I recognized Pink Moon by its Dali-esque cover and wanted to review an album from a little further back so I decided on this 1972 classic by Nick Drake. Pink Moon is the third and final album from this English singer-songwriter who, by all accounts, was pretty much of a recluse. Because of this, none of his albums sold more than a few thousand copies when he was alive. Since his death however, he has been acclaimed as one of the most influential English artists of the last half a century. This is quite impressive as he only released three albums, his first at just 21 years old.
Pink Moon starts of with a nice acoustic guitar sound. The style is defiantly folk, utilizing simpler yet beautiful melodies and a more stripped-down production. In fact, the only instruments that can be heard are his voice, guitar, and just a hint of piano. This refreshing DIY approach sounds as if he could have recorded it in his bedroom, in one take. The result is an especially intimate sounding album. Track two continues this sound with a sparse, quiet instrumentation. It’s worth noting that Pink Moon was completed during the “folk-renaissance” of the early 1970’s. This was a time period when every one from Cat Stevens and Joni Mitchell to James Taylor and Carol King were writing legendary folk albums of their own. Something I found to be intriguing about this album in particular is that it contains absolutely no liner notes. Also, it is quite short, lasting less than 29 minutes. This is brief even by folk standards (especially as it was released after the mid 60s!). Three is a track called Road. Like the first two songs, this one has a straightforward sound that is especially listenable. Because of the album’s brevity, the songs themselves are short, averaging around two and a half minutes each. This requires a different, more focused approach to listening as the songs pass by so quickly. Hearing tracks this short took some getting used to after having listened to hour-long albums with tracks over five minutes. Track four is titled Which Will. This track was decent as well. Because the instrumentation and style of this album is similar throughout, it took some time for the individual nature of the tracks to develop as well. It was at least a couple of listens before I could identify different tracks by their distinctive characteristics and recognize their specific melodies. Five is Horn, one of the shortest songs at less than 80 seconds long. This track is one of the least essential, consisting of a single, repetitive line played by a single guitar. Six is Things Behind the Sun. This longer track, along with perhaps the first, is my favorite on the album so far! Not only is the music excellent, the lyrics are meaningful making them fantastic as well.
Track seven is okay. Like number five, it is shorter with a repetitive groove. Number eight is the longest track at a whopping three and a half minutes! It is also perhaps, my favorite song on the album. There are several reasons for this. Not only are the lyrics admirable, it is sonically memorable as well. Also, it has a chord progression that almost sounds like it could be off of the White Album, which doesn’t hurt either! Track nine is Ride. I enjoyed this song as well. This is defiantly an album where the more I listen to it, the more tracks I start to like. Song number ten is the shortest at sixty seconds long. Since I have been listening to longer tracks on other albums, sixty seconds seems really short. Yet, because I had been listening to shorter tracks on this album, I was surprised at how much Drake was able to pack into such a brief time period. Track ten is one of those songs I knew immediately, though I wouldn’t have recognized it by its title. Unfortunately, because of the time and place in which I live, I had originally become familiar with it in an AT&T commercial just this past year.* I have always found this to be a beautiful song. So much so, I even considered looking it up when I had originally heard it. If nothing else, I’m glad I got this album as I discovered this song!
Overall, I would say this is a very solid album. Because it’s softer and the songs go by quickly, it was a little harder to get into. With repeated listens however, more and more songs make themselves apparent for the gems that they are. I would have liked a bit more of variety, sonically speaking. I don’t think I appreciate this album yet for the level of acclaim it gets. I’m certainly more than willing to keep listening to it to see if I will!
*Interestingly enough, I later learned that the title track was used in a commercial as well. When it was featured in a successful ad campaign by Volkswagen in 1999, Drake posthumously sold more albums in one week than the entire time he was alive.
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