Bryter Layter

Like Five Leaves Left, the album contains no unaccompanied songs: Nick Drake was accompanied by part of the British folk rock group Fairport Convention and John Cale from The Velvet Underground, as well as Beach Boys session musicians Mike Kowalski and Ed Carter.[https://sfbgarchive.48hills.org/sfbgarchive/2007/09/27/bryter-layter-nick-drakes-gabrielle-drake-sheds-little-light-her-late-sibling/ Bryter layter: Nick Drake's Gabrielle Drake sheds a little light on her late sibling]. SF Bay Guardian Online. 27 September 2007. Arranger Robert Kirby says that Drake intended the instrumentals to evoke Pet Sounds.{{cite web|title=An interview with Robert Kirby|url=http://www.nickdrake.com/Robert_Kirby_Q__A.html|accessdate=22 March 2014}} Initially scheduled for release in November 1970, with UK promotional copies being sent out at the time, dissatisfaction with the artwork meant that the album was held over into the New Year.

{{Album ratings

| rev1 = AllMusic

| rev1score = {{Rating|5|5}}{{cite web |last=Raggett |first=Ned |title=Nick Drake – Bryter Layter |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/bryter-layter-mw0000650092?1662240427078 |website=AllMusic |access-date=27 January 2014}}

| rev2 = Encyclopedia of Popular Music

| rev2score = {{Rating|5|5}}{{cite book|last=Larkin|first=Colin|author-link=Colin Larkin|title=Encyclopedia of Popular Music|year=2007|publisher=Omnibus Press|edition=5th|isbn=978-0857125958|title-link=Encyclopedia of Popular Music}}

| rev3 = Entertainment Weekly

| rev3score = B+{{cite magazine |date=12 May 2000 |magazine=Entertainment Weekly|page=24}}

| rev4 = Pitchfork

| rev4score = 9.7/10{{cite web |last=Greene |first=Jayson |title=Nick Drake: Tuck Box Album Review |url=http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/18793-nick-drake-tuck-box/ |website=Pitchfork |date=22 January 2014 |access-date=27 January 2014}}

| rev5 = Q

| rev5score = {{Rating|5|5}}{{cite magazine |title=How to Buy '70s Brit Folk |magazine=Q |issue=250 |page=135 |date=May 2007}}

}}

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".{{cite magazine |last=Gilbert |first=Jerry |title=Albums |magazine=Sounds |date=13 March 1971}} 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."{{cite magazine |last=Goddard |first=Lon |title=Reviews |magazine=Record Mirror |page=19 |date=20 March 1971}} "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".{{cite magazine |title=Albums |magazine=Disc and Music Echo |page=19 |date=13 March 1971}} 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."{{cite magazine |last=Means |first=Andrew |title=Nick Drake – Bryter Layter |magazine=Melody Maker |page=16 |date=13 March 1971}} Reprinted in [https://www.americanradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-UK/Music/Archive-New-Musical-Express-IDX/IDX/History-of-Rock/TheHistoryOfRock1971-OCR-Page-0041.pdf#search=%22drake%22 The History of Rock: 1971] (2016). Time Inc. p. 41. Retrieved 14 May 2020. Via – World Radio History.

Mojo called the album "certainly the most polished of his catalogue".{{cite magazine |last=Chapman |first=Rob |title=The feast of St Nick |magazine=Mojo |page=99 |date=July 2000}} Alternative Press called it "[one] of the most beautiful and melancholy albums ever recorded".{{cite magazine |date=March 2001 |magazine=Alternative Press |page=88}}

In his 2016 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".{{cite book |last=Hepworth |first=David |author-link=David Hepworth |title=Never a Dull Moment: 1971 – The Year That Rock Exploded |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k3_tCgAAQBAJ|place=New York |publisher=Henry Holt and Company |year=2016 |page=47 |isbn=978-1-62779-399-5}}

In 2000, Q placed Bryter Layter at number 23 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever.{{cite magazine |title=The 100 Greatest British Albums Ever! |magazine=Q |issue=165 |date=June 2000 |pages=59–93}} It ranked at number 14 in NME's list of the Greatest Albums of the '70s.{{cite magazine |title=Glitter Ye Not! The Greatest Albums of the '70s |magazine=NME |date=18 September 1993 |pages=18–19}}

It was voted number 306 in the third edition of Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums (2000).{{cite book|title=All Time Top 1000 Albums|editor=Colin Larkin|editor-link=Colin Larkin|publisher=Virgin Books|date=2000|edition=3rd|isbn=0-7535-0493-6|page=127}}

In 2003, the album was ranked number 245 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.{{cite magazine |title=The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time |magazine=Rolling Stone |issue=937 |pages=83–178 |date=11 December 2003}}

