Hazey Jane Talks To The Pinefox

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Doubtless there are other Nick Drake threads. I care not - I am starting another.

I finally (?) bought Bryter Later the other day. I have one or two views on it. Veterans may find them clapped out. Never mind.

I am going to start by asking: why is the 'Introduction', which is cut from the same cloth as 'Hazey Jane I', followed by 'Hazey Jane II'?

My initial reaction was that it was a woeful misjudgment, not going straight into 'Hazey Jane I'. I have half a mind to assert that someone must have mixed up the numbers and programmed the LP wrong.

Perhaps this is not the place to talk about my historic inability to remember which is 'I' and which 'II', or about how dubious I am, really, about the practice of giving two songs virtually the same title.

― the pinefox, Friday, 23 April 2004 14:06 (twenty-one years ago)

I like the transition, so it never occurred to me how well Hazey Jane I and Introduction would segue.. but I guess you're right. Hazey Jane II, though, greeeaat song - really works as an opener.

― Sonny A. (Keiko), Friday, 23 April 2004 14:25 (twenty-one years ago)

B-b-but ... does it?

And if it's such a great opener, why does it need to be preceded by ... by a... by an... 'Introduction'??

― the bellefox, Friday, 23 April 2004 14:41 (twenty-one years ago)

"Introduction" is when you go to get popcorn so you can sit down and enjoy "Hazey Jane II"

I think there's something really effective about the *really beautiful overture* *pause* => *jaunty pop number with outrageous horns* combination. It's...dramatic

― Sonny A. (Keiko), Friday, 23 April 2004 14:46 (twenty-one years ago)

God, who cares pinefox?

― metalmickey, Friday, 23 April 2004 15:13 (twenty-one years ago)

I am partly won over by Sonny's claim.

I think I still think 'Hazey Jane I' would be better in that spot.

Perhaps I am wrong.

Why do they both have the same title anyway?

Except that one is called 'I' and the other is... 'II'. Or, the other way around.

― the bellefox, Friday, 23 April 2004 15:21 (twenty-one years ago)

Sonny A is right about the overture -> jaunty thing.

I don't know why the numbering is that way around. Maybe he wrote Hazey Jane I first. To be honest, it immediately makes the pairing look more intriguing, to me. Maybe I fall for cheap tricks.

Introduction -> Hazey Jane I would have been too one note melancholic for me. One note melacholy is fine if it's across a whole album, but when you've got jauntiness to come, it would seem poor sequencing.

Presumably it's about the same woman, fictional or real. To go from sad -> upbeat would seem a little trite, unless you had been taken on a journey that led to such a change of mood. It's more natural the other way around.

If they were songs in a compilaton, the compilation would be fine.

― N. (nickdastoor), Friday, 23 April 2004 15:35 (twenty-one years ago)

If I am not mistaken, the compilation Way To Blue goes: Introduction --> Hazey Jane I --> Hazey Jane II!!

― the blissfox, Friday, 23 April 2004 15:40 (twenty-one years ago)

Is HJI really Melancholic? Or just Romantic?

― the blissfox, Friday, 23 April 2004 15:40 (twenty-one years ago)

Hm.

'Natural'!

― the bellefox, Friday, 23 April 2004 15:41 (twenty-one years ago)

To me, yes. Optimism -> wistfulness seems like the right progression for a romantic album. You are perhaps right that 'melancholic' is not quite the word for HJ I. It depends how one listens to it.

― N. (nickdastoor), Friday, 23 April 2004 15:47 (twenty-one years ago)

Surely

Wistfulness --> Wistfulness = Natural

(I think I have trumped you at last)

― the pinefox, Friday, 23 April 2004 15:49 (twenty-one years ago)

I didn't know we were playing Trumpo. I'm not sure of the rules, but too much wistfulness is a poor pudding indeed.

― N. (nickdastoor), Friday, 23 April 2004 15:50 (twenty-one years ago)

Was it a Whist joke?

