Pink Moon

Nick Drake - Pink Moon

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TRACKS:

Track Listing
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1. Free Ride (3:06)
2. From The Morning (2:30)
3. Harvest Breed (1:37)
4. Horn (1:23)
5. Know (2:25)
6. Parasite (3:36)
7. Pink Moon (2:05)
8. Place To Be (2:43)
9. Road (2:02)
10. Things Behind The Sun (3:57)
11. Which Will (2:58)

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I came upon Nick Drake probably in a bit different way from most people--I'd heard his name forever, but hadn't heard anything that moved me to go out and check out a record. But then I became an afficiando of Joe Boyd, that peerless producer who discovered or was instrumental in the careers of Pink Floyd, Richard Thompson, Fairport Convention, Sandy Denny, Vashti Bunyan--you could literally go on and on.  Drake in particular became of interest to me because the musicians Boyd gathered to back Drake on his first two albums were mostly from the Fairport Convention crowd (one of my favorite all time bands), most notably Richard Thompson, whom I consider to be one of the greatest guitar players of all time. In Boyd's autobiography, he tells the story of Richard Thompson, widely also at that time in the late 60's considered one of the greatest guitar players, spent weeks trying to recreate what Nick had done with his guitar playing on a particular tune. It drove Thompson crazy that he couldn't figure out how Drake had gotten that particular tuning, and he spent two weeks obsessively figuring out. What Boyd makes clear in his book is that Drake was one of the greatest guitar players of all time, a point that is always overlooked when anyone talks about Drake. But just listen to any of his tunes and try to focus in on the guitar, and you'll see the absolute genius he demonstrates in making it sound effortless, the way he weaves the most complicated guitar lines through the rest of the music like a net that gives the songs their structure. Boyd tells the Richard Thompson story specifically to demonstrate for those who might not have gotten it that he considered Drake one of the greatest guitar players he ever met, and he gives specific examples in the book of many musicians who were very jealous of Drake's seemingly effortless guitar genius, and resented him for it (not Thompson, he was an enormous admirer). In fact, one of my most cherished covers is Thompson covering Drake's "Time Has Told Me."

That's the background on Drake. This album, one of only three he released commercially in his lifetime, was to be his final. I've never seen the Volkswagon commercial which featured "Pink Moon," and I suppose I should just feel grateful that it turned alot of people onto his absolute genius. But I personally find it extremely puzzling how Pink Moon, which begins with the following lyrics: ""I saw it written and I saw it say/ Pink moon is on its way / And none of you stand so tall / Pink moon gonna get ye all." How that serves to sell cars, rather than serve notice to every mortal being that death comes for all, I guess those advertising types must have some insight I don't!

What's so different about Pink Moon compared to Drake's other works, again according to Boyd's fantastic autobiography, is that Drake had resisted having any orchestration added to his previous albums, and finally compromised and had his college friend whom he had been working with before turning pro create orchestrations that worked with his music. I have to, with all due respect, disagree with Nick posthumously on this: Five Leaves Left and Bryter Layter would not be the gorgeous landscapes of albums that they are without that orchestration. HOWEVER, Drake was equally correct, as he shows on Pink Moon: his music here--just Drake and his guitar, presents a completely different side to what Drake was capable of doing: haunting, quiet, gorgeous music that requires not a single other thing--Drake had finally recorded the album he wanted. Boyd in all fairness (and Boyd is nothing if not completely fair) says that long after his death, Drake proved Boyd wrong: his most popular and enduring work proves to be the one Drake wanted to make all along, with nothing but him and his guitar.

Drake is the kind of artist, like Elliott Smith or say Elvis Costello on his quieter outings, that demands of the user repeated listenings. At first, you'll just hear a gorgeous voice and guitar, and think, that's nice. But especially like with Smith, repeated listenings bring huge rewards: once you finally have heard enough times the song structure, you start hearing the whole picture: the lyrics with the guitar and the voice, and you start hearing what the songs are saying, what this most quiet of artists was practically screaming out in his silent anguish. But that makes the album sound like it's depressing, which for this listener it is anything but. Like Smith, Drake might not have been the happiest camper around, but his refuge was his music, where he found and created the beauty he couldn't apparently find in the world. So his music is a refuge of beauty, with quiet stories that unfold to reveal profound observations, all set amidst the most melodic of voices and music--you're surrounded by a very particular beauty. My advice would be to put this one on in the background alot, start getting the big picture, THEN sit down with your best audiophile equipment and listen carefully. You'll be amazed at the way the man weaves his guitar in and out of the melodies as if he was stringing a needle with thread, just managing to catch, and then let go of, a golden note, followed by yet another.

Obviously, I could go on and on about this album, it being so unique in the history of folk/rock music, and being Drake's most popular album, the one that has kept his reputation only growing more and more through the years as people finally discover what the big deal about Nick Drake is--he was a total original. On a sad final note, one of the reasons Drake was in such despair towards the end of his short life, according to Boyd, was he was incredibly frustrated that Boyd kept telling he thought he was one of the greatest geniuses of his generation, and if that was so, why wasn't he having any commercial success? Boyd couldn't answer that one for him as he was trying everything he could to get the world out about Drake, but about that time Boyd got recalled from England to work for another label in America, which was apparently
a blow to Drake as he was very close to Boyd. Shortly after that, Drake died, and to this day it's impossible to say whether it was deliberate or an accidental overdose of anti-depressants--the jury is completely out on that one. But as with Elliott Smith, although we lost Drake much much too young, at least he left behind him a legacy of brilliant music that defies category: it simply is Nick Drake music.
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All Music Guide Review by Ned Raggett 5* of 5*