Tim Buckley | ||
| Allmusic Biography : One of the great rock vocalists of the 1960s, Tim Buckley drew from folk, psychedelic rock, and progressive jazz to create a considerable body of adventurous work in his brief lifetime. His multi-octave range was capable of not just astonishing power, but great emotional expressiveness, swooping from sorrowful tenderness to anguished wailing. His restless quest for new territory worked against him commercially: By the time his fans had hooked into his latest album, he was onto something else entirely, both live and in the studio. In this sense he recalled artists such as Miles Davis and David Bowie, who were so eager to look forward and change that they confused and even angered listeners who wanted more stylistic consistency. However, his eclecticism has also ensured a durable fascination with his work that has engendered a growing posthumous cult for his music, often with listeners who were too young (or not around) to appreciate his music while he was active. Buckley emerged from the same 60s Orange County, California folk scene that spawned Jackson Browne and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. Mothers of Invention drummer Jimmy Carl Black introduced Buckley and a couple of musicians Buckley was playing with to the Mothers manager, Herbie Cohen. Although Cohen may have first been interested in Buckley as a songwriter, he realized after hearing some demos that Buckley was also a diamond in the rough as a singer. Cohen became Buckleys manager, and helped the singer get a deal with Elektra. Before Buckley had reached his 20th birthday, hed released his debut album. The slightly fey but enormously promising effort highlighted his soaring melodies and romantic, opaque lyrics. Baroque psychedelia was the order of the day for many Elektra releases of the time, and Buckleys early folk-rock albums were embellished with important contributions from musicians Lee Underwood (guitar), Van Dyke Parks (keyboards), Jim Fielder (bass), and Jerry Yester. Larry Beckett was also an overlooked contributor to Buckleys first two albums, co-writing many of the songs. The fragile, melancholic, orchestrated beauty of the material had an innocent quality that was dampened only slightly on the second LP, Goodbye and Hello (1967). Buckleys songs and arrangements became more ambitious and psychedelic, particularly on the lengthy title track. This was also his only album to reach the Top 200, where it only peaked at number 171; Buckley was always an artist who found his primary constituency among the underground, even for his most accessible efforts. His third album, Happy Sad, found him going in a decidedly jazzier direction in both his vocalizing and his instrumentation, introducing congas and vibes. Though it seemed a retreat from commercial considerations at the time, Happy Sad actually concluded the triumvirate of recordings that are judged to be his most accessible. The truth was, by the late 60s Buckley was hardly interested in folk-rock at all. He was more intrigued by jazz; not only soothing modern jazz (as heard on the posthumous release of acoustic 1968 live material, Dream Letter), but also its most avant-garde strains. His songs became much more oblique in structure, and skeletal in lyrics, especially when the partnership with Larry Beckett was ruptured after the latters induction into the Army. Some of his songs abandoned lyrics almost entirely, treating his voice itself as an instrument, wordlessly contorting, screaming, and moaning, sometimes quite cacophonously. In this context, Lorca was viewed by most fans and critics not just as a shocking departure, but a downright bummer. No longer was Buckley a romantic, melodic poet; he was an experimental artiste who sometimes seemed bent on punishing both himself and his listeners with his wordless shrieks and jarringly dissonant music. Almost as if to prove that he was still capable of gentle, uplifting jazzy pop-folk, Buckley issued Blue Afternoon around the same time. Bizarrely, Blue Afternoon and Lorca were issued almost simultaneously, on different labels. While an admirable demonstration of his versatility, it was commercial near-suicide, each album canceling the impact of the other, as well as confusing his remaining fans. Buckley found his best middle ground between accessibility and jazzy improvisation on 1970s Starsailor, which is probably the