[Today: Doom and gloom has rarely sounded so beautiful...]
Nick Drake died of an overdose of anti-depressants (sick irony, that) on November 25th, 1974. He was 26 years old. Whether or not it was suicide has been hotly debated ever since, but almost everyone agrees that he was severely depressed in the months leading up to his death. Pink Moon was the last album released during his brief life, and it’s a crushing listen – akin to reading a dead man’s diary. Drake is accompanied here by just his own guitar, which sounds like it was strung with pieces of his soul. It’s one of the most naked, bleak and beautiful albums ever recorded, with Drake singing lyrics like “Look around you find the ground/Is not so far from where you are” like a man who’s already six feet deep.
John Martyn was a friend of Drake’s, and has become an unwitting oracle into the frame of mind of his deceased friend. “I think he distrusted the world. He thought it didn’t quite live up to his expectations,” is one of the many ways that Martyn has explained Drake’s profound sadness. Martyn has had enough of his own reasons to feel down – his career peaked in the early 70′s with the kind of modest commercial success that might have saved Nick Drake’s life. Released in February of 1973, Solid Air is one of his career highlights, a jazz/blues/folk confection that sees Martyn tackle the dark side of life with a devilish gleam in his eye.
But even as he churned out one fine album after another, Martyn saw his commercial fortunes dim to the point that – even though he had broken the color barrier as Island Records’ first white artist – he found himself without a label in the late-80′s. In 2003 Martyn contracted an infection that resulted in the amputation of his right leg below the knee. Today he’s just turned 60, but you won’t catch him moping: as he told Word Magazine‘s Rob Fitzpatrick earlier this year “I honestly believe that no man who has ever lived has had more fun than me. Living full on is the best fucking way to do it and I would absolutely do it all again in a fucking moment!”
Listen: Things Behind The Sun [Nick Drake]
Listen: Over The Hill [John Martyn]
Tags: John Martyn, Nick Drake, Pink Moon, Rob Fitzpatrick, Solid Air, WORD magazine
16 September 2008 at 9:58 am |
This is probably B.S. for most other people but for me Beck’s Sea Change always reminded me of this Nick Drake album; painfully beautiful.
16 September 2008 at 1:31 pm |
I totally agree. Sea Change is guaranteed to bring you right down. They are both the saddest albums I’ve ever loved.
16 September 2008 at 1:41 pm |
Jeff Buckley’s Grace is another album that packs a serious punch in the gut…
17 September 2008 at 10:55 am |
Just listened to the John Martyn and I must say, Nick Drake is downright cheery compared to him. I may have to take to my bed for the rest of the day after that. Add a dying chick flick…. Steel Magnolias, Terms of Endearment… and I may have to call out for a mental health day.
Chris and Rich Robinson do a great version of Over the Hill. DK, do you have Brothers of Feather? Robinson brothers not Black Crowes?
17 September 2008 at 2:34 pm |
Was that just a live album or did they release a studio LP as well?
I think we’ve got the live album kicking around the house, but I haven’t spent a ton of time with it. Thanks for the recco…
17 September 2008 at 4:14 pm |
Live album only. Give it a whirl. Great Lowell George song too. I’m on the tail end of the Black Crowes obsession that took over when Warpaint came out. If you’re still deep into Warpaint and you think you may rename a cat Josephine, the Brothers album will be a nice addition/break.
19 September 2008 at 8:37 am |
Pushing 80?!? John Martyn only just turned 60! Don’t rush the man!
19 September 2008 at 9:02 am |
What a gaffe. Thanks for the eagle eye…
16 January 2009 at 3:32 pm |
[...] By dkpresents John Martyn plays his song ‘May You Never’ – from the great album Solid Air – at an unspecified location in [...]
30 January 2009 at 10:19 pm |
[...] wrote the title track about his troubled friend Nick Drake, who would overdose on anti-depressants in November of 1974. It’s a gorgeous song [...]