― N. (nickdastoor), Friday, 23 April 2004 15:53 (twenty-one years ago)

Alas, no, nothing so punny.

― the bellefox, Friday, 23 April 2004 15:54 (twenty-one years ago)

Surely 'Trumps' not 'Trumpo'?

― the bluefox, Friday, 23 April 2004 15:54 (twenty-one years ago)

I just liked the sound of 'Trumpo', really.

― N. (nickdastoor), Friday, 23 April 2004 15:57 (twenty-one years ago)

You mean you made it up?

That was creative of you.

― the bellefox, Friday, 23 April 2004 15:59 (twenty-one years ago)

I am surprised this thread has not attracted any rougher trade (save metalmickey -- who was of course you under a ... 'pseudonym' or -- pen name).

― the bluefox, Friday, 23 April 2004 16:00 (twenty-one years ago)

Actually, this is definitely the place to be, on the internet, at the moment.

― the popfox, Friday, 23 April 2004 16:01 (twenty-one years ago)

I think it is too late on a Friday.

― N. (nickdastoor), Friday, 23 April 2004 16:01 (twenty-one years ago)

It's definitely too late, for us.

― the bluefox, Friday, 23 April 2004 16:03 (twenty-one years ago)

This thread has gone from jaunty to melancholic. It feels right.

― N. (nickdastoor), Friday, 23 April 2004 16:05 (twenty-one years ago)

I agree.

We have done a lot better than our worst.

― the bluefox, Friday, 23 April 2004 16:08 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm afraid I haven't heard the album, despite being on Sinister. I have heard 'Way to Blue' though, and I don't think there's anything on it called 'Introduction'. I suppose he/they just thought Hazey Jane sounds so nice they ought to use it twice. It certainly makes me feel wonderfully warm, it's so VIVID, like a seventeen-year-old's imagination. I am writing in the style of Alexis Petridis 1999. I hope it didn't sound like someone wanking off at great length.

xxx

― PJ Miller (PJ Miller), Friday, 23 April 2004 16:08 (twenty-one years ago)

This thread has taken another tern.

― the bellefox, Friday, 23 April 2004 16:15 (twenty-one years ago)

Miller, I think that Way To Blue *does* have the Introduction. But once again, perhaps I am quite, quite wrong.

Also, your cunning persona is leading me astray.

Great length?

― the bellefox, Friday, 23 April 2004 16:16 (twenty-one years ago)

I appreciate the allusive thread title at least.

― Paul Eater (eater), Friday, 23 April 2004 16:17 (twenty-one years ago)

Nothing can be sole or whole

That has not been ilx'd.

― the finefox, Friday, 23 April 2004 16:34 (twenty-one years ago)

maybe he wrote the one before the other

― amateur!st (amateurist), Friday, 23 April 2004 16:38 (twenty-one years ago)

'Sorry about the enormous length of that Felt post I did: virtually the first
thing I send to the list. I hope it didn't come across like someone wanking
off at great length. Apologies, anyway.'

That's from the real Alexis Petridis. I think it shows that, deep down, he's a nice chap.

What I'm going to do now is have a bit of a rummage around and see if I can find 'Way to Blue'. I'm sure it'll tkae me back to the day I bought it, in Irun, and went to sit by the church in Hondarribia to read the booklet really quietly. It was really mindblowing, because the booklet has ivy all over it and so does the church, and it was in full bloom, and the almost inaudible chirrup of ivy-dwelling insects was overwhelming, a bit like when you're seventeen and you get drunk and you have a snog.

No 'Introduction', Pinefox, but it is subtitled, 'An Introduction to Nick Drake'.

xxx

― PJ Miller (PJ Miller), Friday, 23 April 2004 16:38 (twenty-one years ago)

I didn't, when I was seventeen.

I agree about the ivy and stuff though.

