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Pink Moon

Pink Moon is the third and final studio album by the English musician Nick Drake, released in the UK by Island Records on 25 February 1972.[1] It was the only one of Drake's studio albums to be released in North America during his lifetime. Pink Moon differs from Drake's previous albums in that it was recorded without a backing band, featuring just Drake on vocals, acoustic guitar and a single piano melody overdubbed onto the title track.

Pink Moon
Studio album by
Released25 February 1972 (1972-02-25)
Recorded30–31 October 1971
StudioSound Techniques, London
GenreFolk
Length28:22
LabelIsland
ProducerJohn Wood
Nick Drake chronology
Bryter Layter
(1971)
Pink Moon
(1972)
Fruit Tree
(1979)

Released two years before Drake's death in November 1974, at the age of twenty-six, the lyrical content of Pink Moon has often been attributed to Drake's ongoing battle with depression.[2] The songs are shorter than on his previous albums, with a total album running time of just over twenty-eight minutes.

Pink Moon, like Drake's previous studio albums, did not sell well during his lifetime, and its stripped-back, intimate sound received a mixed response from critics. However, the album has since garnered significant critical acclaim, appearing on a number of best-of lists.

Background edit

Nick Drake's first two albums with Island Records, Five Leaves Left (1969) and Bryter Layter (1971), had sold poorly, and combined with Drake's reluctance to perform live or engage in album promotion, Island was not confident of another album from Drake.[2] Additionally, Drake had isolated himself in his London apartment and was suffering from depression. In 1971 he saw a psychiatrist and was prescribed antidepressants, which he was reluctant to take due to the stigma associated with depression and his fears concerning the medication's interaction with marijuana, which he smoked regularly.[2]

Although critics often associate Drake's music with his depression — especially the perceived melancholy of Pink Moon — Cally Callomon of Bryter Music, which manages Drake's estate, remembers it differently: "Nick was incapable of writing and recording while he was suffering from periods of depression. He was not depressed during the writing or recording of Pink Moon and was immensely proud of the album."[3]

Recording edit

Drake appeared to have made a decision before recording his third album that it would be as plain as possible and free of the numerous guest musicians that had been employed on Bryter Layter. In his autobiography, Joe Boyd, producer of Drake's first two albums, remembered that as they were finishing the recording of Bryter Layter, Drake had told him that he wanted to make his next record alone.[5] And in his only interview, published in Sounds magazine in March 1971, Drake told interviewer Jerry Gilbert that "for the next [album] I had the idea of just doing something with John Wood, the engineer at Sound Techniques".[6]

After a brief hiatus in Spain spent at a villa belonging to Island Records' head Chris Blackwell,[7] Drake returned to London refreshed. In October 1971 he approached record engineer and producer John Wood,[2] who had worked with Drake on his previous two albums and who Drake felt was one of the few people he could trust. Wood has worked with other artists such as Fairport Convention, Cat Stevens, and Pink Floyd, and he often worked in partnership with record producer Joe Boyd. Boyd produced Drake's first two albums with Wood acting as sound engineer. Although Wood primarily focused on the engineering of an album, he often contributed as a producer.

When Drake reached out to Wood in 1971 expressing his interest in recording another album, the ensuing process was significantly pared down compared to Drake's other two albums. The album was recorded at Sound Techniques studio in London in late October 1971 with just Drake and Wood present.[8] With the studio being booked during the day, Drake and Wood arrived at the studio around 11:00 p.m. and simply and quietly recorded half the songs. The next night, they did the same. In only two late night sessions, with just his voice and acoustic guitar, Drake created what is considered by many to be one of the "most influential folk albums of all time".[9]

Contrary to popular legend that Drake dropped the album off in a plastic bag at Island Records reception and then left without anyone realising it, Drake delivered the master tapes of Pink Moon to Chris Blackwell at Island.[2] In an interview for the Nick Drake fanzine Pynk Moon in 1996, Island's press officer David Sandison recalled that Drake's arrival at the record company had certainly not gone unnoticed, although there had been no indication that he was delivering them a new album:

I saw him in reception after I came back from lunch and I was talking to somebody and I saw a figure in the corner on the bench, and I suddenly realized it was Nick. He had this big, 15 ips [inches per second] master tape box under his arm, and I said 'Have you had a cup of tea?' and he said 'Erm, yes', and I said 'Do you want to come upstairs?' and he said 'Yes, okay'. So we went upstairs into my office, which was on top of the landing, it was a landing that went into the big office with a huge round table where Chris and everybody else worked—very democratic—and there was a big Reevox [sic] and sound system there, and he just sat in my office area for about half an hour ... After about half an hour he said 'I'd better be going', and I said 'Okay, nice to see you', and he left. Now, he went down the stairs and he still had the tapes under his arm, and about an hour later the girl who worked behind the front desk called up and said 'Nick's left his tapes behind'. So I went down and it was the big sixteen-track master tape and it said NICK DRAKE PINK MOON, and I thought 'that's not an album I know'. The first thing to do was get it in the studio to make a seven and a half inch safety copy, because that was the master. So we ran off a safety copy to actually play, and I think twenty four hours later or so, it was put on the Reevox in the main room and we heard Pink Moon.[10]

The tapes of the Pink Moon session also included Drake's recording of "Plaisir d'amour" (translated from French as "The Pleasure of Love"), a classical French love song written in 1784 by Jean-Paul-Égide Martini. "Plaisir d'amour" was on the track listing of the Pink Moon master tape box as the first track of Side Two when the tapes were presented. However, a note in reference to the song was included which read, "Spare title – Do not use"[11] so the song did not make it onto the album. The recording, less than a minute long and featuring guitar with no vocals, was eventually included as a hidden track on UK editions of the Nick Drake compilation A Treasury (2004). Had "Plaisir d'amour" been included on the Pink Moon album, it would have been the only song on any of his albums that Nick Drake did not write himself.

