Nick Drake - Northern Sky

It's easy to feel sorry for Nick Drake, a shy, sensitive and brilliant songwriter who didn't enjoy the slightest mainstream recognition in his own lifetime, but has been canonized in the years following his early death from a drug overdose at 26. He only released three albums, all wonderful, but none of them even remotely successful. Bryter Layter, released in 1970, was the second of these, and it's from this that the stunningly beautiful "Northern Sky" is lifted. The song is of course lovely in itself, but what sets it apart from most of Drake's songs is John Cale's incredible contribution, adding piano, organ and celesta to the mix, and lifting "Northern Sky", literally, to the heavens. Fun fact: This song directly inspired The Dream Academy's 1985 classic "Life In A Northern Town".

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