I done wrong again.

xxx

― the bellefox, Friday, 23 April 2004 16:42 (twenty-one years ago)

I think N., I mean, Nick, Drake should be listened to on warm Spring evenings with a glass of wine and what might have been hope fading out across a deep light blue sky.

xxxx

― the blissfox, Friday, 23 April 2004 16:43 (twenty-one years ago)

i think i've entered into a not-appreciating-nick-drake phase, unexpectedly

― amateur!st (amateurist), Friday, 23 April 2004 16:47 (twenty-one years ago)

This 'Way to Blue' is a very good album. That must be why I've never bothered with the proper albums.

Nick Drake - Best Ever Midlander?

― PJ Miller (PJ Miller), Friday, 23 April 2004 17:51 (twenty-one years ago)

Surely that is Robin Stout?

― N. (nickdastoor), Friday, 23 April 2004 18:00 (twenty-one years ago)

I think the Pinefox has gone home.

― PJ Miller (PJ Miller), Friday, 23 April 2004 18:05 (twenty-one years ago)

This thread becomes more melancholic by the moment.

― N. (nickdastoor), Friday, 23 April 2004 18:06 (twenty-one years ago)

This thread took an unexpected turn during my nap, to say the least.

― Sonny A. (Keiko), Friday, 23 April 2004 18:56 (twenty-one years ago)

This thread made me take up knitting.

― LC, Friday, 23 April 2004 19:07 (twenty-one years ago)

haha

― Ronan (Ronan), Friday, 23 April 2004 19:10 (twenty-one years ago)

The biggest problem with Bryter Layter is "Poor Boy." But it makes up for it by placing two of the most beautiful songs ever written before and after it.

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Friday, 23 April 2004 21:05 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm baffled. One of the most brilliant musicians ever, possibly HIS most brilliant album, and you are complaining about song order/song titles? Wow. Program your CD or make a custom tape, for goodness' sakes. Rename all the songs if you like. Hey, change the sleeve, too. It's still the same music.

I used to agree about "Poor Boy" for a long time. It was just the one song on that album that bothered me a bit. But eventually I got over it, and now appreciate it's little nudge toward jazz.

― bimble (bimble), Saturday, 24 April 2004 05:36 (twenty-one years ago)

Miller, I was mixed up -- the compilation I was on about was HEAVEN IN A WILD FLOWER, not WAY TO BLUE. That's my excuse.

'Poor Boy' is rubbish, the worst thing on it by a distance. The other weaknesses of the LP, if such they are, remain to be explained.

― the bellefox, Saturday, 24 April 2004 20:18 (twenty-one years ago)

"Poor Boy" is fabulous. Nick completely rips the piss out of his own fragile poet mystique without destroying it.

I was thinking the other day how Side 1 of Bryter Later reminds me of Astral Weeks in its playing and its flow.

― noodle vague (noodle vague), Saturday, 24 April 2004 20:25 (twenty-one years ago)

I think the first time I ever read about 'Bryter Later' it was in reference to 'Astral Weeks'.

― N. (nickdastoor), Saturday, 24 April 2004 20:29 (twenty-one years ago)

I have never heard of HEAVEN IN A WILD FLOWER.

I like this thread. Then again, I approve of knitting.

When I go to Marlborough, I think about Nick Drake. When I go to Ramsbury, I think about Nick Drake. When I go to Aldbourne, I think about Tag. And The Style Council.

― PJ Miller (PJ Miller), Sunday, 25 April 2004 17:40 (twenty-one years ago)

The song itself isn't too bad. THE BACKUP SINGERS ARE!#@$?%!@$*^&#$*@!#$!!!

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Sunday, 25 April 2004 23:16 (twenty-one years ago)

Yes.

― N. (nickdastoor), Sunday, 25 April 2004 23:21 (twenty-one years ago)

pinefox have you heard Pink Moon yet?

