Five Leaves Left [LP]

Personnel: Nick Drake (vocals, acoustic guitar, piano); Richard Thompson (electric guitar); Clare Lowther (cello); Paul Harris (piano); Tristan Fry (vibraphone, drums); Danny Thompson (bass); Rocki Dzidzornu (congas).
Nick Drake's debut album encapsulates a marriage between folk music and the singer-songwriter genre. Part Donovan, part Jim Webb, he articulated an aching romanticism at a time when progressive rock ran rampant. Beautiful melodies and fragrant accompaniment, in particular Robert Kirby's stunning string arrangements, enhance the artist's sense of longing in which warm, but understated, vocals accentuate the album's passive mystery. An aura of existential cool envelops the proceedings, accentuated by Danny Thompson's sonorous bass lines and Drake's poetic imagery. The result is a shimmering, autumnal collection, reflective but never morbid. It's a tragedy that Drake never lived to see how his stature has grown.