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TIM BUCKLEY
Tim Buckley (1966)
Rating (Out of 10): 7.5
Tracklisting: I Can’t See You/Wings/Song of the Magician/ Strange Street Affair Under Blue/Valentine Melody/Aren’t You The Girl/Song Slowly Song/It Happens Every Time/Song For Janie/Grief In My Soul/She Is/Understand Your Man
Some artists come with a large amount of history attached, a story so heavily romanticised that it becomes more famous than the music itself, making us form opinions and expectations before we’ve even heard a single note. Tim Buckley is one of those artists. We all know the story. Father and son, Tim and Jeff Buckley, both immensely talented singer songwriters, both dying in tragic circumstances at a very young age – Tim dying of an accidental heroin overdose, Jeff drowning after drinking alcohol – both being taken from us without fulfilling their potential. We know the story, but most people don’t know the music. Tim Buckley has always remained a cult figure, never quite managing to gain mainstream attention. Yet, to those of us who are familiar with him, he is considered one of the most talented singer-songwriters of his generation.
Tim Buckley was somewhat of a musical prodigy. He was only 19 when he made this album, yet he was already an accomplished guitarist and had been a member of several bands including country and western combo ‘Princess Ramona and the Cherokee Riders’. Upon the release of this album he was quickly pigeon-holed as a folk singer, a title Buckley hated and spent his entire career trying to shake off. Although, in later albums he did experiment quite a lot with different musical genres, it would be fair to say that in his debut he rarely steps out of the realm of folk/country rock. Yet, in saying that, he does bring his own individual style to the genre, and at no point in his song writing does he stick to a traditional folk formula. ‘Strange Street Affair Under Blue’ with its Russian-sounding melody, and ‘Aren’t You The One’ with its Irish jig-like quality, are amongst the tracks that add variety and diversity to the album. ‘It Happens Every Time’ and ‘Wings’ both make wonderful use of string arrangements to achieve a beautiful, luscious, romantic sound. ‘Wings’ is definitely the stand out track on the album and is one of the most beautiful love songs I have ever heard. His strong voice turns delicate and tender and is more than capable of delivering the emotion of the lyrics. Oh yes, his voice! Tim Buckley’s voice is an absolute wonder to behold! It is absolutely HUGE with an extensive range and unfaltering control. Photos depict him as slight, delicate and fragile, and then you put on the CD and this massive, powerful baritone booms out at you rendering you speechless! Tim Buckley’s voice is definitely the most important thing about this album. I could talk about the use of guitar, piano and harpsichord, but really it is his voice that is the most effective of instruments here, the others serving as a mere accompaniment.
For newcomers, this debut album is perhaps not the best place to start. For a man whose short career would involve quite a bit of experimentation, this album remains conventional, and lacking in originality. Songs such as ‘Song Slowly Song’ and ‘Valentine Melody’ are too long and fail to hold your attention for the duration of the track. But this album is not without its moments of intensity and beauty. It acts very well as a vehicle for Buckley’s amazing voice and gives us a taste of what’s to come.
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Mike Harrison fughedaboudit455@yahoo.com
"Ruth's comments are right on. I like the overall sound, but this album is really dated. I can't help but feel that Buckley had a LOT more potential for a more impressive debut, and I get the feeling that he was pushed into a "folk troubador" image that he might not have wanted (witness his later, more experimental albums). Still, this is an astonishing debut for a 19-year-old. "Wings" is an absolutely beautiful song, and throughout the album, Buckley sings with presence AND an almost haunting manner."
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Goodbye and Hello (1967)
Rating (Out of 10): 8
Tracklisting: No Man Can Find The War/Carnival Song/Pleasant Street/Hallucinations/I Never Asked To Be Your Mountain/Once I Was/Phantasmagoria In Two/Knight-Errant/Goodbye and Hello/Morning Glory
‘Goodbye and Hello’ was released just one year after Tim Buckley’s debut album, yet it is a much more mature and accomplished piece of work. In such a short space of time he managed to develop considerably as a musician and songwriter, leaving behind the narrow confines of the ‘folk singer’ tag that had previously been forced upon him and beginning to experiment with the styles and genres that would later characterise his work. The release of the album saw Buckley thrust into the media spotlight for the first time. Whereas his debut came and went almost unnoticed, ‘Goodbye and Hello’ entered the top 20 album charts and still remains his most commercially successful record. This is surprising in a way as albums such as ‘Happy Sad’ and ‘Starsailor’ can be seen as much more accomplished and innovative, but much of the success of ‘Goodbye and Hello’ comes down to the fact that it really tapped into the feeling of the time. It perfectly captured many aspects of 1960’s culture, combining the psychedelic pop of songs such as ‘Pleasant Street’ and ‘Hallucinations’ with anti establishment protest songs ‘No Man Can find the War’ and ‘Goodbye and Hello’, and even throwing in some poetic lyrics, drug references and a very 60’s style production.
