Five Leaves Left

民谣天才Nick Drake是一生不得志，死后才风光的典型，几乎所有人都用“孤独”来形容他的音乐，他的演唱总让人有种遥远疏离的感觉，彷佛他只是在唱给自己听，而听众是刚巧经过而已。尽管风格如此孤独，但追求完美的他总是要把歌曲加上精心编排后才发表，而不是许多民谣歌手那样，一把木吉他走天下。尽管在乐评人中一直都有很好的评价，但对于追求简单的听众来说，他的音乐过于丰富，而对于追求新奇的听众来说，他的音乐过于单纯，在70年代初，他的音乐就是这样两头不讨好，所以市场反响总是平平。Nick Drake发现自己不论如何努力总是不能得到大众认同，心情抑郁，并在26岁时英年早逝。讽刺的是，他死后，似乎忽然就变成巨星了。无数后来的民谣艺人都说，Nick Drake是影响他们最深的前辈。

这是Nick的第一张专辑，当时他还是剑桥大学的学生，这第一张专辑就已经很好地诠释了他的风格，在那个属于高歌猛进的年代，Nick Drake独自感受着孤独，歌唱着孤独。

这张专辑在滚石杂志选出的500张历代最强专辑中排名第283位。

by Ned Raggett

It's little wonder why Drake felt frustrated at the lack of commercial success his music initially gathered, considering the help he had on his debut record. Besides fine production from Joe Boyd and assistance from folks like Fairport Convention's Richard Thompson and his unrelated bass counterpart from Pentangle, Danny Thompson, Drake also recruited school friend Robert Kirby to create most of the just-right string and wind arrangements. His own performance itself steered a careful balance between too-easy accessibility and maudlin self-reflection, combining the best of both worlds while avoiding the pitfalls on either side. The result was a fantastic debut appearance, and if the cult of Drake consistently reads more into his work than is perhaps deserved, Five Leaves Left is still a most successful effort. Having grown out of the amiable but derivative styles captured on the long-circulating series of bootleg home recordings, Drake assays his tunes with just enough drama -- world-weariness in the vocals, carefully paced playing, and more -- to make it all work. His lyrics capture a subtle poetry of emotion, as on the pastoral semi-fantasia of "The Thoughts of Mary Jane," which his soft, articulate singing brings even more to the full. Sometimes he projects a little more clearly, as on the astonishing voice-and-strings combination "Way to Blue," while elsewhere he's not so clear, suggesting rather than outlining the mood. Understatement is the key to his songs and performances' general success, which makes the combination of his vocals and Rocky Dzidzornu's congas on "Three Hours" and the lovely "'Cello Song," to name two instances, so effective. Danny Thompson is the most regular side performer on the album, his bass work providing subtle heft while never standing in the way of the song -- kudos well deserved for Boyd's production as well.