The guitar Drake holds on the album cover is owned by Nick Laird-Clowes of The Dream Academy, whose "Life in a Northern Town" was written as an elegy to Drake.{{Cite web |date=21 February 2024 |title=The Dream Academy's Nick Laird-Clowes talks to SDE |url=https://superdeluxeedition.com/interview/sde-talks-to-the-dream-academys-nick-laird-clowes/ |website=SuperDeluxeEdition |language=en-GB}}

• The cover of the North American version of the 2003 album Akuma no Uta by Japanese metal band Boris pays tribute to Bryter Layter.
• The song "Fly" was featured in Wes Anderson's 2001 film The Royal Tenenbaums and appeared on its soundtrack.{{Cite web |date=2016-12-14 |title=The Royal Tenenbaums soundtrack is the film dork's secret musical weapon |url=https://www.avclub.com/the-royal-tenenbaums-soundtrack-is-the-film-dork-s-secr-1798255439 |access-date=2024-01-10 |website=The A.V. Club |language=en}}
• The song "One of These Things First" was featured in the 2004 film Garden State and on the Grammy Award-winning soundtrack, compiled by Zach Braff.{{Cite web |date=August 2004 |title=The Garden State Soundtrack |url=http://www.gardenstatesoundtrack.com/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060630170620/http://www.gardenstatesoundtrack.com/ |archive-date=30 June 2006 |access-date=2024-01-10 |website=gardenstatesoundtrack.com}} The song was also used in the 2008 film Seven Pounds starring Will Smith.{{Citation |title=Seven Pounds (2008) - Soundtracks - IMDb |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0814314/soundtrack/ |access-date=2024-01-10 |language=en-US}}
• The song "Northern Sky" was featured in the 2001 film Serendipity, was frequently featured in the NBC series This Is Us, and was chosen as a track by Sue Perkins whilst on BBC Radio 4 programme Desert Island Discs.{{Cite web |date=July 2017 |title=Desert Island Discs, Sue Perkins |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08x4rzj |access-date=16 September 2018 |website=BBC |language=en-GB}}
• 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.

{{track listing

| headline = Side one

| all_writing = Nick Drake

| title1 = Introduction

| length1 = 1:33

| title2 = Hazey Jane II

| length2 = 3:46

| title3 = At the Chime of a City Clock

| length3 = 4:47

| title4 = One of These Things First

| length4 = 4:52

| title5 = Hazey Jane I

| length5 = 4:31

}}

{{track listing

| headline = Side two

| title6 = Bryter Layter

| length6 = 3:24

| title7 = Fly

| length7 = 3:00

| title8 = Poor Boy

| length8 = 6:09

| title9 = Northern Sky

| length9 = 3:47

| title10 = Sunday

| length10 = 3:42

}}

Album credits adapted from Bryter Layter liner notes.Bryter Layter liner notes. Nick Drake. UK: Island Records, 1971. ILPS9134

• Nick Drake – vocals (2–5, 7–9); acoustic guitar; electric guitar (8)

;Additional musicians

• Dave Pegg – bass (1–3, 5–10)
• Dave Mattacks – drums (1, 2, 5, 6, 10)
• Robert Kirby – string arrangement (1, 3, 5, 10); brass arrangement (2)
• Richard Thompson – electric guitar (2)
• Ray Warleigh – alto saxophone (3, 8); flute (10)
• Paul Harris – piano (4)
• Ed Carter – bass (4)
• Mike Kowalski – drums (3, 4, 8, 9)
• Lyn Dobson – flute (5, 6)
• John Cale – viola, harpsichord (7); celeste, piano, organ (9)
• Chris McGregor – piano (8)
• Pat Arnold – backing vocals (8)
• Doris Troy – backing vocals (8)

;Production

• Joe Boyd – producer
• John Wood – engineer
• Nigel Waymouth – sleeve design and front cover photograph
• Keith Morris – back cover photograph

{{Reflist}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20120407005932/http://www.radio3net.ro/dbartists/supersearch/QnJ5dGVyIExheXRlcg%3D%3D/Bryter%20Layter Album online] on Radio3Net a radio channel of Romanian Radio Broadcasting Company
• {{MusicBrainz release group|id=d742fded-00e7-3746-a63d-aa2def3fdbcc|name=Bryter Layter}}
• [https://archive.today/20121224175231/http://www.algonet.se/~iguana/DRAKE/NDbryter.html Lyrics]

{{Nick Drake}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Nick Drake albums

Category:1971 albums

Category:Island Records albums

Category:Albums arranged by Robert Kirby

Category:Albums produced by Joe Boyd