Artwork edit

Keith Morris was the photographer who took Drake's photo for the cover of Five Leaves Left and he was commissioned to photograph Drake for the cover of Pink Moon. However, the photos were not used as Drake's rapidly deteriorating appearance, hunched figure and blank expression were not considered good selling points. Island's creative director Annie Sullivan, who oversaw the shoot, recalled the difficulty in making a decision around the cover of the LP: "I remember going to talk to [Nick], and he just sat there, hunched up, and even though he didn't speak, I knew the album was called Pink Moon, and I can't remember how he conveyed it, whether he wrote it down ... he wanted a pink moon. He couldn't tell me what he wanted, but I had 'pink moon' to go on."[3] Island picked a piece of surrealist Dalí-esque art by Michael Trevithick, who was incidentally a friend of Drake's sister Gabrielle. Although Drake was not outspoken in his opinion on the cover art of Pink Moon, many close to him felt that he approved.[citation needed]

David Sandison stated that he found the original framed artwork for Pink Moon in among the debris of the basement room that Island later allocated to him as his office, and he took it home and hung it on the wall of his house for several years, before eventually presenting it to Drake's parents.[10] An undated photo of Drake's music room at his parents' house in Tanworth-in-Arden shows what appears to be the artwork hanging on the wall.[citation needed]

Critical reception edit

 
Full page advertisement of the release of Pink Moon.[12]

Island Records launched an unusual promotional campaign for the initial release of Pink Moon. They spent the entire promotional budget on full-page advertisements in all major music magazines the month of the record's release.

Pink Moon received more attention from the UK music press than Drake's first two albums had, but most critical reviews were still brief.

In 1971, Jerry Gilbert of Sounds had conducted the only known interview with Drake. Gilbert had championed Drake up to this point, but expressed his disappointment with Pink Moon and his frustration at Drake's apparent lack of motivation, saying, "The album consists entirely of Nick's guitar, voice and piano and features all the usual characteristics without ever matching up to Bryter Layter. One has to accept that Nick's songs necessarily require further augmentation, for whilst his own accompaniments are good the songs are not sufficiently strong to stand up without any embroidery at all. 'Things Behind the Sun' makes it, so does 'Parasite' – but maybe it's time Mr. Drake stopped acting so mysteriously and started getting something properly organised for himself."[13]

In Melody Maker, Mark Plummer appreciated the music, but was distracted by Drake's growing ascetic mythology: "His music is so personal and shyly presented both lyrically and in his confined guitar and piano playing that neither does nor doesn't come over ... The more you listen to Drake though, the more compelling his music becomes – but all the time it hides from you. On 'Things Behind the Sun', he sings to me, embarrassed and shy. Perhaps one should play his albums with the sound off and just look at the cover and make the music in your head reciting his words from inside the cover to your own rhythmic heart rhymes ... It could be that Nick Drake does not exist at all."[14]

Referring to Drake's recorded output, Fred Dellar noted in Hi-Fi News & Record Review that "the LPs hardly sell, thanks partly to Nick's reluctance to play promotional concerts and one is left with the feeling that his only ambition is to play the lead in the Howard Hughes story should anyone ever decide to make it as a musical. In the meantime, he employs his deliciously smokey voice in making these intimate, late-night sounds that I find myself playing time and time again."[15] In the London edition of Time Out, Al Clark observed that Drake "writes striking and evocative songs and always has done, but most of the magic is in the delivery: a smoky, palpitating voice, reminiscent of the jazzier Donovan, gliding wistful words over the chord changes and creating moments of perfect stillness". Clark stated that "several of the more substantial songs are very lovely", but concluded presciently, "Sadly, and despite Island's efforts to rectify the situation, Nick Drake is likely to remain in the shadows, the private troubadour of those who have been fortunate enough to catch an earful of his exquisite 3am introversions".[16]

Reviewing the album in the October 1972 issue of Creem, Colman Andrews described the songs as "not awfully good" and "weak", and that the music was "a triumph of style over sententiousness, of sound over sense" with "a lulling repetitiousness to a lot of what he sings", but that this was the point: "he knows precisely what emotional limits to impose upon his self-accompaniment. It's seductive music."[17]

By the time of the album's reissues on compact disc in the 1990s and 2000s, Drake's fame and critical standing had improved considerably, and legacy reviews of the album were overwhelmingly favourable.

Martin Aston of Q noted in 1990 that "the mood is even more remote [than Drake's first two albums] with – finally – a defeated strain in both throat and words, but several of his most elegant melodies".[27]

John Harris's review of the 2000 reissue in the same magazine was more positive still, claiming that "many hold up Pink Moon as Nick Drake's best album" and saying, "The motivation of success had evaporated and Drake made a record so singular and uncompromising that, superficially, it beggars belief ... The truth is that Pink Moon's excellence shines through, irrespective of the endless speculation [regarding Drake's state of mind during the making of the record and subsequent death]. Few records have ever sounded so intimate, or embodied the eternal human ailment known as Melancholy with such grace and assurance."[22]

In Mojo Rob Chapman claimed that "Pink Moon is his masterpiece and the Robert Johnson comparisons are fully deserved".[28]

Critic and author Ian MacDonald, a contemporary of Drake's at Cambridge University, stated in Uncut that "what remains clear is that this is one of the premium singer-songwriter albums, nearly every one of its 11 tracks a timeless classic".[26]

Rolling Stone's Anthony DeCurtis observed that "by the time of these sessions, Drake had retreated so deeply into his own internal world that it is difficult to say what the songs are 'about'. His lyrics are so compressed as to be kind of folkloric haikus, almost childishly simple in their structure and elemental in their imagery. His voice conveys, in its moans and breathy whispers, an alluring sensuality, but he sings as if he were viewing his life from a great, unbridgeable distance. That element of detachment is chilling. To reinforce it, messages of isolation gradually float to the surface of the songs' spare, eloquent melodies."[29]

Three years later in the same magazine, James Hunter said of the 2003 North American reissue "The album unleashes a dramatic starkness and some breathtakingly pretty music".[23]

