newcritics

Pink Moon is one of the greatest albums I know.

It took me years, and a serious bout of depression, to warm up to Nick Drake, and his first two albums are in places too arch, too stuck in their time (Cambridge mid-1960s). But Pink Moon is dazzlingly simple.

It’s not hard to write simple, but it’s extremely hard to write deep AND true AND original AND simple. And that’s Drake at his best.

Plus he was a phenomenal fingerstyle guitarist w/ crazy ass tunings (I think Road is played with 5 of the 6 strings tuned to D).

Yeah his rep grew over the years on a Sylvia Plath romance of the dead depressive mythos, but that’s a damn shame; although he died young and left behind very little music what he did leave is good enough to stand on its own without the added romance.

Check, if you haven’t, Black Dog, with it’s carnatic sounding guitar part, from the posthumous anthology Way to Blue and Time has Told Me, which kicks off Drake’s first album and features a young Richard Thompson on guitar (at the time Richard wasn’t 1/4 the guitarist that Drake was).

Road is great, probably my favorite Nick Drake song (tho’ Which Will is also immaculate). But Road is not even the saddest song on the record. What about Parasite?

btw, the title is Black-Eyed Dog, not Black Dog

An absolute all-time album.

His first record, Five Leaves Left, is a less-stark but equally great record, featuring slightly more instrumentation (Richard Thompson, John Cale and Danny Thompson appear with some tasteful contributions). Cello Song, Time Has Told Me, and River Man are classics.

The second record, Bryter Lyter, is also very good, though with slightly more dated instrumentation. I prefer both other albums.

One of the things that makes these minimalist tracks stand out isn’t just the open tuning and picking patterns, but that for most songs the lower strings are tuned down into C/G terroritory, giving the guitar a woodier presence.

I wouldn’t be offended by the VW ad, for two reasons.

The first, lesser one, is that the ad is a major reason why many people today have heard of him. I think the albums sold in the low thousands in their own era, and as far as i’m concerned its better that he has found his audience. Drake’s sister and head of his estate, actress Gabrielle Drake:

“Nick is dead, and those of us who are left to protect and promote his memory and his music are faced with the almost impossible task of knowing how he would have wanted this done. But if there’s one thing of which I am sure, it is that he wanted to communicate through his music. He wanted it heard. Thousands more people in the U.S. have become aware of Nick Drake’s music through the VW commercial. Given that the commercial is tasteful and sensitive, I think that Nick would have not only approved of his music being used, but also been quietly pleased, and quite amused.”

More importantly, I work in film and have always considered that ad to be a real gem, one of the most evocative and efficient 30 second spots I’ve ever seen.

The silent intimacy of youth on a nightime drive, top down, under the stars. The song. Crickets and stars, and cool air. A moment of magic when they drive through some floating dandelion seeds. When they pull off the road to their destination, a party, a reveller stumbles. Without anyone saying a word they exchange looks, the white glow of a reverse light, the car pulls out again to hold onto the mood, a beautifully romantic shot of the girl giving a look over her shoulder.

Its a spot that is quiet, that celebrates quiet, and intimacy, and tells its story in hints. Quick wide shot of strung lights to a medium of a stumble paints a picture of the outdoor beer bust we’ve all gone to. A quick reverse shot of a glance. The quick shot of the reverse light.

There is no mountain road, no driving beat, no very clear shots of the car itself, no fancy wipes (no transitions more complicated than a straight cut or dip to black). A revolutionary commercial for the auto industry.

We live in a din of attention-seeking ads as demographic cliches; silcon tit fests, beer gags, dorito acrobatics, punchline and catchphrase cynicism as practiced by 40sometings desperate to get to youth.

The VW ad, subtle and romantic, is one of truest ads in its portrayal of the feeling of being young, when being with friends doing not much of anything could feel as special as the most momentus event (and often does even in hindsight).

Jason:

I have the Way To Blue collection and I like the songs you reference as well.

Not sure if agree with your opinion regarding Parasite, but it is a fair point and open for debate at least.

Christian:

Excellent comments. I agree that as these things go, the VW commercial is a good exception to the rule. I tried to express my ambivalence on the subject, and I appreciate you expanding upon it.

I haven’t made many references to XTC here at NC, but they are surely one of my all-time favorite bands. You can hear Nick’s influence in some of Andy Partridge’s songs, most notably Love on a Farmboy’s Wages (from their excellent album Mummer - which can be found here.)
It is a nice tribute to Cello Song.

I love Nick Drake. I’d never heard of him until this year, as a matter of fact. My wife told me about a Leonard Cohen song she liked and I tracked it down for her on Napster-To-Go. I didn’t care for the Cohen song, which is a usual response, but the recommendations led me to two of my new (to me, of course) favorite performers. Big Bill Broonzy and Nick Drake. I loaded all three of Drake’s albums onto my iRiver and listened for days.
Two aspects of his life fascinate me and why I’m not sure. He announced the release of his first album to his sister by tossing it on her bed and saying, “There you are” and walking out. Also, towards the end of his life his live performances become unbearable because of the incredible amount of time he spent changing tunings between songs.
The poetry of his work can’t be caught in the reading of his lyrics, though, which really only make sense in the context of his performance. But that’s a problem with writing about music in general, I guess.