Relative to how I am feeling recently, had to be Nick Drake or Elliott Smith today, and Nick had the lesser discography, so let's go that way..... DO NOT expect the usual BigScott Rock-o-Rama on this one, this is kind of eerie, kind of chilling, kind of cold........ you'll love it or you'll hate it. Wait till I get to Elliott's stuff, I have a mountain of it...... Nick only released three albums in his short life, let's examine them a bit......Drake, like myself, suffered with clinical/manic depression his entire life, which often comes through in his music, as we will see......his debut (from 1969), "Five Leaves Left", is quite a good one, actually, should you be up for such.....Drake enlists help from several top notch musicians, Richard Thompson and Tristan Fry, to name a couple.....this is a melancholy, disturbing effort from a man who OBVIOUSLY suffered from sever depression (If you never have you are fortunate and wouldn't understand).....this, however, is a fine disc, I listen to Drake (and Smith) now and then, just so I can remember that there are people out there who feel like I do. "Time has Told Me" and "Fruit Tree" stand out, but I give this a solid 4-star rating.
Nothing, of course, could have prepared us for "Pink Moon".....a chilling album to be certain, Drake uses NO backing musicians.....merely his voice (rarely), his guitar, and some piano......opinions differ on this album, I think it's an ingenious masterpiece, on the level of Elliott Smith's "From a Basement On a Hill")....the ultimate statement of a mind in pain, a life in pain......I hate that VW utilized the title track in an advertising campaign, but what am I to do about it? Anyway, this is MY fave of the three albums he released in his lifetime, chills me to the bone each time.
Nick Drake apparently over-dosed on anti-depressants in 1974........his tortured life came to a merciful end.He left us a trio of albums that we can listen to and try to figure out the puzzle that he was, I guess......if you have never heard these albums, please check them and maybe you can understand, somewhat, what clinical/manic depression feels like.....I know for sure.
"Made to Love Magic" is a posthumous collection of tracks, most of them quite enjoyable for what they are.....I do NOT happen to have "Fruit Tree", a fine collection of outtakes and the like, I'm SURE one of the minions will be able to supply this one though.
Nick Drake......a sad, torture life, makes me sad that he was so tortured....perhaps, were he alive today, various medications could have "got him right", as they sort of have me......RIP Nick. Love you!
Whoops also found "Time of No Reply", another posthumous release, of course I'll add it on!
WARNING: Some FLAC files here, make the neccessary adjustments!
FIVE LEAVES LEFT-01 Time has Told Me/02 River man/03 Three Hours/04 Way To Blue/05 Day Is Done/06 Cello Song/07 The Thoughts of Mary Jane/08 Man in a Shed/09 Fruit Tree/10 Saturday Sun
BRYTER LATER-01 Intoduction/02 Hazy jane II/03 At the Chime of a City Clock/04 One of These Things First/05 Hazy Jane I/06 Bryter Later/07 Fly/08 Poor Boy/09 Northern Sky/10 Sunday
PINK MOON-01 Pink Moon/02 Place To Be/03 Road/04 Which Will/05 Horn/06 Things Behind the Sun/07 Know/ 08 Parasite/09 Free Ride/10 Harvest Breed/ 11 From the Morning
MADE TO LOVE MAGIC-01 Rider on the Wheel/02 magic/03 River man/04 Joey/05 Thoughts of mary Jane/06 Mayfair/07 Hanging on a Star/08 Three Hours/09 Clothes of Sand/10 Voices/11 Time of No Reply/12 Black Eyed Dog/13 Tow the Line
TIME OF NO REPLY-01 Time of No Reply/02 I Was Made to Love Magic/03 Joey/04 Clothes of Sand/05 Man in a Shed/06 Mayfair/07 Fly/08 Thoughts of Mary Jane/09 Been Smoking Too Long/10 Strange Meeting II/11 Rider On the Wheel/12 Black Eyed Dog/13 Hanging On a Star/14 Voice From the Mountain
FIVE LEAVES PART 1
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FIVE LEAVES PART 2
http://www118.zippyshare.com/v/U0lQdeaG/file.html
BRYTER part 1
http://www84.zippyshare.com/v/SdheBiCP/file.html
BRYTER 1
http://www60.zippyshare.com/v/dzwpqORo/file.html
Bryter 2
http://www110.zippyshare.com/v/Qpu10YzQ/file.html
PINK
http://www35.zippyshare.com/v/3uGCFCiW/file.html
WAS MADE
http://www13.zippyshare.com/v/MOHgMc8h/file.html
TIME OF
http://www55.zippyshare.com/v/rSwpsI0S/file.html
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ReplyDeleteStayed away from Nick Drake for a long time, even though I love Richard Thompson and most of the associated British folk rock bands, but once I tried it I was floored. Mesmerizing stuff. And I'm glad that the meds have helped you - I work with a lot of people who deal with depression and other mental health issues and I shudder to think about their lives if they didn't have the medical assistance.
ReplyDeleteHere is the 33 1/3 book on "Pink Moon" It talks about his life, his unsuccessful music career, and the album itself. It also (IMHO) goes into WAY too much detail about the VW commercial, but the arguments for and against it are somewhat engaging, and the people who made the ad did raise awareness of Drake and his music.
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I absolutely adore Nick Drake and his beautiful haunting melodies, I’ve been hunting to find someone contemporary who’s similar so I can actually go to his gigs, I just read in Mojo magazine about James McArthur, they compare his stuff to Pink Moon so I downloaded the album and I love it, its mesmerising. His new album is called Burnt Moth and I totally recommend checking it out, you can have a listen on his website http://jamesmcarthurmusic.co.uk/#moth
ReplyDeleteHey guys, if you like Nick Drake you may like my stuff. 'A Cross between Nick Drake and early Dylan' as one reviewer put it. You can get a free song here: www.robmarenghi.com Best regards, Rob
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