Nick Drake

Nick Drake

Five Leaves Left (Hannibal)

Nick Drake

Bryter Layter (Hannibal)

Nick Drake

Pink Moon (Hannibal)

We love sad songs. We need tragedy. Our craving to live vicariously through fear, heartbreak, and despair has fueled the making of art since the beginning of time, and any artist that can inspire delicious sadness will, circumstances allowing, become a cultural icon or artistic martyr. Nick Drake, the somewhat obscure English singer-songwriter who died in 1974, has attained both these levels of reverence, and as his reissued catalog proves beyond any doubt, his talent is well worthy of mythic status. The first song on his first album, "Time Has Told Me," holds up as one of his best, an almost-hopeful pop gem made transcendent by Richard Thompson's electric guitar. The entirety of Five Leaves Left is amazing in its maturity, the restive conga drive of "Three Hours," the evocative string arrangements of "Way to Blue" and "Day Is Done," and especially the aching, rolling "Cello Song," its strings speaking one instrument to the next as lovers for the last time. Drake was only 21 when he made Five Leaves Left. He was only 26 when he died. His second album, Bryter Layter, is deceptive in its perky tempos and arrangements that make good use of flute and sax as well as the viola and harpsichord (the last two courtesy of John Cale). But, even in its most obviously self-deprecating moments, as in the self-mocking "Poor Boy," it feels like the rest, laden with heavy honesty and the burden of too-keen perspective. By his third album, Pink Moon, Drake is the pure essence of melancholy, stark, airy lyrics borne on delicate acoustic guitar, enhanced only occasionally by simple piano chords. This is the soul of the artist laid bare, slightly frightening in its vulnerability. The title track was featured in a Volkswagen ad last year, and demand for this album since its airing is the impetus for these reissues. Funny, that. Drake's death by overdose has been a source of speculation since it happened, and whether it was accidental or intentional will probably never be known. What we are left with, though, is remarkable. "Fruit Tree," from Five Leaves Left, proves eerily prophetic: "Safe in your place deep in the earth, that's when they'll know what you were truly worth," and later, "No one knows you but the rain and the air. Don't you worry, they'll stand and stare when you're gone." Drake's music is a feeling you can't shake, snatches of melody carrying you out of activity into involuntary reflection, echoes of his wispy voice calling out to you at the least provocation. It's a constant rain, an endless gray sky. Really, though, Eef Barzelay of Clem Snide sang it best: "That Nick Drake tape you love, tonight it sounds so good. Brown as leaves can get, sleep is what you should."

(All)