Product Description

WAY TO BLUE: AN INTRODUCTION TO NICK DRAKE is the perfect title for this well-compiled collection that exemplifies the full breadth of Drake's work. From the lush orchestrations of FIVE LEAVES LEFT and BRYTER LAYTER to the sparse acoustic guitar work of PINK MOON and the posthumous TIME OF NO REPLY, WAY TO BLUE features a handful of songs from each album, compiled and sequenced by Drake's friend and producer Joe Boyd.
Opening with the gorgeous "Cello Song", the album moves from BRYTER LAYTER's "Hazey Jane I" to the title track, which features Drake's delicate vocals alone over a symphonic swell. Also included are the haunting "River Man", the reflective "One of These Things First", and the melancholy "Time of No Reply", in addition to Drake's most well-known tune, "Pink Moon". Each song presented here (and, in fact, every Nick Drake song) is a testament to his beautifully subdued voice and proficient acoustic guitar playing, offering further evidence of his still-growing influence decades after his death.

Track Listing

1. Cello Song
2. Hazey Jane
3. Way To Blue
4. Things Behind The Sun
5. River Man
6. Poor Boy
7. Time Of No Reply
8. From The Morning
9. One Of These Things First
10. Northern Sky
11. Which Will
12. Hazey Jane II
13. Time Has Told Me
14. Pink Moon
15. Black Eyed Dog
16. Fruit Tree

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #30512 in Music
• Released on: 1994-05-24
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.co.uk Review
These days the term "genius" is bandied about so routinely that it is practically meaningless. However Way to Blue, a 16-track introduction to Nick Drake, proves that the ill-starred troubadour was indeed a genius in the truest sense of the word. Singer-songwriter Nick Drake released just three poorly selling albums during his brief lifetime. A manic-depressive, he committed suicide in1974 aged just 26. Posthumously, his intricately sculpted pastoral psalms have been discovered by an ever-expanding audience. Way to Blue deftly captures the essence of Drake's unique oeuvre, embracing the plaintive poetry and baroque chamber music of his wistful debut Five Leaves Left, the lighter, verging-on-jazzy Richard Thompson and John Cale assisted follow-up Bryter Layter and his troubled, starkly eerie swansong Pink Moon. Throughout, Drake's seraphic vocals, expressively fluid acoustic guitar picking and elegiac lyrics articulate a lexicon of life, love and loss. --Chris King

Customer Reviews

A fine starting point
I don't own this CD any more purely because I went out and bought the full back catalogue. Absolutely can't fault the music here - if you want to investigate the music of Nick Drake, then here's your starting point (it was mine). It took quite a while me to 'get it', I would just pop this on now and again when chilling out. The gap between the now-and-agains became smaller and I became addicted. Its nothing now for me to listen to all 3 of his main albums back to back (only 90mins or so). There is so much great music therein and 'Way To Blue' gives you a great start. You may (like me) need to persist with this but there are rewards.
BTW - the production values still stand up - well-recorded crisp acoustic playing,intimate vocals, marvellous orchestration from Robert Kirby and some fine guest players like Richard Thompson. Enjoy.

Bluesy Folk
This is an excellent introduction to the work of Nick Drake. It also provides an entirely new perspective on his genius since the tracks are not arranged in chronological order. The individual albums are all classics but they are very much self-contained units that make one associate a particular song with the album. Way To Blue thus lends a new angle in the mix of songs. Although 10 tracks are repeated from the 1985 Heaven In A Wild Flower, the sound quality is much better.

From the album Bryter Later come Hazey Jane I and II, Poor Boy, One Of These Things First and Northern Sky. Five Leaves Left contributes Cello Song, Way To Blue, River Man and Time Has Told Me, whilst the stark minimalist album Pink Moon supplies Things Behind The Sun, Which Will and the title track. Black Eyed Dog and Time Of No Reply come from the posthumous Time Of No Reply album.

On Sweet Old World Lucinda Williams beautifully covered Which Will and Swans made a bloodcurdling version of Black Eyed Dog, found on their Various Failures album. The group Drive covered his song Road on their early 90s album Out Freakage. The Dream Academy dedicated the song Life In A Northern Town (1985) to Nick Drake. His song Mayfair had already been covered by Millie (of My Boy Lollipop fame) in 1970.

My only complaint about Way To Blue is the omission of Fly, a song that first appeared on Bryter Later and was then included, in a different version, on Time Of No Reply. In my opinion, it is one of his most moving songs. Besides that, this compilation contains the best of Drake's eerily compelling music but it is still worth it to investigate the original albums.

A great introduction to nick drake
I have no doubt that this is a great introduction to the music of Nick Drake. But come on, is he realy a lost genius. His songs have some charm, some you could say are even quite good, but others just endlessly meander on in a wistful folkie way and leave you reaching for the next-track button after a few seconds, and this is a 'greatest hits' type compilation. The biggest problem I have with Nick however is his groaning tuneless voice, sort of an English pastoral Bob Dylan. A great introduction that sould leave you in doubt that you shouldn't waste anymore money down this leafy avenue of mildly depressing acoustic pop.