Five Leaves Left
By Nick Drake
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Track listing
Show track credits
- A1 Time Has Told Me 3:56
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piano
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double bass
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electric guitar
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- A2 River Man 4:28
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double bass
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arranger
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- A3 Three Hours 6:01
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double bass
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congas
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- A4 Way to Blue 3:05
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arranger
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- A5 Day Is Done 2:22
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arranger
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- B1 'Cello Song 3:58
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cello
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bass
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congas, shaker
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- B2 The Thoughts of Mary Jane 3:12
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arranger
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- B3 Man in a Shed 3:49
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piano
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bass
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- B4 Fruit Tree 4:42
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arranger
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- B5 Saturday Sun 4:00
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piano
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bass
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drums, vibraphone
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- Total length: 39:33
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23 Issues
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Five Leaves Left [p] 33 rpm, Gatefold
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288 Reviews
Nick Drake by accounts was acutely introverted, increasingly over the course of his short career. According to Clinton Heylin in All the Madmen, Nick mostly hardly spoke at all. But he did speak up when necessary to firmly assert artistic control over his vision in the studio, for example with the standard pop string parts proffered by producer Joe Boyd’s arranger, which he rejected as “too mainstream”. Nick “seemed unable to articulate what he wanted, but he knew right away what he didn’t want”.
Nick drafted in his friend Robert Kirby who nailed most of the arrangements, but even he felt “River Man” was beyond him. Finally Joe Boyd enlisted the highly respected arranger Harry Robinson who listened to Nick’s approximation of strings with guitar chords, then conducted his string section for a live take. They got it.
That sense of reticent understatement is the spirit out of which this whole delicate exercise flows. Despite Nick’s depression, the music doesn’t come across to me as depressing. He was keeping his cards so, so close to his chest. Surely a primary contributing factor in his eventual tragic premature departure. The musical result however is hypnotically subtle, as soothing as classical music. But this sparse sound has such a rich English folk/classical vibe that it’s never boring to me like that super-mellow West Coast singer-songwriter stuff.
For me it’s still not clear. Was there a huge morass of self pity? Did he deep down want the cult pathos of failure, suicide and posthumous recognition? He had loving parents. Disappointment with lack of recognition is the only the only motive I’ve uncovered, but it appears almost as if he was deliberately sabotaging himself from the start, baulking at touring and interviews. I suppose it probably was a deathly genuine iron grip of negativity.
Suicidality is quilted right through his work, but openly here already on “Fruit Tree”. His loved ones tried to reach him. As with a couple of other artists I’ve loved, the power and the ephemerality are a package deal. What they had to give was distilled. If you adore this record, you must check out Solid Air by his friend John Martyn, who made it through, with a similar rich chamber folk aesthetic, but a little more celebration.
Nick drafted in his friend Robert Kirby who nailed most of the arrangements, but even he felt “River Man” was beyond him. Finally Joe Boyd enlisted the highly respected arranger Harry Robinson who listened to Nick’s approximation of strings with guitar chords, then conducted his string section for a live take. They got it.
That sense of reticent understatement is the spirit out of which this whole delicate exercise flows. Despite Nick’s depression, the music doesn’t come across to me as depressing. He was keeping his cards so, so close to his chest. Surely a primary contributing factor in his eventual tragic premature departure. The musical result however is hypnotically subtle, as soothing as classical music. But this sparse sound has such a rich English folk/classical vibe that it’s never boring to me like that super-mellow West Coast singer-songwriter stuff.
For me it’s still not clear. Was there a huge morass of self pity? Did he deep down want the cult pathos of failure, suicide and posthumous recognition? He had loving parents. Disappointment with lack of recognition is the only the only motive I’ve uncovered, but it appears almost as if he was deliberately sabotaging himself from the start, baulking at touring and interviews. I suppose it probably was a deathly genuine iron grip of negativity.
