Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic
Melody Maker	average
Q	(1990 reissue)
Q	(2000 reissue)
Mojo	very favourable (2000 reissue)
Pitchfork Media	10/10
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone	(2003 reissue)
Sounds	unfavourable

Pink Moon is the third and final studio album by the English folk musician Nick Drake, released in the UK by Island Records on 25 February 1972. It was the only one of Drake's studio albums to be released in North America during his lifetime: the only previous release there had been a 1971 compilation simply entitled Nick Drake featuring tracks from both his first two albums, which were not released in North America in their original forms until 1976. Pink Moon differs from Drake's previous albums in that it was recorded without a backing band, featuring just Drake on vocals, acoustic guitar and a brief piano riff overdubbed onto the title track.

Released two years before Drake's death in November 1974, at the age of twenty-six, the lyrical content of Pink Moon has often been attributed to Drake's ongoing battle with depression. The songs are shorter than on his previous albums, with a total album running time of just over twenty-eight minutes.

Pink Moon, like Drake's previous studio albums, did not sell well while he was still living but has since gained in critical acclaim and record sales.

Nick Drake's first two albums with Island Records, Five Leaves Left (1969) and Bryter Layter (1970), had sold poorly, and combined with Drake's reluctance to perform live or engage in album promotion, Island was not confident of another album from Drake. Additionally, Drake had isolated himself in his London apartment and was suffering from depression. In 1971 he saw a psychiatrist and was prescribed antidepressants which he was reluctant to take due to the stigma associated with depression and his fears concerning the medication's interaction with marijuana, which he smoked regularly. Although critics often associate Drake's music, and especially the perceived melancholy of Pink Moon, with his depression, Cally Calloman of Bryter Music, which manages Drake's estate, remembers it differently: "Nick was incapable of writing and recording while he was suffering from periods of depression. He was not depressed during the writing or recording of Pink Moon and was immensely proud of the album." After facing disappointment with various aspects of his first two albums, Drake sought a more organic sound with Pink Moon.

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Wikipedia