Nick Drake

Nick Drake's second album enlisted musicians like Richard Thompson and John Cale to help flush out his more baroque elements. Drake's lost voice and detailed acoustic leads remain the core of these songs, but the soulful instrumentation is equally amazing. File this next to Van Morrison's genius Astral Weeks.

Nick Drake may be the most ethereal recording artist I've ever heard. His fleeting
career--the moody, mysterious music, the remote relationship with his record
company--seemed calculated to distance him from reality. Yet his hushed songs touch a
rare tranquillity that approaches poetry, and when he died in 1974 at the age of 26, he left
behind three albums which are gradually making him a posthumous legend. Bryt... More >