On his last album, Nick Drake strips away all of the excess instrumentation of his first two albums, keeping only the bare essentials. The result is a stark, brilliant album of despair, loneliness, and alienation that is startling in its emotional power. * * * *

- Stephen Thomas Erlewine , The All-Music Guide to Rock, 1995.

Bonus Reviews!

Drake reportedly recorded the songs on Pink Moon in two days, just with his voice and a guitar, then without a word dropped the tape off at the Island Records reception desk and disappeared. After several days someone opened the package and realized they had the new Nick Drake album. After a few listens, this scenario makes perfect sense; he said all he needed to with one voice, six strings and 11 songs. * * * * 1/2

- Brian Escamilla, Musichound Rock: The Essential Album Guide, 1996.

Thanks to a VW commercial, this lost classic from a lost soul was revived for later generations -- long before quiet was the new loud, this bleak, brooding record revealed just how achingly beautiful depression could be. A bold contrast to previous efforts but fitting for his final album two years before his death in 1974, it captures sparse arrangements and his peaceful approach ("the sound of stars falling"), making it the ultimate dark-night-of-the-soul listen. * * * * *

- Zagat Survey Music Guide - 1,000 Top Albums of All Time, 2003.

Drake recorded his last album in a couple of nights, mailed the tapes to Island Records and checked himself into a psychiatric ward. If the music were as dark as the lyrics, it might be unlistenable. But Drake's soothing vocals and unadorned acoustic picking make this album unfold with supernatural tenderness.

Pink Moon was chosen as the 320th greatest album of all time by the editors of Rolling Stone magazine in Dec. 2003.

- Rolling Stone, 12/11/03.

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