AllMusic's Ned Raggett wrote in his retrospective review that "Pink Moon more than anything else is the record that made Drake the cult figure he remains. Specifically, Pink Moon is the bleakest of [all his records]; that the likes of Belle and Sebastian are fans of Drake may be clear enough, but it's doubtful they could ever achieve the calm, focused anguish of this album, as harrowing as it is attractive ... Drake's elegant melancholia avoiding sounding pretentious in the least thanks to his continued embrace of simple, tender vocalizing. Meanwhile, the sheer majesty of his guitar playing – consider the opening notes of 'Road' or 'Parasite' – makes for a breathless wonder to behold."[18]

Reviewing Pink Moon as part of the 2014 box set Tuck Box, Jayson Greene of Pitchfork noted, "A 'pink moon' is a baleful symbol, a sign of impending death or calamity ... On paper, this sentiment reads like vindictive rage, but on record, it sounds contemplative. Drake's voice never conveyed palpable anger or sadness; he had a slight, gentle voice and upper-class accent, the product of his upbringing, clipped and clean, and his guitar, as always, rang out with a crystalline purity. His music is so consoling that the darkness at its heart is not always accessible. It's almost impossible to hear the emotional abandon in Pink Moon, then, without the taste of his first two albums lingering on your mouth. It's only then that the bone-dry resonance of the guitars registers as slightly alarming, and the backdrop of silence suggests both the purity of Drake's vision and also something darker: like someone who has dropped out of the world, mumbling prophecies ... There is a stillness to Nick Drake's music that bewitches anyone who gets near enough, and Pink Moon is its purest expression. It remains the Nick Drake record most people begin with, and for good reason."[21]

Accolades edit

Pink Moon was voted number 131 in the third edition of Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums (2000).[30] In 2003, the album was ranked number 320 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.[31] In 2012, that ranking was revised to number 321, and in 2020 was revised to number 201.[32]

In the UK Pink Moon was placed at number 48 in Melody Maker's 2000 list of the best albums of all time,[33] and at number 126 in Uncut's 200 Greatest Albums of All Time in 2016.[34]

Legacy edit

The first notable cover versions of Nick Drake songs were released in 1992 when Lucinda Williams covered "Which Will" on her album Sweet Old World[35] and alternative rock band Sebadoh covered "Pink Moon" on their EP Sebadoh vs Helmet.[36] By 2006, Beck recorded covers of the album's songs for online-only release, including "Which Will" and "Parasite."[37]

1999 Volkswagen Cabriolet advertisement edit

On 11 November 1999 Volkswagen debuted a television advertising campaign named "Milky Way" that featured the Volkswagen Cabriolet with the title track of Pink Moon as the soundtrack.

Ron Lawner, Chief Creative Officer of Arnold Communications stated in the press release, "The song is very special. It's an old song by a guy named Nick Drake. It's called 'Pink Moon' and is actually a very good introduction to Nick Drake if you're not familiar with him. It's very transporting. And to us seemed very fitting for a beautiful drive in the country on a very special night."[38]

The Volkswagen Cabriolet commercial, directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris and filmed by Lance Acord, led to a large increase in record sales[39] and a number-five placing for Pink Moon in Amazon.com's sales chart.[40] The campaign was an important milestone in the use of popular music in advertising.[citation needed]

Bethany Klein, a professor in the Department of Media and Communication at the University of Central England states, "The role of 'Pink Moon' in the success of "Milky Way" was interesting, in that it both added to the artistry of the commercial and was also protected by the visual artistry of the spot: because the ad 'worked' (it was an aesthetic success) the usual negative discourse surrounding the use of popular music in advertising was, if not stopped, at least reduced and accompanied by positive appraisals ... The linking together of the ad being a 'watershed' and being 'nicely done' is no coincidence; it is because the ad is so well executed and so aesthetically successful that the industry and the public reassessed the use of music in advertising around this example."[41] In 2001, Volkswagen gave all new Volkswagen Cabrio buyers a compilation CD which featured "Pink Moon" as the first track.

U.S. sales of Nick Drake's Pink Moon album rose from 6,000 copies, prior to the song's use in the Cabrio commercial, to 74,000 copies in 2000.[42] As of 2004 it had sold 329,000 copies in the United States.[43]

Track listing edit

All songs written and composed by Nick Drake.

Side one
No.TitleLength
1."Pink Moon"2:06
2."Place to Be"2:43
3."Road"2:02
4."Which Will"2:58
5."Horn"1:23
6."Things Behind the Sun"3:57
Side two
No.TitleLength
1."Know"2:26
2."Parasite"3:36
3."Free Ride"3:06
4."Harvest Breed"1:37
5."From the Morning"2:30
Total length:28:22

Personnel edit

All credits adapted from the album's liner notes.[44]

  • Nick Drake – vocals and acoustic guitar, piano on "Pink Moon"

Production

Certifications edit

Region Certification Certified units/sales
Italy (FIMI)[45] Gold 25,000
United Kingdom (BPI)[46] Gold 100,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.
Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

Release history edit

Release formats for Pink Moon
Region Year Label Format Catalog Notes
United Kingdom 25 February 1972 Island LP ILPS 9184 Re-pressed 1976, 1978 and 1989 with different Island Records logos
United States 1972 SMAS 9318
United Kingdom & Europe April 1990 CD IMCD 94/842 923-2 Original CD release as part of the Island Masters series
United States 22 June 1992 Hannibal Records HNCD 4436
United Kingdom & Europe 26 June 2000 Island remastered CD IMCD 94/842 923-2 CD reissue as part of the Island Masters series, now labelled "Island Re-Masters", with additional slip cover and original label reprint on the CD
United States 6 May 2003 422 842 923-2
Canada 4228429232
United Kingdom & Europe 18 May 2009 180 gram LP 1745697 re-pressed 18 November 2013
Worldwide 12 November 2012 Remastered LP box set 0602537134335

