Nick Drake - Pink Moon
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Free Music Notes for Pink Moon
Free Music Review: Let's get one thing straight about this record.
Hit: 5 Stars
Its average -- heh, virtually unanimous -- rating of five here probably has something to do with this: Nick Drake died, not certainly but quite likely a suicide, about two years after its release, and in retrospect this sounds like his suicide note, whether it was or not. It also has something to do with a car commercial that came out about 26 years too late to help Nick.And none of us should be ashamed of this.
The facts of an artist's life are an inextricable part of his work. We've known this, cherished it in fact, since the first artist put a voice into music, or drew pictures and made gestures that expressed thoughts without words. Nick Drake was one depressed dude at the end. Either he killed himself deliberately or the drugs that did it -- and they were antidepressants -- were powerful enough to do it by accident.
I got "Pink Moon" about five days ago and have played it about 35 times. The title track and the final one ("From the Morning") move me about as much as anything I've heard. Everything in between establishes a mood that could be interpreted as heavily flavored by sadness, if not dominated by depression. Even "Morning," a song of hope and uplift if ever was, is tinted by the small, haunting ache that attends the knowledge of death as an inevitable part of life. And the death that's on our minds is, unavoidably, Nick Drake's. It matters not why and how he died; it was too soon, this was his last record before it happened, and it colors -- unavoidably and rightly -- what we hear. When one knows how an artist's pain worked itself out in the artist's own life, it has an inevitable impact on how one receives the record.
I join the people who thank Volkswagen for this record. I never saw the VW ad; I don't watch TV enough to do that. But I sure read enough about it here; and I only recently found that the wonderful lavish sounds I'd been hearing as sign-on music back in the early-mid '70s on good ol' WMAL-FM were Nick's own "Bryter Later." So I can claim to be one of the fogies who Knew Him (sorta) When. But only the one piece. That and the VW ad -- what's all this about a damn ad? -- prompted one of my best album purchases ever. I'm torn -- just run back to the store where they have his other two studio releases, nine-ninety-nine the pop? Or spring for "Fruit Tree"?
Drake's first two albums are lusher, more lavish, more produced, more, well, what? optimistic. Then this one. Nick, his guitar, and a smattering of overdubbed but perfect piano. It would be interesting to have heard "Pink Moon" AFTER his first two records, instead of hearing it first. The contrast between those discs and this one is startling enough as it is. If you want to hear folk guitar played about as well as it can be, accompanied by a voice that, light and almost airy as it is, seems to triple the weight of the lyrics, Do not pass Go. Head straight to this record. If you don?t have ?Pink Moon? yet, and kind of wish there wasn?t quite so much production on those two lovely Drake discs you do have, pick this one up. ?Cause the production is, well, not. I think it?s wonderful that we got to hear not only as much of Nick Drake as we did, but as many different sides. I wouldn?t want the first two records without the overdubbed strings and keyboards. This one, likewise, is perfect, just as is. Stark, painful, full of despair and full also of hope and appreciation for the beauty the artist saw in the world. It?s just as in the first two records, but expressed differently and just as spot-on beautifully.
Don?t feel bad that you first heard about Nick Drake from a car salesman. Carlos Santana was right: It?s getting it, not how, that counts. You have the music now, is what matters. The world is beautiful and it's OK. Play "Pink Moon" again, and again. That's Nick, telling you so.
Free Music Review: Final Album From A Tragic Genius.
Hit: 5 Stars
Somehow I've come across Nick's music, it's an exquisite blend of folk and soft-jazz. The story behind Nick's music and his life is tragic yet what he left behind is amazing, three studio albums and about four songs to start off a new album to be started before he died of a drug overdose.
This album is by far his most melancholic, the most sparse record I have ever listened to, just Nick's vocals and acoustic guitar plus a minimal piano overdub on the title track. The sparseness may be attributed to some people as making this album less accessible than his sophomore effort, but in my opinion it shows perfectly Nick's state of mind in his last years, depressed and distant.
The title track starts the album off, it has the most instrumentation and sounds the most mainstream on such an underground album, this song is a quaint song that explores the deep register of his voice. This song is commonly known because it was used in a Volkswagen commercial in 2000.
"Place To Be" continues in the same vein as the previous song, the lyrics illustrate longing and regret, very confessional, keeping in style with the album on the whole.
