Bryter Layter (studio album) by Nick Drake

Good album, the songs are more upbeat than previous album.

When looking at this album cover you expect just Nick Drake and his guitar but in actual fact you get a diverse range of instrumentation that are all very effective across the release. Drake himself is still the centre piece with that brilliant vocal performance and delicate guitar playing that makes him stand out as one of a kind in the music industry. The fact that this is probably his weakest release is a testament to how phenomenal his career was even though it was short. The production is a lot heavier than his other two releases however and you do lose a bit of the rawness which does make his other records so great but it is still a nice change up. We instead get a release which feels pure and is just so enjoyable no matter how many listens you have. Overall, a fantastic album from Nick Drake which demonstrates all of the musical quality he has and does it in such a stunning fashion.

I recently became aware of Nick Drake's music, and now I know all his albums pretty well. They all provide very fine songs and great music, though some of the posthumously released albums are somewhat uneven. Among his three original albums, I have come to the conclusion that his second, "Bryter Later", is his most successful and in any case the album I would only recommend a friend.
It is his most "produced" album with musical assistance from the three members of Fairport Convention Richard Thompson, Dave Pegg and Dave Mattacks. Furthermore contributing John Cale on a few numbers. Several tracks have tasteful stringsarrangements written by Nick's good friend Robert Kirby.

All the songs are good, but you obviously get your favorites.

"One of These Things First" is a quiet and very beautiful song with nice accompaniment by Paul Harris, Ed Carter and Mike Kowalski.

"Fly" with nice contributions from John Cale at the harpsichord and viola is number seems to be better every time you hear it. Perhaps most moving on the album, if that title does not go to the album's second track with significant contributions from John Cale - "Northern Sky". This was the song I fell for the first: there's something magnificent about this beautiful and airy number.

"Poor Boy" is almost a little jazzy, with strong vocal backing from PP Arnold and Doris Troy. There's something very liberating unpretentious over both lyrics and music. The same can be said about "Hazey Jane II", which also has fine lead guitar from Richard Thompson.

"Hazey Jane I" is a totally different song - as I hear it, they have only the title in common. Also a nice song with backing from Mattacks, and Pegg.

There are three instrumental tracks - are all fine and well distributed across the album as 1, 6 and 10th tracks

On all 10 tracks you have Drake's acoustic guitar, which he mastered to almost perfection.

A strong album that deservedly has become a classic, albeit pretty long after its release in 1970, where it was almost unnoticed.

https://www.angelfire.com/nv/Badfinger/BANDnickdrake.html

Great record

This is my first Nick Drake album and i can say that this is really great acoustic album. Instrumentation is great throughout the whole project and set this night moody tone to it. The only dud here is Poor Boy which wouldn't be that bad if it was shorter, but jt feels way too long. The rest is pretty fantastic.

From teague 09/17/2021 17:19

Pink Moon's sparse instrumentation is the polar opposite of Bryter Layter, apparently Nick Drake wanted to emulate the production style of Pet Sounds. The songs are nice, if not a bit convuluted.

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From VictorVale 01/03/2021 21:35

Excelente, um folk com vertente pop e soft rock de altíssimo nível.

From StefanR10 11/28/2020 21:49

I feel myself in good hands when i her the voice of Nick Drake on this album very relaxing and loving sounds.

Coming to this after Five Leaves and Pink Moon. It is certainly more accompanied instruments and backing vocals, Agree with Burttheswimmer about the backing vocals on Poor Boy - although I do really like the song - I had to check if he wrote it or pulled it from elsewhere because that wasn't like any backing I'd heard from him before.
This album must have influenced Belle & Sebastion with Hazy Jane II sounding so like them.
Good album from a sadly under estimated and short lived artist