References edit

  1. ^ Humphries, Patrick (1998). Nick Drake: The Biography. London, England: Bloomsbury. p. 174. ISBN 978-0-7475-3503-4.
  2. ^ a b c d e Dann, Trevor (2006). Darker Than the Deepest Sea: The Search for Nick Drake. London, England: Da Capo Press. ISBN 978-0-306-81520-1.
  3. ^ a b Petrusich, Amanda (2007). Pink Moon. Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN 978-0-8264-2790-8.
  4. ^ "BBC Radio 2 – Lost Boy: In Search of Nick Drake : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive". 22 May 2004. Retrieved 23 November 2013.
  5. ^ Boyd, Joe (2006). White Bicycles – Making Music in the 1960s. London, England: Serpent's Tail. ISBN 978-1-84765-216-4.
  6. ^ Gilbert, Jerry (13 March 1971). "Something else for Nick?". Sounds. London, England: United Newspapers.
  7. ^ Brown, Mick (12 July 1997). "The sad ballad of Nick Drake". The Daily Telegraph. London, England. Retrieved 19 November 2013.
  8. ^ MacDonald, Ian (January 2000). . Mojo (74). London, England: EMAP: 32–47. Archived from the original on 10 December 2011. Retrieved 19 November 2013.
  9. ^ Silva, Jared (16 February 2011). "Second Look: Nick Drake – Pink Moon". www.beatsperminute.com. Retrieved 19 November 2013.
  10. ^ a b Creed, Jason (24 June 1996). "Interview with David Sandison". Pynk Moon fanzine. No. 6. Reproduced in Humphries (1998).
  11. ^ "Pink Moon Master Tape Box". www.freecovers.net. 24 October 2011. Retrieved 19 November 2013.
  12. ^ "40 Years Ago This Week: Nick Drake's Pink Moon Released". Blogspot.com. 27 February 2012. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
  13. ^ Gilbert, Jerry (25 March 1972). "Review: Nick Drake – Pink Moon". Sounds.
  14. ^ Plummer, Mark (1 April 1972). "Review: Nick Drake – Pink Moon". Melody Maker. p. 19.
  15. ^ a b Dellar, Fred (May 1972). "Current Pop". Hi-Fi News & Record Review. p. 939.
  16. ^ Clark, Al (17 March 1972). "Review: Nick Drake – Pink Moon". Time Out.
  17. ^ Andrews, Colman (October 1972). "Pink Moon – Nick Drake". Creem.
  18. ^ a b Raggett, Ned. "Review: Nick Drake – Pink Moon". AllMusic. Retrieved 19 June 2018.
  19. ^ Larkin, Colin (2011). Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Omnibus Press. p. 794. ISBN 9780857125958.
  20. ^ Mansfield, Brian; Walters, Neal, eds. (1998). MusicHound Folk: The Essential Album Guide. Visible Ink Press. p. 1997. ISBN 9781578590377.
  21. ^ a b Greene, Jayson (22 January 2014). "Nick Drake: Tuck Box : Album Reviews : Pitchfork". Pitchfork. Retrieved 19 June 2018.
  22. ^ a b Harris, John (August 2000). "Delicate Flower". Q. No. 167. pp. 112–13.
  23. ^ a b Hunter, James (15 May 2003). "Review: Nick Drake – Pink Moon". Rolling Stone. No. 922. p. 136.
  24. ^ DeCurtis, Anthony; Henke, James; George-Warren, Holly, eds. (1992). The Rolling Stone Album Guide (3rd ed.). Random House. p. 210. ISBN 0-679-73729-4.
  25. ^ Weisbard, Eric; Marks, Craig, eds. (1995). "Nick Drake". Spin Alternative Record Guide. New York: Vintage Books. ISBN 0-679-75574-8.
  26. ^ a b MacDonald, Ian (August 2000). "Behind the sun". Uncut. No. 39. p. 92.
  27. ^ Aston, Martin (August 1990). "Review: Nick Drake – Pink Moon". Q. No. 47. p. 111.
  28. ^ Chapman, Rob (July 2000). "The feast of St. Nick". Mojo. No. 80. p. 99.
  29. ^ DeCurtis, Anthony (17 February 2000). . Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 19 June 2018. Retrieved 19 June 2018.
  30. ^ Larkin, Colin, ed. (2000). All Time Top 1000 Albums (3rd ed.). Virgin Books. p. 83. ISBN 0-7535-0493-6.
  31. ^ . Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 12 June 2018. Retrieved 19 November 2013.
  32. ^ Wenner, Jann S., ed. (2012). The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. ISBN 978-7-09-893419-6.
  33. ^ "The Best Albums in the World... Ever!". Melody Maker. 5 January 2000. pp. 20–23.
  34. ^ "200 Greatest Albums of All Time". Uncut. No. 225. February 2016.
  35. ^ Dobbie, Andrew (27 January 2010). "UK musicians pay tribute to songs of Nick Drake". Reuters. Retrieved 19 June 2018.
  36. ^ Richardson, Mark (16 March 2012). "Review: Sentridoh – Weed Forestin' ". Pitchfork. Retrieved 19 June 2018.
  37. ^ "Beck covers Nick Drake | NME". NME Music News, Reviews, Videos, Galleries, Tickets and Blogs | NME.COM. 3 March 2006. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
  38. ^ "'Milky Way' is the First Volkswagen Ad to Launch on Web Sneak Preview on the Internet Prior to National Broadcast". Volkswagen of America. 11 November 1999. Retrieved 13 November 2013.
  39. ^ Drake, Nick (16 July 2006). . The Independent. London, England: Independent Print Limited. Archived from the original on 9 July 2009. Retrieved 19 November 2013.
  40. ^ "Rock Star Back from the Dead". The Birmingham Post (UK). 7 April 2000.
  41. ^ Klein, Bethany (2010). As Heard on TV: Popular Music in Advertising. Farnham, Surrey: Ashgate Publishing. p. 46. ISBN 978-1-4094-0764-5.
  42. ^ Volkswagen Rolls Out Mix CD With Styx, Trio, Other Commercial Hits - MTV
  43. ^ Hasty, Katie (12 May 2007). "Gone but not forgotten". Billboard. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
  44. ^ Pink Moon (sleeve notes). Island Records. 1972. ILPS 9184.
  45. ^ "Italian album certifications – Nick Drake – Pink Moon" (in Italian). Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana. Retrieved 14 February 2022.
  46. ^ "British album certifications – Nick Drake – Pink Moon". British Phonographic Industry.

