IMPORTANT WAX: Nick Drake - "Pink Moon" (Vinyl Box Set)

Nick Drake

Pink Moon

12" Box Set

$60

Three albums was all that Drake left the world before he passed away in 1974 at the age of 26. Pink Moon, Drake's third and final album, was released by Island Records in 1972, featuring only Nick's vocals, guitar and piano. This is Drake's sparest album and it's filled with haunting tracks that have him singing moodily along. Drake's abiilty to come up with complicated jazzy chords on his guitar is highlighted by the way this album gives him a warm, intimate space in which to unwind. Featuring the tracks "Pink Moon," "Place To Be," "Road," "Parasite," "Ride," and "From The Morning."

Now, to mark the album's 40th anniversary, Universal Music re-presents the album in an exactly-replicated vinyl pressing, remastered by the original co-producer and engineer: John Wood at Abbey Road Studios. The album is pressed on heavyweight vinyl with the original gatefold sleeve, inner sleeve, paper labels, the promotional shop poster and a fascimile of Nick's handwritten lyrics to four of the songs, all housed in a box showing the original master tape box from which the vinyl was mastered.

For four years after the album's initial release, Drake appeared in the various Island Records' catalogs and album samplers, but album sales languished. His own reluctance to tour or otherwise promote his work allowed Drake to slip into the same also-ran bracket as Island's Claire Hamill and tir Na Nog, legends all. The initial 3,000 pressings sold poorly but never quite sold out and Island kept him in the catalog until Volkswagen used the title track to promote their new Cabriolet in the U.S. Nick's poorest-selling album became a best seller and the interest in all of his tiny canon blossomed. Original scarce first-pressing values soared and allowed inferior counterfeit bootleg vinyl editions to proliferate.

Desolation and isolation may permeate his songs, but Drake displayed his mastery of the acoustic guitar with a touch and flair unrivaled. This commemorative box set brings the somber beauty of his music to a new generation.

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