Five Leaves Left

I usually think of this as the third Nick Drake album. Haven’t really listened to it by itself often. Unsurprisingly fitting autumn vibe. As I’ve come to expect from debut albums, his distinct style hasn’t really come together yet on here. You can hear him playing with some different genre influences. Still hits the spot.

Snoozefest

Favorite Song: Man In A Shed Least Favorite: Way To Blue

This was such a nice relaxing album. It just was so genuinely good. It was the background to identifying invertebrates in lab today and it was the perfect soundtrack. 4/5⭐️ 313/1089

3.8/5 chill drake shit

Pretty good

Haunting, incredible album. Nick Drakes story is one of the most resonant in music and you can’t listen to one of his albums without thinking of what was potentially to come. An almost unmatched lyricist and perfect autumn music. A classic

I just couldn't get into this, I just don't think I'll ever enjoy this kinda music. 2*

Need to be in the right mood but very good

Folk, but done well. Drake has a voice that can alternate between relaxing and haunting, and there is enough going on musically to keep things interesting - liberal use of strings lifts this above a lot of the other folky stuff I’ve had lately.

I listened to this album and Nick Drake in general quite a bit, almost a good 20 years ago, and remember this album used to hit me a lot harder back then? Well, anyway, I mentioned not too long ago on some other album's review that singer-songwriter folk is a tough one for me because it's generally comprised of so few elements that even if one of them isn't to my taste, it ruins the whole experience. But Nick Drake luckily is one of those in who's work everything is just right for me. Having heard all the albums again during for this list, I think Pink Moon might be my favourite, but all of them are excellent regardless.

Loved it. I don’t normally listen to singer/songwriter, but this opened my ears to what the genre could be. His use of a wide variety of instruments expands past the typical stereotypes of the genre. I added multiple songs from this to a new playlist for this genre, I didn’t have one before.

Chill, easy listening

Big fan. Hadn’t listened for a while. Great album. At least half of it is amazing. 8/10.

Might be higher on a relisten

I'm familiar with Nick Drake, but I don't think that I ever heard this album. It definitely lives up to the cult status hype. It's a beautiful set of songs and the arrangements work extremely well. I will definitely listen to this again.

beautiful - tender, old and wise

FUCK U NICK DRAKE RAGGEDY ASS SADBOy

Very Very pretty. A little unobtrusive despite itself, and I had to listen twice to give it a fair shake but I didn't mind, because it sounded so pretty. Highlight: Fruit Tree

should probably listen to this at some other point in my life

Definitely a beautifully somber album. The more I listen to him, the more I appreciate him. He's got a unique sound that can only be Nick Drake, and it transports me to a different time. His singing isn't my favorite, but the guitar is pretty and endearing. Rating: 7/10 (Good) Favorite Song: Day is Done

Not a fan, very slow and boring to be honest

Track By Track Time Has Told Me - This is a special one for me as I think it may have been the first Nick Drake song i ever heard. I grew up with it so I associate it with my mum mainly, as well as my step-dad. It’s got that ethereal, magic aura that so many of his songs have. The guitar in this is really great. It’s like it’s dialoguing, answering his vocals. River Man - This is a great autumn album. The imagery. Very evocative of the season. Also, mists and magic. The strings are lovely here. A subtle 5/4 rhythm also! Three Hours - Very atmospheric. There is good echo on this one. I enjoy the different tempos in the various sections. Way To Blue - This is a little like an extended interlude. The strings paint an open picture, like a misty glade, with some sparkles of magic and mystery. I like the ‘chorus’. It gets more and more mournful as it goes on! Day Is Done - The guitar plus the strings is a sweet combination. It again has a mournful tone. Not a big stand out but nice. ‘Cello Song - This is such a gorgeous tune. Best marriage of guitar and strings. It has movement in the guitar and percussion, as well as lifting and beautiful string swells. It has a great pulse. Thoughts of Mary Jane - This flutters like a leaf falling and blowing gently in the wind. Very open and meandering. A sweet portrait. Man in a Shed - This has a cute little lilt to it. It’s close to whimsy. The jazz-inflected piano complements the tune very well. It’s a main highlight for me. Fruit Tree - He relates these simple, mythical stories very well. It’s like they’re fables or little poems or something. Surreal and cryptic and beautiful. Saturday Sun - This is like an ode to the weather, being struck by it and a subtle document of emotion. It evokes a beautiful kind of ordinary magic. The vibraphone is lovely. It conjures both home and wonder. Overall Review: I felt happy to get a Nick Drake record today. He’s such a unique artist. This album for me is familiar and homely, whilst also being ethereal and mystical. There are so many beautiful highlights on this one. The strings are especially lovely. I would say that there are some others on other albums that I do prefer a bit, but not to compare, this one was a very sweet record. 4.1/5 Favourite Songs: Time Has Told Me, ‘Cello Song

Nei, ingen trenger å høre hele katalogen til Nick Drake. Men sykt fint, passet perfekt på en trøtt fredag.

