from so I'll explain that Gabrielle Drake is possibly best known in the UK for her time on Crossroads, one of the longest running soaps here and frequently declared the cheapest and cheesiest of all time. I knew who she was a good few years before I'd heard of Nick.

i'm from the US, so I haven't seen that. I did see her in "Inspector Lynley" on PBS's Mystery! once.

Sure we've done this before, sure the goth/emo vote swung it for Pink Moon, sure it will do this time, absolutely sure Bryter Later is the best by a long distance. Fully-realised is a good thing, kids.
― Calamari Merkin (Noodle Vague), Thursday, 30 July 2009 22:07 (31 minutes ago) Bookmark

Drake took a very deliberate decision to record PM the way he did. It is fully realised.

c'mon on the "half back story" bit, NV; when I bought these albums I didn't know much about the back story (just a tip from a friend saying check them out, in the early 90s) and still Pink Moon was the star of the bunch. Maybe in ole Englande chimes of city clocks and funny spellings come across as more fully realized (why the extra "e" in "hazey"?), but amidst the desert landscapes of south Texas PM's spareness sounded a lot richer and more resonant.

She became reasonably famous in the UK for her role in a soap opera called "Crossroads Motel". (The "motel" was later dropped)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossroads_%28TV_series%29

http://www.celebrityproductions.info/pictures/gabrielle_drake.jpg

It used to be cool to like PM (i.e. 15 years ago). Now it's cool to like it the least, to distance yourself from the emo following it has since attracted.

Erm, xpost re Crossroads (of all things...)

five leaves left

i like all of em and i don't have any big philosophy other than it was the first one i ever heard and i have some good memories attached to it. drake is great.

amidst the desert landscapes of south Texas PM's spareness sounded a lot richer and more resonant

There might be something in that last sentence, Euler.

Of course I'm just jabbing and over-stating my case and all the stuff you do in a poll thread to make it Not A List of Choices. But beneath that I feel like the sparsity of PM is made up of less good material than the lushness of BL. Lyrically I've always found Drake as miss as he is hit, so "city clocks" and the HILARIOUS SELF-PARODY FFS PEOPLE that is "Poor Boy" don't bother me at all. I think he gives better voice in BL, too. I can see a case for the guitar playing on PM being his best but I wouldn't trade that in for Joe Boyd and John Cale and that dancing blue-noted pop on BL, the sound of a talent stretching out not digging itself in.

I know Drake "chose" the direction of Pink Moon - those quote marks not to snark but to question how much anybody chooses how their art comes out and how much anybody sick with depression chooses to avoid dealing with other people - but I think he chose wrong. "Parasite" and "Things Behind the Sun" and "From the Morning" are Right Up There but I seriously think sparse turns into sketchy turns into can't get past one little riff too often on there in the end.

Bryter Later because I love how it has these lush arrangements, but the acoustic guitar still manages to cut through and lead it all. Also is his most consistent album.

I know Drake "chose" the direction of Pink Moon - those quote marks not to snark but to question how much anybody chooses how their art comes out and how much anybody sick with depression chooses to avoid dealing with other people - but I think he chose wrong. "Parasite" and "Things Behind the Sun" and "From the Morning" are Right Up There but I seriously think sparse turns into sketchy turns into can't get past one little riff too often on there in the end.
― Calamari Merkin (Noodle Vague), Thursday, 30 July 2009 21:01 (51 minutes ago) Permalink

Well argued point.

i grew to love the moody, repetitive half-songs like 'horn' and 'know', after initially thinking, "shit, 28 minutes of CD space and these two tracks wound up on there?". they are candid, stark and uneasy songs, and their aimlessness forms a vital part of the album's journey (we get a resigned peace of mind later with 'from the morning'). there is a deceptively high quota of different moods on 'pink moon', and while the flow is logical, the road towards consolidation is paved with false starts.

bryter layter. pink moon has my two favourite ND songs on it but it also has the weakest moments of any of the three imo. i do love the debut but it's also the last one i heard so i tend not to get as excited about it, also it feels a bit more prim where BL feels more relaxed..

