Nick Drake: Pink Moon

Everyone brandishes the term "Desert Island Disc" these days about so many albums, the phrase, I feel, has lost all meaning. I promise that I will try to use it respectfully in this and future writings, but, Nick Drake's Pink Moon needs to be on everyone's list.

What's really amazing is that the 11 tracks that come in just under 30 minutes, are more amazing than most of what's been produced in the last 10 years.

Pink Moon is from 1972, a decade when music was still music. You'll find nothing synthetic on this disc; only a musician and his guitar, my kind of music.

Music has mood. Music has emotion. Music has feeling. A guitar can convey so much without lyrics, and Drake managed to do that so well on this album. There's a certain sadness, sorrow in the notes he plays across the entire album, but it's not depressing. Just good.

Pink Moon, the title track, kicks off the album, and should be familiar to almost everyone as it has appeared in a number of commercials; Which Will has a very soothing, calming effect due to the beautiful intermingling of Drake's voice and his guitar; Know has a bluesy feel (as bluesy as you can get with one acoustic guitar) and contains only the lyrics "Know that I love you / Know I dont care / Know that I see you / Know Im not there;" and From the Morning feels as though it brings the emotion on the disc up a bit, an upbeat finish to this too-short work

In the end: This album belongs in the same pantheon of records as Zep's IV, The Beatles' Abbey Road, Dylan's Blonde on Blonde, and the Who's Who's Next. If you like music, good music, then you're missing out on something simple, pure, and beautiful.

On the Web: I'll dig up something from my archive later and post tonight.

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