Band: Nick Drake
Album: Five Leaves Left
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: Paired with Fairport Convention, Drake's debut album has a fuller sound than Drake is known for. It certainly has its pop tinges; The album has several hummable songs on it.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: I am not a Nick Drake fan and this album has tons of Nick Drakeish melodies.
Best song: “River Man” is pretty good.
Worst song: "The Thoughts Of Mary Jane" is not very good.
Is it awesome?: Not really.
Blah blah I don't like Nick Drake. Blah blah I like guys influenced by him (Elliott Smith, Iron and Wine, etc.). Blah blah dead guy.
Bring on the next album.
1 comment:
Normally I'd be perfectly satisfied with a "blah blah blah I don't like this artist," but I wasn't really expecting it this time. You didn't have a lot negative to say about Bryter Layter, and I'm really curious what it is that makes you "not a fan" of Drake, considering how much you like Iron & Wine and Elliott Smith. I honestly haven't listened a whole lot to either of those two, but it's largely been because an initial listen left me thinking "oh, another acoustic songwriter-type, and I think I've heard this done better"--mea culpa for thinking that, I'm going to get The Shepherd's Dog on your rec--but Nick Drake is the sort of person I think of as doing this kind of music really really well (aside from a few boring songs).
I realize I'm not giving you a lot of material to respond to, but could you say some more about what it is (if it's anything) that turns you off about Drake? Or, at least, when Pink Moon finally appears (I'd put it first among the three albums), could you say something about why you like it better than Bryter Layter, and that better than Five Leaves Left? Especially given that you say it's a good thing for I&W's early sparseness to have left on their last album, and Pink Moon is really stripped-down compared with the first two albums.
[Btw, really enjoying the blog. Keep it up.]
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