This Nick-Nack is Nicked

neat nick 

Nick Drake - Poor Boy

Nick Drake - Hazey Jane II

Nick Drake - Northern Sky

Nick Drake - Pink Moon

Iron and Wine has relit my singer-songwriter flame, so today we go back to that same well and draw from a little deeper, a little earlier. The instrumentation and production values in "Woman King" reminded me of some of Nick Drake's stuff. Recently, when I finally got around to purchasing a Nick Drake retrospective cd (Way To Blue), I was blown away that I hadn't heard more of him. It's just so beautiful and warm, it's like a bowl of oatmeal on a snowday. He's a perfect example of discovering an awesome new band that you think nobody else has heard of, but when you tell your friends about this guy Nick Drake that you found, they're like, "Oh yeah, he's legendary." And, then you feel silly that you haven't been singing his praises all along. As far as other contemporary references go, when Nigel Godrich went in to produce Beck's "Sea Change" he admittedly was going for a Nick Drake-type sound. Here's what ubl.com has to say:

A singular talent who passed almost unnoticed during his brief lifetime, Nick Drake produced several albums of chilling, somber beauty. With hindsight, these have come to be recognized as peak achievements of both the British folk-rock scene and the entire rock singer/songwriter genre. Sometimes compared to Van Morrison, Drake in fact resembled Donovan much more in his breathy vocals, strong melodies, and the acoustic-based orchestral sweep of his arrangements. His was a much darker vision than Donovan's, however, with disturbing themes of melancholy, failed romance, mortality, and depression lurking just beneath, or even well above, the surface. Ironically, Drake has achieved a far greater stature in the decades following his death, with an avid cult following that grows by the year.

A couple years ago, Volkswagon used "Pink Moon" to sell some Jettas, so it should sound familiar. Another song of Drake's, "One of These Things First", was featured in Garden State, but I figured enough people probably already have that song. The first three songs I've posted are from his previous album, "Bryter Layter", which is more upbeat and orchestrated. "Pink Moon" is the title track from the last of his three albums, and it's a bit sparser.

And now for the hackneyed comparison of the day: Nick Drake = Van Morrison's "Astral Weeks" as arranged and produced by Burt Bacharach & Herb Alpert.