Nick Drake - Pink Moon
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Free Music Notes for Pink Moon
Free Music Review: Haunting pieces played on acoustic guitar
Hit: 5 Stars
Released in 1972, this wonderful (yet short 28'29") album of acoustic music by English singer/songwriter Nick Drake is haunting and sad, yet is also quite hopeful. Based on what I have read, the album was recorded in a mere 4 hours, which was spread across two sessions that each started at midnight and lasted until 2 am. Instrumentation on the album is sparse, and apart from Nick's husky and warm voice, the only instruments used include acoustic guitar (very unusual tunings are used), with rare sprinkles of acoustic piano here and there. Nick's acoustic guitar playing is quite good and alternates folk-like strumming with some virtuosic, right-hand finger picking (some of Michael Hedges quieter, delicate, and less busy pieces come to mind). The piece Know is fairly interesting because it features a repeated four note pattern on the acoustic guitar over which Nick sings - this "minimalist" approach stands in stark contrast to the comparatively more involved playing on the other pieces. A quick glance through the lyrics suggests a lingering sadness and hints of self doubt, although the music itself and the attention that went into crafting each piece suggest that Nick loved his music very much. This remastered CD features pictures of Nick, along with the lyrics and photos of his original notes made during the writing process. Sadly, this was to be his last album before his untimely death in 1974 of an overdose of antidepressants. Other studio albums by Nick Drake include Five Leaves Left (1969) and Bryer Later (1970), which feature a wider variety of instruments and are not as stripped down as Pink Moon. Very highly recommended.Free Music Review: Power of being simple
Hit: 5 Stars
I first heard of this album when I was living in Athens, Ohio at a friend's house. From the first song this is an album to the last this album will stand the test of time as being one of the best albums ever made for this troubled soul.
What makes it so great is that album is very raw. It's just Nick his guitar and a mike. Every once and awhile you hear a piano or other instrument but it's very sparse over all. On top of that because of how simple it is none of the songs are over produced trying to be made grander than what they are. You simply take this album at face value and enjoy it. To look into any hidden meaning would destroy the fun of interpreting the songs.
My favorite song on the album would be "Things Behind the Sun" the lyrics are beautiful and the music just washes over you with emotion.
On the lyrics side the lyrics are simple and to a great degree weave a short store. It is a cliché to say it but each word seems carefully chosen. You can't help but hear the sorrow and depression in Nick Drakes voice and he tries to get out each word.
This is an album to listen to when it's late and night and you're not ready for bed, but you want to end on a quite night. Just let the music and words wash over you. On top of that it transcends age. A friend of mine who in to heavy metal and 16 years old heard this album and was amazed at how melodic it was.
It is a shame that he never was able to see how much of an impact his words and music have had on people. As a musician and poet I hope to some day come close to what Drake has done on this album.
Free Music Review: A slice of angellic beauty
Hit: 5 Stars
I'm not sure why I'm writing this. If 199 reviews with an average of 5 stars apiece (4.8 if you get technical about it) didn't convince you I'm not sure what more I can say. But here goes.There have been few albums in artists that have made such a beautiful account of standing on the edge, of being depressed, disillusioned, longing, and sheer loneliness. Yes, Nick Drake encapsulates all these emotions so simply and so poignantly in a mere 26 minutes, with only shimmering accoustic guitar to accompany him. His lyricism is powerful, his poetry is romantic, his voice is angelic and his guitar play is as virtuosic as they come. And when he sang, he sang as if he meant everything he wrote. He sang with desparation when he sang "Oh so weak in the palest blue, so weak in this need for you," with bitterness when he sang "Know that I love you. Know that I'm not there" and with sadness when he sang "I am the parasite of your town." And he didn't need a single distortion pedal, amp, a band, or even a pick! There is no filter from the things in his heart to the mic, just him!
So those of watch tragic movies, lamented with Dylan when he sang Not Dark Yet, listen to Norah Jones and Jack Johnson and folk and blues or any other music that sings of inner frustrations, or play an accoustic guitar for that matter, you needto hear Pink Moon badly!
(Note: Nick Drake's music overall isn't as depressed as some would lead you to believe. If this is too disturbed for you, Bryter Layter might be more to your liking. But get Five Leaves Left too. No matter which one you buy first, you'll want the other two as soon as you hear it.
Free Music Review: And open wide the hymns you hide
Hit: 5 Stars
Pink Moon was the first Nick Drake CD I purchased, after reading a ridiculous magazine article a few years ago that compared him to Cat Stevens(?!) I may have set the bar a bit high for myself. Drake's last album is probably also his least accessible, and the first few listens can be something of a shock to fans of a style and era in which songwriters usually wore their hearts on their sleeves. There's as much raw emotion here as on any singer-songwriter album, but you have to go looking for it. Nothing about this album is easy or straightforward, and it's easy to see why Drake's music was rarely heard on the radio then or now. But that's why it's worth listening to again and again until it all clicks.Although the album was recorded in just two days, it features a polished and rehearsed sound, as if Drake had been working on these selections for years to settle on just the right vocal and instrumental combinations. Most of the songs feature only his guitar for accompaniment, but thanks to his intricate fingerpicking, the sound is oddly spare and full at once. Reading the lyrics on the page is a bit like reading impressionist poetry, and listening to them in Drake's edge-of-death whisper hardly clarifies the picture much. A few of the songs still have me wondering if there's any meaning to them, but they're nothing if not thought-provoking.
And over three decades after their release, they haven't aged a day. This is definitely one of those albums that require repeated listening; but like most such albums, it's a nice antidote to most of what's popular at any given moment.
Free Music Review: One of my "desert island discs"
Hit: 5 Stars
With these stunning and sparse 11 songs (clocking in at a mere half hour), Nick Drake showed us that it really is all about the economy. Drake's "Pink Moon" is an exercise in doing the most with what you have. There's just an acoustic guitar, a single piano overdub (on the standout title track, which you may remember from a VW Cabriolet ad a few years ago), and a lone, lonely voice. While there is some filler here, the beautifully aching lyrics and incredibly talented fingerstyle guitar work more than makes up for it. You can't buy this kind of inspiration, although you can buy the antidepressants that would keep you alive along enough to put the inspiration on tape. Drake passed away two years later, in what may have been an accidental sleeping pill overdose or a suicide. He suffered from depression and other mental frailties, in part due to lack of commercial success. His three albums (see also 1969's "Five Leaves Left" and 1970's "Bryter Layter") were not well received at the time, although they were certainly accessible and arguably superior to anything his contemporaries were putting out in the England folk/rock scene. By the time he recorded "Pink Moon", he had no backing band and had turned away from an industry that he felt had likewise already turned from him - so much so that he recorded here with his back to the engineer, facing a wall. This album speaks so much louder than the hush of its instrumentation. Some have called it his suicide note, but I prefer to call it pure genius and a masterpiece of simplicity.