Nick Drake

The second album from Nick Drake came in 1970, and while not quite as melancholy as his debut, Five Leaves Left, there are certain brooding qualities that continued to propagate the Nick Drake mystique. Horns, flute, and strings arrangements lift such songs as "At the Chime of a City Clock" and "Hazy Jane I" and "II" out of the realm of sad, folk-guitar music into something jazzier and lighter, while the beautiful piano and simple guitar of "One of These Things First" laments what could have been without sounding like a song of despair. But two tracks featuring John Cale on various instruments (such as viola and harpsichord) have the dark fragility of "Pink Moon": The lovely "Fly" is a fragile apparition, and "Northern Sky" is a dreamy, brooding plea for long-lasting love. Definitely not the same mood music as his starker work, but still a fine showcase for Nick Drake. Musician include:: Richard Thompson, guitar; Dave Pegg, bass; Dave Mattacks, drums; John Cale, keyboards and viola; Ray Warleigh, viola and flute; Pat Arnold and Doris Troy, vocals It was remastered by John Wood at Abbey Road studios from the original 40 year old analogue master tapes.

Track List

1. Introduction
2. Hazey Jane II
3. At the Chime of a City Clock
4. One of These Things First
5. Hazey Jane I
6. Bryter Layter
7. Fly
8. Poor Boy
9. Northern Sky
10. Sunday

This first studio album from Nick Drake, which has garnered posthumous praise and remarkable all-time greatest album ratings, is an exact replica of the original 1969 release: it is pressed on heavyweight audiophile vinyl and remastered from near-original master tapes by the album's original engineer, John Wood. The original tape was unusable and although there were tape copies the best source was using a 24bit digital file made from the original tape when re-mastered for CD some 12 years ago. Nick Drake's bucolic autumnal shades in his debut album of a similar name, heralded a new signing for Island Records: not traditional enough to be folk, not weird enough to be psychedelic, Drake avoided the pitfalls of what was expected and collaborated with producer Joe Boyd, orchestrator Robert Kirby and recording engineer John Wood to make a singular and almost unique record released to a largely indifferent media. A few leaves fell in the right place and Nick's reputation grew, despite his early death at 24 in 1976, escalating into his world-wide fame of today. Poverty stricken students of 1968 rolled their own - not for them the cigarette temptations of a pack of 10 cigarettes, no, their tobacco thrills came hand rolled, usually in Rizla papers which kindly reminded the participant that they were about to run out, with a yellow interleaf paper with bold red type stating Only Five Leaves Left.

Track List

1. Time Has Told Me
2. River Man
3. Three Hours
4. Way to Blue
5. Day Is Done
6. Cello Song
7. Thoughts of Mary Jane
8. Man in a Shed
9. Fruit Tree
10. Saturday Sun

Heavyweight 180gm virgin vinyl LP repressing of this 1972 album. Nick Drake's third and final album, many consider to be his finest moment, was a radical departure from his previous work, stripped of the lush orchestral arrangements, Pink Moon featured Drake alone on vocals, acoustic guitar and the occasional piano accompaniment. This starkness was matched in brevity, with Pink Moon consisting of 11 short songs coming to less than half-an-hour of music. Though critically well received at the time, commercial success did not arrive till nearly 30 years later, when 30 seconds of 'Pink Moon' was used in a Volkswagen commercial.

Track List

1. Pink Moon
2. Place to Be
3. Road
4. Which Will
5. Horn
6. Things Behind the Sun
7. Know
8. Parasite
9. Free Ride
10. Harvest Breed
11. From the Morning