Pink Moon is half good songs and half back-story.

when I first heard it I knew none of its backstory; bought Bryter Later shortly therafter, loved it, but loved Pink Moon better. The same is true for many, many people, but I'm sure they are all just fooling themselves about what they like, not really being in control of their own ears or responses.

I mean, to put it in a more positive way: are you sure you're not the one letting the backstory work against a perfectly great album, because the backstory doesn't appeal to you? Heard, as I first heard it, in a total vacuum of information about it - a tape given to me by a friend with a Leonard Cohen live set on the other side - it just seemed so remarkable; great songs and incredible attention to mood throughout the set, and this sort of withdrawn doing-this-for-myself-and-hardly-even-that feeling; like a record of which I'd believe the claim "I wasn't doing it to please anyone but myself." That's not always good, I guess, but in this case, it just sounded like a guy with a vision to me - a hard not-very-pleasant vision but an incredibly compelling one.

To be honest, I don't care much about the back story with regard to the music being a separate thing.

Then again, I've only played "Pink Moon" once, so maybe I should go again with it..

^^ nicely said (xpost)

another thing i like about pink moon is how the musical and structural simplicity of certain songs ('know', 'road') relates so accurately to the directness of their lyrics. it's literally drake stripped to his barest emotions, outlining his feelings and making appeals through the most sincere and point-blank means possible. it's in the more complex, dense tracks like 'things behind the sun' where he mixes the metaphorical and obscure with more lucid observations. it's still very much intensely personal and self-appraising, but in a different kind of way.

are you sure you're not the one letting the backstory work against a perfectly great album, because the backstory doesn't appeal to you?

I already admitted I was over-stating my case but this is a good point too. I'm not gonna shift from BL tho.

Bryter Layter was my first encounter with Drake (end of highschool) and I didn't really like it - too orchestrated and the backing vocals rubbed me the wrong way. Years later I got to love those songs through the Way To Blue comp of a housemate. As an album, I think I still prefer Five Leaves Left. Listened to it last night and "Three Hours" came on and man...so great. Feels pretty epic in the way it unfolds while maintaining a propulsive pace.

i think i used to think five leaves left was the best one at one point. i had a thing for haunting guitar intros and five leaves left had them in spades ('day is done', 'fruit tree'). then i got tired of it or at least started to think it was a bit ponderous. i definitely don't think that way now - i think all three albums represent an extraordinary canon of work and i find something remarkable in each of them.

On my CD of Pink Moon (Hannibal Records) the song "Road" is titled "Radio".

For a while I naturally thought Radio was the right name for that song, but sought in vain for a connection in the song itself..

I love all of these - voted for Bryter Layter - but the CD's I own are really poor quality, really hissy. Have remastered versions ever been released?

http://www.facebook.com/people/Mink-Poon/716933661

^ is this name for real?

Remastered? Think so: Do yours have a colourful "like an LP label" label?

Nate - all albums have been released as remastered editions in 2003.

with Nick Drake portrait sleeves.

we didn't have a poll, that's right but we had a taking sides where "five leaves left" was kind of omitted. it is still five leaves left for me. somehow it seems to me the purest, the most mellow of the three. though it is more bitter-mellow of course. i got the fruit tree box as a christmas present around 1979 and i listened to it chronologically. the first record that knocked me out was "five leaves left". "bryter later" as great as it is, is a little stainted by "poor boy" i find, a song i can hardly listen to because of it's musical kitsch content. "pink moon" was very austere, almost painful. i love it but it is not a record i listen to these days. i have had enough listens of it in my adolescence, i guess.

i really like 'poor boy', at least up until those much maligned backing vocals chime in. it's also probably about two minutes too long.