External links edit

  • Pink Moon at Discogs (list of releases)
  • Pink Moon at MusicBrainz
  • VW Cabrio commercial (article + video)

pink, moon, other, uses, full, moon, full, moon, names, book, third, final, studio, album, english, musician, nick, drake, released, island, records, february, 1972, only, drake, studio, albums, released, north, america, during, lifetime, differs, from, drake,. For other uses see Full moon Full moon names and Pink Moon book Pink Moon is the third and final studio album by the English musician Nick Drake released in the UK by Island Records on 25 February 1972 1 It was the only one of Drake s studio albums to be released in North America during his lifetime Pink Moon differs from Drake s previous albums in that it was recorded without a backing band featuring just Drake on vocals acoustic guitar and a single piano melody overdubbed onto the title track Pink MoonStudio album by Nick DrakeReleased25 February 1972 1972 02 25 Recorded30 31 October 1971StudioSound Techniques LondonGenreFolkLength28 22LabelIslandProducerJohn WoodNick Drake chronologyBryter Layter 1971 Pink Moon 1972 Fruit Tree 1979 Released two years before Drake s death in November 1974 at the age of twenty six the lyrical content of Pink Moon has often been attributed to Drake s ongoing battle with depression 2 The songs are shorter than on his previous albums with a total album running time of just over twenty eight minutes Pink Moon like Drake s previous studio albums did not sell well during his lifetime and its stripped back intimate sound received a mixed response from critics However the album has since garnered significant critical acclaim appearing on a number of best of lists Contents 1 Background 2 Recording 3 Artwork 4 Critical reception 4 1 Accolades 5 Legacy 5 1 1999 Volkswagen Cabriolet advertisement 6 Track listing 7 Personnel 8 Certifications 9 Release history 10 References 11 External linksBackground editNick Drake s first two albums with Island Records Five Leaves Left 1969 and Bryter Layter 1971 had sold poorly and combined with Drake s reluctance to perform live or engage in album promotion Island was not confident of another album from Drake 2 Additionally Drake had isolated himself in his London apartment and was suffering from depression In 1971 he saw a psychiatrist and was prescribed antidepressants which he was reluctant to take due to the stigma associated with depression and his fears concerning the medication s interaction with marijuana which he smoked regularly 2 Although critics often associate Drake s music with his depression especially the perceived melancholy of Pink Moon Cally Callomon of Bryter Music which manages Drake s estate remembers it differently Nick was incapable of writing and recording while he was suffering from periods of depression He was not depressed during the writing or recording of Pink Moon and was immensely proud of the album 3 Recording edit nbsp Pink Moon Recording source source BBC Radio 2 documentary from 2004 with John Wood about the two nights of recording Pink Moon 4 Problems playing this file See media help Drake appeared to have made a decision before recording his third album that it would be as plain as possible and free of the numerous guest musicians that had been employed on Bryter Layter In his autobiography Joe Boyd producer of Drake s first two albums remembered that as they were finishing the recording of Bryter Layter Drake had told him that he wanted to make his next record alone 5 And in his only interview published in Sounds magazine in March 1971 Drake told interviewer Jerry Gilbert that for the next album I had the idea of just doing something with John Wood the engineer at Sound Techniques 6 After a brief hiatus in Spain spent at a villa belonging to Island Records head Chris Blackwell 7 Drake returned to London refreshed In October 1971 he approached record engineer and producer John Wood 2 who had worked with Drake on his previous two albums and who Drake felt was one of the few people he could trust Wood has worked with other artists such as Fairport Convention Cat Stevens and Pink Floyd and he often worked in partnership with record producer Joe Boyd Boyd produced Drake s first two albums with Wood acting as sound engineer Although Wood primarily focused on the engineering of an album he often contributed as a producer When Drake reached out to Wood in 1971 expressing his interest in recording another album the ensuing process was significantly pared down compared to Drake s other two albums The album was recorded at Sound Techniques studio in London in late October 1971 with just Drake and Wood present 8 With the studio being booked during the day Drake and Wood arrived at the studio around 11 00 p m and simply and quietly recorded half the songs The next night they did the same In only two late night sessions with just his voice and acoustic guitar Drake created what is considered by many to be one of the most influential folk albums of all time 9 Contrary to popular legend that Drake dropped the album off in a plastic bag at Island Records reception and then left without anyone realising it Drake delivered the master tapes of Pink Moon to Chris Blackwell at Island 2 In an interview for the Nick Drake fanzine Pynk Moon in 1996 Island s press officer David Sandison recalled that Drake s arrival at the record company had certainly not gone unnoticed although there had been no indication that he was delivering them a new album I saw him in reception after I came back from lunch and I was talking to somebody and I saw a figure in the corner on the bench and I suddenly realized it was Nick He had this big 15 ips inches per second master tape box under his arm and I said Have you had a cup of tea and he said Erm yes and I said Do you want to come upstairs and he said Yes okay So we went upstairs into my office which was on top of the landing it was a landing that went into the big office with a huge round table where Chris and everybody else worked very democratic and there was a big Reevox sic and sound system there and he just sat in my office area for about half an hour After about half an hour he said I d better be going and I said Okay nice to see you and he left Now he went down the stairs and he still had the tapes under his arm and about an hour later the girl who worked behind the front desk called up and said Nick s left his tapes behind So I went down and it was the big sixteen track master tape and it said NICK DRAKE PINK MOON and I thought that s not an album I know The first thing to do was