Five Leaves Left
by Nick Drake

Five Leaves Left by Nick Drake
Year: 1969
Overall rank: 165th   
Average Rating: 
85/100 (from 1,077 votes)
     
Accolades:
Award Top 10 albums of 1969 (7th)
Award Top 50 albums of the 1960s (30th)
Award Top 200 albums of all time (165th)

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Nick Drake - Five Leaves Left [New Vinyl LP]
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Nick Drake bestography

Five Leaves Left is ranked 2nd best out of 13 albums by Nick Drake on BestEverAlbums.com.

The best album by Nick Drake is Pink Moon which is ranked number 56 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 17,548.

Nick Drake album bestography « Higher ranked (56th)
Pink Moon
This album (165th)
Five Leaves Left
Lower ranked (292nd) »
Bryter Layter

(N.B. Bestographies include all albums by an artist (and their variations), but do not include albums ranked outside the top 100,000).

Upcoming concerts

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Rascal Flatts: Life Is A Highway Tour
Prudential Center, Newark, United States. United States
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Snooper w/ Special Guests: Happy Death Men, Diode, ezcodylee +DJ
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Jan
21
Wed
19:00
Breaking Sound @ the Peppermint Club
The Peppermint Club, Los Angeles, United States. United States
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Five Leaves Left track list

   The tracks on this album have an average rating of 87 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).

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Average Rating: 90 (281 votes)Comments: View 2
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Average Rating: 90 (298 votes)Comments: View 5
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Average Rating: 86 (214 votes)Comments: View 0
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Average Rating: 86 (221 votes)Comments: View 0
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Average Rating: 88 (246 votes)Comments: View 0
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Average Rating: 88 (235 votes)Comments: View 3
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Average Rating: 83 (200 votes)Comments: View 2
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Average Rating: 86 (226 votes)Comments: View 0
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Average Rating: 87 (219 votes)Comments: View 1
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Track pick (1000 - 100 votes) Top-rated track as rated by BestEverAlbums.com members.

Five Leaves Left rankings

Rankings summary
Overall rank: 165th | 1960s rank: 30th | 1969 rank: 7th

Five Leaves Left collection

Five Leaves Left ratings

Average Rating: 
85/100 (from 1,077 votes)
   Help Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AV
where:
av = trimmed mean average rating an item has currently received.
n = number of ratings an item has currently received.
m = minimum number of ratings required for an item to appear in a 'top-rated' chart (currently 10).
AV = the site mean average rating.

Showing latest 5 ratings for this album. | Show all 1,077 ratings for this album.

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RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
 
70/100
 !
4 hours ago Slewkey   27980/100
 
80/100
 !
01/03/2026 09:41 Pluto11   11,77172/100
 
80/100
 !
12/10/2025 20:51 Exist-en-ciel   6,09170/100
 
85/100
 !
12/07/2025 15:45 Araldo   1,47180/100
 
95/100
 !
11/28/2025 01:17 colabunga   58680/100

Rating metrics: Help Outliers can be removed when calculating a mean average to dampen the effects of ratings outside the normal distribution. This figure is provided as the trimmed mean. A high standard deviation can be legitimate, but can sometimes indicate 'gaming' is occurring. Consider a simplified example* of an item receiving ratings of 100, 50, & 0. The mean average rating would be 50. However, ratings of 55, 50 & 45 could also result in the same average. The second average might be more trusted because there is more consensus around a particular rating (a lower deviation).
(*In practice, some albums can have several thousand ratings)

This album is rated in the top 1% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 84.5/100, a mean average of 83.5/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 84.6/100. The standard deviation for this album is 13.8.

