Released in 1970, only a year after his debut, Nick Drake's Bryter Layter is in my opinion a step up in quality from Five Leaves Left. The main complaint that I had with the debut is how some of the songs were so softly spoken and quite that they tended to fade into the background, and while vocally Drake was always whisper-quite, Bryter Layter surrounds him with lush, often surprisingly bright instrumentation that shows that he could still pen some truly sad tunes without the rest of the song falling into a lull. Some of the best examples of this are the excellent and textured "At The Chime Of A City Clock" which has fantastic contrast between its verses and choruses, and we even get some smooth saxophone playing from Ray Warleigh. There are even a couple of tracks where Velvet Underground member John Cale shows up, showing just how much Nick Drake's record company were trying to push Drake as a mainstream act, luckily, these tracks are still fantastic and the two work together wonderfully.
It is actually hard for me to find things that I disliked about this album; maybe the backing vocals on "Poor Boy" feel a little out of place? But really, Bryter Layter is everything that the debut was, but it is more textured and the songwriting is even stronger. Moments such as "One Of These Things First" call back to the more contemplative moments from the debut, but again, the backing instrumentation is more finely tuned and infinitely more attention grabbing. There are even a couple of purely instrumental tracks here in the form of "Introduction", "Sunday" and the title track; all are really solid, but I'll admit, looking back, I'd love if we could of gotten more vocal tracks from Drake, as his voice and lyrics are what truly made him such a great artist.
I've read reviews of how melancholy this album is, and while true, I don't think it gets lost in it like the debut did at points. And of course this sounds a bit odd, considering that his final album Pink Moon is my favorite, an album that is notoriously sad, but I think at least instrumentally, this is Drake's best release. I may like the mood and lyrics of Pink Moon more, but Bryter Layter is proof that if Drake had gotten a little more attention back in the day, he would of been a more than viable commercial act alongside Dylan and Young. If you're looking for an easy in for Nick Drake, pick this one.
9.2/10
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