Suicidality is quilted right through his work, but openly here already on “Fruit Tree”. His loved ones tried to reach him. As with a couple of other artists I’ve loved, the power and the ephemerality are a package deal. What they had to give was distilled. If you adore this record, you must check out Solid Air by his friend John Martyn, who made it through, with a similar rich chamber folk aesthetic, but a little more celebration.
Heylon, C.; All the Madmen: Barrett, Bowie, Drake, Pink Floyd, The Kinks, The Who & A Journey To The Dark Side of English Rock London, Constable, 2012, p. 100-104.
Published
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Five Leaves Left is many things. Nick Drake's greatest album. One of the greatest English Folk albums of all time. One of the most influential Folk albums of all time. And probably the English equivalent to Highway 61 Revisited. Nick Drake's wonderfully warm voice and beautiful guitar make this one of the most pleasant albums to listen to that's ever been recorded, and it's impact on the history of Rock just simply cannot be overstated. And then there's the fact I dearly love River Man. It's one of the most gorgeously entrancing songs that's ever been created.
Published
should i kill myself now or tommorrow? oh alright then just one more spin.
Published
On the photos that adorn the inside covers of this record, Nick Drake bears an uncanny resemblance to my father when he was a young man. The likeness is so striking that conspiracy theorists and nut-balls alike might be inclined to argue that Drake never actually died but slipped away from the lemon light (never having experienced the lime light) in order to marry my mother and start a family with her. I know this to be untrue as my mother has never heard of Nick Drake. Neither had my father for that matter, until I brought his doppelganger to his attention. Unless of course they are continuing to live out an elaborate lie to which I can never be privy.
Fortunately I am neither a conspiracy theorist nor a nut-ball and do not think for a moment that I might be the offspring of one of the 70's most unappreciated talents. There are many logical reasons for me to think this way, not least among them being that my father, though a fan of music, displays very little musical talent. Sure, he played drums in a band up until he was over his mid-life crisis, and true, he taught me some of the skills which helped me become the drummer I am today. However, sit him in front of a keyboard or plonk a guitar on his lap and he takes on the appearance of a first grader discovering a book on complex algebra and trying to apply it to the picture book reading material they give to kids today. Unless he is taking his elaborate lie to the extreme of never wanting to touch the guitar again in his life, then he is clearly not Nick Drake. Drake's finger picking style belies a love for music and a dedication to his art. Touches of classical brighten up more traditional folk styling and make songs such as the brooding "Day Is Done" or "Three Hours", with its thrilling pace change, into masterpieces that once written could never go un-played.
Similarly my father’s piano playing abilities are non-existent and whilst Drake's are in no way virtuosic, nor a match for his guitar skills, he does have a lovely way about him. "Saturday Sun" is evidence enough of this, making for a wonderfully uplifting album closer right up until the last couplet where the Saturday sun turns to Sunday rain. My father would never think so morosely as this. He has an upbeat temperament and, aside from when he is sitting in traffic or making sure we all get somewhere on time, tends to look to the positives in life. Unlike Nick.
Having such little musical ability on anything beyond percussive instruments, my father would likewise struggle to know where to begin with orchestration for larger ensembles of musicians. This would make his ability to write songs such as the stunning and haunting "Way to Blue" nigh on impossible. If something is incomprehendible to you, then there is little chance that you could use that lack of comprehension to create something so musically brilliant and moving almost completely by accident.
Unless my father is determined to conceal every part of his considerable talent in order to live out an elaborate lie, then his ability as a vocalist certainly would prove beyond a doubt that he is not Nick Drake. My father refrains from singing as much as possible, but when I do catch him singing along to his favourite songs - which never have included anything particularly folksy - his understanding of tone, pitch or melody are conspicuous by their absence. His attempts to stay in tune are heavy handed and in direct opposition to Drake's soft, calming and meditative note perfect voice.
Finally, if my father was Nick Drake and if Nick Drake was determined never to play music again and wanted to hide his abilities for the rest of his life, then surely some of his talent would have passed down the DNA chain to me and I would be able to write, if not songs of equal magnificence and majesty, then at least ones that are even halfway decent. Years of trying have proven that that is not the case.
