Nick Drake Genius Musician Lost to Depression.

Nick Drake isn't a name that a huge amount of people know. However anyone who likes music, or is in anyway passionate about it, should know the name. Nick was one of the most talented acoustic musicians of his time. He only made three albums.

The best way i can describe Nick Drake's music is like a warm bowl of soup on a freezing winter night, that's they way it feels, warming and life affirming, it a may be a little melancholy, but like any snowy scene there is a natural beauty to it.

FIVE LEAVES LEFT
This was his first studio album released on Island Records in 1969, and produced by Joe Boyd. A mix of his own material and covers.

BRYTER LAYTER
This his second studio album, produced again by Joe Boyd; you can hear how Nick has grown as a musician here. The album was released on Island Records to an indifferent audience at the time.

PINK MOON
Nick’s third album, perfectly encapsulation the early 70s, a masterpiece that sadly didn’t do well sales wise., it was coproduced by Nick Drake and John Wood and also released on Island Records.

There was a fourth album put together after his death.

Nick Drake was a quiet unassuming man, not given too much talking, he let his music talk for him, and that was the problem. It struck me that he was never able to talk to people. He craved commercial success, but was unable to strike the artistic compromise usually demanded by commercial success. There is a quiet melancholy beauty to the stripped back acoustic guitar and Nick’s voice. Don’t get me wrong it’s sad music, but it makes the soul soar the way music should

Nick suffered badly from depression for most of his life, and some say that he was a withdrawn and shy man who found it difficult to form relationships with people, leaving him isolated and unable to talk to people. The lack of commercial success convinced him that he wasn’t as talented as we all know him to be and sadly he took his own life on the 25th of November 1974 at the age of 26.

Tanworth-in-Arden, his pace of birth and ultimately death has become a pilgrimage site for a lot of people fascinated by a vastly talented man lost to depression and isolation.

We still have his music and the list of bands that cite him as both an aspiration and an inspiration are REM, Radiohead The Coral, Super Furry Animals, Belle and Sebastian and more. He has become a legend like the Stones to people who know about him.

So, when you are feeling down and need a pick me up, play some Nick Drake, his gentle and intelligent songs whilst slightly melancholy are a celebration of life and together we can celebrate his too short life.

(Images sourced from google images)