Oh man. I tried. I listened twice. I was bored out of my mind.

Theres only five leaves left. Nick Drake singing all in my ear but he's dead.

Found this album to be dynamically atmospheric. The scenes and stages set grew throughout each song. Felt as though I was somewhere different in nature each track. Found the album to be uniquely engaging for this reason, although the songs themselves weren't all that interesting in a sense. I think having this on in the background and letting my mind wander is how I most enjoyed the listen. Classical elements introduced on Way to Blue was a nice surprise. The surprise use of different instruments happened to be what stood out to me most on the album upon getting to the end. Flute towards the end of Thoughts of Mary Jane was a highlight Faves: Cello Song, Way to Blue, Time has Told Me, Thoughts of Mary Jane. Rating: 8.1/10

This is brilliant. Love this guy Although I've just read his story, and now I'm sad

Ehh

Happy to have listened to this since I always thought Pink Moon was so beautiful

Love ‘Fruit Tree’. Amazing to think how young he was when he made this

Perfect album for the middle of autumn.

Oh dear, not more Nick Drake, much like Tom Waits I’ve tried really hard to find ways to like this over many years but I just don’t I’m afraid. This is though probably my favourite of his albums mainly for “Saturday Sun”. Sorry everyone. Two stars. Tom.

People are higher on Nick Drake than I think is warranted.

Nice mellow folk album. I'd never heard of Nick Drake before today, so it's nice to hear something new to me.

7/10

Very chill album.

Mellow, cohesive, and introspective cut with ongoing allusions to love, death, and renewal. Might need another few listens to truly capture the artist's essence.

Silky and smooth easy listening

Probably my third favourite Nick Drake album. Still a great one, to be fair ! Very soothing music that I believe would still hold up if released today. Sometimes (and this is true of all three of his albums) the guitar is a bit chaotic to my taste, but it's part of the experience.

A really lovely album but not quite the perfection of Pink Moon. Pink Moon feels like a hug the whole way through, and whilst this has a similar feeling in some songs, there are some colder moments with sadder emotions. Favourites: River Man Day Is Done Cello Song

Tuesday, 27 October, 2026 Amazing record. Nick Drake was an incredible talent.

Não é o melhor álbum dele e, por isso, não incluiria nesta lista. O que não significa que seja ruim o disco.

A very laid back record which isn't bad, but it's just gets tiring after halfway through. The strings are really nice though. 2.5/5

pretty mid not my style 'Day is done' is pretty nice not sure about the others the voice and the instrumental seem to drift away from each other which I was unfortunately not a fan of when executed by this particular singer

3.5 muy ameno

Surprisingly pleasant and enjoyable to listen to. Better than his last album in my opinion. Has more texture and a greater air of mysticism too. Debated giving it a 3 but I ended up saving the entire album in case I ever need some quality background music. No skips.

Although it made little impact when initially released, Nick Drake's debut records is one of the most beautiful folk records I have ever heard. Mixing jazz elements with an unapologetically English folk sound, Nick sounds wise beyond his years here. Lush strings back Drake's husky voice. They sound particularly pronounced on a song like "Way To Blue" where they add a sense of grandeur without being overbearing. The most heartbreaking moment of the record is "Fruit Tree", where Drake sings about posthomus fame, something that he would find years after his own death. "Saturday Sun" is the nostalgic piano-led closer that transported me back to those care-free weekends spent with family as a child, but it is underlined with a sense of melancholy that those days are over and never coming back. I love all 3 of Drake's records, but this might just be my favourite.

good album, very relaxing

kinda slow, kinda boring

A bit of a downer actually.

Not is finest work but some beautiful songs on here. Wonderful song writing and ambiance.

soulful and mellow

What a lovely listen. Super chilled, musically fantastic and soothing vocals. Day is Done is my favorite track on this album. Enjoyed this far more than Bryter Layter. 3.5/5.

Alternate title: Alexa, skip this song. Perhaps beautiful music, by most certainly dull.

Rauhallista kitara & pianomusiikkia

Absolutely gorgeous

Beautifully sung. Intricate melodies. Forgotten about whilst he was alive but eulogised in his passing. Rightly so this is amongst the finest folk work produced in the uk

I was surprised at how much this album just didn't grab me. I am a fan of Bryter Layter, and found that to be a much better album in all respects. This was fine, certainly not the best ND album, and left me wanting more.

