Pink Moon

Ironically, you have probably hear Nick Drake's music before, because the title track was used for a Volkswaggen commercial, just another example of how music is perverted to commercial interests (what else is new?). I have been spending the cold winter putting together mixes of folk music (in the broadest sense) and making a concerted effort to get beyond Bob Dylan and the Byrds to explore the likes of Sandy Denny and the Beau Brummels. Checking out Sandy Denny led me to Fairport Convention and Richard Thompson, and eventually to Ralph McTell and Nick Drake. Now I can only wonder what rock I have been living under that I have never come across these artists before.

The title track is a beautiful folk ballad, performed with just Drake's superb acoustic guitar playing and haunting vocal. Throughout the album you notice the depth of his lyrics and his guitar playing. The latter might have been lost in an album with orchestration, but here you have the opportunity to listen to the openings of "Radio" and "Parasite" unadorned. For the former a choice example would be the opening of what is probably the best song on the album (it is hard to choose), "Which Will," which begins: "Which will you go for/Which will you love/Which will you choose from/From the stars above?" There is a simple elegance to the lyrics, captured by the vocals, and complimented by the more complex guitar playing.

Nick Drake only produced three albums, so there is no reason not to have all of them in your music library. These works represent the very best of the British folk-rock scene and Drake is a first rate singer-songwriter whose songs of failed romance, mortality, and depression are quite affective. Drake intended "Pink Moon" to be his final album, saying he had nothing left to record. When you lose yourself listening to these songs, you can actually convince yourself that this was true.


Shocked to see Pink Moon in a VW Cabrio ad   December 10, 1999
106 out of 110 found this review helpful

To my surprise recently I saw the VW Cabrio ad with Nick Drake singing "Pink Moon". I thought, "Wow, great! More people getting turned on to Nick Drake's music, I hope!"

Each Nick Drake album is a little different, but each is fulfilling in its own way. If you enjoy this release then you will definitely want the Fruit Tree boxed set which compiled all three of his studio albums plus a fourth CD of extra tracks. It is well worth the money spent, trust me.

Pink Moon itself is way stark. Just the man and his acoustic guitar (with a touch of piano on the title track). But the songs themselves, the minute you hear them (and it's only 29 minutes of them on this album), they sound like you've heard them before.

If you're into old REM you'll see in a few of these tracks how they were influenced.

If you enjoy this release, you may want to check out Elliott Smith's releases, especially his album "XO". It is in a similar vein to Nick Drake.


Commercial a necessary evil   March 28, 2000
Stan (Portland, OR USA)
41 out of 44 found this review helpful

When I first saw and heard "Pink Moon", one of my favorite songs for many years, being used in a Volkswagen commercial, my first thought was, "Oh, cool. Nick Drake's music is finally being brought to the masses." Believe me, I've seen many examples of great songs being tarnished forever by being used in a bad commercial, but this isn't one of them. The song is used tastefully and respectfully; Nick Drake largely shunned human contact, so he would probably have approved of the commercial's depiction of 4 kids who decide they'd rather just drive around on a starry night than go to some party and get wasted and laid. I'd also say that, judging from the fact that a 28 year old record is #12 (Mar. 27) on the Amazon best sellers list, that the song is just as much a commercial for Nick Drake as it is for Volkswagen. Think of the power of a 30 second snippet of a song: without any information about the artist, people have searched out this deceased man's music, wanting to hear it again. My hope is that these neophyte Nick Drake fans will listen beyond the title track and discover just what an amazing album "Pink Moon" really is. That song is just one of an amazing collection, recorded by a man in extreme despair, with lyrics that appear to be out of some poet's feverish dreams. Maybe they'll then move on to Drake's other wonderful albums. And hey, if it took a car commercial for this to happen, so be it.


Nick Drake sounds just like Nick Drake   August 31, 2000
32 out of 33 found this review helpful

Just to be different, I'm not gonna spend this review rambling on endlessly about whom Nick Drake sounds like or whom he's influenced. Instead, I'm gonna talk about his music -- specifically, in this case, the album "Pink Moon". Ready? Let's begin:

All of Drake's albums are pretty terrific. "Five Leaves Left" is wispy and fragile-sounding in a typical late-sixties folksy kind of way. The only thing that makes it rise above the sandal-wearing fray is the strength of the songs themselves -- which, when you think about it, is a pretty good way to rise above the fray, if one feels compelled to do such a thing....

Drake's second release, "Bryter Layter", is something quite different. This time, the songs (while still -- genetically, at least -- wispy and fragile) are beefed-up through a more ambitious (did someone say intrusive?) production technique. The end result is intriguing ("Hazy Jane I & II") and burdensome ("Poor Boy") in equal measure. Call it a draw.

Which brings us to "Pink Moon". Apparently, Drake was uncomfortable (surprise, surprise) with the pop star treatment of the "Bryter Layter" material because "Pink Moon"'s stark, acoustic offerings are obviously a bold reaction to it. These songs are so quiet and introspective that they make "Five Leaves Left" sound like Deep Purple's "Machine Head". But that is exactly why "Pink Moon" is Nick Drake's crowning achievement. If anyone's songs were meant to be recorded in a bedroom with nothing but a few wooded instruments and whispered vocals for accompaniment, it's Drake's. Just listen to "Road", "From the Morning", or the astounding, otherworldly title track and tell me that I'm wrong....