Bryter Layter

民谣天才Nick Drake是一生不得志，死后才风光的典型，几乎所有人都用“孤独”来形容他的音乐，他的演唱总让人有种遥远疏离的感觉，彷佛他只是在唱给自己听，而听众是刚巧经过而已。尽管风格如此孤独，但追求完美的他总是要把歌曲加上精心编排后才发表，而不是许多民谣歌手那样，一把木吉他走天下。尽管在乐评人中一直都有很好的评价，但对于追求简单的听众来说，他的音乐过于丰富，而对于追求新奇的听众来说，他的音乐过于单纯，在70年代初，他的音乐就是这样两头不讨好，所以市场反响总是平平。Nick Drake发现自己不论如何努力总是不能得到大众认同，心情抑郁，并在26岁时英年早逝。讽刺的是，他死后，似乎忽然就变成巨星了。无数后来的民谣艺人都说，Nick Drake是影响他们最深的前辈。

这是Nick的第二张专辑，孤独而精美，爵士元素的加入，为歌曲又添上了几分迷离的色彩。我们现在来听，会和Nick一样不敢相信它竟然会不流行，然而事实就是如此，让人叹息。

本专辑在滚石杂志评出的500张历代最强专辑中排名第245位。

With even more of the Fairport Convention crew helping him out -- including bassist Dave Pegg and drummer Dave Mattacks along with, again, a bit of help from Richard Thompson -- as well as John Cale and a variety of others, Drake tackled another excellent selection of songs on his second album. Demonstrating the abilities shown on Five Leaves Left didn't consist of a fluke, Bryter Layter featured another set of exquisitely arranged and performed tunes, with producer Joe Boyd and orchestrator Robert Kirby reprising their roles from the earlier release. Starting with the elegant instrumental "Introduction," as lovely a mood-setting piece as one would want, Bryter Layter indulges in a more playful sound at many points, showing that Drake was far from being a constant king of depression. While his performances remain generally low-key and his voice quietly passionate, the arrangements and surrounding musicians add a considerable amount of pep, as on the jazzy groove of the lengthy "Poor Boy." The argument could be made that this contravenes the spirit of Drake's work, but it feels more like a calmer equivalent to the genre-sliding experiments of Van Morrison at around the same time. Numbers that retain a softer approach, like "At the Chime of a City Clock," still possess a gentle drive to them. Cale's additions unsurprisingly favor the classically trained side of his personality, with particularly brilliant results on "Northern Sky." As his performances on keyboards and celeste help set the atmosphere, Drake reaches for a perfectly artful reflection on loss and loneliness and succeeds wonderfully.