best showcase of his sheer vocal abilities, although many prefer the more cogent material of his earliest albums. By this point, though, Buckleys approach was so uncommercial that it was jeopardizing his commercial survival. And not just on record; he was equally uncompromising as a live act, as the posthumously issued Live at the Troubadour 1969 demonstrates, with its stretched-to-the-limit jams and searing improv vocals. (In 2017, two more archival live albums were compiled from Buckleys 1969 run at the Troubadour in Los Angeles, Greetings from West Hollywood and Venice Mating Call.) For a time, he was said to have earned his living as a taxi driver and chauffeur; he also flirted with films for a while. When he returned to the studio, it was as a much more commercial singer/songwriter (some have suggested that various management and label pressures were behind this shift). As much of a schism as Buckleys experimental jazz period created among fans and critics, his final recordings have proved even more divisive, even among big Buckley fans. Some view these efforts, which mix funk, sex-driven lyrical concerns, and laid-back L.A. session musicians, as proof of his mastery of the blue-eyed soul idiom. Others find them a sad waste of talent, or relics of a prodigy who was burning out rather than conquering new realms. Neophytes should be aware of the difference of critical opinion regarding this era, but on the whole his final three albums are his least impressive. Those who feel otherwise usually cite the earliest of those LPs, Greetings from L.A. (1972), as his best work from his final phase. Buckleys life came to a sudden end in the middle of 1975, when he died of a heroin overdose just after completing a tour. Those close to him insist that he had been clean for some time and lament the loss of an artist who, despite some recent failures, still had much to offer. Buckleys stock began to rise among the rock underground after the Cocteau Twins covered his "Song for the Siren" in the 1980s. The posthumous releases of two late-60s live sets (Dream Letter and Live at the Troubadour 1969) in the early 90s also boosted his profile, as well as unveiling some interesting previously unreleased compositions. His son Jeff Buckley went on to mount a musical career as well before his own tragic death in 1997. | ||
 | Album: 1 of 25 Title: Tim Buckley Released: 1966-10 Tracks: 12 Duration: 34:40 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify TrackSamples Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 I Can’t See You (02:42) 2 Wings (02:34) 3 Song of the Magician (03:07) 4 Strange Street Affair Under Blue (03:13) 5 Valentine Melody (03:43) 6 Aren’t You the Girl (02:05) 7 Song Slowly Song (04:16) 8 It Happens Every Time (01:52) 9 Song for Jainie (02:45) 10 Grief in My Soul (02:07) 11 She Is (03:08) 12 Understand Your Man (03:05) |
| Tim Buckley : Allmusic album Review : Buckleys 1966 debut was the most straightforward and folk-rock-oriented of his albums. The material has a lyrical and melodic sophistication that was astounding for a 19-year-old. The pretty, almost precious songs are complemented by appropriately baroque, psychedelic-tinged production. If there was a record that exemplified the 60s Elektra folk-rock sound, this may have been it, featuring production by Elektra owner Jac Holzman and Doors producer Paul Rothchild, Love and Doors engineer Bruce Botnick, and string arrangements by Jack Nitzsche. Thats not to diminish the contributions of the band, which included his longtime lead guitarist Lee Underwood and Van Dyke Parks on keyboards. Buckley was still firmly in the singer-songwriter camp on this album, showing only brief flashes of the experimental vocal flights, angst-ridden lyrics, and soul influences that would characterize much of his later work. Its not his most adventurous outing, but its one of his most accessible, and retains a fragile beauty. | ||
 | Album: 2 of 25 Title: Goodbye and Hello Released: 1967-11-04 Tracks: 10 Duration: 42:50 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 No Man Can Find the War (02:59) 2 Carnival Song (03:12) 3 Pleasant Street (05:17) 4 Hallucinations (04:53) 5 I Never Asked to Be Your Mountain (06:05) 6 Once I Was (03:23) 7 Phantasmagoria in Two (03:28) 8 Knight-Errant (01:59) 9 Goodbye and Hello (08:40) 10 Morning Glory (02:49) |