get it in the studio to make a seven and a half inch safety copy because that was the master So we ran off a safety copy to actually play and I think twenty four hours later or so it was put on the Reevox in the main room and we heard Pink Moon 10 The tapes of the Pink Moon session also included Drake s recording of Plaisir d amour translated from French as The Pleasure of Love a classical French love song written in 1784 by Jean Paul Egide Martini Plaisir d amour was on the track listing of the Pink Moon master tape box as the first track of Side Two when the tapes were presented However a note in reference to the song was included which read Spare title Do not use 11 so the song did not make it onto the album The recording less than a minute long and featuring guitar with no vocals was eventually included as a hidden track on UK editions of the Nick Drake compilation A Treasury 2004 Had Plaisir d amour been included on the Pink Moon album it would have been the only song on any of his albums that Nick Drake did not write himself Artwork editKeith Morris was the photographer who took Drake s photo for the cover of Five Leaves Left and he was commissioned to photograph Drake for the cover of Pink Moon However the photos were not used as Drake s rapidly deteriorating appearance hunched figure and blank expression were not considered good selling points Island s creative director Annie Sullivan who oversaw the shoot recalled the difficulty in making a decision around the cover of the LP I remember going to talk to Nick and he just sat there hunched up and even though he didn t speak I knew the album was called Pink Moon and I can t remember how he conveyed it whether he wrote it down he wanted a pink moon He couldn t tell me what he wanted but I had pink moon to go on 3 Island picked a piece of surrealist Dali esque art by Michael Trevithick who was incidentally a friend of Drake s sister Gabrielle Although Drake was not outspoken in his opinion on the cover art of Pink Moon many close to him felt that he approved citation needed David Sandison stated that he found the original framed artwork for Pink Moon in among the debris of the basement room that Island later allocated to him as his office and he took it home and hung it on the wall of his house for several years before eventually presenting it to Drake s parents 10 An undated photo of Drake s music room at his parents house in Tanworth in Arden shows what appears to be the artwork hanging on the wall citation needed Critical reception edit nbsp Full page advertisement of the release of Pink Moon 12 Island Records launched an unusual promotional campaign for the initial release of Pink Moon They spent the entire promotional budget on full page advertisements in all major music magazines the month of the record s release Pink Moon received more attention from the UK music press than Drake s first two albums had but most critical reviews were still brief In 1971 Jerry Gilbert of Sounds had conducted the only known interview with Drake Gilbert had championed Drake up to this point but expressed his disappointment with Pink Moon and his frustration at Drake s apparent lack of motivation saying The album consists entirely of Nick s guitar voice and piano and features all the usual characteristics without ever matching up to Bryter Layter One has to accept that Nick s songs necessarily require further augmentation for whilst his own accompaniments are good the songs are not sufficiently strong to stand up without any embroidery at all Things Behind the Sun makes it so does Parasite but maybe it s time Mr Drake stopped acting so mysteriously and started getting something properly organised for himself 13 In Melody Maker Mark Plummer appreciated the music but was distracted by Drake s growing ascetic mythology His music is so personal and shyly presented both lyrically and in his confined guitar and piano playing that neither does nor doesn t come over The more you listen to Drake though the more compelling his music becomes but all the time it hides from you On Things Behind the Sun he sings to me embarrassed and shy Perhaps one should play his albums with the sound off and just look at the cover and make the music in your head reciting his words from inside the cover to your own rhythmic heart rhymes It could be that Nick Drake does not exist at all 14 Referring to Drake s recorded output Fred Dellar noted in Hi Fi News amp Record Review that the LPs hardly sell thanks partly to Nick s reluctance to play promotional concerts and one is left with the feeling that his only ambition is to play the lead in the Howard Hughes story should anyone ever decide to make it as a musical In the meantime he employs his deliciously smokey voice in making these intimate late night sounds that I find myself playing time and time again 15 In the London edition of Time Out Al Clark observed that Drake writes striking and evocative songs and always has done but most of the magic is in the delivery a smoky palpitating voice reminiscent of the jazzier Donovan gliding wistful words over the chord changes and creating moments of perfect stillness Clark stated that several of the more substantial songs are very lovely but concluded presciently Sadly and despite Island s efforts to rectify the situation Nick Drake is likely to remain in the shadows the private troubadour of those who have been fortunate enough to catch an earful of his exquisite 3am introversions 16 Reviewing the album in the October 1972 issue of Creem Colman Andrews described the songs as not awfully good and weak and that the music was a triumph of style over sententiousness of sound over sense with a lulling repetitiousness to a lot of what he sings but that this was the point he knows precisely what emotional limits to impose upon his self accompaniment It s seductive music 17 Professional ratingsLegacy reviewsReview scoresSourceRatingAllMusic nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp 18 Encyclopedia of Popular Music nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp 19 Hi Fi News amp Record ReviewA 15 MusicHound Folk4 5 5 20 Pitchfork10 10 21 Q nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp 22 Rolling Stone nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp 23 The Rolling Stone Album Guide nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp 24 Spin Alternative Record Guide10 10 25 Uncut nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp 26 By the time of the album s reissues on compact disc in the 1990s and 2000s Drake s fame and critical standing