Five Leaves Left

Five Leaves Left

Track Listings

1. Time Has Told Me

2. River Man

3. Three Hours

4. Way to Blue

5. Day Is Done

6. Cello Song

7. Thoughts of Mary Jane

8. Man in a Shed

9. Fruit Tree

10. Saturday Sun

Tracks:

Time Has Told Me
River Man
Three Hours
Way To Blue
Day Is Done
'Cello Song
The Thoughts Of Mary Jane
Man In A Shed
Fruit Tree
Saturday Sun

Amazon.com

There's not a single dud in the trilogy of albums that singer/songwriter Nick Drake released during his all-too-short career. And 1968's Five Leaves Left--his first album--is certainly no exception. Drake's sensitive guitar work and sensitive vocals are backed by the baroque sounds of a chamber string group, and the platter's lyrics show maturity well beyond the age of their 20-year-old creator. Sparser than its follow-up, the jazzy Bryter Layter, but less tortured than Drake's dark final chapter, Pink Moon, Five Leaves Left is a classic British folk disc. Songs like "River Man," "The Thoughts of Mary Jane," and "Day Is Done" are among Drake's finest moments. Newcomers be forewarned: this music is as infectious as it is bleak, and a purchase of Drake's boxed set Fruit Tree might be a wise investment. --Jason Verlinde

Album Description

Reissue of the late British folk icon's 1969 debut album. Ten tracks. Island.

Customer Reviews:

Hauntingly Beautiful.......2007-06-08

With this ten dollar CD purchase, I replaced the import vinyl version I purchased back in the 70s for basically the same amount of dough. "Five Leaves Left" is probably one of the best debut albums anyone's ever produced (there's a list I need to make), and nearly four decades after it was released it sounds amazingly fresh. "Cello Song," "When the Day is Done," "Man in a Shed,"...I could rave about individual songs but the truth is there's not a clunker in the bunch.
A lot of CD collections have been compiled of Drake's music, with added outtakes, demos and such. I think the best way to listen to "Five Leaves Left" and "Bryter Layter" are to listen to the songs in the order that they were originally presented. A lot of musicians cite Drake as an influence, but his vocal phrasing, poetic lyrics and odd guitar tunings make his music like no other I've ever heard. Some find his music depressing, I find it like a rainy Sunday afternoon...melancholy but much needed for growth.

about volkswagen and pink moon.......2007-03-05

Some reviewers are critical of Volkswagen's use of Pink Moon in one of their commercials. I'm not. I praise it.
I lived in Germany when the commercial was aired the first time, - it came on TV one late night. And like many other viewers, I was hypnotized.
Did we all run out to buy cars? No. But we all called or wrote to VW, to ask who the singer was.
After that, I have always had a warm little spot in my heart for VW, becaused they introduced Nick Drake to the world. Money here, and money there. I still believe there was a large part heart in the making of that commercial.

I like Nick Drake better than Bob Dylan, Simon & Garfunkel, and Leonard Cohen.......2007-01-18

I understand that that's quite a bold claim I'm making, placing this little known songwriter ahead of the greatest folk singer songwriters of our era. Now I love all the aforementioned artists, so let me list my reasons. The lyrics can be read by themselves like poetry, they are less obtuse than Bob Dylan (they make sense), less sullen and artsy than Leonard Cohen (they are clearly song lyrics, but no less expressive), and no doubt more profound than Simon & Garfunkel. I really connect to his lyrics which are clearly borne out of deep despair, but because they are so beautiful and paired with such beautiful music they aren't sullen and melancholic. Rather, the music is cathartic in its despair and uplifting in its beauty. In fact, I think his lyrics are so universal that I can use the chorus from one of his most famous songs to describe him:

Time has told me
You're a rare rare find
A troubled cure
For a troubled mind.

How true. Now as far as my personal taste, I prefer Nick Drake and especially this album for my own reasons. I'm a sucker for virtuoso finger picking on acoustic guitar, achingly beautiful string arrangements, and cathartic singing. Nick Drake is virtuosic with all 3 on this album, so I'm really happy I found this, I actually wasn't crazy about him at first but I think he might now be one of my favorite artists. As far as where to start, go for this album or Pink Moon. This album has more musical depth instrumentally (lots more strings etc.), and Pink Moon is more tortured and much sparser, which in some ways makes it more powerful. Play this in the background while you work, then go to bed early and listen to this in the dark with some good headphones. The only con is that his music is not catchy like the 3 artists I compared him to. I think that's all that held him back. Enjoy!

The Start Of The End..........2006-12-15

If you ask most of the general public who Nick Drake is about 90-95% won't know who you are talking about. That is because Nick was unknown during his lifetime and today he is still a relatively underground artist. However, all his studio albums are regarded as classics and all three frequently pop up on lists of great albums.

This was the album that started it all, the fascination. His debut album is generally regarded as being less depressing than it's successors. It contains a lot more orchestration and world music influences. Overall, it is a lot more richer in a generical sense.

The album starts off with "Time Has Told Me", a great little tune, which has some amazing instrumentation and has touches of country music inspiration. The electric guitar part is truly irresistable, while Nick's voice is strangely uplifting. Next is "River Man", this song is in a rather unusual time signature of 5/4. This gives the song and unorthodox structure. The string section is breathtaking.

The next song "Three Hours" is the first of two songs on the album to feature a slight world music touch courtesy of superb conga work by Rocki Dzidzornu. Following on from that is a song that is widely regarded as one of Nick's best and signature tunes, "Way To Blue". This song was also the title of a compilation of Nick's work released posthumously in 1994.

"Day Is Done" continues the rather autumnal, strangely mellow feel of this album. This song along with most in Nick's career features a string section arranged by his good friend Robert Kirby, who has gained fame for his work with Nick. "'Cello Song" s probably most notable for being featured in "The Good Girl" a movie starring Jennifer Aniston and Jake Gyllenhaal. It is used in the scene where Jake's character commits suicide. The superb cello work which gives the song its name is also very reminiscent of the cello part in PJ Harvey's song "Plants and Rags".

7 tracks in, "The Thoughts Of Mary Jane" may be viewed by many to be a reference to the infamous drug marijuana, this may be true as Nick was known to be a recreational marijuana user. "Man In A Shed" is a beautiful song whose lyrics give a meaning of isolation and seclusion, obviously autobiographical in Nick's case.

The final two songs are really great. It starts off with "Fruit Tree", whose lyrics offer a chilling insight into the mind of this tortured artist. The lyrics to this song have often been used as a template for Nick's life and sometimes to describe his mental state. Finally, "Saturday Sun" lifts the mood slightly up a bit. This song features Nick on piano and offers a glimpse of what subsequent albums could have been if he lived and experimented with his secondary instrument. Overall it is a beautiful track that has some jazzy bits.

In conclusion this album is definitely not as depressing as "Pink Moon" or as varied as "Bryter Layter", but it is still a magestic effort nonetheless. Nick is one the few artist whose every song is flawless, and even if he had lived longer subsequent albums would have almost guaranteed to be perfect.

A perfect album........2006-10-16

I was lucky enough to hear to original LP when I was younger as my father was a huge fan of the ever thoughtful and often melancholy genius of Drake. There's nothing I can add that hasn't already been said with one exception. The re-master of this album is showing its colors in that there is a noticeable gain hiss from the original session tapes. This may have been a problem to deal with in the late 90's when this was re-mastered and re-issued. But with todays "de-hiss" technology, it effectively eliminates this slight noise that blankets the entire album. They really should reconsider re-re-mastering this album, again, from the original tapes, and not from this master to make this a completely perfect album in both execution and final CD (or DVD Audio) pressed result.