Eliot Smith's whole personal and music was a rip off. Sorry to dis, but this guy was a major D-Bag. What contributed to his "Major D-Bag" status was the fact that he bite so hard, and then went on to contradict the shit he ripped off. Pretty silly if you ask me.
This is hilarious to those of us who actually knew him. Still, I'd love to hear more about how "he contradicted" the music he "ripped off". Sounds like this could be interesting.
It's funny when people (puchito, in this case) don't know what the hell they're talking about yet assert their stance boldly.
Bump didly Bump. I am dying to hear Puchito line it up.
DocMcCoy"Go and laugh in your own country!" 5,913 Posts
What do you think of his music and do you feel Elliot Smith copied his style.
I have to agree with funky16corners that they are REALLY different, and the instrumentation and style of Nick Drake is a lot more innovative and complicated. I like them both, but think they are TOTALLY different, and think Nick Dreake is LEAGUES better. Elliot Smith is more repetitive, whinier, more cynical....lyrics about being a junkie in L.A. Nick Drake is deeper, more delicate, folkier, more out there, more timeless. Really I think the only thing they have in common is that they were both depressed and sad and died young ( like someone else just said)
I guess in hindsight, that is conducting a survey isn't it?LOL.
DocMcCoy"Go and laugh in your own country!" 5,913 Posts
Elliott actually talked about this issue in interviews. He was pretty emphatic that he didn't end up hearing Drake's music until well after his solo career had begun. I can vouch for this assertion. I went to college and high school with him. I have his very first recorded work and even at 18 he was doing softer acoustic stuff. When I would play people his early tapes, they would tell me to turn off "that Paul Simon bullshit".
Most people who dig him now probably didn't hear Drake until after he died. I'd say I' m older than just about anyone on this board, with the possible exception of Rock, Phill and Funky16, and I paid close attention to what was going on in music when I was a teenager. I don't remember anyone bigging up Nick Drake back then; he was just another singer-songwriter who didn't sell any records.
That said, the same people who sat me down and played me Nick Drake's records when I was in my thirties were also big Elliott Smith fans, so it seems to me there may be common themes at the heart of their work, but that could be said about any number of singer-songwriter types. Personally, I think they're pretty different.
DocMcCoy"Go and laugh in your own country!" 5,913 Posts
PRE-PITCHFUCK 90'S STUDENT AMERICA CALLED AND IT WANTS ITS 20-YEARS-AFTER-THE-FACT NICK DRAKE APPRECIATION BACK
What do you think of his music and do you feel Elliot Smith copied his style.
Eliot Smith's whole personal and music was a rip off. Sorry to dis, but this guy was a major D-Bag. What contributed to his "Major D-Bag" status was the fact that he bite so hard, and then went on to contradict the shit he ripped off. Pretty silly if you ask me.
As far as Nick Drake goes though, he has a few songs that are good. Especially if you are like driving through the woods in like Mass. during the fall in a volvo. Definite white folks music. But not in a bad way, or a negative way though.
On a side note though, both these dudes killed themselves. Pretty F'd up.
This is one of the worst posts I've read on soulstrut.
Elliott actually talked about this issue in interviews. He was pretty emphatic that he didn't end up hearing Drake's music until well after his solo career had begun. I can vouch for this assertion. I went to college and high school with him. I have his very first recorded work and even at 18 he was doing softer acoustic stuff. When I would play people his early tapes, they would tell me to turn off "that Paul Simon bullshit".
Most people who dig him now probably didn't hear Drake until after he died. I'd say I' m older than just about anyone on this board, with the possible exception of Rock, Phill and Funky16, and I paid close attention to what was going on in music when I was a teenager. I don't remember anyone bigging up Nick Drake back then; he was just another singer-songwriter who didn't sell any records.
That said, the same people who sat me down and played me Nick Drake's records when I was in my thirties were also big Elliott Smith fans, so it seems to me there may be common themes at the heart of their work, but that could be said about any number of singer-songwriter types. Personally, I think they're pretty different.
