1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die: 159. Nick Drake – Five Leaves Left (1969)

 

I first encountered Drake at some time in the late Nineties when Mark Radcliffe and Marc “Lard” Riley had just moved from their Out On Blue Six radio show to a nightly slot between 10pm and midnight. On quite a few occasions they’d end with a Nick Drake song, including the sublime Cello Song found on this album.

Soft voiced with complex guitar arpeggios, Drake’s music draws inevitable comparisons to Bert Jansch and Fred Neil.  It’s use in a film or TV show is shorthand for the creators having great musical taste.

Drake used unusual guitar tunings, often allowing him to play his arpeggios open stringed. His untimely death at a young age cut short a potentially great talent and although he was forgotten for a while it’s nice to see him getting gradually more and more of the attention he deserved. As somebody that both craves validation and hates attention I can empathise with him.

As well as Cello Song, when The Day is Done is another glorious sound. Of his small discography this is not his best, I think, relying too often on other musicians, which he doesn’t need, but like all of his stuff it has a beautiful and melancholy simplicity.

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