With even more of the Fairport Convention crew helping him out -- including bassist Dave Pegg and drummer Dave Mattacks along with, again, a bit of help from Richard Thompson -- as well as John Cale and a variety of others, Drake tackled another excellent selection of songs on his second album. Demonstrating the abilities shown on Five Leaves Left didn't consist of a fluke, Bryter Layter featured another set of exquisitely arranged and performed tunes, with producer Joe Boyd and orchestrator Robert Kirby reprising their roles from the earlier release. Starting with the elegant instrumental "Introduction," as lovely a mood-setting piece as one would want, Bryter Layter indulges in a more playful sound at many points, showing that Drake was far from being a constant king of depression. While his performances remain generally low-key and his voice quietly passionate, the arrangements and surrounding musicians add a considerable amount of pep, as on the jazzy groove of the lengthy "Poor Boy." The argument could be made that this contravenes the spirit of Drake's work, but it feels more like a calmer equivalent to the genre-sliding experiments of Van Morrison at around the same time. Numbers that retain a softer approach, like "At the Chime of a City Clock," still possess a gentle drive to them. Cale's additions unsurprisingly favor the classically trained side of his personality, with particularly brilliant results on "Northern Sky." As his performances on keyboards and celeste help set the atmosphere, Drake reaches for a perfectly artful reflection on loss and loneliness and succeeds wonderfully.
I often tell people who ask me to recommend music to them to look to artists older than my father, who will be 61 in late June. There are always exceptions, but the date has generally worked. Nearly all of the artists that I listen to, or intend to brush up on at a future date, are older than my father or would be had they lived. Right under the wire, a few days before my father's birth in anyt...
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A few weeks ago my friend Gorm was visiting and spotted a couple of Nick Drake documentary DVDs on my shelf. I had been saving them for special occasions because I knew they would be emotionally challenging to watch and I would want to write about them (as this review bears witness to), and at the same time I hadn't really wanted to watch them for fear of disappointment - the usual syndrome tha...
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This is my favorite Drake album, because it's also his most far out. Hazy Jane II strikes a mood that was burned into my consciousness when I first discovered him through the Way to Blue collection, when I was a yearlong expatriate living in Holland, eating herring and drinking a lot of coffie.I guess you have to say that Drake's sound is sullen and very much in its own tragic world, a sorrowfu...
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Howdy, trying to persuade my dad that Nick Drake is worth listening to, so agreed to make a playlist of his best stuff. any suggestions would be very much appreciated. I have Five Leaves Left, Bryter Layter and Pink Moon... He does like John Martyn, if thats any help, thanks
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And finally the long Summer and never ending Indian portion of the warm season has been chased away by the cold, windy witches of "Samhain":http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samhain returning to us the dark half of the sky and all of the winter stars so visible in the crisp sunset. These days are short and fleeting, in years to come they will only exist in memories...
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First things first. i just watched the most touching documentary called Nick Drake:Under Review. You could call me a Nick Drake devotee, but I think that the many people who admire his music tend to be freakishly devoted to both his music and memory. As for me, I can't bear to ever turn off a Nick Drake song before it ends. It just feels wrong somehow. I know, I know. But now for news...Keith ...
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I often tell people who ask me to recommend music to them to look to artists older than my father, who will be 61 in late June. There are always exceptions, but the date has generally worked. Nearly all of the artists that I listen to, or intend to brush up on at a future date, are older than my father or would be had they lived. Right under the wire, a few days before my father's birth in anyt...
More >
Okay, let's try this again, it went really well last time. You know the drill: I post a photo and you help me build a mix around that photo. I got this photo from a magnificent online collection of found photographs called Square America.I'll get us started with a song. My pick is Nick Drake's 'Fly' (from Time of No Reply).
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A few weeks ago my friend Gorm was visiting and spotted a couple of Nick Drake documentary DVDs on my shelf. I had been saving them for special occasions because I knew they would be emotionally challenging to watch and I would want to write about them (as this review bears witness to), and at the same time I hadn't really wanted to watch them for fear of disappointment - the usual syndrome tha...
More >
I'm going to do something that I haven't done in a long time - an Artist Evolution Feature. The artist that I'm choosing for this is the late Nick Drake, one of my absolute favorite musicians of all time, and one whom I hold in especially high regard. Drake first captured my attention when I listened to the Garden State soundtrack when that was released. At first, I didn't really pay much a...
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I've just returned from a trip to Baguio, a city in nothern Luzon. To be honest, the trip itself was mediocre. Not to mention, exhausting. (Being stuck in a car from 11:00 in the evening, to 5:00 in morning the next day, is not nice.)Despite that, the trip did was it was supposed to do: It dis-placed me. And god knows "me" has been a difficult and trying place to be in.So, yeah. Even if Baguio ...
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Howdy, trying to persuade my dad that Nick Drake is worth listening to, so agreed to make a playlist of his best stuff. any suggestions would be very much appreciated. I have Five Leaves Left, Bryter Layter and Pink Moon... He does like John Martyn, if thats any help, thanks
More >
This is my favorite Drake album, because it's also his most far out. Hazy Jane II strikes a mood that was burned into my consciousness when I first discovered him through the Way to Blue collection, when I was a yearlong expatriate living in Holland, eating herring and drinking a lot of coffie.I guess you have to say that Drake's sound is sullen and very much in its own tragic world, a sorrowfu...
More >
| Title | Lyrics | Buy |
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| 1 Introduction |
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| 2 Hazey Jane II |
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| 3 At the Chime of a City Clock |
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| 4 One of These Things First |
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| 5 Hazey Jane I |
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| 6 Bryter Layter |
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| 7 Fly |
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| 8 Poor Boy |
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| 9 Northern Sky |
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| 10 Sunday |
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Click to purchase…
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 "Bryter Layter")
