BCB 100 - Nick Drake

[geoffcowgill]

Favorite Album - Bryter Layter

Favorite Song - "Northern Sky"

Willfully obscure, I am.

[Clippernolan]

Album - Pink Moon

Song - "Northern Sky", with "Things Behind The Sun" a very close second.

[moonie]

I am always surprised at the number of guys who pick Northern Sky as their fav Drake tune. It just seems soooo goopy- I love goopy but I'm terribly sentimental and favor a good ballad anyday...


Favorite Album: Bryter Layter

Favorite Song: Northern Sky

[Kenji]

First time I heard Nick Drake was 16 years ago but I read this book last year (first time):



It's very sad...

[Penk!]

I think I'll have to go for the tedious, predictable choices too.

[Mike Boom]

Album - Pink Moon
Song - Pink Moon

[Sea Of Tunes]

I only have the compilation CD, which is brilliant by the way. For today it has to be 'Pink Moon'.
BTW when I bought it, I found it a nice thing to hear that this particular comp was a steady seller over long, long years in my shop; more successfull than anything by REM, Springsteen, and all other great names.

[toomanyhatz]

Let it be known that I first heard Nick Drake in the late 70s. So the fact that I've always liked him is due to my reaction to his music and nothing else. Around here one needs to specify that.

Album - Five Leaves Left

Song - Three Hours or Cello Song

[secondhandsocks]

Let it be known that I first heard Nick Drake in the late 70s. So the fact that I've always liked him is due to my reaction to his music and nothing else. Around here one needs to specify that.

Album - Five Leaves Left

Song - Three Hours or Cello Song

I discovered Nick Drake a lot later than that, via John Martyn (not personally, you understand)
But I'm with you on the choices:
Album - Five Leaves Left

Song - Three Hours

[Tactful Cactus]

Let it be known that I first heard Nick Drake in the late 70s. So the fact that I've always liked him is due to my reaction to his music and nothing else. Around here one needs to specify that.

I don't understand this....what do you mean by nothing else?

[Davey the Fat Boy]

Let it be known that I first heard Nick Drake in the late 70s. So the fact that I've always liked him is due to my reaction to his music and nothing else. Around here one needs to specify that.

Album - Five Leaves Left

Song - Three Hours or Cello Song

I"ve been following Nick Drake since the beginning - way back when he was just starting out writing commercial jingles. Even then it was obvious he was something special.

Album: Pink Moon
Song: Things Behind the Sun

[frimleygreener]

hazy jane or cello song.

[toomanyhatz]

Let it be known that I first heard Nick Drake in the late 70s. So the fact that I've always liked him is due to my reaction to his music and nothing else. Around here one needs to specify that.

I don't understand this....what do you mean by nothing else?

Retroactive defensiveness. When I first heard Nick Drake, I had no idea what underground rock stars loved him, that he was dead, how he died, what kind of a person he was, etc. I find with him more than any other artist, these outside factors influence both his fame and the backlash against it. And certain Prague residents- errr, I mean people- around here spend a lot of time judging people's music based on things other than the music itself. We all do it sometimes, and I'm not denying I have with other artists- just felt a particularly strong need to specify the fact that, in the case of Drake, I was able to judge him solely based on the music. I'm grateful for that fact.

[The Slider]

Favorite Album - Bryter Layter

Favorite Song - "Northern Sky"

Needs no more be said.

Though At The Chime of a City Clock could have been a contender.

[Jon K]

I first got into Nick Drake when he was actually still alive which these days seems to be a rarity. The first album I heard was Pink Moon and I was amazed at how good it was I promptly acquired his other two albums second hand and have been a fan ever since

Album: Pink Moon
Track(s) pink Moon/Time Has Told Me/Saturday Sun

[Tactful Cactus]

Favorite Album - Bryter Layter

Favorite Song - "Northern Sky"

Needs no more be said.

I don't know why Bryter Layter seems to be his definitive work in some peoples eyes. I'm not saying its a bad album, far from it, but FLL and Pink Moon are so great too (better even, in my opinion). Those feckin' instrmentals put me off. Joe Boyd (in new book) swears Nick only put them on there in an act of defiance against him. Some of his best songs are on BL, clearly, but Five Leaves Left is a better album.

[the masked man]

I'm not sure I have a favourite Nick Drake album, but "River Man" is by far and away my favourite song. It paints such vivid pictures in my mind, finding a certain beauty in the mundanity of England.

[Tactful Cactus]

I was able to judge him solely based on the music. I'm grateful for that fact.

So if you only cottoned onto him a few years ago would you like his
music anyway, or would you retroactively decide not to be a victim of the Volkswagen marketing machine?

[toomanyhatz]

I was able to judge him solely based on the music. I'm grateful for that fact.

So if you only cottoned onto him a few years ago would you like his
music anyway, or would you retroactively decide not to be a victim of the Volkswagen marketing machine?

I'd like to think so, but the fact that I can't say positively supports my point about how much baggage is carried by a artist's image/reputation. We're rarely able to hear music just as music. Some (Prague resident) people seem to relish that fact, others (like me) bemoan it and try to be as true to the listening experience as possible. I've no doubt that I've failed in this mission at times, but it is my mission- accomplished with Drake only by accident.

[Davey the Fat Boy]

I was able to judge him solely based on the music. I'm grateful for that fact.

So if you only cottoned onto him a few years ago would you like his
music anyway, or would you retroactively decide not to be a victim of the Volkswagen marketing machine?

I'd like to think so, but the fact that I can't say positively supports my point about how much baggage is carried by a artist's image/reputation. We're rarely able to hear music just as music. Some (Prague resident) people seem to relish that fact, others (like me) bemoan it and try to be as true to the listening experience as possible. I've no doubt that I've failed in this mission at times, but it is my mission- accomplished with Drake only by accident.

Funny how these things matter to us. I recall telling a person about Drake who clearly would never have known about him pre-VW, only to be shocked to hear that she already had Pink Moon. I had no idea that this one use of the song in a commercial would spread his reputation that far. My first instinct was something akin to, "Damn...there goes the neighborhood." My second reaction was to be a bit ashamed at my musical snobbery.

With the advent of digital music, it is getting harder and harder every day to get much self-worth out of one's record collection. Some of us are going to have to develop other talents. Personally I'm taking up competitve snowboarding.