"River Man" is like tapping into something special. "'Cello Song" is also wonderfully warm. Those songs really stand out. Now I know it's been said before, but I can only take so much Nick Drake. It's an album that is certainly worth having, especially if you are curious about his character.

An excellent debut from a British folk/ singer-songwriter (sort of- the guy's hard to classify) who only in recent years has begun to receive his due. Truly beautiful songs with lush strings and excellent acoustic guitar, some of the songs are folkish, some are ballads with relatively sparse instrumentation, some are jazzy, such as the outstanding "Saturday Sun"- a mournful ballad, Drake always sounded depressed, and world weary, even though he was only about 21 when this came out. He never sold many records, was obscure at the time, and played very few gigs due to extreme shyness. He died in '74 from an o.d. of anti-depressants, possibly a suicide. Only put out 3 low selling albums during his lifetime, but his influence and reputation grows with each year. There's a couple of mediocre tunes on this, but most of it is brilliant- "Way to Blue," "Fruit Tree," "Time Has Told Me," the aforementioned "Saturday Sun" and "Cello Song" are all first rate tunes. A truly superb debut.

Drake had a soft monotone voice but his accompanying music was lush and beautiful. If you haven't heard Drake's music this is where to start.