This album sees Buckley continue his song-writing partnership with lyricist Larry Beckett, yet it is the 5 tracks solely written by Buckley that are the finest, most highly crafted on the whole album. It is also an album that sees him begin to experiment with the limitations and delivery of his voice. In ‘Carnival Song’, he shows off the full range of his voice as it shifts from sonorous baritone to chilling falsetto, whilst in ‘Pleasant Street’ he really lets go, allowing his voice to soar and swoop, sending shivers down your spine. ‘Pleasant Street’ really is the high point of the album. It is an absolutely wonderful song which shows off Buckley’s talents as both a vocalist and guitarist. There really are hardly any weak points at all on this album, although it does come across as slightly dated in places; but the album as a whole acts as a good intermediary step in Buckley’s career, bridging the gap between his early traditional recordings and his later experimentalism, and is definitely a very solid, consistent piece of work.
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Mike Harrison fughedaboudit455@yahoo.com
"In less than one year, Buckley really loosened up. His lyrics are far more poetic, and his vocals are more emotional AND haunting at the same time. The production is obviously dated, but that's part of the charm, because THIS time it accentuates Buckley's lyrics and vocals to a better degree. It's also more interesting....."I Never Asked to be Your Mountain" sounds like nothing else released in 1967. "Pleasant Street" is probably the best early-period Buckley song"
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Happy Sad (1969)
Rating (Out of 10): 9
Strange Feelin/Buzzin’Fly/Love From Room109 At The Islander(On Pacific Coast Highway)/Dream Letter/Gypsy Woman/Sing A Song For You
This is the one; Tim Buckley’s finest hour, the most accomplished recording of his career. Leaving behind the conventional folk rock of previous albums and drawing on the influences of his heroes Miles Davis and Hank Williams, he creates a perfect blend of jazz, blues, folk and country totally unlike anything else that was being released at the time. Five of the six tracks on the album are over 5 minutes long with two of them lasting more than 10 minutes, allowing for long instrumental solos and an overall spontaneous and improvised feel. In places it’s almost like listening to a spur of the moment jam between random musicians after hours in a darkened jazz club. ‘Happy Sad’ was the first album where all the tracks were written solely by Buckley opting to leave behind his partnership with lyricist Larry Beckett in order to give more importance to the music. And it was a very wise move. The lyrics on this album are beautiful, delicate and very well crafted; and compliment the music much better than Beckett’s overly elaborate style of writing.
The title of this album is an absolutely perfect description of the themes and feelings conjured by the music. I read somewhere that 3 of the tracks were supposed to be happy and the other 3 sad. I spent weeks trying to figure out which were which only to fail miserably. I really think that sort of interpretation misses the point entirely. Surely we all know how the two emotions are inexorably linked, how, as nothing can exist without its opposite, the two feed off each other often making it impossible to tell which is which. Throughout the album, Buckley conveys this paradox perfectly, taking us on an emotional journey, making us laugh and cry at the same time. The album opens with ‘Strange Feelin’ which is not one of the strongest tracks on the album, but acts as a good introduction, drawing you in, providing a good build up to the wonderful ‘Buzzin Fly’ which is my favourite ever Tim Buckley track and would be included in my top 50 all time favourite songs if such a thing existed. This track sees Buckley give arguably the best vocal performance of his career accompanied by the amazing sound of Lee Underwood’s blues-influenced guitar, and Buckley’s own beautiful performance on a 12 string. ‘Gypsy Woman’ is another highlight. It is a twelve minute long free-styled piece of absolute genius. Buckley just lets go, his voice wails and howls and dances, and the musicians all sound as if they’re having the time of their lives. There are certain points when you think this track is never going to end, but you don’t want it to end, it sounds so amazing. The album concludes with the beautiful ‘Sing a Song For You’ which is delicate and dreamy and provides the perfect end to an almost perfect album, and all you want to do is put it back on and listen again and again and again. Buckley’s career really wouldn’t get any better than this.
