samadust's Full Review: Way to Blue: An Introduction to Nick Drake [Remast...
My roomate/musical therapist supplies me with a constant provision of great music. In his room he has stacks and stacks of cd's staring across the room at crate after crate of records. Whenever my foot crosses the threshold of his room his quick fingers dart across his collection and pull out some rare gem, put it on the table to spin and adjust the knob to the appropriate volume.
Me being a Gemini whose mind races from subject to subject constantly, I have a hard time taking one of the many cd's he gives me and just letting it play itself out while I patiently listen. Not to say I have a short attention span, I just have to actively deploy my attention for it to perform in its true longevity. For months, an album he has raved about can sit on the floor in my room, beneath a stack of other cd's that I have yet to crack open.
He incessantly reminds me about that cd that is collecting dust beneath the heap, "You really need to check that out", he says. I am only reluctant to play it for a few reasons. When I put it on I have an overwhelming urge to flip through the tracks. I find it hard to just sit and allow it to unfold. I have definitely learned to enjoy a musical experience this way but sometimes in my hyperactive state of rushing around and trying to squeeze many things within the hems of my day, it is hard to sit and listen. Secondly, I have a habit of listening to my current favorites over and over so when he gives me something new, I usually have to break the circle of continuity with one of them before I can allow something new to come in. I already have many albums myself and my collection continues to grow.
The best way I have found to get over this problem is to play it while I am sleeping. I can't go to sleep without putting three cd's on rotation into my cd player before I lay down. Sometimes I'll put in one of these albums and allow it to play the entire night. During the night I wake up listening to it and in my sleepy dream state I am more susceptible to it.
This album,"Way to Blue: An Introduction to Nick Drake" was one of the many albums he left in my room with a high recommendation. I liked the cover but was too impatient to listen at the time. It found it's way into the heap and stayed there for nearly a year.
Recently I began listening to John Martyn a lot, also by the influence of my roomate. I came home one day and he had John Martyn's album Solid Air spinning on the table. I sat in his room and was stupefied by the sincerity of his voice. He was playing with a bluesy vocal style and speaking such profound words about the state of a person who he obviously cared about. It touched me and for the three or four weeks to follow I could not go a day without listening to that album at least twice.
The sentiment and sense of emotional understanding I found in Solid Air led me to listen to that old, dusty, Nick Drake album that was in my room. The title track, Solid Air, was coincidentally written by John Martyn for Nick Drake who lived a life full of sorrow and depression. Throughout his short career he made four albums, refused to perform live and stuck strictly to his folky, quiet, reflective approach to music. Born in Burma, he was raised in Scotland and spent much of his musician days isolated in his parents countryside home. Unfortunately he died of an overdose of anti-depressants in 1974, prompting his good friend John to write this song for him.
You've been getting too deep,
You've been living on solid air,
You've been missing your sleep,
And you've been moving through solid air.
The cover of this compilation, Way to Blue is visually pleasing and highly indicative of the mood and style of the music within. Drake is depicted on the front, wrapping his body in an old shawl decorated in Earth tones. His face is calm yet childlike and surrounded by the angelic blaze of the sun behind his head. He is standing in a sunken forest, the leaves block most of the light, tree trunks twist and contort conforming to the landscape and the shade provided by the trees accurately projects the sentiment of the album.
All of the cover art is pretty similar. The first page inside is a warm array of English undergrowth and introspective black and white photos of Drake. Most of his pictures feature him with a blank but telling stare, sitting or standing in some sort of natural environment.
Most of the compositions, all written by Drake, are comprised of his steel string guitar, soft piano and ocassional bass. The songs are delicately composed, softly sung, deftly played and laced with intricate and contemplative lyrics.
The time of no reply, is calling me to stay,
There's no hello and no goodbye,
To leave there is no way.
With 16 tracks that span all four of the albums of his career, this compilation is the most comprehensive and thorough representation for this formidable artist.
I have hundreds of cd's but after listening to this I found myself trapped in a cycle. I, until the day of this writing, have been listening to it repeatedly. I have actually been having a difficult time allowing myself to listen to anything else. It has caputured my attention in a way that not many things can.
The melodies are so sweet and soul-touching. Songs like River Man show Drakes inherent somber appreciation for nature, deep understanding, and the saddness of losing, mis-understanding and searching for an answer.
Going to see the River Man,
Gonna tell him all I can,
About the ban,
On feeling free,
If he tells me all he knows,
About the way his river flows,
I don't suppose,
It's meant for me.
This song, which has become a standard today, streams like a river under the soft strums of Drakes guitar hand while his soft, wonderful vocals float gently above like mist. Most of the tracks are similar. Some incorporate saxaphone or piano into the brew very sucessfully without losing an inch of ground. His compositions are consistently beautiful, dark and surprisingly addictive.
His voice, hushed and whispered, has a smooth, warm timbre yet a naked simplicity that matches the arrangements of many of the tracks including Pink Moon, Time Has Told Me, One of These Things First and Way to Blue. Way to Blue is a great example of the slightly dramatic yet bleak theme of his work with its haunting string arrangement and the absence of any other instrumentation. Drake serenades us with his voice which seamlessly blends with the orchestration.
Have you seen the land, living by the breeze,
Can you understand, the light among the trees,
Tell me all that you may know,
Show me what you have to show,
Tell us all today,
If you know the Way to Blue.
I can't get over this. This is some of the most beautiful music on the Planet...Earth.
While alive he never gained the notoriety he deserved because of his shyness and refusal to perform on stage. Before he died, he submitted a work called Fruit Tree that has been theorized to be his prophecy of his own destiny. Nearly thirty years after his death there has been not only a renassaince of his work and a new appreciation for it but his most popular hit "Pink Moon" was featured in a car commercial gaining him international attention and prompting the reissue of all of his four albums. This song, "Fruit Tree" makes direct references to this destiny.
Fame is but a fruit tree,
So very unsound,
It can never flourish, 'Til its stalk is in the ground,
So men of fame,
Can never find their way,
'Til time has flown,
Far from their dying day,
This part especially affected me......
Life is but a memory,
Happened long ago,
Theatre full of saddness,
For a long forgotten show,
Seems so easy,
Just to let it go on by,
'Til you stop and wonder, Why you never wondered why,
This part profoundly relates to his life/death situation.....
Fruit Tree, Fruit tree,
No one knows you but the rain and the air,
Don't you worry,
They'll stand and stare when your gone,
Fruit Tree, Fruit Tree,
Open your eyes to another year, They'll all know,
That you were here when your gone.
I can't recommend Nick Drake anymore. This is borderline obsession. The melodies are soul soothing, quiet, pleasant and thoughtful. I am listening to it as I write. I really wouldn't pass this up if I were you. Samadust
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
![Way to Blue: An Introduction to Nick Drake [Remaster] by Nick Drake](http://di1.shopping.com/images1/pi/27/d3/9d/2006755676-177x150-0-0.jpg)
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.