"Road" makes use of Nick's superb mastery of the finger-picking technique on the guitar, it sounds very intricate and masterful. "Which Will" is again, great but it has something extra, Nick's voice seem to have a lot of hope in them and aren't full of regret and darkness. It's a beautiful song.
"Horn" is a great instrumental that shows off the musicianship of Nick. It leads well into the next track, "Things Behind The Sun" which is strummed in a great minor key and has an awful lot of melancholy shrouding it.
"Know" is the most simple track on the album, built around a four note guitar ostinato it proves that you don't need a Phil Spector treatment to stisfy your target listener. "Parasite" is written undoubtedly from how Nick saw himself, as worthless and a burden. It's a chillingly realistic track that unnerved me deeply.
"Free Ride" has some nice harmonics and use of keys, the song is quite unpredictable, but Nick keeps the song flowing well. "Harvest Breed" sounds like it's in a slightly lower key than "Free Ride", it may be short, but then so is the album at only slightly over 28 minutes. "From The Morning" is a beautiful way to end the album and is considered to be one of his best songs, one of the lyrics adorns the back of his headstone at his resting place in his hometown's cemetery.
Overall, "Pink Moon" may be short but it still is a lovely album, many people consider it too depressing to listen to because they think it emphasises too much on melancholy, well what kind of album do you expect a clinically depressed musician to make?? However, I believe there is hope in a lot of the songs, showing glimpses of Nick fighting the horrible depression that plagued him until his death. Simply an exquisite album.
Free Music Review: Grey & Beautiful
Hit: 5 Stars
This was Nick Drake's last completed album, and it is indeed hard to not, in some sense, imagine the singer-songwriter's presence through the atmosphere of the lyrics and the minimalistic sound, especially if one feels a personal connection to his music, as I do. Yet, as is often the case when I review the work of talented but somehow troubled artists, I believe what should first and foremost receive spotlight is that what the artist left us stands as something worthy of memory on its own, irregardless of whether one cares to draw parallells between this work and the life of the artist. There's no doubt that PINK MOON reflects something very personal about Nick; possibly more than before, it seems that his music functioned as an outlet to him. The astonishing thing is that whatever the singer himself had in mind as he recorded the album, the music that resulted from the two-day session can also reach the listener on a deeply personal, almost private level. This is possibly why some find it difficult to listen through in its entirety, but also why it is so brutally beautiful.
To me, PINK MOON makes my view of the atmosphere, of all the things I see, lightly grey. We have no idea whether it is light or dark that surrounds us, and as long as the album is running, there is really no need for us to know. There are definite hints of light that enter once in a while, but we never actually confront them; when I first listened to the opening track, "Pink Moon," it had a most relaxing effect on me. As I gradually paid more attention to the lyrics, however, I realized that I'd been tricked; "it's gonna get ye all." Yet I didn't feel tricked, just bewildered. This bewilderment follows me pretty much throughout the album, as Nick's often very emotionally challenging lyrics are accompanied by sometimes soft, other times hard-picking guitar playing:
"Changing the rope for a size too small
People all get hung
Take a look you may see me coming through
For I am a parasite who travels two by two..."
It does hurt, but what hurts can sometimes also relieve.
I'll admit I rarely listen through the entire PINK MOON, compared to Nick Drake's other two albums, which I listen through fairly often. There are three or four songs here which I play regularly, the rest is saved for grey days. To people curious about Nick Drake, I'd recommend the `Best Of'-compilations WAY TO BLUE or A TREASURY; when his music has begun to grow on you and you want more (there's barely any chance you wouldn't want more), PINK MOON may be best after FIVE LEAVES LEFT and BRYTER LAYTER. I'm sure others will advise you differently, but this is based on my personal experience. PINK MOON is a beautiful final chapter to the all too brief career of a beautiful poet and musician, but while the surface may be easy to chew, some of it can be hard to swallow; and if you know Nick Drake, you know that isn't meant to be an insult.
Free Music Review: It's a Pink Moon...
