Nick Drake

The first time I heard Nick Drake was in Bristol, England, in 1973, at the home of our friend Martin who had a flower shop in Bristol's city center, and who Jerry and I bought hash from.  When we first entered Martin's home, I heard music playing in another room, I couldn't fully hear it, and thought it might have been Donovan. When we entered the living room, the record had finished, and Martin started it again, and lit a joint.  After a few minutes and few hits of Afghan black later, I was struck by the music, Nick's voice and overall vibe, when I heard the following lyrics:

Gonna see the river man
Gonna tell him all I can
About the plan
For lilac time

 

If he tells me all he knows
'Bout the way his river flows
And all night shows
In summertime

I asked Martin what we were listening to, and he said "River Man" from Nick Drakes's album 'Five Leaves Left'.

 

A few days later I was shopping in the city center, and went to my favorite record shop in Bristol that had listening booths, so you could preview albums.  There I asked if they had 'Five Leaves Left', and the sales person told me they also had Nick's albums, 'Pink Moon' and 'Bryter Layter'.  I left with all three. 

 

 

Over the years, all three records wore out, and cassette tapes I made of them became unspooled, and unceremoniously thrown out.  Back then, I couldn't find Nick Drake records in New York, most people hadn't even heard of him, and over time I had pretty much forgotten about Nick.




Fast-forward to 2000, at work, a friend asked, "Have you seen the new Volkswagen commercial? It has a really cool song, something about a pink moon". I told her it sounds like a song called 'Pink Moon' by Nick Drake from the early 1970s.

A few months later, 'Pink Moon', 'Five Leaves Left' and 'Bryter Layter' became available on CD.

Today's freeload, is all three of Nick's Albums, all with Hi-Res 24bit/192kHz remastering, and are a nice sonic upgrade, or just a nice introduction to the music of Nick Drake.

For the freeload, tell us about the favorite pet you ever had.