"going to see the river.......................man?"
1969
Historians point to Nick Drake's being born in Burma as the source of his unique voice. John Fogerty singing River Man would not work. John Fogerty was born in Berkeley, California. For every good song Nick writes, there is a song which is embarrasing to listen to.
-- Joe Boyd
1970
I always have trouble with the title of this one. Bryter Lyter sounds better to my ears, but then again it makes me think of Lite-Brites. Nick Drake died before he could own a Lite-Bright. I guess he would've spelled it Lyte-Bryte because he is an artist. Poor Boy isn't depressing like people say Nick Drake is, Poor Boy is stupid. People ignore his 70's schlock and concentrate on things like At the Chime of a City Clock and Northern Sky. That's probably cuz those don't suck.
-- Richard Thompson
1972
So Nick Drake walks into a record company with just a little tape he made and the lady doesn't even know who he is and what he's doing with his little tape. He made this in a little cabin out near Walden Pond and a tape recorder and an acoustic guitar and nothing else, right? Haunting depressing spooky?
NO! WATCH AS I BLOW APART THE MYTH! There's piano! He also covers the Phish classic, Horn, here.
-- Richard Petty