So, in conclusion, Nick Drake is not my father. He died years ago when everyone said he did and took with him the talent which has been recognised more and more with each passing year. I am glad of this as I like my Dad the way that he is, and living in the shadow of such a musical talent would be hard, especially as I seem to be amounting to nothing more than a struggling musician myself. But then Nick spent his life being unappreciated so we may not see evidence of my own genius until I have either died or taken on a whole new identity and begun living a lie myself.
Fortunately I am neither a conspiracy theorist nor a nut-ball and do not think for a moment that I might be the offspring of one of the 70's most unappreciated talents. There are many logical reasons for me to think this way, not least among them being that my father, though a fan of music, displays very little musical talent. Sure, he played drums in a band up until he was over his mid-life crisis, and true, he taught me some of the skills which helped me become the drummer I am today. However, sit him in front of a keyboard or plonk a guitar on his lap and he takes on the appearance of a first grader discovering a book on complex algebra and trying to apply it to the picture book reading material they give to kids today. Unless he is taking his elaborate lie to the extreme of never wanting to touch the guitar again in his life, then he is clearly not Nick Drake. Drake's finger picking style belies a love for music and a dedication to his art. Touches of classical brighten up more traditional folk styling and make songs such as the brooding "Day Is Done" or "Three Hours", with its thrilling pace change, into masterpieces that once written could never go un-played.
Similarly my father’s piano playing abilities are non-existent and whilst Drake's are in no way virtuosic, nor a match for his guitar skills, he does have a lovely way about him. "Saturday Sun" is evidence enough of this, making for a wonderfully uplifting album closer right up until the last couplet where the Saturday sun turns to Sunday rain. My father would never think so morosely as this. He has an upbeat temperament and, aside from when he is sitting in traffic or making sure we all get somewhere on time, tends to look to the positives in life. Unlike Nick.
Having such little musical ability on anything beyond percussive instruments, my father would likewise struggle to know where to begin with orchestration for larger ensembles of musicians. This would make his ability to write songs such as the stunning and haunting "Way to Blue" nigh on impossible. If something is incomprehendible to you, then there is little chance that you could use that lack of comprehension to create something so musically brilliant and moving almost completely by accident.
Unless my father is determined to conceal every part of his considerable talent in order to live out an elaborate lie, then his ability as a vocalist certainly would prove beyond a doubt that he is not Nick Drake. My father refrains from singing as much as possible, but when I do catch him singing along to his favourite songs - which never have included anything particularly folksy - his understanding of tone, pitch or melody are conspicuous by their absence. His attempts to stay in tune are heavy handed and in direct opposition to Drake's soft, calming and meditative note perfect voice.
Finally, if my father was Nick Drake and if Nick Drake was determined never to play music again and wanted to hide his abilities for the rest of his life, then surely some of his talent would have passed down the DNA chain to me and I would be able to write, if not songs of equal magnificence and majesty, then at least ones that are even halfway decent. Years of trying have proven that that is not the case.
So, in conclusion, Nick Drake is not my father. He died years ago when everyone said he did and took with him the talent which has been recognised more and more with each passing year. I am glad of this as I like my Dad the way that he is, and living in the shadow of such a musical talent would be hard, especially as I seem to be amounting to nothing more than a struggling musician myself. But then Nick spent his life being unappreciated so we may not see evidence of my own genius until I have either died or taken on a whole new identity and begun living a lie myself.