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Sunday, 25 April 2004 23:24 (twenty-one years ago)

Skipping 88 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

Sheila Wood (John Wood's wife): "If you're so unhappy Nick, why haven't you killed yourself?"
Nick: "It's too cowardly, and besides, I don't have the courage"

Nick Drake = Yogi Berra SHOCKER

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Sunday, 16 May 2004 23:57 (twenty-one years ago)

one month passes...

Does anyone have Made To Love Magic?

Surprisisingly enough, I do.

― the bellefox, Monday, 28 June 2004 15:34 (twenty-one years ago)

eight months pass...

This was a nice thread, in the springtime of our lives.

― the dreamfox, Wednesday, 16 March 2005 16:21 (twenty years ago)

Are you Fapping tonight, PF?

― Dr. C (Dr. C), Wednesday, 16 March 2005 16:27 (twenty years ago)

five months pass...

I recently bought Five Leaves Left, and I played it for the first time at teatime yesterday. The sun shone outside. Yet I was disappointed by the vaunted record. One or two classics already familiar to me - 'River Man' magnificent, 'Mary Jane''s terrific string melodies; OK. But the rest - too much of it felt too mannered, too melancholy or both.

It all seemed to me a lot less effective than Bryter Later, which seems to me more forceful but also more peaceful; stronger in its dreaming.

Yet I was more dubious about that 2nd LP earlier on, as this thread shows, I dare say; so could I change my mind about 5LL?

― the bellefox, Thursday, 18 August 2005 22:19 (twenty years ago)

Let us kinow how you feel after listening a 2nd time. Or a third. Or a 20th. Playing it only once isn't fair to yourself, the record, or us.

― scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, 18 August 2005 22:30 (twenty years ago)

five months pass...

Crikey, I only just discovered the existence of this bunch:
http://www.scottishmusiccentre.com/db/CART/product_details.php?product_id=4769

― the bellefox, Monday, 13 February 2006 18:14 (nineteen years ago)

Well, foxy, it's 2006. Time for you to buy Pink Moon and listen to it, isn't it?

― Mitya (mitya), Monday, 13 February 2006 18:26 (nineteen years ago)

my Hazey Janes review

― sean gramophone (Sean M), Monday, 13 February 2006 18:54 (nineteen years ago)

Yes, it probably is!

― the bellefox, Monday, 13 February 2006 19:22 (nineteen years ago)

I bought Pink Moon after years with a nice compilation. I still prefer the nice compilation. In the Nick Drake biography someone compares Pink Moon to Robert Johnson, but I think it falls way short of Robert Johnson.

Not that I am a huge Robert Johnson fan nor nuffink, and not that not being like Robert Johnson is necessarily a bad thing. Just that my expectations were raised.

― PJ Miller (PJ Miller 68), Tuesday, 14 February 2006 10:39 (nineteen years ago)

I think the comparison with Robert Johnson was a tenuous one to begin with. They both died at the same age. Right. Nick Drake was never likely to be poisoned by a jealous lover though.

Musically, I guess the comparison is based on starkness.

― Mikey G (Mikey G), Tuesday, 14 February 2006 15:48 (nineteen years ago)

Apparently, they both recorded looking at the wall.

― PJ Miller (PJ Miller 68), Tuesday, 14 February 2006 15:50 (nineteen years ago)

Nick was from the Warwickshire delta.

― Mikey G (Mikey G), Tuesday, 14 February 2006 15:53 (nineteen years ago)

Robert Johnson was from a privileged background, Nick Drake was dirt poor

― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 14 February 2006 15:56 (nineteen years ago)

Robert Johnson went down to the crossroads. Nick Drake sent his sister.

― Mikey G (Mikey G), Tuesday, 14 February 2006 16:00 (nineteen years ago)

I suppose 'Black Eyed Dog' and 'Hellhound On My Trail' aren't entirely dissimilar. Except Robert Johnson's hellhound was like a wolf with blood dripping from its fangs, while Nick Drake probably had, I dunno, a chocolate labrador.