| Goodbye and Hello : Allmusic album Review : Often cited as the ultimate Tim Buckley statement, Goodbye and Hello is indeed a fabulous album, but its merely one side of Tim Buckleys enormous talent. Recorded in the middle of 1967 (in the afterglow of Sgt. Pepper), this album is clearly inspired by Peppers exploratory spirit. More often than not, this helps to bring Buckleys awesome musical vision home, but occasionally falters. Not that the album is overrated (its not), its just that it is only one side of Buckley. The finest songs on the album were written by him alone, particularly "Once I Was" and "Pleasant Street." Buoyed by Jerry Yesters excellent production, these tracks are easily among the finest example of Buckleys psychedelic/folk vision. A few tracks, namely the title cut and "No Man Can Find the War," were co-written by poet Larry Beckett. While Becketts lyrics are undoubtedly literate and evocative, they occasionally tend to be too heavy-handed for Buckley. However, this is a minor criticism of an excellent and revolutionary album that was a quantum leap for both Tim Buckley and the audience. | ||
 | Album: 3 of 25 Title: Blue Afternoon Released: 1969 Tracks: 8 Duration: 39:54 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Happy Time (03:16) 2 Chase the Blues Away (05:14) 3 I Must Have Been Blind (03:46) 4 The River (05:48) 5 So Lonely (03:29) 6 Cafe (05:28) 7 Blue Melody (04:56) 8 The Train (07:54) |
| Blue Afternoon : Allmusic album Review : Blue Afternoon was Tim Buckleys first self-produced record and his debut for Herb Cohen and Frank Zappas Straight label. Buckleys first two albums were very much of their time and place, with their psychedelically tinged folk-rock compositions; naïve, romantic lyrical content; and moments of earnest protest. The introduction of acoustic bass and vibes into the arrangements on Happy Sad signaled a change in direction, however, and Blue Afternoon displayed similar jazz tendencies, using the same group of musicians plus drummer Jimmy Madison. Several tracks on Blue Afternoon are songs Buckley had intended to record on earlier albums but had not completed. The brooding "Chase the Blues Away" and the lighter, more upbeat "Happy Time," for instance, are numbers he had worked on in the summer of 1968 for possible inclusion on Happy Sad. (Demos can be heard on Rhinos Works in Progress album.) Here, as he did on Happy Sad, Buckley takes the folk song as his starting point and expands it, drawing on jazz influences to create new dynamics and to emphasize atmosphere and mood. This approach can be best appreciated on the mournful "The River," as simple acoustic guitar, cymbals, and vibes build a fluid, ebbing, and flowing arrangement around Buckleys beautiful, melancholy vocals. The period between 1968 and 1970 was an intensely creative one for Tim Buckley. Remarkably, during the same four weeks in which he recorded Blue Afternoon, he also recorded its follow-up, Lorca, and material for Starsailor. Its not surprising, then, that Blue Afternoon hints at Buckleys subsequent musical direction. While not in the experimental, avant-garde vein of the more challenging material on those next two albums, "The Train" foregrounds Lee Underwoods quietly intense, jazzy guitar and Buckleys vocal prowess, prefiguring the feeling of tracks like Lorcas "Nobody Walkin" and Starsailors "Monterey." | ||
 | Album: 4 of 25 Title: Happy Sad Released: 1969-04-12 Tracks: 6 Duration: 44:44 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify TrackSamples Allmusic Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Strange Feelin’ (07:40) 2 Buzzin’ Fly (06:03) 3 Love From Room 109 at the Islander (On Pacific Coast Highway) (10:49) 4 Dream Letter (05:12) 5 Gypsy Woman (12:19) 6 Sing a Song for You (02:39) |
| Happy Sad : Allmusic album Review : Easily Tim Buckleys most underrated album, Happy Sad was another departure for the eclectic Southern California-based singer/songwriter. After the success of the widely acclaimed Goodbye and Hello, Buckley mellowed enough to explore his jazz roots. Sounding like Fred Neils Capitol-era albums, Buckley and his small, acoustic-based ensemble weave elegant, minimalist tapestries around the six Buckley originals. The effect is completely mesmerizing. On "Buzzin Fly" and "Strange Feelin," you are slowly drawn into Buckleys intoxicating vision. The extended opus in the middle of the record, "Love From Room 109," is an intense, complex composition. Lovingly under-produced by Jerry Yester and Zal Yanovsky, this is one of the finest records of the late 60s. | ||