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"hugues o.hugues@wanadoo.fr
I agree! "Goodbye & Hello" is maybe his most impressive, but I always preferred "Happy Sad", it is, to me, what's Tim Buckley did the best, these long free jazz ballads where his voice could wander... we can almost hear the wind on this record, it's so real and lively! We have to keep this album beside Van Morrison's "Astral Weeks".
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Lorca (1970)
Rating (Out of 10): 7.5
Tracklisting: Lorca/Anonymous Proposition/I Had A Talk With My Woman/Driftin’/Nobody Walkin’
Lorca was released during Tim Buckley’s most prolific period. It was the second of three albums to be released in the space of a year with each one representing a step further in his experimentation with the genre, style and content of his music. The more traditional, ‘Blue Afternoon’ was the first of the three, and was actually recorded after Lorca at the record company’s demand due to their concern at Buckley’s lack of sales and decreasing popularity. It is surprising then that Lorca was ever released at all as it is highly experimental and innovative, representing his desire to push back boundaries and step into unknown territory in an attempt to discover his own musical limitations and uncover new ground. Lorca was produced by Frank Zappa associates Herb Cohen and Dick Kunc. Cohen had signed Buckley to Elektra after discovering him in a nightclub when he was 19, and several of Zappa’s musicians played on his first album, but it is not until Lorca that the Cohen/Zappa influence really becomes evident, showing that rather than being the folk singer that he had been labelled very early in his career, his main musical influences lay within the realms of classical, jazz and avante garde experimentalism. Lorca carries on the improvised, free-style effect that characterised much of ‘Happy Sad’, with each of the five tracks on the album being around 8 minutes in duration and all having long instrumental solos. It also sees Buckley experiment with the limitations of his own voice. He had already proved himself as a vocalist, yet here he really begins to use his voice as an instrument, holding long notes, sometimes not even singing words, just making strange vocal noises, practically wailing at times.
The general feel of Lorca is dark and melancholic, it is very slow in pace and although it has moments of intensity and beauty there is very little for the listener to get hold of. Fans of early folk ballads such as ‘Wings’ and ‘Pleasant Street’ would be greatly disappointed. The title track doesn’t provide a great opening to the album. Written in a strange time signature, it seems awkward and very difficult to listen to, and at just under 10 minutes in duration in is definitely too long. ‘Anonymous Proposition’ is by far the best track and is utterly gorgeous in places, but it is a highly ambitious song that fails to deliver at times, and after about 4 minutes becomes tiring. ‘I Had A Talk With My Woman’, ‘Driftin’ and ‘Nobody Walkin’ are all potentially good tracks but are all overly long and aren’t particularly accessible to the average listener. Lorca is a difficult album to review and give a rating to. It is musically accomplished and well written, but it appears to have been recorded for Buckley’s own private pleasure offering very little to the listener. Yet it displays Buckley’s utter refusal to compromise his artistic integrity in exchange for commercial success and popularity, and surely that must count for something.
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Starsailor (1970)
Rating (Out of 10): 8.5
Tracklisting: Come Here Woman/I Woke Up/Monterey/Moulin Rouge/Song To The Siren/Jungle Fire/Starsailor/The Healing Festival/Down By The Borderline
Starsailor was Tim Buckley’s third album to be released in the space of a year and is the most innovative and challenging work of his career. Uncompromising and extremely experimental, it is the epitome of uneasy listening. With most of the tracks written in strange time signatures, and with unconventional instrumentation and a genre-defying style it can definitely be seen as one of the most audacious albums of the period. Whilst writing ‘Starsailor’, Buckley became interested in Opera Singer, Cathy Berberian, and was particularly taken by her unique vocal style and delivery. Berberian’s influence is evident throughout the album, most especially in the track ‘Monterey’ which sounds classical at times, and sees Buckley pushing his voice to extremes as if to test his vocal limitations. Buckley’s love of Jazz legends John Coltrane and Roland Kirk are also evident throughout the album, especially on jazz influenced tracks such as ‘Come Here Woman’ and ‘Jungle Fire’. In fact, ‘Starsailor’ is an album that defies genre classification entirely, blending jazz, classical, opera, folk and rock music. The experimentation that characterises this album culminates in the title track which is the most striking and daring song on the album. The is no real singing or lyrics on this track. Buckley’s voice sounds as if it has been recorded in slow motion, and instead of singing actual words, he just makes strange noises. This tracks is also devoid of any sort of musical instrumentation and instead is made up of background noises and effects. The result is a track that sounds absolutely amazing but one that you may not want to listen to very often.
