One of my all-time favorite artists is the late English singer-songwriter Nick Drake. A brilliant writer with a pleasant and idiosyncratic singing style, Drake was plagued throughout his very short career with depression and severe performance anxiety. He died of an overdose of amitryptyline at age 26, and only achieved the renown he deserved long after his death, a notion that was eerily predicted in his song "Fruit Tree."
The second of his three albums released while he was alive is Bryter Later, and it is quite different from the first and third. Full of interesting, jazzy arrangements, it stands in contrast to the more stripped-down Five Leaves Left, and especially the bleak and minimalist Pink Moon. I have loved those two albums for decades, but have now begun to appreciate what Drake was trying to accomplish with Bryter Later. With that in mind, here is a very nice number from it, "Poor Boy," a bossa nova-ish tune with jazzy chords, soulful back-up singers, multiple sax solos, and lots of other touches one might not normally associate with Nick Drake, all performed in counterpoint to some typically Drake-ish depressing lyrics. Enjoy!
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