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A1
Time Has Told Me
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A2
River Man
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A3
Three Hours
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A4
Way to Blue
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A5
Day Is Done
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B1
'Cello Song
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B2
The Thoughts of Mary Jane
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B3
Man in a Shed
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B4
Fruit Tree
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B5
Saturday Sun
I would like to say that I find “The Thoughts of Mary Jane” a little bit overrated, though. Don’t get me wrong, I like it. It’s a good song. But the flute part is kinda dippy and dated, and I could’ve done without it. I’ve seen a lot of people cite it, along with “River Man,” as a highlight, and while I would certainly agree on “River Man,” “Mary Jane” is just a good song. But “River Man” rules. It’s quite a haunting tune, with eerie Victorian string arrangements, fantastic lyrics, and a unique, extremely hummable melody. Better than both of those, and just about every other Nick Drake song, is “Time Has Told Me,” a wonderful combination of folk and country. Most the rest of the record is gray, or at least autumnal, but not this song. This song is slow, rolling, and charming. So is the jazzy closer “Saturday Sun,” featuring a bright vibraphone part. Quite a beautiful tune there. And “Man in a Shed” is even kinda fun. I see it as an acoustic blues track, with a piano and string-bending and everything. So it’s not all gray. Some of it’s (avoids making all-too-obvious “bryter layter” joke).
If you do want autumnal (or gray) music from Nick, there’s lots of that. “River Man” certainly qualifies, and so do “Three Hours” and “Cello Song.” The two are somewhat akin to one another, as both have are tense and menacing, and both have Nick using alternate guitar tunings. What sets “Cello Song” apart, and makes it the slightly better of the two, is the cello part, a high point of the song. “Day is Done” is one of the few Nick Drake songs I find outright depressing. It’s all in that creepy, menacing guitar figure, and those interjections from the strings. “Fruit Tree” is also pretty dark, and it’s the only song I’ve ever heard with an oboe part that honestly sounded good. I’m not a big fan of oboes mostly. They always sound like they’re way too sharp. Besides, who wants to listen to something called an “oboe?” “Oboe” sounds like a perfectly fitting name for a skin infection, not a musical instrument.
Anyway, now I can go on about the one and only reason why I cannot give this album full marks. I came very close to doing so, but I had to show a bit of self-restraint on account of one song and one song alone: “Way to Blue.” It’s not a very good song. In fact, it’s probably the worst Nick Drake song in history. Some people have complained about the orchestral arrangements here sounding too “Hollywood-esque,” but I really don’t think that’s true,. I love the orchestral arrangements, for the most part. Without a cello, “Cello Song” wouldn’t be as cool as it is, and besides, it would just be called “Song.” What kind of a lame name for a song is “song?”The point of that rant is that the instrumentation on “Way to Blue” is handled entirely by the strings, and guess what? Those strings are of MGM caliber. Quite lame, in other words.
It’s amazing how one very bad song can ruin what is otherwise a very good album. I actually typed “very bad album” there by accident, because I had way too much for dinner, and I’m now in a full-on food coma. Italian food does that to you. It’s so good that you have to eat more, but then you end up eating too much of it before you even realize what you’re doing. The only downside of going to Italian restaurants is that you have to listen to music by Italian singers, and it seems a lot of them are prone to big-band Vegas schlock like the cover of “Moondance” I heard over the place’s radio station that might as well have been performed by the lounge band at Caesar’s Palace, only the vocals would’ve been by Celine “I suck, but I’m famous because I married my three-hundred-year-old manager just for the money and I now sing terrible themes to lame big-budget movies for three billion dollars a second, or at least I used to. I don’t know what I do now” Dion. By the way, how lame is it that Celine Dion and Fred Durst and all these other no-talents are rich and famous and Nick Drake died poor and unknown to anyone? Where is the justice in that, people? Where? More importantly, why does every review I write turn into an excuse to rip into Limp Bizkit? Seriously. It’s like Fred Durst is the guy at the running of the bulls wearing red, and I’m the bull about to give him the trampling he deserves.
Speaking of which, this is an example of a very good album ruined by one very bad song. It’s probably also worth noting that Richard Thompson of Fairport Convention arranged this record. I think he also adds guitar or bass or something like that, too. The guy from Pentangle, Danny “not related to Richard” Thompson, plays bass. Both Pentangle and Fairport Convention were pretty big in Britain back then, but this record just didn’t catch on regardless. This really frustrated Nick.
