Nick Drake - Five Leaves Left

Released - September 1969

Genre - Folk

Producer - Joe Boyd

Selected Personnel - Nick Drake (Vocals/Guitar); Paul Harris (Piano); Richard Thompson (Guitar); Danny Thompson (Bass)

Standout Track - River Man

This is an album and, indeed, an artist that's still relatively new to me, so it'll be difficult for this review to be particularly in-depth or anecodtal. This album has yet to take on huge reserves of significance for me, or to really ensconce itself into my consciousness. All I do know is that, at this early stage, it's a really lovely album I really enjoy listening to, and that, combined with its fearsome reputation amongst fans of 60s British folk, earns it its place in the list. My good friend Emily, who I've mentioned frequently on this blog, recently jetted off to Vietnam for two years to teach English to foreign kids. At her leaving party, she introduced me to a friend of hers named Emma, who has also recently jetted off on exactly the same mission. Emma and I found that our musical tastes closely mirrored one another's, or at the very least interested one another, and we decided to set up something of a cultural exchange. One of the artists she recommended most vehemently was Nick Drake. Drake was a figure who was familiar to me by reputation - a famously tortured figure, he died at the age of 26 as a result of a drug overdose (suicide or accident remains unclear) leaving behind a legacy of just three quiet, understated folk albums that were more or less ignored at the time but, as with so many artists who died before their time, have gone on to earn cult status. While Drake had always been a figure that interested me, I'm still to this day a relative novice in the world of 60s UK folk, and had never really felt anything specifically spurring me to give him a listen. As it turned out, the specific recommendation of a friend was just what I needed, and I discovered something really quite special that might well end up opening the door to the likes of Fairport Convention for me.

Drake had no recording experience prior to recording Five Leaves Left, but managed to impress veteran producer Joe Boyd, who had stewarded Fairport Convention, John Martyn and the Incredible String Band to success via his live performances, and ended up collaborating with him on his debut album. Ultimately, the atmosphere behind the recording was not the most positive - Drake was surprisingly outspoken and assertive for such an inexperienced artist, insisting on a more organic and natural sound, while Boyd pushed for a more expansive album, including full orchestrations and overdubs. Boyd, being the experienced producer, won out and the album features no songs that don't contain some kind of overdubbed part, (including guitar from Fairport Convetion's Richard Thompson and bass from the Pentangle's Richard Thompson) and that's a mixed blessing - in places, such as in Harry Robinson's stirring, dramatic string orchestrations for the wonderful "River Man," these overdubs serve as an effective counterpoint to Drake's voice and acousitc guitar, while in other places, such as on "Way To Blue," those same string parts serve as an over-the-top extravagance that drowns out some of the purity of Drake's songwriting. Ultimately, on his later masterpiece Pink Moon, which consists almost entirely of unaccompanied acoustic songs, Drake would prove how powerful and beautiful his songwriting could be without recourse to orchestral or full-band accompaniment, but here some of that organic earthiness he was chasing is drowned out by Boyd's insistence on grandeur.

I don't know quite what I expected from this album, but I was surprised by it. I think from Drake's reputation I expected something more overtly harrowing, more obviously preoccupied with his demons, in order to justify his reputation as some sort of doomed artist. But by and large this album is quietly pastoral and reflective, the soft tones of Drake's voice lilting on the ear, and the melodies slow, simple, hummable. It's also rare that one feels overtly as though Drake is wrestling with his depression, with is supposedly already a huge influence on his songwriting even at this stage. His lyrics are generally impressionistic and abstract rather than directly personal - Drake is a very English folk songwriter in that respect, having no political axe to grind like the Dylans of this world, but also shying away from overtly personal solipsistic soul-baring, choosing instead to express himself through a series of images that only fleetingly hint at his own state of mind. It's true that "River Man" could be interpreted as a song about a man on the banks of a river contemplating suicide, but it could just as easily be about a man confused by the decisions he has to make in his life trying to find solace and answers in the world around him. There are other songs wholly devoid of angst and self-doubt, with the gorgeous summery closer "Saturday Sun" being a simple heartfelt paean to the importance of taking advantage of opportunities that may otherwise pass you by. The only songs besides "River Man" that really do stick out as cries for help are "Man In A Shed" which, despite its simple upbeat melody and fairly offhand lyrics, is a barely concealed cry for help and companionship disguised as some sort of children's fable, while the masterful "Fruit Tree" is genuinely eerie - in it, via the metaphor of a fruit tree, Drake expounds at length about the vacuity of fame, and about the fact that it is only ever really achieved after the death of the artist, words which would be borne out all too well by his own tragic demise.

It's not all brilliance, though - the aforementioned "Way To Blue" is rendered numbing by its over-the-top strings, and the flute on "The Thoughts Of Mary Jane" has a similarly deadening effect, while "Three Hours" is an overlong foray into self-indulgent psychedelia. But it showcases a man with an ear for creating memorable, sweet-sounding tunes and for singing them beautifully, and, in brief flashes, with a real talent for presenting genuinely compelling lyrical ideas. Pink Moon is a more consistent and effecting and authentic portrayal of what the man can do, devoid of some of the overcomplications of this album, but it still definitely earns its place in the annals of history as the very promising first efforts of a man who really should have had more time to create beautiful music.

Track Listing:

All songs written by Nick Drake.

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