Nick Drake - Bryter Layter

180 Gram Audiophile Virgin Vinyl! Re-mastered by John Wood

An Authentic Reproduction of the 1970 First Pressing with Original Textured Sleeve! Plus Limited Time Bonus Voucher with a Choice of Download Formats, Including High Definition 24 Bit & Dubbed from Disc!

The album is an exact replica of the original 1970 release: It is pressed on heavyweight audiophile vinyl, and remastered from 'near' original master tapes by the album's original engineer John Wood. For although the original tapes were unusable, John Wood had made a safety copy of the album in 1970 and it is from this that the new album has been struck.

Recent vinyl pressings of Bryter Layter have been poor quality, illegal counterfeits; this edition is as close to an original pressing as it is possible to get. Original copies change hands for high collectors prices.

After crafting a debut album full of beauteous, somber chamber-folk, Nick Drake pulled something of an about-face with the follow-up, Bryter Layter. With a bright, sparkling production and orchestrations that occasionally border on Easy Listening, the framework is light and airy where Five Leaves Left was dark and foreboding. The key, however, is that Drake's artfully expressed inner turmoil peeks through at every turn in the lyrics and in his understated-but-heartfelt vocal delivery.

"At the Chime of a City Clock" finds Drake facing existential despair at every turn, despite an almost-lugubrious string arrangement. Perhaps the crucial moment of Bryter Layter occurs on "Poor Boy", where female backing vocalists literally mock the singer's anguished laments. Clearly, for as much as Drake's heart and soul were bared in every note of his music, he was self-aware enough to know that his disillusioned-romantic view of the world was one that put him on the fringes of society. Of course, some 25 years later, his early-1970s work would find a much wider audience, even though the initial era of the sensitive singer/songwriter had long since passed.

Features:
• 180 Gram Audiophile Virgin Vinyl
• Pressed in Germany
• Authentic Reproduction of the 1970 First Pressing with Original Textured Sleeve

Musicians:
Nick Drake: vocals, guitar
Richard Thompson, guitar
Dave Pegg, bass
Ed Carter, bass
Dave Mattacks, drums
Mike Kowalski, drums
Paul Harris, piano
Chris McGregor, piano
Ray Warleigh, alto saxophone, flute
Lyn Dobson, flute
Pat Arnold, backing vocals
Doris Troy, backing vocals
John Cale, viola, harpsichord, celeste, piano, organ

Selections:
Side I:
1. Introduction
2. Hazey Jane II
3. At The Chime Of The City Clock
4. One Of These Things First
5. Hazey Jane I
Side II:
1. Bryter Layter
2. Fly
3. Poor Boy
4. Northern Sky
5. Sunday