I don't mind it and find it pretty funny actually

I dig "Poor Boy" including the backup vocals (isn't that PP Arnold?). The one I don't really love on Bryter Layter (uggh that title) is "At the Chime of a City Clock" (which at least has a good title). The song is ok until the farting sax comes in, and then I laugh (because farts are funny, duh) and then the song is basically ruined. The second side of the album is much stronger, with gorgeous instrumentals bookending it. To what extent did Drake write the arrangements on the instrumentals? Are they his melodies? Google isn't helping and I don't have the box handy or Boyd's book handy. Because, listening through the four albums in the box today, I was struck by Drake's way with a melody---like someone said on a thread about Neil Young, for all the image of a gentle singer-songwriter this guy wrote tremendous melodies.

Also I had a "holy shit this should have been obvious years ago" moment when I listened to "Horn" on PM and realized that he's trying to play guitar like a bugle or trumpet, hence the song's title.

Bryter Layter, no contest for me.

yeah, and i like poor boy just fine.

oh man, I love "chime," sax and all. Don't hate on saxes, dawg!
... so when we talk about the Pink Moon "backstory" what are we talking about? that it's a sad record made by a depressed guy? Record was recorded in late 1971, and he died ... three years later.

yeah I usually love saxes (we have a thread about this somewhere) but on "Chime" it doesn't fit the arrangement well. It sounds like a PM song until the chorus, then the chorus has those sweeping strings...and then a fart on the second verse. I think if the sax were lower in the mix (I have the Ryko cd box, so maybe it sounds different on vinyl or on the remasters) it would be less distracting.

Plus to echo NV, I'm just looking for something to say besides "I voted for PM" and I love these albums so much that it's hard to find much to say to justify picking one over another.

i might be wrong, but i think there's a solo demo of "chime" out on bootleg ... or maybe I'm thinking of Hazey Jane ... or maybe I'm dreaming it ...

I'd be interested in hearing that; the only Drake bootleg I had was the Tamworth-in-Arden one which is of pre-debut songs, with terrible sound.

yeah there are a few things floating around that are a lot better than the Tamworth in Arden sessions ...this is probably the best one -- doesn't look like there's that "chime" i was dreaming of. the "place to be" demo is exquisite, though http://beehivecandy.blogspot.com/2008/04/nick-drake-second-grace.html

awesome! pulling it down now

"... so when we talk about the Pink Moon "backstory" what are we talking about? "

I think the story goes that Nick told the guys at Island he had a new record ready, went to the Island offices and after a while in the reception area he just...got up and left. The master for Pink Moon was sitting by itself in the chair when Blackwell or whoever came out to get Nick. I don't believe much was done with the tape; it pretty much was released as recorded. That's my recollection, anyhow.

First heard him back in college days, '73 maybe when the store I worked at got a promo of the thing Capitol put out that was half-and-half songs from FLL and BL. Had a yellow cover. Wish I still had that one, just for the collector in me. I've loved his music pretty much uncritically ever since. Pink Moon is pretty harrowing stuff.

I JUST read White Bicycles, and the way Boyd tells it, he mentions that part of the story, but that's not to imply it wasn't finished. He recorded it properly with a producer and intended it to sound just like that, even hurting Boyd's feelings a bit by saying he didn't want any of the arranging of the first two. The fact that he left the tapes in the in-bin to be ignored over the weekend is a nice anecdote, but doesn't really add so much backstory that it affects how it would be perceived.

i mean, mainly the backstory makes it seem like Nick was just a weird dude.

Sure we've done this before, sure the goth/emo vote swung it for Pink Moon, sure it will do this time

If it sounded like this much of a cliche, I wouldn't have voted for it. I love them all, of course, but this one always hit me a bit differently. It's more steeped in irony, more removed both in its sound and its lyrics, and finally much darker than the other two records. There's something not only sad in it, but out-and-out desperate. It's a difficult listen. Also, it's beautiful.

