Anyone who has seen a Volkswagon commercial has probably heard Nick Drake. And if you have seen movies over the last couple of years, chances are you have heard his work. Fans of Serenditipity, the movie starring John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale, will remember the closing song, a poignant tune about the tenure of love called "Northern Sky".

Nick Drake began his career in music in a time when rock was only in its teen years. Yet the masses are just now warming up to his music, a move that may have saved his life, which ended not long after his final album, 1972's Pink Moon, by confusing circumstances. Sadly, we'll never be able to hear what this genius songster may have produced later in his life. For now, we have his sparse productions in the form of three of his albums and a compilation of his best. All have been digitally remastered and the effects are beautiful.

Nick Drake is largely an acquired taste for his sadness has a tendency to poke its head through many, if not all of his songs. Similarly, Drake's music is repetitive in the sense that his style is geared to the tender folk blues set. If you can get past that and you appreciate lyrics that ask why more than they celebrate, Nick Drake albums are classic in many ways.

The beginning of Drake's career is Five Leaves Left. Drake named this album because of the warning left in a brand's rolling papers. When you had only five papers left in the package, you had 'five leaves left'. Trivia aside, Nick recorded this album while he was still enrolled at the prestigious Cambridge University. Selling in the low thousands after release, this made a creeping depressive behaviour worse due the feeling of non-acceptance. Who would know that, in time, this would house many of his more satisfying songs. "River Man", the softly sung about the inability to enjoy life unfettered. With "Cello Song", the sweetness of the melody ascends the clearly depressive emotions that flowed through Nick's being. "Fruit Tree" with it's prophetic lines of fame needing to be firm in the ground before it can be sound, runs true considering his music now being accepted and revered, stock in the ground. Drake did not finish school, dropping out to improve upon his music and therefore create a better second album.

Bryter Layter, the second issue that contained some of his most elegant songs, including the achingly beautiful "Northern Sky" came in 1970. The album showed a more upbeat Drake with stronger arrangements and the inclusion of woodwind and orchestral pieces such as is found on "Introduction", "Hazy Jane II" and "Hazy Jane I". It also shows a more polished, musically wiser and more skilled Drake. The production is more solid and positive despite the lyrical sadness that still wove through his writing. "Bryter Layter" showcased his instrumental prowess where his writing was concerned. "Northern Sky" included John Cale at keyboards which elevates a memorable song to greater heights. Again, sales were disappointing.

In 1972, Drake's final album, extremely short and clocking in under a half hour, is a return to stripped down music featuring Nick on acoustic guitar and piano. It reveals a constantly striving Nick Drake in a quest to find something that worked in his career despite his insistence on gaining acceptance on his terms. Drake despised a sellout to gain a buck but needed the attention in order to survice, which, sadly, never came in time. Pink Moon contains the tune used for the 2000 Volkswagen tune that initiated interest in his work. That song, "Pink Moon" would jumpstart the career that Nick craved..on his own terms. Lyrically, the songs on Pink Moon would show a decline of sorts seen in retrospect. The decline would end with his death in 1974 by what some believe a suicide by an overdose of anti-depressive medicine. He was only 26.

The compilation, Way to Blue, takes 16 of the finest moments from Drake's three albums and put thems in one place hoping to be an introduction to the genius of Drake and his introspectively bleak observations and dreams. The depth of those emotive gems are what place Nick apart from the rest of the pack with his lyrical poeticism. Released in 1994 by Hannibal Records and distributed by Rykodisc, this set contains unreleased tunes in "Black Eyed Dog" and "Time of No Reply". "Time of No Reply" was an outtake from the Five Leaves Left sessions while "Black Eyed Dog" came from the final recording sessions in 1974, months before Drake died.

These 4 discs were remastered by the original engineer and producer of Drake and who better understood the atmosphere that they needed to contain thereby insuring their purity. All contain booklets that feature lyrics and photos.

Death is a thief that thrives on deprivation.