 | Album: 5 of 25 Title: Starsailor Released: 1970 Tracks: 9 Duration: 36:04 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify TrackSamples Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Come Here Woman (04:11) 2 I Woke Up (04:05) 3 Monterey (04:31) 4 Moulin Rouge (01:58) 5 Song to the Siren (03:28) 6 Jungle Fire (04:39) 7 Starsailor (04:35) 8 The Healing Festival (03:15) 9 Down by the Borderline (05:17) |
| Starsailor : Allmusic album Review : After his beginnings as a gentle, melodic baroque folk-rocker, Buckley gradually evolved into a downright experimental singer/songwriter who explored both jazz and avant-garde territory. Starsailor is the culmination of his experimentation and alienated far more listeners than it exhilarated upon its release in 1970. Buckley had already begun to delve into jazz fusion on late-60s records like Happy Sad, and explored some fairly "out" acrobatic, quasi-operatic vocals on his final Elektra LP, Lorca. With former Mother of Invention Bunk Gardner augmenting Buckleys group on sax and alto flute, Buckley applies vocal gymnastics to a set of material thats as avant-garde in its songwriting as its execution. At his most anguished (which is often on this album), he sounds as if his liver is being torn out -- slowly. Almost as if to prove he can still deliver a mellow buzz, he throws in a couple of pleasant jazz-pop cuts, including the odd, jaunty French tune "Moulin Rouge." Surrealistic lyrics, heavy on landscape imagery like rivers, skies, suns, and jungle fires, top off a record that isnt for everybody, or even for every Buckley fan, but endures as one of the most uncompromising statements ever made by a singer/songwriter. | ||
 | Album: 6 of 25 Title: Lorca Released: 1970 Tracks: 5 Duration: 39:37 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Lorca (09:59) 2 Anonymous Proposition (07:48) 3 I Had a Talk With My Woman (06:01) 4 Driftin’ (08:12) 5 Nobody Walkin’ (07:36) |
| Lorca : Allmusic album Review : Buckley stunned and, to a rare degree, alienated fans with the dissonant, at times wearying, avant-garde exercises in vocal gymnastics that took up the entire first side of this LP. Side two was far more accessible, though Buckleys fusion of folk instrumentation with jazzy improvisation on extended compositions continued to take him further away from his folk-rock roots. | ||
 | Album: 7 of 25 Title: Greetings From L.A. Released: 1972 Tracks: 7 Duration: 39:40 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify TrackSamples Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Move With Me (04:52) 2 Get on Top (06:33) 3 Sweet Surrender (06:47) 4 Nighthawkin (03:21) 5 Devil Eyes (06:50) 6 Hong Kong Bar (07:08) 7 Make It Right (04:07) |
 | Album: 8 of 25 Title: Sefronia Released: 1973 Tracks: 11 Duration: 38:22 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Dolphins (03:12) 2 Honey Man (04:12) 3 Because of You (04:28) 4 Peanut Man (02:53) 5 Martha (03:18) 6 Quicksand (03:25) 7 I Know Id Recognize Your Face (04:01) 8 Stone in Love (03:30) 9 Sefronia: After Asklopiades, After Kafka (03:11) 10 Sefronia: The Kings Chain (02:30) 11 Sally Go round the Roses (03:42) |
| Sefronia : Allmusic album Review : Tim Buckley went deeper into white funk on Sefronia, despite two problems: white funk was not the forte of these L.A. session musicians and female backup vocalists, and not the style for which Buckley himself had the greatest empathy. His voice isnt as stunning as usual on his next-to-last album, but the bigger problem is the material, which is usually forced and pedestrian. Glimmers of quality can be heard on his cover of Fred Neils "The Dolphins," and the strange two-part title track, which is a throwback to his more ambitious vocal workouts of times past. | ||
 | Album: 9 of 25 Title: Look at the Fool Released: 1974 Tracks: 10 Duration: 34:21 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Look at the Fool (05:13) 2 Bring It on Up (03:27) 3 Helpless (03:20) 4 Freeway Blues (03:12) 5 Tijuana Moon (02:41) 6 Aint It Peculiar (03:36) 7 Who Could Deny You (04:23) 8 Mexicali Voodoo (02:25) 9 Down in the Street (03:21) 10 Wanda Lu (02:38) |
