Somber singer/songwriter, Nick Drake seemed to capture the essence of autumn with some sweeping breeze of poetic prose, a haunting acoustic guitar and some Baroque orchestral arrangements. In his short lifetime, Drake only managed to release three albums, including Five Leaves Left, Bryter Later and Pink Moon; none of the albums sold more than 5,000 copies on their initial release. Often compared as a melancholy Donovan or a more folky Van Morrison, Drake failed to garner praise from fans and critics alike in his time. Troubled by depression and an unwillingness to play live, Drake truly embodied the spirit of the romantic poets like Blake and Yeats, which he studied briefly at the University of Cambridge. Drake was definitely an artists' artist, an old wise soul that left us way too early, at the tender age of 26. In 2000, an ever so popular Volkswagen commercial featuring, a sweet strumming of a reflective light in "Pink Moon," brought the legend to the masses. Other seductive songs like "Northern Sky" and "One of These Things First" were featured in films like Serependity and Garden State showcasing the man's power to transcend time with grace; these songs somehow sounded more fresh and livelier than ever, as if they were written only a few months before. Fall is upon us my friends and I feel Drake's voice still echoing in the leaves.
He's simply the most tragic figure in music history, in my opinion. He wouldn't be so much if his music wasn't so stunningly gorgeous.
Here's an NPR interview you may like with his producer, Joe Boyd, from a couple years ago. It gives wonderful insight into Nick Drake:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=15960616
Posted by: John Brunner | 10/02/2009 at 12:18 PM