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Rating:
I don't know if anyone has done it before me, but I've always thought, ever since I discovered Nick Drake, that his first three records, in fact his only ones while alive, represented days of the week.
Just consider how his first album ends with the rising sun of Saturday ("Saturday Sun") and his second ends with the beginning of Sunday ("Sunday").
Unfortunately, there is no day following the third, as we all know.
In short, if "Five Leaves Left" is a Friday, "Pink Moon" a Sunday, "Bryter Layter" would represent Saturday.
The other thing I've often thought is that perhaps, besides the Myth of Sisyphus on the bedside table, Nick Drake kept the poems of Giacomo Leopardi locked in the drawer (and this is not a joke).
The evening of the festivity day of "Pink Moon" could not have been preceded by anything other than the village Saturday of "Bryter Layter".
Musically speaking, but partly also in the lyrics, his second album indeed represents an oasis, an interlude, a hope of happiness in Nick Drake's world (and the presence of three instrumentals confirms it for me).
It's no coincidence that, in my opinion, much more than his other albums, it inspired many pop groups for songs that are far from melancholic, or at least with a certain kind of serene melancholy, full of hope.
Similarities between "Hazey Jane II" and many things by Belle & Sebastian come to mind.
The introduction of "Northern Sky" and that of REM's "Find the river".
Even "Fly" which had its notes (besides the arrangement) stolen by Manuel Agnelli in "Come vorrei".
As if all these authors and groups tried to grasp the essence of these Nick Drake songs, the (wonderful) arrangements by his friend Robert Kirby, to make them their own, because for once with the melancholy that occasionally grips everyone, one might be able to live with it, talk about it, play it serenely, overcome it, finally managing to live better days.
Something Nick Drake couldn't do, lost without hope, as he ended in the evening of a sunless Sunday, very different from the one he had dreamed of just a day before.
Postscript of 02/01/2020:
I realized shortly after publishing it that there are some things wrong with this review of mine, the first of which being too "coldly analytical" towards the work, not giving room to the description of the impressions his music can evoke upon listening, in short, generally taking too much for granted that everyone knows Nick Drake (the many reviews published on the site influenced me). After all, I had an idea about him and his music, his influence, and I wanted to share it with someone.
This morning, I listened again to Bryter Layter, from start to finish, and focused at the end on a song not mentioned so far, "At the chime of the city clock". On Nick Drake's voice in this song, on the section where his voice is accompanied by a saxophone.
What are, what were my impressions?
Well, I see, I saw, in Nick Drake's voice in that section, the voice of a mountain stream (I know, we're in the city, but it doesn't matter), and in the saxophone that accompanies it, a butterfly that follows it, painting light paths in the air, down towards the sea.
In short, a whole world, sweet and serene for once, nothing more, nothing less.
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
05 Hazey Jane I (04:31)
Do you curse where you come from,
Do you swear in the night
Will it mean much to you
If I treat you right.
Do you like what you're doing,
Would you do it some more
Or will you stop once and wonder
What you're doing it for.
Hey slow Jane, make sense
Slow, slow, Jane, cross the fence.
Do you feel like a remnant
Of something that's past
Do you find things are moving
Just a little too fast.
Do you hope to find new ways
Of quenching your thirst,
Do you hope to find new ways
Of doing better than your worst.
Hey slow Jane, let me prove
Slow, slow Jane, we're on the move.
Do it for you,
Sure that you would do the same for me one day.
So try to be true,
Even if it's only in your hazey way.
Can you tell if you're moving
With no mirror to see,
If you're just riding a new man
Looks a little like me.
Is it all so confusing,
Is it hard to believe
When the winter is coming
Can you sign up and leave.
Hey slow Jane, live your lie
Slow, slow jane, fly on by.
07 Fly (03:00)
Please give me a second grace
Please give me a second face
I've fallen far down
The first time around
Now I just sit on the ground in your way
Now if it's time for recompense for what's done
Come, come sit down on the fence in the sun
And the clouds will roll by
And we'll never deny
It's really too hard for to fly.
Please tell me your second name
Please play me your second game
I've fallen so far
For the people you are
I just need your star for a day
So come, come ride in my street-car by the bay
For now I must know how fine you are in your way
And the sea sure as I
But she won’t need to cry
For it's really too hard for to fly.
08 Poor Boy (06:09)
Nick Drake - Poor boy
Never sing for my supper
I never help my neighbour
Never do what is proper
For my share of labour.
I`m a poor boy
And I`m a rover
Count your coins and
Throw them over my shoulder
I may grow older
Nobody knows
How cold it grows
And nobody sees
How shaky my knees
Nobody cares
How steep my stairs
And nobody smiles
If I cross their stiles.
Oh poor boy
So sorry for himself
Oh poor boy
So worried for his health.
You may say every day
Where will he stay tonight.
Never know what I came for
Seems that I`ve forgotten
Never ask what I came for
Or how I was begotten.
I`m a poor boy
And I`m a ranger
Things I say
May seem stranger than Sunday
Changing to Monday.
Nobody knows
How cold it flows
And nobody feels
The worn down heels
Nobody`s eyes
Make the skies
Nobody spreads
Their aching heads.
Oh poor boy
So worried for his life
Oh poor boy
So keen to take a wife.
He`s a mess but he`ll say yes
If you just dress in white.
Nobody knows
How cold it blows
And nobody sees
How shaky my knees
Nobody cares
How steep my stairs
And nobody smiles
If you cross their stiles.
Oh poor boy
So sorry for himself
Oh poor boy
So worried for his health.
You may say every day
Where will he stay tonight.
Oh poor boy
So worried for his life
Oh poor boy
So keen to take a wife.
Oh poor boy
So sorry for himself
Oh poor boy
So worried for his health
Oh poor boy.
09 Northern Sky (03:47)
I never felt magic crazy as this
I never saw moons knew the meaning of the sea
I never held emotion in the palm of my hand
Or felt sweet breezes in the top of a tree
But now you’re here
Brighten my northern sky
I’ve been a long time that I’m waiting
Been a long time that I’m blown
I’ve been a long time that I’ve wandered
Through the people I have known
Oh, if you would and you could
Straighten my new mind’s eye
Would you love me for my money
Would you love me for my head
Would you love me through the winter
Would you love me ‘til I’m dead
Oh, if you would and you could
Come blow your horn on high
I never felt magic crazy as this
I never saw moons knew the meaning of the sea
I never held emotion in the palm of my hand
Or felt sweet breezes in the top of a tree
But now you’re here
Brighten my northern sky
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Other reviews
By NicholasRodneyDrake
The result was actually something that borders on absolute perfection... listening to it gives you almost the sensation of entering a parallel world.
'Northern Sky' is a beautiful love song centered on the complete acceptance of the other.
By Dune Buggy
"You feel like leftover of something that’s gone, immersed in the instrumental sunset of the title-track."
"It’s hard to stay angry when there’s so much beauty in the world."
By andy66
What some consider a virtue, to me is the real great flaw of Nick Drake: the voice.
On a cheerful day, I would never dream of putting on this Bryter Layter.
By maxgit
I was blown away by this record.
"Bryter Layter" is a very beautiful record. Perfect. The best I have ever listened to.
By luludia
This is one of those rare cases where the whole exceeds the sum of its parts.
"Northern Sky" is a song full of hopes, but which does not neglect the subtle cracks, the too-tight shoes of the dream traveler.
