Mike Doughty

Nick Drake climbed to the top of the hot-dead-English-guy charts in the late '80s, when the boxed set Fruit Tree first exposed America to this gentle, mystical singer-songwriter. Dead of an accidental prescription drug overdose in 1974, Drake recorded barely two hours' worth of music in his entire career, but he had a warm, intimate voice and acoustic guitar to flesh out his frail love-and-death ballads, and decades after the fact, practically everyone who hears Pink Moon still flips for its lunar beauty. Taller than Marc Bolan, foxier than Brian Jones, just plain deader than Syd Barrett, Nick Drake would enjoy a cult following even if he hadn't been a genius, and yet as a cursory listen to "Cello Song" or "Place To Be" should convince anyone, a genius is what he was.

Five Leaves Left (a rolling-paper reference) has long, gorgeous folkie ruminations like "Time Has Told Me," "Saturday Sun," and "The Thoughts Of Mary Jane," with piano and strings to expand on Drake's guitar. Bryter Layter has flatter songs and fluffier production, despite the highlights "Fly," "Northern Sky," and the much-maligned "Poor Boy." But Pink Moon is perfect: 28 minutes, just Drake murmuring over acoustic guitar and occasional piano, stripped-down songs, most over in two minutes or so, all of them unforgettable. The title song offers a chilly prayer about death, while cryptic fragments like "Ride," "Road," and "Know" have an eerie sensuality to go with that melancholic late-night ambience. Greener than the hills but darker than the deepest sea, modulating from a whisper to a slightly louder whisper, Pink Moon is Orpheus wooing Eurydice with a guitar, and "Place To Be" remains one of the most seductive love songs ever written.

Although totally unheard at the time, Drake's songs have kept circulating via soundtracks, commercials, mix tapes, and indie/college radio, not to mention by inheritors like Elliott Smith, Cat Power, and Belle and Sebastian. Time of No Reply's outtakes are for cultists; the compilation Way To Blue decently selected; the complete-works box Fruit Tree overly pricey (two CDs' worth of music spread over four CDs) but something you won't get tired of any time soon. The rarities collection Made to Love Magic unearthed a previously unheard song, "Tow the Line." It also has a few alternate versions, including a solo acoustic "River Man" and heinous orchestral remixes. The 48-minute documentary A Skin Too Few is worthwhile, though, unfortunately, no performance footage exists. Much more famous, beloved, and influential today than during his lifetime, Nick Drake continues to reach listeners' hearts, finally finding his own "Place to Be." (ROB SHEFFIELD)

From 2004's The New Rolling Stone Album Guide