And I don't really know a thing about the backstory of Nick Drake at all, whatever album. Sometimes, very rarely, I don't bother reading the liner notes because the records say something so loudly that I don't WANT to know more than what's on the record. I mean, I know the basic wikipedia-entry-level facts about Drake, but he doesn't seem to want to be read about.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Bryter Layter never fails to awe

I don't know whereabouts you guys are from so I'll explain that Gabrielle Drake is possibly best known in the UK for her time on Crossroads

Not being Mrs Kelly Monteith in the Kelly Monteith Show?

Recently been in a few episodes of Coronation Street as well.

I remember reading that Nick Drake developed dreadful stagefright, largely brought on by touring solo and playing terrifying folk clubs (where the clientele would drink out of silver tankards and break into sea shanties at the drop of a hat). I have often wondered how things might have been different if someone had put together a band to tour "Bryter Layter".

I didn't know he'd played live anywhere!

Also, yer average folk club audience is probably the least terrifying group of human beings on the planet

River Man is sort of about a gig.

Is it?

"All night shows in summer time..."
Yeah, he played a festival gig while at Cambridge, it was sort of a disaster...I'm foggy on the details. I read the bio that came out 6 or 7 years ago when Nick's music was something like a life line for a moment. Incredibly sad story, really.

if i'm not mistaken, he opened some shows for Fairport Convention, and then (as posteed above) there's apparently a recording of him at some place called the Caius Room in Cambridge?
LIVE -
CAIUS ROOMS, CAMBRIDGE - march 1968 (?)

01 Time of no Reply
02 My Love Left with the Rain
03 I was made to love Magic
04 Day is Done
05 The Thoughts of Mary Jane

Something to do with Caius College I would expect

guess so! but yeah, the idea that Nick was terrified of the sedate folkie crowd says something about his stage fright

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

wow, voted for the winner but thought pink moon would take it

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_uTgSWE4ZNiU/R1wte2kQQCI/AAAAAAAAANE/vkJSc55_FHc/s400/nd.jpg

im glad bryter won but poor five leaves left finishing 3rd

judging by the early posts i assumed it would win

yeah i'm a bit disappointed but they're all great so no big deal

I like all three but pink moon > five leaves left > bryter layter. it appears that ILX cannot shake its belle and sebastian roots

i thought this would be closer. would've been rad if it's was 32/30/28 or something.

I would have it Bryter Later, Five Leaves Left, Pink Moon but if there had only been 1 or 2 votes between them it would be better

Well done you guys, this ain't about rubbishing two at the expense of the other, but the right record won.

Yeah, they're all great, and the poll was a good excuse to listen to all the albums again, so I'm happy.

Pink Moon is not that "dark" to me, it just sounds beautiful. Tremendous guitar playing on that album. I can't get my fingers to move anywhere near the way he gets his to move on "Road"

Also, yer average folk club audience is probably the least terrifying group of human beings on the planet

Possibly, but never underestimate the power of an audience that talk loudly over the 'not terribly loud' singer/guitarist...

Pink Moon by miles.

anyone seen this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ji27gOf7VE

saw it at the local indie years ago. It was enjoyable but not at all memorable.

Fyi, UK people - someone's answering questions on the life and music of Nick Drake on this week's Mastermind.

anyone manage to see Mastermind then? supposedly the guy got 18 out of 18! that's pretty amazing considering how rock hard the specialist round usually is.

Pleasantly surprised to see all this nick drake love. I'd have thought ILM would hate him with a passion considering how much he sounds like a British indie band.

a marquee post

!

Courtesy aerosmith

http://mollydrake.bandcamp.com/

that "I Remember" song is completely breathtaking - formal English song in the style the Baby Dee works sometimes

i wonder if "poor mum" inspired nick to write "poor boy".

poor mum was on that family tree disc from a few years back, right?
this sounds kind of great.

yes, that's right.

the stuff w/ nick's parents in that documentary is so sweet/sad. they definitely seem a bit mystified by their son.