I first heard of Drake around 1984 which is when I think Joe Boyd started reissuing the albums, which have been in print conistently ever since. The VW commercial may have kicked things up to the next level, but there was always an audience. The big difference is that it was composed largely of loyalists and whoever they (like I did many times) passed a tape to. Keeping in mind that this was all pre-interwebs, Drake was always a "cult" artist, but purely in terms of his popularity. He was clearly well-regarded by his peers (witness contributions on his albums from Richard Thompson and John Cale), and to be honest, the only one of his albums that falls into the "musical suicide note" category was 'Pink Moon', and even that has its wistful moments. Both 'Five Leaves Left' and 'Bryter Later' are deep and complex, and feature some of the finest songwriting and guitar playing of the time. I think if Drake had been capable of touring widely and hadn't sunken deeper into his depression his popularity would surely have grown, and he might have done some amazing work.
DocMcCoy"Go and laugh in your own country!" 5,913 Posts
I had a vague idea who he was before the mid-80s, because I was a little bit obsessed with the Island label when I was younger, but it wasn't until an English group called Dream Academy claimed that their one and only hit "Life In A Northern Town" had been written as a Drake tribute that he first really registered with me. I wasn't really checking for understanded, sensitive Brit singer-songwriters then. About ten years later, one of my boys (a seasoned folkie) played me River Man, and after that it was all over.
There are hundreds, if not thousands of low-key singer/songwriters that could be conscripted into the same category without a keener ear. Elliott Smith and Nick Drake were both very skilled at their art (although certainly Drake>Smith), but no "ripoff" is necessary for both to be valid and original.
I take back my earlier, useless vitriol, as it serves no one. I came at this all wrong, and I'll admit that. Simply: once folks listen to more S/S music, intricacies come out. It's like with someone getting into Rap music that thinks that all rappers sound the same.
I think the main reason why they clump these 2 together aside from the way how their lives ended is because of the melancholy that's associated with the music.
let me translate for you little buddy you just listened to nick drake on tuesday on satellite radio this thread is useless, you are annoying and like a bad pair of fake titties you protrude too much and don't move
Comments
Bump didly Bump. I am dying to hear Puchito line it up.
A) I like it.
B) No.
Are you conducting a survey?
Most people who dig him now probably didn't hear Drake until after he died. I'd say I' m older than just about anyone on this board, with the possible exception of Rock, Phill and Funky16, and I paid close attention to what was going on in music when I was a teenager. I don't remember anyone bigging up Nick Drake back then; he was just another singer-songwriter who didn't sell any records.
That said, the same people who sat me down and played me Nick Drake's records when I was in my thirties were also big Elliott Smith fans, so it seems to me there may be common themes at the heart of their work, but that could be said about any number of singer-songwriter types. Personally, I think they're pretty different.
Fixed that for you.
I first heard of Drake around 1984 which is when I think Joe Boyd started reissuing the albums, which have been in print conistently ever since. The VW commercial may have kicked things up to the next level, but there was always an audience. The big difference is that it was composed largely of loyalists and whoever they (like I did many times) passed a tape to. Keeping in mind that this was all pre-interwebs, Drake was always a "cult" artist, but purely in terms of his popularity.
He was clearly well-regarded by his peers (witness contributions on his albums from Richard Thompson and John Cale), and to be honest, the only one of his albums that falls into the "musical suicide note" category was 'Pink Moon', and even that has its wistful moments. Both 'Five Leaves Left' and 'Bryter Later' are deep and complex, and feature some of the finest songwriting and guitar playing of the time.
I think if Drake had been capable of touring widely and hadn't sunken deeper into his depression his popularity would surely have grown, and he might have done some amazing work.
Son: try listening to music before posting about it. This is foolishness.
(edited for overkill)
When I listen to Nick Drake, I hear Nick Drake.
I take back my earlier, useless vitriol, as it serves no one. I came at this all wrong, and I'll admit that. Simply: once folks listen to more S/S music, intricacies come out. It's like with someone getting into Rap music that thinks that all rappers sound the same.
Sounds like "Good Will Hunting" means too much to you. You cared about that movie?
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Jackson Frank is good, too.
Jackson C. Frank is a perfect recommendation for another skilled artist in a similar vibe.
All right - I deserve that one.
you just listened to nick drake on tuesday on satellite radio this thread is useless, you are annoying and like a bad pair of fake titties you protrude too much and don't move