But amidst all the wild experimentation of ‘Starsailor’ are two tracks rich in melody and poetry, and that almost herald a return to the more traditional folk ballads that characterised Buckley’s early career. ‘Moulin Rouge’, sung half in French, half in English, is a jaunty affair with a very French feel to it, and evokes images of people smoking cigarillos and drinking strong black coffee in a Parisian pavement café. Following ‘Moulin Rouge’ is one of the most beautiful songs I have ever heard. ‘Song To The Siren’ is a simple track full of poetry and emotion. Buckley gives arguably the strongest vocal performance of his career accompanied by gentle guitar and effects that give the song a dream-like quality. Tim Buckley considered ‘Starsailor’ to be his masterpiece, but commercially it was a failure. It may not be the epitome of perfection that Buckley considered it to be, but it displays a great initiative, and innovation. It demonstrates a sheer love of music from someone who was years ahead of his time and dedicated his career to constantly pushing back boundaries, stretching himself as a musician and seeking out his own limitations.
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Greetings From L.A. (1972)
Rating (Out of 10): 6.5
Tracklisting: Move With Me/Get On Top/Sweet Surrender/Nighthawkin’/Devil Eyes/Hong Kong Bar/Make It Right
After the commercial failure of ‘Lorca’ and ‘Starsailor’ record company pressures forced Tim Buckley to record a mainstream rock album. Gone are the free-flowing improvised solos, the innovative styles and the vocal acrobatics and they are instead replaced with straightforward rock and roll numbers with female backing singers and catchy melodies. ‘Greetings From L.A’ is different to anything Tim Buckley had done before in that it completely lacks experimentation and innovation. The whole thing reeks of compromise, and can be seen as representing a huge step backwards in terms of his musical growth. It’s almost as if ‘Starsailor’ never happened. The only thing that makes ‘Greetings From L.A’ stand out in any way is the sexually explicit content, to the extent that it is probably as shocking and uncompromising lyrically as ‘Starsailor’ was musically. Practically every track sees Buckley give explicit accounts of romps with prostitutes and detailed descriptions of his sexual desires. In ‘Make It Right’ he sings, ‘I’m looking out for a street corner girl and she’s gonna beat me, whip me, spank me, and make it alright again’, while in ‘Get On Top’ he boasts ‘Well, like a bitch dog on heat we had those bed springs squeakin’ all night long’. It’s hard to believe that this is the same man who so beautifully sang on ‘Song To The Siren’, ‘Swim to me, let me enfold you, here I am waiting to hold you.’
Although the majority of ‘Greetings From L.A’ is a far cry from Buckley at his best, there are a few moments of beauty and excellence that manage to redeem an otherwise mediocre album. ‘Move With Me’, and ‘Sweet Surrender’ are both great tracks, and ‘Get On Top’ sees him display some of the experimental vocals that characterised ‘Starsailor’ and ‘Lorca’. Unfortunately though, the majority of the album will leave you feeling disappointed. It just doesn’t seem like a Tim Buckley album at all, and this is mainly due to the fact that many of the tracks were written with several co-writers, and Buckley had not been allowed to contribute to the albums production. It’s a shame that someone with so much talent and imagination allowed himself to be reduced to such mediocrity.
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Niall Dunne nialldunne@bbg.org
"Nice site. But I strongly disagree with your review of "Greetings From
L.A."
It's one of his most exciting and enduring albums. Buckley may have
been
working with the conventions of white funk/rock, but this is hardly a
conventional album. If anything, he's using his vocal pyrotechnics and
sexual honesty to slap the genre around the bar a bit, so to speak.