Hit: 5 Stars
The most contradictory and intriguing feature of "Pink Moon" is the way it's almost so unbarable you can hardly listen to it, and yet so beautiful that you can't find it in yourself to turn your head. Nick Drake perfectly captured those nights that seem uncapable to go on any longer while it never occures to you to go to sleep. Every lonesome strum of the guitar and hazy moan of his voice is the feeling of being overpowerred by the dark opposing forces he feels unable to rise against. His lyrics constantly refer to the moon and the stars and dark nights. To those who have felt these same feelings, gazing into the large powerfull night know that Nick Drake isn't faking it, it's just too honest a feeling; too melancolly and too real. While the album might not seem dark or drenched in despair on first listen, underlying the surface there's so much of it that when it hits, you feel the effects and it leaves it's mark on your spirit. Since his death in the early 70s, people have often portrayed his career as "cut short" or ending to early, as if Nick Drake had so much more that he intended to show us and by accident was unable to. In fact, Nick Drake said that he simply had nothing more to record. And with 3 perfect albums defining himself as an artist whose soul and bare emotion is beyond imitation, why would he? There's a beginning, a middle, and "Pink Moon" as the ending to the story of Nick Drake, the legendary folk artist who wrote utterly beautifull music that simply could not be played in a standard way, the emotions didn't match it. Nick Drake tuned his guitar in the only ways he found fit to portray the mood of the album, and captured this feeling perfectly in a 30 minute frame. I can't explain why one more song might have ruined it or why another minute would not have matched what he was trying to put forth, only he knew, and when an artist knows when to stop and knows what's enough, I can safely call him wise and pull out the phrase "less is more". And yet the album never feels too short or lacking instrumentation or losing anything by being stripped down bare, it just feels complete, and that's all that matters. Nick Drake never really made it although he supposedly always wanted too, and some have even suggested that it made him depressed as if fame and fortune might have produced a different ending rather than a mental institution and a suicide; this album suggests otherwise. Nick Drake didn't seem to want fame enough to compromise his origionality and he never gave in to making anything other than what was obviously from his soul, you can tell. So, as Drake sings of gazing into the stars and seems so completely not in control of his feelings, it's difficult to say that Nick Drake simply felt like a failure, there's just so much more behind it and the feelings are just so much deeper, so beyond it. "Pink Moon" is a magical and timeleless epilogue, not a failed musician being cut off in mid-sentence.Free Music Review: Nick Drake sings songs and plays guitar on his final album
Hit: 5 Stars
In the throes of a depression that would see him dead at the age of 26 from an overdose of anti-depression medication, Nick Drake still managed to produce his last album, "Pink Moon." Unlike his first two efforts, which consisted of orchestrated folk-pop music, this 1972 album was just Drake playing his acoustic guitar and singing (with a bit of piano here and there). The result is a bleak testament to melancholy and alienation that has a haunting and pristine beauty. There are only eleven songs, most of which are under three minutes in length, which is why the album is not even a half-hour long, but there is a sense in which anything longer would be too much to bear. "Pink Moon," by itself, justifies Drake's status as a cult figure among those who love folk-rock.Ironically, you have probably hear Nick Drake's music before, because the title track was used for a Volkswaggen commercial, just another example of how music is perverted to commercial interests (what else is new?). I have been spending the cold winter putting together mixes of folk music (in the broadest sense) and making a concerted effort to get beyond Bob Dylan and the Byrds to explore the likes of Sandy Denny and the Beau Brummels. Checking out Sandy Denny led me to Fairport Convention and Richard Thompson, and eventually to Ralph McTell and Nick Drake. Now I can only wonder what rock I have been living under that I have never come across these artists before.
The title track is a beautiful folk ballad, performed with just Drake's superb acoustic guitar playing and haunting vocal. Throughout the album you notice the depth of his lyrics and his guitar playing. The latter might have been lost in an album with orchestration, but here you have the opportunity to listen to the openings of "Radio" and "Parasite" unadorned. For the former a choice example would be the opening of what is probably the best song on the album (it is hard to choose), "Which Will," which begins: "Which will you go for/Which will you love/Which will you choose from/From the stars above?" There is a simple elegance to the lyrics, captured by the vocals, and complimented by the more complex guitar playing.
Nick Drake only produced three albums, so there is no reason not to have all of them in your music library. These works represent the very best of the British folk-rock scene and Drake is a first rate singer-songwriter whose songs of failed romance, mortality, and depression are quite affective. Drake intended "Pink Moon" to be his final album, saying he had nothing left to record. When you lose yourself listening to these songs, you can actually convince yourself that this was true.