Leading up to his 75th birthday today, I’ve been thinking of writing about Nick Drake — perhaps the ultimate Rock-era example of a brilliant musician neglected in his lifetime and “discovered” long afterwards. But Ted Gioia, author of The History of Jazz and one of the best current writers about music of all kinds, has said everything I’d want to say and more at his Honest Broker Substack.
Drake had a paradoxical power to touch the emotions of the audience even when it sounded as if he were singing just for himself . . . every syllable seems infused with private meaning . . . Drake is now more than a music star, almost an emblematic figure. And I say with some sorrow, but with complete conviction, that his life and times remind me of so many people nowadays who have been cast adrift in our society—suffering in ways spookily reminiscent of what he experienced fifty years ago.
Evership - Progressive Rock Band