Nick Drake – Five Leaves Left (New Vinyl)

NEW LP

New sealed copy. 2013 remastered reissue on Island Records. 180 gram vinyl. Gatefold jacket. Pressed by Optimal Media in Germany.

Five Leaves Left is the debut studio album by English folk musician Nick Drake. Recorded between 1968 and 1969, it was released in 1969 by Island Records.

It was 

recorded between May 1968 and April 1969 at Sound Techniques in London, England. Engineer John Wood recalled that "[Drake] would track live, singing and playing along with the string section" without the use of any overdubbing. For the song "River Man", producer Joe Boyd described Drake playing on a stool in the centre of the studio while surrounded by a semi-circle of instruments. The studio's environment was also an important factor as it had multiple levels to it which enabled the creation of interesting sounds and atmospheres.

Among his various backing musicians, Drake was accompanied by Richard Thompson from Fairport Convention and Danny Thompson of Pentangle. Robert Kirby, a friend of Drake's from Cambridge University, arranged the stringed instruments for several tracks while Harry Robinson arranged the strings for "River Man". The title of the album is a reference to the old Rizla cigarette papers packet, which used to contain a printed note near the end saying "Only five leaves left".

Five Leaves Left has regularly appeared on lists of the best albums of all time. The album was ranked number 283 on Rolling Stone magazine's original 2003 list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time". NME ranked it at number 258 on their 2013 list of "NME's The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time", noting that "his maudlin songs are brought vividly to life with orchestration from Fairport Convention, Pentangle and arranger Robert Kirby". A list of the "200 Greatest Albums of All Time" in Uncut in 2016 placed the album at number 183.

TRACKLIST:

A1        Time Has Told Me
A2        River Man
A3        Three Hours
A4        Way To Blue
A5        Day Is Done
B1        'Cello Song
B2        The Thoughts Of Mary Jane
B3        Man In A Shed
B4        Fruit Tree
B5        Saturday Sun