had improved considerably and legacy reviews of the album were overwhelmingly favourable Martin Aston of Q noted in 1990 that the mood is even more remote than Drake s first two albums with finally a defeated strain in both throat and words but several of his most elegant melodies 27 John Harris s review of the 2000 reissue in the same magazine was more positive still claiming that many hold up Pink Moon as Nick Drake s best album and saying The motivation of success had evaporated and Drake made a record so singular and uncompromising that superficially it beggars belief The truth is that Pink Moon s excellence shines through irrespective of the endless speculation regarding Drake s state of mind during the making of the record and subsequent death Few records have ever sounded so intimate or embodied the eternal human ailment known as Melancholy with such grace and assurance 22 In Mojo Rob Chapman claimed that Pink Moon is his masterpiece and the Robert Johnson comparisons are fully deserved 28 Critic and author Ian MacDonald a contemporary of Drake s at Cambridge University stated in Uncut that what remains clear is that this is one of the premium singer songwriter albums nearly every one of its 11 tracks a timeless classic 26 Rolling Stone s Anthony DeCurtis observed that by the time of these sessions Drake had retreated so deeply into his own internal world that it is difficult to say what the songs are about His lyrics are so compressed as to be kind of folkloric haikus almost childishly simple in their structure and elemental in their imagery His voice conveys in its moans and breathy whispers an alluring sensuality but he sings as if he were viewing his life from a great unbridgeable distance That element of detachment is chilling To reinforce it messages of isolation gradually float to the surface of the songs spare eloquent melodies 29 Three years later in the same magazine James Hunter said of the 2003 North American reissue The album unleashes a dramatic starkness and some breathtakingly pretty music 23 AllMusic s Ned Raggett wrote in his retrospective review that Pink Moon more than anything else is the record that made Drake the cult figure he remains Specifically Pink Moon is the bleakest of all his records that the likes of Belle and Sebastian are fans of Drake may be clear enough but it s doubtful they could ever achieve the calm focused anguish of this album as harrowing as it is attractive Drake s elegant melancholia avoiding sounding pretentious in the least thanks to his continued embrace of simple tender vocalizing Meanwhile the sheer majesty of his guitar playing consider the opening notes of Road or Parasite makes for a breathless wonder to behold 18 Reviewing Pink Moon as part of the 2014 box set Tuck Box Jayson Greene of Pitchfork noted A pink moon is a baleful symbol a sign of impending death or calamity On paper this sentiment reads like vindictive rage but on record it sounds contemplative Drake s voice never conveyed palpable anger or sadness he had a slight gentle voice and upper class accent the product of his upbringing clipped and clean and his guitar as always rang out with a crystalline purity His music is so consoling that the darkness at its heart is not always accessible It s almost impossible to hear the emotional abandon in Pink Moon then without the taste of his first two albums lingering on your mouth It s only then that the bone dry resonance of the guitars registers as slightly alarming and the backdrop of silence suggests both the purity of Drake s vision and also something darker like someone who has dropped out of the world mumbling prophecies There is a stillness to Nick Drake s music that bewitches anyone who gets near enough and Pink Moon is its purest expression It remains the Nick Drake record most people begin with and for good reason 21 Accolades edit Pink Moon was voted number 131 in the third edition of Colin Larkin s All Time Top 1000 Albums 2000 30 In 2003 the album was ranked number 320 on Rolling Stone magazine s list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time 31 In 2012 that ranking was revised to number 321 and in 2020 was revised to number 201 32 In the UK Pink Moon was placed at number 48 in Melody Maker s 2000 list of the best albums of all time 33 and at number 126 in Uncut s 200 Greatest Albums of All Time in 2016 34 Legacy editThe first notable cover versions of Nick Drake songs were released in 1992 when Lucinda Williams covered Which Will on her album Sweet Old World 35 and alternative rock band Sebadoh covered Pink Moon on their EP Sebadoh vs Helmet 36 By 2006 Beck recorded covers of the album s songs for online only release including Which Will and Parasite 37 1999 Volkswagen Cabriolet advertisement edit On 11 November 1999 Volkswagen debuted a television advertising campaign named Milky Way that featured the Volkswagen Cabriolet with the title track of Pink Moon as the soundtrack Ron Lawner Chief Creative Officer of Arnold Communications stated in the press release The song is very special It s an old song by a guy named Nick Drake It s called Pink Moon and is actually a very good introduction to Nick Drake if you re not familiar with him It s very transporting And to us seemed very fitting for a beautiful drive in the country on a very special night 38 The Volkswagen Cabriolet commercial directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris and filmed by Lance Acord led to a large increase in record sales 39 and a number five placing for Pink Moon in Amazon com s sales chart 40 The campaign was an important milestone in the use of popular music in advertising citation needed Bethany Klein a professor in the Department of Media and Communication at the University of Central England states The role of Pink Moon in the success of Milky Way was interesting in that it both added to the artistry of the commercial and was also protected by the visual artistry of the spot because the ad worked it was an aesthetic success the usual negative discourse surrounding the use of popular music in advertising was if not stopped at least reduced and accompanied by positive appraisals The linking together of the ad being a watershed and being nicely done is no coincidence it is because the ad is so well executed and so aesthetically successful that the industry and the public reassessed the use of music in advertising around this example 41 In 2001 Volkswagen gave all new Volkswagen Cabrio buyers a compilation CD which featured Pink Moon as the first track U S sales of Nick Drake s Pink Moon album rose from 