As with all music - or art of any sort - surely you either 'get it' or you don't? On another thread someone made a disparaging remark about Joanna Newsom, who I happen to think is close to being a genius, but I didn't respond because I don't think any explanation of any sort of art to another person will help them 'get it'. OK, maybe I'm overstating it a little, but I think it's rare that an explanation will help a person 'get it', because that is essentially an emotional or gut reaction, not a cerebral one.

Wherever there is something to be sold - Nick Drake's music, in this case - there will always be hype. Wherever there is art there will be enthusiasts who wax lyrical in what others see as an overblown way. So what's new?

Of course, Nick having been something of a recluse and having possibly ended his own life (this is unclear, as I understand it), he can be made to conform to the 'sensitive misunderstood artist' stereotype so beloved of the media.

I like his music, for its own sake. I don't have to listen to the hype to know that.

Stower.