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Five Leaves Left comments

Showing latest 10 comments | Show all 50 comments |
Most Helpful First | Newest First | Positive Sentiment First | Longest Comments First
(Only showing comments with -2 votes or higher. You can alter this threshold from your profile page. Manage Profile)

Rating:  
75/100
From 02/09/2024 00:40 | #301822
Beautiful ambience.
Some compositions are better than others but overall a good record.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
5/100
From 05/24/2023 19:06 | #297200
This comment is beneath your viewing threshold.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | -9 votes (0 helpful | 9 unhelpful)
Rating:  
95/100
From 03/26/2023 00:52 | #295449
This is an absolutely stunning listen from start to finish. Nick Drake is just a genius and all the praise he has received is well deserved in my opinion. Everything about this album is just mesmerising to listen to. At the centre of all of this is a singer songwriter album with one of the greatest artists who has made albums in this style. His guitar playing is delicate and soothing but it is filled with emotion and I always find myself feeling like I am right alongside him as he plays. This album really gives that much of a personal feel that you become so connected to Drake and his music. His lyrics are fantastic and his vocal matches his guitar playing perfectly. If the album was just Nick Drake and his guitar it would still be amongst the greatest of all time because of how sensational he is on here but he strengthens the quality on this release by adding a diverse array of instrumentation. They are integrated into every song beautifully and add depth and character to an album that is already packed full of both of these. It is stunning to listen to this record time and time again and just be blown away by the additional musicians on here and seeing how much they can add to an already phenomenal release. Overall, Nick Drake keeps on impressing me with how intelligent he is with music and with how outstanding he is as an artist as this album is extraordinary.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +3 votes (3 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
90/100
From 03/09/2023 17:10 | #294856
This is the first Nick Drake album i have listen to, and it is very good. He is a very good singer songwriter, and i intend to listen to his other albums.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
100/100
From 02/07/2023 10:28 | #293681
Best Drake album in my opinion, I love its rawness and the orchestral arrangements in some of its songs.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
95/100
From 02/20/2022 07:03 | #281568
The story goes that Nick Drake's understated, intimate lyricism was a product of his being "too sensitive for this world," a remark that diminishes his skill and commitment to revision by reducing them to an emotional quirk. Nick had "a skin too few" maybe, as Gabrielle Drake would say, but hardly a superpower or malignant brand of genius.

Five Leaves Left is his best album by a hair, and that hair grows on a little patch of versatility. While Pink Moon and Bryter Layter are masterpieces in their own right (and both would find spots on my chart if it weren't for my 1 album per artist rule), Five Leaves Left is more emotionally flexible. "Time Has Told Me" could be either your mother whispering the opening notes of a lullaby or your lover murmuring a gentle good morning. It's the balm you reach for to soothe or the champagne you sip to celebrate.

Five Leaves Left is both a respite from the harshness of the world and an exploration of the thousands of beauties you might find in it, and that duality only happens through Nick Drake's willingness to speak as carefully as he listens.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +7 votes (7 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
80/100
From 02/10/2022 12:19 | #281066
I much prefer the atmosphere of Bryter Layter but this one has good one too. Not necessarily my thing, but I can appreciate unique arrangement of River Man and a lot of other tracks here.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
75/100
From 11/15/2021 19:18 | #276306
I came to this way later than the rest of Drake's material, and that's both a blessing and a curse. While I can appreciate the musicality and sonic decisions, there is better material out there in my opinion.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
75/100
From 09/18/2021 17:18 | #273893
Reminds me of Buffalo Springfield in parts. His voice is really soothing, and the instrumentation is great. I just wish it were a little less busy sometimes.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
75/100
From 02/19/2021 17:03 | #266511
lovely, mature, strong leaning toward folk as it visits both pop and psychedelia, a gem
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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Best Albums of 1969
1. Abbey Road by The Beatles
2. In The Court Of The Crimson King (An Observation By King Crimson) by King Crimson
3. Led Zeppelin II by Led Zeppelin
4. Let It Bleed by The Rolling Stones
5. Led Zeppelin by Led Zeppelin
6. The Velvet Underground by The Velvet Underground
7. Five Leaves Left by Nick Drake
8. Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere by Neil Young & Crazy Horse
9. In A Silent Way by Miles Davis
10. Hot Rats by Frank Zappa
11. Tommy by The Who
12. The Band by The Band
13. Trout Mask Replica by Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band
14. Arthur Or The Decline And Fall Of The British Empire by The Kinks
15. The Stooges by The Stooges
16. Crosby, Stills & Nash by Crosby, Stills & Nash
17. Green River by Creedence Clearwater Revival
18. Stand! by Sly & The Family Stone
19. Willy And The Poor Boys by Creedence Clearwater Revival
20. Karma by Pharoah Sanders
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