― NickB (NickB), Tuesday, 14 February 2006 16:14 (nineteen years ago)

There hasn't been enough worship of "Northern Sky" in this thread.

*gets down on knees*

― sleeve (sleeve), Wednesday, 15 February 2006 01:39 (nineteen years ago)

"Northern Sky" is beautiful, obv.

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Wednesday, 15 February 2006 02:16 (nineteen years ago)

Nick Drake is the English Jim Morrison

― Dadaismus (Dada), Wednesday, 15 February 2006 10:29 (nineteen years ago)

More Clinton Morrison than Jim.

― Mikey G (Mikey G), Wednesday, 15 February 2006 11:05 (nineteen years ago)

Robert Johnson went down to the crossroads. Nick Drake sent his sister.

Good one!

― Michael Jones (MichaelJ), Wednesday, 15 February 2006 12:54 (nineteen years ago)

surprised PF doesn't have his v own thread, a bit (I searched, in two diff ways)

spent a portion of this evening rediscovering a portion of his back catalogue -- time well spent

― RJG (RJG), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 00:01 (nineteen years ago)

(He does; it dates from 2002, Ally and Mooro are very good on it, I promise CD-Rs to all and sundry [which I never complete] and Robin C calls us "fantasists" and storms off).

― Michael Jones (MichaelJ), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 00:29 (nineteen years ago)

It's true - he lives in the REAL world.

I don't get the crossroads joke. Is it like this one: 'Trinidad and Tobago? No, she went of her own accord'?

― the bellefox, Wednesday, 22 February 2006 14:43 (nineteen years ago)

Gabrielle Drake - big sis of Nick Drake, also Kelly Monteith's TV wife circa 1980 and star of noughties Crozzer revival, if i'm not mistaken.

― darren (darren), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 15:19 (nineteen years ago)

Who is Kelly Monteith?

That name does not look quite real to me.

― the bellefox, Wednesday, 22 February 2006 16:32 (nineteen years ago)

Bloody hell, there were six seasons of The Kelly Monteith Show.

― Michael Jones (MichaelJ), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 22:39 (nineteen years ago)

I can hear the fear in your voice there, Michael. As you know, a programme only has to be mentioned three times for it to come in to be subtitled. Someone made the mistake of pointing out that our new water cooler loked like Metal Mickey the other day.

― PJ Miller (PJ Miller 68), Thursday, 23 February 2006 08:10 (nineteen years ago)

(I have only just "got" the Crossroads joke - very good, very witty.)

― PJ Miller (PJ Miller 68), Thursday, 23 February 2006 08:11 (nineteen years ago)

Hopefully that means you'll just get a Suede live DVD with very sparse "banter".

― Michael Jones (MichaelJ), Thursday, 23 February 2006 11:03 (nineteen years ago)

[thwocking of microphone on buttock]

― PJ Miller (PJ Miller 68), Thursday, 23 February 2006 11:29 (nineteen years ago)

I bought a Suede DVD for Mandee for Xmas a few years ago. It had the most banal commentary track I have ever heard.

― Jerry the Nipper (Jerrynipper), Thursday, 23 February 2006 11:33 (nineteen years ago)

[Shudders]

― PJ Miller (PJ Miller 68), Thursday, 23 February 2006 13:02 (nineteen years ago)

I dunno, I thought they were rather relaxed about it. (Since you could see the commentary as well as hear it.)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 23 February 2006 14:03 (nineteen years ago)

Are the Nick Drake tribute gigs still going? I went to one at Spitz once and made friends with several strange people. There was a big organised one at the Barbican a few years back. Less intimate, but still good.

I never tire of those Nick Drake albums.

― Mikey G (Mikey G), Thursday, 23 February 2006 16:38 (nineteen years ago)

two months pass...

Mitya said above that it might be time for me to buy Pink Moon. And I think he / she might be right! I have been considering buying it, today. Who thinks I should buy it, and report back, or that I should not?

