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Rating:
Alright, since this is my first review, I will make a huge effort to violate all the good little rules indicated by the editorial team okay ;-)?
So, I don't know if it has ever happened to you out there, to be blown away... by a record (are they still called that)?
I was blown away by this record. It is, I believe, the sum of elements that in themselves have something exceptional.
First point: the stylistic signature, a term that sounds very cool, and it is. So Nick, when he wrote this record, was just over twenty (I, on the other hand, wasn't even born), and yet... he already mastered a defined and particular vocabulary, his Voice, which is not so easy for all musicians to find - I think I read somewhere that he received 'recognition' with this record - moreover selling 15,000 copies - something that other musicians achieve with years of hustle, and self-promotion.
Second point: the genre - which was innovative in years of rock, blues, and folk blues. it was none of this and all of this together. An exceptionally refined folk, so beautiful in the arrangements as to be comparable to classical music (Nick diligently listened to the Brandenburg concertos, and his stylistic rigor, and technical details are proven evidence of this..), so romantic and poignant in the lyrics as to be associated with the poetry of the greatest English poets (and his lyrics have value even without music). It was meticulously studied and perfect, and yet it was free, it was unique and rebellious, it drew inspiration from all of this and was different still. sometimes it seems as if the musicians participating in the record have difficulty associating the improvisational genre's style with Nick Drake's innovative harmonies - there are, from a purely technical point of view, chord sequences that, after 20 years of listening, I have not found in anyone else. Nonetheless, the result is even more exceptional, and these 'discrepancies' enrich it and enhance its value. It is astonishing, however, the complete harmony with R. Kirby, the author of the arrangements for strings and winds.
Now, the third point is the most difficult. Because it's one thing when someone is talented, and it's another when someone speaks directly to your heart, without going through your brain - and this is what I feel when I listen to his record. I believe all of this is possible because Nick Drake put all his being, without reservations, without a safety net (as he wrote in one of his letters), into his music. Of the signs, that he saw around him, and that were his world, he apparently could not speak to more than a very few people, despite the success of the record, but evidently and strongly, he desired to do so.
"Bryter Layter" is a very beautiful record. Perfect. The best I have ever listened to. The landscape it paints is complete, it's a universe, with its places, its characters, its symbols. This is more than anything one could ever expect from a record. And this is what it is for me.
Bye!
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 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.
By zaireeka
Bryter Layter represents an oasis, an interlude, a hope of happiness in Nick Drake’s world.
I see, I saw, in Nick Drake’s voice in that section, the voice of a mountain stream, and in the saxophone that accompanies it, a butterfly that follows it, painting light paths in the air.
