mail: daniel_fjall@hotmail.com
|
five leaves left
Five Leaves Left Released: 1969 Rating: 8/10 Track listing: 1. Time Has Told Me/ 2. River Man/ 3. Three Hours/ 4. Way To Blue/ 5. Day Is Done/ 6. Cello Song/ 7. The Thoughts of Mary Jane/ 8. Man In A Shed/ 9. Fruit Tree/ 10. Saturday Sun One day as I was sitting around the house doing nothing, I felt an urge of listening to some jazz. Sadly, I don’t have many jazz albums and the ones I actually own, I wasn’t too excited about at the moment. I looked through my collection, and finally decided to go with Nick Drake’s last album Pink Moon. There is one thing that generally returns in Drake’s music and that is the soothing and relaxing feeling a nice jazz ballad brings, and that feeling his evident on his debut album, Five Leaves Left, as well. Even though it’s a folk album I do get that jazzy feeling when listening to it. Van Morrison also used jazz as an major influence, but it sounds nothing like this. Drake’s legendary status among his fans and his tragical death has grown a myth about his music being dark and bleak, and his lyrics depressing. I am not sure I agree. I mostly find his music beautiful, tender, often fragile, and there is a sense of shyness and insecurity floating around the melodies, but it’s never truly depressing or heartbreaking. Speaking of melodies, they are hardly suited for a memorable-contest, as they go away just as swiftly as they arrived. No, the strength of these songs lies in the arrangements and the atmosphere. Mostly based on acoustic guitar, bass, a string quartet and occasional piano, Drakes manages to set that jazz mood I mentioned, and I’m guessing the secret is within the rhythms and the bass sound. Nick Drake’s vocals isn’t the most diverse, but his thin and laidback voice fits the songs perfectly. His British folkmusic and string arrangements blending in with Drake’s admiration for people such as Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, Donovan and similar artists, creates something new and interesting. Even though some of the orchestral arrangements might be too much to take in places, those songs are highly enjoyable too as soon as you’re prepared and gotten used to them. If you have no need to hum along to every song you hear and are able to enjoy the feeling music creates rather than the actual music, this atmospheric album might be just for you. Five Leaves Left is probably the best place to start if you are curious in Drake’s music, as I would say it is his most easy listenable album thanks to at least some diversity in the arrangements. Bryter Layter is overproduced with the orchestras and Pink Moon is basically just Drake alone with his guitar. Unless you’re not having anything against posthumous releases, that is, which makes the compilation Time Of No Reply, based on out-takes and alternative versions, a major priority.
|