I am a bit puzzled by the PM sleeve, by the way - every opy I have found seems to feature a cardboard sleeve with a mildly ageing N.D. on it. On the back of that is a picture of a psychedelic sort of sleeve. Is that what is on the inside?

I am trying to remember what Steady Mike's PM CD is like - I think it might be pink. That is surely how it should be.

― the bellefox, Wednesday, 3 May 2006 14:43 (nineteen years ago)

opy = copy

PM = Pink Moon

N.D. = Nick Drake

― the bellefox, Wednesday, 3 May 2006 14:43 (nineteen years ago)

original pink moon cov:

http://www.dustygroove.com/images/products/d/drake_nick~_pinkmoon1_101b.jpg

― Ward Fowler (Ward Fowler), Wednesday, 3 May 2006 14:47 (nineteen years ago)

Yes - is that still to be found, underneath the cardboard one?

Also: how come it is no longer possible to post on ILE, but I can still post here? It seems unfair.

― the bellefox, Wednesday, 3 May 2006 14:48 (nineteen years ago)

cardboard sleeve that now houses the original cover:

http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B000025XKM.02.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

i believe ILE is currently registered users only

― Ward Fowler (Ward Fowler), Wednesday, 3 May 2006 14:49 (nineteen years ago)

You are being very informative, Ward Fowler, which is often more than I can say about some people - thanks. It is as I suspected, anyway.

re. ilx, I still don't see why that has happened since last night.

― the bellefox, Wednesday, 3 May 2006 14:57 (nineteen years ago)

PF, this might explain a little more: MODERATOR ANNOUNCEMENT: ILE to accept posts from registered users only

Briefly, it's because the boards are being plagued with unwanted advertisements and it's taking an unsustainable amount of the moderators' time hunting these ads down and deleting them.

I'm afraid I don't have anything to add on the Drake issue.

― Tim (Tim), Wednesday, 3 May 2006 15:05 (nineteen years ago)

Of course you should buy it - don't shilly shally! After umpteen years, I'm slowly coming round to that original dark-side-of-the-pink-moon cover and wish they'd ban that horrible lazy surrogate. Makes him look like a whoopsie.

― NickB (NickB), Wednesday, 3 May 2006 15:11 (nineteen years ago)

Island did a similar re-bodge on the Solid Air sleeve too didn't they? Make it more palatable for young seven-ohs-phobes, I s'pose.

― NickB (NickB), Wednesday, 3 May 2006 15:14 (nineteen years ago)

pf, i'd prefer you buying it and reporting back to buying or not buying and not reporting back.

btw i am quite surprised that you haven't got it yet. and i'd be curious to know which other cds could be in front of pm on your wishlist. maybe not. i can't imagine any.

― alex in mainhattan (alex63), Wednesday, 3 May 2006 15:19 (nineteen years ago)

Maybe I should try to imagine them!!

"seven-ohs" = 1970s?

It is odd to think that though the 1970s are maybe still cool to some people, that kind of art is still not.

I have looked again at the old cover and I'm afraid I don't think I like it.

OK, then, maybe I will buy it!

TH, thanks for the link.

― the bellefox, Wednesday, 3 May 2006 15:23 (nineteen years ago)

my wife bought this album last year and it's not left the CD carousel yet. certain instrumental tracks remind me of the Radio 2 Music Nights my parents used to listen to with the BBC Radio Orchestras. Conducted by Norrie Paramour. does this mean I'm now my dad?

― dr x o'skeleton, Wednesday, 3 May 2006 15:23 (nineteen years ago)

two years pass...

she's back again in my mind

― the pinefox, Monday, 20 April 2009 10:25 (sixteen years ago)

Hazey Jane II is one of my all time favourite songs. I love the ridiculously long verse phrasing.

― the next grozart, Monday, 20 April 2009 11:37 (sixteen years ago)

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