Vinyl Vault

British folk singer Nick Drake released three albums in a four-year span from 1969-1972, all of which were overlooked by the public. He died of an overdose at the age of 26 two years later. Rediscovered by indie musicians in the 80’s and then resurrected by, of all things, a Volkswagen commercial in recent years, Drake now owns a popularity he never even approached while living. Today we survey two of those albums, his 1969 debut, Five Leaves Left, and his last album, 1972’s Pink Moon, in song-by-song fashion.

Five Leaves Left (1969, Island Records)

Side A

  A1. ““Time Has Told Me”
Considering he was all of 20 years old at the time of this first album, Drake’s sober wisdom in reassuring a fellow lost soul on this song is nothing short of remarkable. Fun fact: that’s Richard Thompson adding the humble spritzes of electric guitar on this track.

  A2. “River Man”
The strings start out subtle here and add a nice touch of melancholy, but they get a bit overbearing toward the end. Drake’s somber tale doesn’t need much adornment to make its point.

  A3. “Three Hours”
The ambitious structure and frenzied acoustic picking overwhelms Drake’s vague yet affecting characters, all of whom are on the run in their own way.

  A4. “Way to Blue”
Drake is backed only by a string quartet here, and it is a mesmerizing effect. So many of the people he describes are searching, but the wry tone in the singer’s voice seems to suggest that finding their destination only prolongs the journey.

  A5. “Day is Done”
Exquisite strings and an insinuating guitar riff similar to Jim Croce’s “Time In A Bottle” accentuate Drake’s warnings about time’s inexorable march and how it sneaks up on everyone. The important things, “lost much sooner than you would have thought,” need to be protected, but Drake doesn’t sound confident that it can be done.

Side B

  B1. “’Cello Song”
Again, I’m not sure that the clichéd folk tropes of hyper-speed acoustic picking and bongo-playing quite mesh with the songwriter’s style. But the lovely lyrics compensate, as Drake urges someone to take flight from the bonds of the world, even if that means he gets left behind: “While the earth/Sinks to its grave/You sail to the sky/On the crest of the wave.”

  B2. “The Thoughts of Mary Jane”
That flute is just a tad too precious for me. Otherwise I’ve got no beef with this song, as Drake draws a character sketch of a girl whose wandering nature resists all efforts to be known.

  B3. “Man in a Shed”
The jaunty bass and sprightly piano fill out this perfectly realized effort. Drake sings about a lonely soul in a shed and a reticent girl in a house, filling in the details before admitting in the final verse that “The man is me and the girl is you.” He ends on a hopeful note, imploring the girl to join his lonely world.

  B4. “Fruit Tree”
Haunting imagery saunters about the guitar arpeggios here. A line like “You’ll find the darkness gives the brightest light” hits almost too close to home considering Drake’s troubled life. Even more prophetic is Drake’s line about the metaphorical tree of the title: “They’ll all know you were here/When you are gone.”

  B5. “Saturday Sun”
Gospel piano chords appear at the start and are the perfect touch for this album closer. It’s also fitting that the sun is the star of this song, since the elements and their unswerving power are used throughout the album as counterpoints to human frailties. In this case, the sun brings little comfort, only uncertainty: “No one knew what to do.” Drake summons up all of his straight-faced sadness on this wonderful track, a lament for missed opportunities and time gone by never to return. .

Go to Page 2 for a review of Pink Moon >>

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