five leaves left

Nick Drake found the way to blue with the sophisticated folk explorations of this troubled cure for a troubled mind.  

'Five Leaves Left' was produced by Joe Boyd and engineered by John Wood at Sound Techniques in London and features Nick Drake on piano, vocals, and acoustic guitar;   with Paul Harris on piano;  Richard Thompson on electric guitar;  Danny Thompson on bass and double bass;  Rocky Dzidzornu on congas;  Clare Lowther on cello;  Tristan Fry on drums and vibraphone;  and  string arrangements by Robert Kirby and Harry Robinson.  

Wood recalls:  "The first strong memory I have of Nick was at the second or third session for 'Five Leaves Left'". Richard Hewson, a well known arranger, and a fifteen piece orchestra had been brought in to arrange Nick's songs. "Nick started getting hotter and hotter under the collar. He was very young and he had struck me as a person you could push about. Some people in a recording session will do whatever you tell them. But he was getting quietly more and more aggravated, and in the end he dug his heels in and dismissed the arrangements. He said he'd get this friend at Cambridge, Robert Kirby, he thought would be much more sympathetic to what he was doing. Robert had never before done anything in his life in a recording studio. But two weeks later we booked him together with a bunch of musicians- a smaller bunch than the fist time, I remember... We were flabbergasted. He was so good"

http://www.nickdrake.com/

http://www.brytermusic.com/

'Five Leaves Left'

full album:  

All tracks written by Nick Drake.

Side A
1. "Time Has Told Me" 4:27
2. "River Man" 4:21
3. "Three Hours" 6:16
4. "Way to Blue" 3:11
5. "Day Is Done" 2:29
Side B
6. "'Cello Song" 4:49
7. "The Thoughts of Mary Jane" 3:22
8. "Man in a Shed" 3:55
9. "Fruit Tree" 4:50

10. "Saturday Sun" 4:03