Bryter Layter is the second studio album by English folk singer-songwriter Nick Drake. Recorded in 1970 and released on 5 March 1971 by Island Records, it was his last album to feature backing musicians, as his next and final studio album, Pink Moon, had Drake perform all songs solo.
Contemporary reviews were mostly positive. In Sounds, Jerry Gilbert called the album "superb" and said, "On their own merits, the songs of Nick Drake are not particularly strong, but Nick has always been a consistent if introverted performer, and placed in the cauldron that Joe Boyd has prepared for him, then things start to effervesce." Gilbert praised the "splendid arrangements" of Robert Kirby, and said that the songs "take time to work through to the listener, with help from the beautiful backing which every track receives".[13] Lon Goddard of Record Mirror was also impressed by Drake's guitar technique and Kirby's arrangements, and "Nick isn't the world's top singer, but he's written fantastic numbers that suit strings marvellously. Definitely one of the prettiest (and that counts!) and most impressive albums I've heard ... Happy, sad, very moving."[14] "The Disc Panel" in Disc and Music Echo stated that Drake "sings his own very personal songs in a strange, deep vaseline voice, probably more suited to crooning, accompanied at times by really funky backing" and called the record "an extraordinarily good hefty folk album".[15] However, Andrew Means of Melody Maker described the album as "late-night coffee'n'chat music" and said, "This is a difficult album to come to any firm conclusion on", stating that the reaction depended on the listener's mood and that "the 10 tracks are all very similar – quiet, gentle and relaxing."[16]
Mojo called the album "certainly the most polished of his catalogue".[17]Alternative Press called it "[one] of the most beautiful and melancholy albums ever recorded".[18]
In his book Never a Dull Moment: 1971 – The Year That Rock Exploded, David Hepworth described the song "At the Chime of a City Clock" as "the perfect soundtrack for the dispensing of a cup of tea in a polystyrene cup, marrying sound and image in a way that made me unsure whether I was watching a commercial or actually in a commercial".[19]
Legacy
In 2000, Q placed Bryter Layter at number 23 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever.[20] It ranked at number 14 in NME's list of the Greatest Albums of the '70s.[21]
Bryter Layter features prominently in the 2020 novel Summer by the Scottish author Ali Smith, when the character Grace hears Bryter Layter ("pretty flute, very 1970s") being played on a cassette machine in a church, leading to a conversation about Nick Drake with the carpenter.
^Means, Andrew (13 March 1971). "Nick Drake – Bryter Layter". Melody Maker. p. 16. Reprinted in The History of Rock: 1971 (2016). Time Inc. p. 41. Retrieved 14 May 2020. Via – World Radio History.
^Chapman, Rob (July 2000). "The feast of St Nick". Mojo. p. 99.