I still cannot believe this came out in 1969.

Melancholic, emotional, and beautiful. I got Bryter Layter the other day and I mentioned in my review for it that I felt like the orchestral swells were a bit much. This album is much more sparse with the orchestra and it is so much better for it. When strings are used on tracks like Way To Blue, they are gorgeous. I really love this album.

Nick Drake - Five Leaves Left Even the title is sad. And there wasn't even four more albums, only two. Can't imagine a more world weary sounding debut album. From day one it seems obvious that Nick Drake was not built for this world. Each song a delicate filigree of delicately plucked notes, lovingly placed chords and near whispered words, occasionally punctured by the bird like swooops of strings or flute. Best Track - Way to Blue Worst Track - The Thoughts of Mary Jane 8/10

Not ordinarily a fan of Nick Drake's style of folk but wow there are some gorgeous arrangements on here.

just excellent. i love you nick drake.

Wish there were far more leaves left. Tragic brilliance.

Just got back from a jam-packed, overstimulating weekend and this hit like a long overdue Xanax

fuck it - 5 stars. one of those albums you can just put on and get lost in for hours.

I like him. Interesting songwriting, cozy and minimal but non-standard. River Man is great but lacking other standouts here. 8/10

I like a lot of this British folk wave stuff a whole lot, and really appreciate Joe Boyd and all. But I gotta admit, I never really did figure out what makes Nick Drake particularly special out of that milieu

Not his best

Pickle and I did Sunday chores while we listened to this, and maybe it’s the seasonal affective disorder, but I had a wonderfully mournful time. Good for the cool, crispy part of fall.

this album felt five times longer than it was

The 5 minute song about the fruit tree was a high point.

No private session used for Spotify. NIck Drake? I am expecting lots of lovely acoustic guitar work with some mumbling lyrics over the top of it. Wow, nailed it. This is at least the second Nick Drake album I have listened to because of this list...there really didn't need to be two.

Middling

remind me of Blue, like it's obviously good in that singer song writer way, but doesn't blow my top or anything.

Not my favorite by him but he's so solid

First listened 2nd March 2025. Nick Drake is just not for me to be honest...

Bit boring songwriter music

4,5

Background music for me. Chilled out and feel good music that I would have on for easy listening.

First reviewed Dec 2004, a classic singer songwriter album. Very mellow 4* (4.5 really)

As beautifully sad and English as you'd want any piece of music to be.

Very solid Nick Drake, what I’ve come to expect from this list

Nick Drake is a real gem of a discovery through this project! Super laid back, soothing albums that work great as background music but hold up to a more careful listen. 3.5/5

Enjoyed this more than Bryter Layter although I was hoping for more Richard Thompson.. Way to Blue with its Eleanor Rigby strings and Saturday Sun were standouts for me.

Nick Drake has easily been my fave discovery doing this whole project. I think I like Bryter Layter better than this, but this one is great too. I love the delicacy of Nick’s voice and I love his guitar playing. I ended up watching two documentaries on him yesterday.

I don’t love it quite as much as his other records, at least not yet, but everything Nick Drake did is absolutely beautiful.

Wonderful, calming, chill, peaceful. River man is one of the best songs ever recorded.

Overseen genius. This is really a gem.

I'll just say one thing, the fact that Nick Drake barely received any recognition during his lifetime is one of the biggest musical tragedies I'm aware of. The fact that it took years for all of us to appropriately appreciate his work is an absolute shame. Favourite track: River Man

4.1.

Very stripped down. The songs were usually limited to just acoustic guitar and sometimes drums. It's a very laid back album and defined Nick Drake's signature sound on albums like Bryter Layter and Pink Moon. It was a really good and an underrated one at that. Truly a wonderful album!

Time Has Told Me - 84 River Man - 87 Three Hours - 88 Way To Blue - 85 Day Is Done - 86 'Cello Song - 88 Thoughts Of Mary Jane - 92 Man In A Shed - 85 Fruit Tree - 88 Saturday Sun - 89 Five Leaves Left - 85

surprising album. Nice mellow folk/folk rock. I listened to this thinking I would just listen to a couple of lame songs and move on. Listened to the whole thing and enjoyed it. Not my usual cup of tea but really quite nice. I need to listen to it again. Not sure I would buy this but I will definitely listen again

Very good. Somewhat meandering perhaps, but there is great texture to the music and good variety. I have a special bit of love for ' Cello Song, which has been on my playlists for a long time.

Stunning instrumentals

Nick drake is actually the man

A deeply talented man

Meh