Way to Blue
The options where Nick Drake is concerned are limited, but wholly appealing. The downhearted singer-songwriter released only three albums in his 26 years; the posthumous rarities collection,Time of No Reply, rounds out his abbreviated oeuvre. The whole lot is contained in the exemplary four-discFruit Treebox set.Way to Blueis a scaled-back option for those who are enchanted by Drake's intricate yet cozy lamentations, but feel no need to join the ever-growing legion of Drake completists. But while the 16 songs included here provide a fine introduction to the ill-fated Englishman's work (which seems to fit together no matter how it's sequenced), Drake is one of those rare artists whose entire catalog is worth owning due to its excellence and, sadly, its brevity.--Steven Stolder