Way to Blue: An Introduction to Nick Drake [Original recording remastered]

Way To Blue was a brilliant compilation from 1994, here in remastered form- a brief survey of the three-albums proper on Island (Five Leaves Left, Bryter Later, Pink Moon) & the outtakes album on Hannibal Records (Time of No Reply). I say this now, if you have the money- just get all the albums, or better yet, the Fruit Tree Boxed Set. When you listen to this, you'll want to (even the muddy recorded bootleg album I've heard is great...).

But Way to Blue compilation was my way to Drake, & it remains a brilliant budget priced primer into his back catalogue: great photographs throughout the booklet (he looks like he could have been in Ride or Supergrass in several pics!), a nice introduction by producer Joe Boyd & lyrics/credits: nice attention to detail, which you don't always get on compilations. These 16 tracks (two from Time of No Reply; five from Five Leaves Left; Five from Bryter Later & four from Pink Moon)are simply perfect- it's a collection of music just over an hour in length. One you could simply put on and KNOW...

Of course, I love every song here- Drake's voice and guitarplaying is hypnotic and compelling- & there are a number of guest players who add to the sound (Danny Thompson, Dave Pegg, PP Arnold, Richard Thompson & John Cale etc. Then there is producer Boyd, and arrangers such as Harry Robinson and Robert Kirby- the latter provides a stunning soundscape for Drake's vocal on Way to Blue...

Drake is not alone, one of those arresting singers- records like Over (Peter Hammill), Solid Air (John Martyn), the Sandy Denny compilation from the same series, Astral Weeks (Van Morrison) & Dream Letter (Tim Buckley) operate in similar climes. His influence can be found in many acts- Bonnie Prince Billy (I See a Darkness), Mark Lanegan (Field Songs), Gemma Hayes (Night On My Side), Mark Eitzel (Songs of Love, which features the AMC-song Western Sky- an American take on Drake's own Northern Sky) & the undervalued Sunhouse (Crazy on the Weekend- though track Crazy is most close to Drake & fitted well alongside him on the soundtrack to 24:7).

Sure, it's that doomed melancholic youth thing- but to discount that would also lead to a world without Kurt Cobain, Ian Curtis, Leaving Las Vegas (novel), Rimbaud, Plath...and so on. The lyrics sound pure and timeless, now Nick Drake is out of time. Hard to pick out songs- they're all wonderful- the ones that stand out are the fragile Black Eyed Dog, the gorgeous Northern Sky, the orchestral lull of River Man, the ironic-soul inflected Poor Boy, the pure Time of No Reply & the otherworldly Things Behind the Sun ("It happened before"). The tracks from Bryter Later verge on pop, whereas Pink Moon is extremely minimal and Five Leaves more orchestral...Drake's sound is explored wonderfully here...

Way To Blue is a sublime record, and it's so strange that his songs turn up in strange sixties timewarp shows Heartbeat/The Royal...still, even banal entertainment can make people go "Who's that?". He was Nick Drake.

"They'll all know/That you were here when you're gone" (Fruit Tree)

From the album Bryter Later come Hazey Jane I and II, Poor Boy, One Of These Things First and Northern Sky. Five Leaves Left contributes Cello Sing, Way To Blue, River Man and Time Has Told Me, whilst the stark minimalist album Pink Moon supplies Things Behind The Sun, Which Will and the title track. Black Eyed Dog and Time Of No reply come from the posthumous Time Of No Reply album.

On Sweet Old World Lucinda Williams beautifully covered Which Will and Swans made a bloodcurdling version of Black Eyed Dog, found on their Various Failures album. The group Drive covered his song Road on their early 90s album Out Freakage. The Dream Academy dedicated the song Life In A Northern Town (1985) to Nick Drake. His song Mayfair had already been covered by Millie (of My Boy Lollipop fame) in 1970.

My only complaint about Way To Blue is the omission of Fly, a song that first appeared on Bryter Later and was then included, in a different version, on Time Of No Reply. In my opinion, it is one of his most moving songs. Besides that, this compilation contains the best of Drake’s eerily compelling music but it is still worth it to investigate the original albums.