I've
never heard anything as explosive as Buckley's live rendition of 'Get
on
Top' on the "Honeyman" album, and 'Sweet Surrender' on this album is
widely
celebrated as Buckley finest vocal recording in the studio. (Though I
personally think 'The Train', on "Blue Afternoon", is the most
astonishing
thing he ever did...a mad blend of the conventional and the
experimental.)
Where was Buckley going to go after "Starsailor"? Further over the
edge, or
back to basics? He pretty much burnt to the envelope with that album.
And
there's only so much experimenting and "un-compromising" you can do
without
it itself becoming tedious and conventional.
I would agree that your criticism of "Greetings" does apply to
Buckley's
last two albums, which are disappointing, half-hearted efforts. Maybe
he
should have gone back to the drawing board after "Greetings." I
would've
liked to have heard him do some bluegrass."
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Sefronia (1973)
Rating (Out of 10): 7
Tracklisting: Dolphins/Honey Man/Because Of You/Peanut Man/Martha/Quicksand/I Know I'd Recognize Your Face/Stone In Love/ Sefronia-After Asklopiades, After Kafka/ Sefronia-The King's Chain/ Sally Go Round The Roses
Tim Buckley’s final two studio albums are the most conventional albums of his career. That is not to say that they are not good, but he seems to have lost his desire to challenge, to invent and reinvent. Instead of the avant garde, experimentalism of albums like ‘Star Sailor’ and ‘Lorca’ which really pushed back boundaries and challenged the listener to the core, you get plain conventional singing. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Tim Buckley was one hell of a singer, so why not just let the man sing and be quiet about it. It just seems such a shame that someone who made a career out of going against the grain caved in to the demands of the record company. On a more positive note, ‘Sefronia’ provides a very good showcase with which to showcase Buckley’s amazing voice. You get the feeling that there is a certain amount of freedom involved in the lack of experimentation. Buckley really lets loose, sings his heart out, and seems to be really enjoying himself. Songs like ‘Dolphins’ and ‘Quicksand’ really allow him to show exactly what he can do vocally and quieter tracks such as ‘I Know I’d Recognise Your Face’, let him show his softer, emotional side. Without a doubt the highlight of the album for me is Buckley’s cover of the Tom Waits classic ‘Martha’. I love it when two artists I admire come together, so to hear Tim Buckley sing a song of another of my hero’s is fabulous. Buckley’s version is heavily orchestrated, very emotive, and lets Buckley show a softer side of himself and his voice that you don’t get to witness on a lot of his own material. The controversial, challenging Tim Buckley might well be the one we all love and cherish, but the Tim Buckley that merely sings his heart out and does a bloody good job, is still pretty good is my book!
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Look at the Fool (1974)
Rating (Out of 10): 6
Tracklisting: Look at The Fool/Bring It On Up/Helpless/Freeway Blues/Tijuana Moon/Ain't It Peculiar/Who Could Deny You /Mexicali Voodoo /Down In The Street/Wanda Lou
It’s sad that Tim Buckley’s last studio album is also his least innovative and least enjoyable. Released one year before his death in 1975, it’s sad to see the creator of such beautiful and ground-breaking albums as ‘Starsailor’ and ‘Happy Sad’, producing run of the mill material. ‘Look At The Fool’ follows on in the same style as ‘Greetings from LA’, but lacks the latter’s audacity and experimentation. The album is made of of funky soul type songs and sees Buckley attempt to come across as a bit of a rock ‘roll rad ass, but he doesn’t really manage to pull it off. The one good thing about this album is that the lack of innovation or creativity gives Buckley the freedom to just sing and he gives great vocal performances throughout. His creativity may have slowed down almost to a standstill but his ability to use his voice hasn’t, and at no point does he just sing. He still uses his voice as an instrument creating a innumerable variety of sounds and emotions.
It’s easy to say that Buckley’s career fizzled out towards the end and his final album was his worst and least original, but in 1974 Buckley was only 27 years old, and no-one knew that this would be his last album. He was still in the prime of his career. Who could tell what would have happened next? Many people see ‘Look At The Fool’ as the sad end to a sparkling career, but if he had lived I’ve a feeling that he would have gone on to do better things. Rather than his career fizzling out, this could just have been a dip in an otherwise outstanding career. I guess we’ll never know. ‘Look At The Fool’ is definitely not the best album to remember Buckley by, but it is by no means terrible. It’s just that with a talent as outstanding as Buckley’s you come to expect the best.
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