Track picks: "Time Has Told Me," "River Man," "Way to Blue," "Fruit Tree," "Saturday Sun"
Published
ND’s debut is a solid album that finds our man already in full possession of all the qualities that made him famous; his pessimist vision of life in beautiful metaphorical poems and his exquisite and original nylon strings fingerpicking fully developed;
This is also the album that would make arranger Robert Kirby requested by everyone from V.Bunyan to Spirogyra and from the Strabws to E.John in the near future; his beautiful and evocative strings arrangements on 4 tracks (sometimes with flute as in “The Thoughts of Mary Jane” or oboe (?) in “Fruit Tree”), either alone (“Way to Blue”) or together with ND’s guitar (“Day is done”) are fundamental to the overall vibe;
Another arranger, Harry Robinson, is responsible for the mysterious and cinematic strings on “River Man” and the way the album is produced (by Joe Boyd), with the voice often mixed at equal level with the strings; also contributes to the magic of the sound;
Another major force behind ND is the great Danny Thompson with his enfolding double bass lines on the remaining 5 tracks without strings; behind Richard Thompson electric guitar flourishes (“Time has told Me”), creating rhythm webs with the congas (“3 Hours”), with these and a tortured cello (“Cello Song”) ,swinging with Paul Harris barrel house piano (“Man in a Shed”)or in a Jazz feel with drums, vibraphone and acoustic piano on “Saturday Sun” in all those songs that made this a true rainbow, quiet but pulsating with emotions an impossible to get bored with, album
This is also the album that would make arranger Robert Kirby requested by everyone from V.Bunyan to Spirogyra and from the Strabws to E.John in the near future; his beautiful and evocative strings arrangements on 4 tracks (sometimes with flute as in “The Thoughts of Mary Jane” or oboe (?) in “Fruit Tree”), either alone (“Way to Blue”) or together with ND’s guitar (“Day is done”) are fundamental to the overall vibe;
Another arranger, Harry Robinson, is responsible for the mysterious and cinematic strings on “River Man” and the way the album is produced (by Joe Boyd), with the voice often mixed at equal level with the strings; also contributes to the magic of the sound;
Another major force behind ND is the great Danny Thompson with his enfolding double bass lines on the remaining 5 tracks without strings; behind Richard Thompson electric guitar flourishes (“Time has told Me”), creating rhythm webs with the congas (“3 Hours”), with these and a tortured cello (“Cello Song”) ,swinging with Paul Harris barrel house piano (“Man in a Shed”)or in a Jazz feel with drums, vibraphone and acoustic piano on “Saturday Sun” in all those songs that made this a true rainbow, quiet but pulsating with emotions an impossible to get bored with, album
Published
I suppose it takes someone who understands this album to appreciate it.
I dont care much for people's opinion when it comes to Nick, i had a friend who said he thought all 3 albums were shit then went into his room and started playing 10cc and KISS...
...So there we have it.
I dont care much for people's opinion when it comes to Nick, i had a friend who said he thought all 3 albums were shit then went into his room and started playing 10cc and KISS...
...So there we have it.
Published
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A1
Time Has Told Me
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A2
River Man
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A3
Three Hours
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A4
Way to Blue
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A5
Day Is Done
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B1
'Cello Song
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B2
The Thoughts of Mary Jane
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B3
Man in a Shed
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B4
Fruit Tree
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B5
Saturday Sun
Five Leaves Left is definitely the best of Drake's albums to my ears - it strikes a balance between the two albums that followed, both of which went a little too far to either extreme of the sound here. I've heard people say that Bryter Later is the album you should go for if you like orchestration and a full sound, and Pink Moon is the one if you prefer stripped-down, sparse, intimate production, but saying that ignores that Five Leaves Left does both, and the real beauty of it is that it finds a perfect balance between the two. That makes it not just the best Drake album, but also the most definitive; every he was and everything he stood for is encapsulated on this record. He didn't better it, and I doubt he ever would have even if he was still going now; this is one of the all-time great folk albums.
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