6 000 copies prior to the song s use in the Cabrio commercial to 74 000 copies in 2000 42 As of 2004 it had sold 329 000 copies in the United States 43 Track listing editAll songs written and composed by Nick Drake Side oneNo TitleLength1 Pink Moon 2 062 Place to Be 2 433 Road 2 024 Which Will 2 585 Horn 1 236 Things Behind the Sun 3 57 Side twoNo TitleLength1 Know 2 262 Parasite 3 363 Free Ride 3 064 Harvest Breed 1 375 From the Morning 2 30Total length 28 22Personnel editAll credits adapted from the album s liner notes 44 Nick Drake vocals and acoustic guitar piano on Pink Moon Production John Wood engineer producer Michael Trevithick artwork Keith Morris inner sleeve photography C C S Associates typographyCertifications editRegion Certification Certified units sales Italy FIMI 45 Gold 25 000 United Kingdom BPI 46 Gold 100 000 Shipments figures based on certification alone Sales streaming figures based on certification alone Release history editRelease formats for Pink Moon Region Year Label Format Catalog Notes United Kingdom 25 February 1972 Island LP ILPS 9184 Re pressed 1976 1978 and 1989 with different Island Records logos United States 1972 SMAS 9318 United Kingdom amp Europe April 1990 CD IMCD 94 842 923 2 Original CD release as part of the Island Masters series United States 22 June 1992 Hannibal Records HNCD 4436 United Kingdom amp Europe 26 June 2000 Island remastered CD IMCD 94 842 923 2 CD reissue as part of the Island Masters series now labelled Island Re Masters with additional slip cover and original label reprint on the CD United States 6 May 2003 422 842 923 2 Canada 4228429232 United Kingdom amp Europe 18 May 2009 180 gram LP 1745697 re pressed 18 November 2013 Worldwide 12 November 2012 Remastered LP box set 0602537134335References edit Humphries Patrick 1998 Nick Drake The Biography London England Bloomsbury p 174 ISBN 978 0 7475 3503 4 a b c d e Dann Trevor 2006 Darker Than the Deepest Sea The Search for Nick Drake London England Da Capo Press ISBN 978 0 306 81520 1 a b Petrusich Amanda 2007 Pink Moon Bloomsbury Academic ISBN 978 0 8264 2790 8 BBC Radio 2 Lost Boy In Search of Nick Drake Free Download amp Streaming Internet Archive 22 May 2004 Retrieved 23 November 2013 Boyd Joe 2006 White Bicycles Making Music in the 1960s London England Serpent s Tail ISBN 978 1 84765 216 4 Gilbert Jerry 13 March 1971 Something else for Nick Sounds London England United Newspapers Brown Mick 12 July 1997 The sad ballad of Nick Drake The Daily Telegraph London England Retrieved 19 November 2013 MacDonald Ian January 2000 Exiled from Heaven Mojo 74 London England EMAP 32 47 Archived from the original on 10 December 2011 Retrieved 19 November 2013 Silva Jared 16 February 2011 Second Look Nick Drake Pink Moon www beatsperminute com Retrieved 19 November 2013 a b Creed Jason 24 June 1996 Interview with David Sandison Pynk Moon fanzine No 6 Reproduced in Humphries 1998 Pink Moon Master Tape Box www freecovers net 24 October 2011 Retrieved 19 November 2013 40 Years Ago This Week Nick Drake s Pink Moon Released Blogspot com 27 February 2012 Retrieved 11 November 2013 Gilbert Jerry 25 March 1972 Review Nick Drake Pink Moon Sounds Plummer Mark 1 April 1972 Review Nick Drake Pink Moon Melody Maker p 19 a b Dellar Fred May 1972 Current Pop Hi Fi News amp Record Review p 939 Clark Al 17 March 1972 Review Nick Drake Pink Moon Time Out Andrews Colman October 1972 Pink Moon Nick Drake Creem a b Raggett Ned Review Nick Drake Pink Moon AllMusic Retrieved 19 June 2018 Larkin Colin 2011 Encyclopedia of Popular Music Omnibus Press p 794 ISBN 9780857125958 Mansfield Brian Walters Neal eds 1998 MusicHound Folk The Essential Album Guide Visible Ink Press p 1997 ISBN 9781578590377 a b Greene Jayson 22 January 2014 Nick Drake Tuck Box Album Reviews Pitchfork Pitchfork Retrieved 19 June 2018 a b Harris John August 2000 Delicate Flower Q No 167 pp 112 13 a b Hunter James 15 May 2003 Review Nick Drake Pink Moon Rolling Stone No 922 p 136 DeCurtis Anthony Henke James George Warren Holly eds 1992 The Rolling Stone Album Guide 3rd ed Random House p 210 ISBN 0 679 73729 4 Weisbard Eric Marks Craig eds 1995 Nick Drake Spin Alternative Record Guide New York Vintage Books ISBN 0 679 75574 8 a b MacDonald Ian August 2000 Behind the sun Uncut No 39 p 92 Aston Martin August 1990 Review Nick Drake Pink Moon Q No 47 p 111 Chapman Rob July 2000 The feast of St Nick Mojo No 80 p 99 DeCurtis Anthony 17 February 2000 Review Nick Drake Pink Moon Rolling Stone Archived from the original on 19 June 2018 Retrieved 19 June 2018 Larkin Colin ed 2000 All Time Top 1000 Albums 3rd ed Virgin Books p 83 ISBN 0 7535 0493 6 Nick Drake Pink Moon Rolling Stone Archived from the original on 12 June 2018 Retrieved 19 November 2013 Wenner Jann S ed 2012 The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time ISBN 978 7 09 893419 6 The Best Albums in the World Ever Melody Maker 5 January 2000 pp 20 23 200 Greatest Albums of All Time Uncut No 225 February 2016 Dobbie Andrew 27 January 2010 UK musicians pay tribute to songs of Nick Drake Reuters Retrieved 19 June 2018 Richardson Mark 16 March 2012 Review Sentridoh Weed Forestin Pitchfork Retrieved 19 June 2018 Beck covers Nick Drake NME NME Music News Reviews Videos Galleries Tickets and Blogs NME COM 3 March 2006 Retrieved 17 May 2020 Milky Way is the First Volkswagen Ad to Launch on Web Sneak Preview on the Internet Prior to National Broadcast Volkswagen of America 11 November 1999 Retrieved 13 November 2013 Drake Nick 16 July 2006 Nick Drake You re Nicked The Independent London England Independent Print Limited Archived from the original on 9 July 2009 Retrieved 19 November 2013 Rock Star Back from the Dead The Birmingham Post UK 7 April 2000 Klein Bethany 2010 As Heard on TV Popular Music in Advertising Farnham Surrey Ashgate Publishing p 46 ISBN 978 1 4094 0764 5 Volkswagen Rolls Out Mix CD With Styx Trio Other Commercial Hits MTV Hasty Katie 12 May 2007 Gone but not forgotten Billboard Retrieved 23 May 2018 Pink Moon sleeve notes Island Records 1972 ILPS 9184 Italian album certifications Nick Drake Pink Moon in Italian Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana Retrieved 14 February 2022 British album certifications Nick Drake Pink Moon British Phonographic Industry External links editPink Moon at Discogs list of releases Pink Moon at MusicBrainz VW Cabrio commercial article video Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Pink Moon amp oldid 1221032887, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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