10. Nick Drake "Pink Moon"
Ah, Nick Drake, what to say about him. I was hesitant to check him out for a long time because I was waiting for my expectations to drop. Everything i'd read about him made me fall in love with him. How shy and relatable and just, human he seemed. All the artists I love cited him as a major influence I was scared he wasn't going to be anything like I imagined he would be. Yet when I got Pink Moon I was amazed, because he was what I expected yet much more. His music was sad, yet there always seemed to be this subtle air of hope in it.
Pink Moon was his last album before he just walked away from music and it's fitting as his final album. It's bleak, stark and really not what you expected as a follow up from the more upbeat and orchestrated Bryter Layter but it's exactly what Drake Wanted. This was, when it came out, Nick Drake's most unsuccessful album and despite Island pushing him to promote it he didn't. With the exception of one interview he backed out of the spotlight and went back to live with his parents, leaving music forever.
This album is entirely acoustic with the exception of some Piano on the opening track and its definitely his most somber. I was blown away and enchanted by it, the poetic lyrics, beautiful guitar playing and the way his voice just seemed to fit. This album is intimate, raw and deceptively simple. Pink Moon is a troubled yet beautiful musician singing his last song.
Favorite Songs: From The Morning, Place To Be, Things Behind the Sun, Pink Moon, Parasite
MySpace.com - Nick Drake - Tanworth-in-Arden, UK - Folk / Rock - www.myspace.com/nickdrake