| Look at the Fool : Allmusic album Review : Tim Buckleys final album is a sad, burned-out affair, suffering from weak, poorly conceived material and washed-out soul-rock arrangements. Most troublingly, Buckleys voice -- the one asset he could always count on -- had itself begun to deteriorate. Here his vocals were distressingly thin, like torn socks that have gone through the laundry cycle one too many times. | ||
 | Album: 10 of 25 Title: The Late Great Tim Buckley - An Anthology Released: 1978 Tracks: 10 Duration: 00:00 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Arent You the Girl (?) 2 Understand Your Man (?) 3 I Never Asked to Be Your Mountain (?) 4 Once I Was (?) 5 Morning Glory (?) 6 Move With Me (?) 7 Strange Feelin (?) 8 Sweet Surrender (?) 9 Make It Right (?) 10 Dolphins (?) |
 | Album: 11 of 25 Title: Dream Letter: Live in London 1968 Released: 1990-05-15 Tracks: 16 Duration: 1:56:40 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Introduction (01:06) 2 Buzzin Fly (06:13) 3 Phantasmagoria in Two (04:42) 4 Morning Glory (03:43) 5 Dolphins (06:40) 6 Ive Been Out Walking (08:18) 7 The Earth Is Broken (06:59) 8 Who Do You Love (09:27) 9 Pleasant Street / You Keep Me Hanging On (07:59) 1 Love From Room 109 / Strange Feeling (12:18) 2 Carnival Song / Hi Lilly, Hi Lo (08:51) 3 Hallucinations (07:14) 4 Troubadour (06:05) 5 Dream Letter / Happy Time (09:26) 6 Wayfaring Stranger / You Got Me Runnin (13:09) 7 Once I Was (04:30) |
| Dream Letter: Live in London 1968 : Allmusic album Review : This, like so many Enigma releases, was literally a dream project, and carries a lot of energy and love with it, in the music and the performance. Recorded in London in 1968, when Buckley was just beginning to be really successful and had yet to move out of his folk-oriented phase. The band hes working with here is simple -- Buckleys voice and fairly simple guitar; Lee Underwood providing subtle, almost jazz-like electric accompaniment; Pentangles Danny Thompson sitting in on bass (with a minimum of rehearsal); and vibraphone player David Friedman. Theres an assortment of songs from the three albums Buckley had released up to then, plus a couple that would turn up on later albums, and six songs that he never released in any form. This album, however, was released for the first time in 1989, and what you get is the complete concert -- no cuts, no edits, no rearranging. Its a spectacular piece of work, too. Its difficult to believe that the tape was made in 1968 -- theres almost no noise, the music seems perfectly recorded, and the ambience is breathtaking. Buckleys voice is right up front, hovering over the acoustic guitar, clear as a bell. Its a tribute to CD mastering wizard Bill Inglot, who co-produced the release, that it has such a gorgeous, broad sound. The instruments are carefully separated, clean, and glitch free; if there are tape dropouts here, one cant hear them. Musically, its a spirited affair. Buckley is a beautiful singer, and had a broad selection of excellent, often breathtaking, songs. Even when the songs are a bit of a mish-mash, as happens with the unfortunately over-energetic "Who Do You Love" (one of the unreleased songs), youre caught by the vocal pyrotechnics he displays -- he can be seductive, and he can be a shouter, and hes always very, very good. Other than this, theres very little to say about Dream Letter. If youre at all interested in Buckley, or in various hybrids of folk music, then this album is a must. If you just want to hear one of hell of a good CD, check it out. | ||
 | Album: 12 of 25 Title: Morning Glory Released: 1994-07-28 Tracks: 7 Duration: 31:45 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Dolphins (03:14) 2 Honey Man (05:04) 3 Morning Glory (03:21) 4 Coming Home to You (Happy Time) (02:59) 5 Sing a Song for You (02:32) 6 Hallucinations/Troubadour (10:38) 7 Once I Was (03:57) |
 | Album: 13 of 25 Title: Honeyman Released: 1995-09-11 Tracks: 9 Duration: 58:49 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover | 1 Dolphins (03:45) 2 Buzzin Fly (07:20) 3 Get on Top (04:41) 4 Devil Eyes (07:34) 5 Pleasant Street (08:17) 6 Sally Go Round the Roses (05:53) 7 Stone in Love (04:17) 8 Honey Man (08:32) 9 Sweet Surrender (08:26) |
 | Album: 14 of 25 Title: Works in Progress Released: 1999 Tracks: 16 Duration: 1:06:30 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Danang (06:31) 2 Sing a Song for You (take 11) (05:43) 3 Buzzin Fly (06:44) 4 Song to the Siren (03:28) 5 Happy Time (03:12) 6 Sing a Song for You (take 8) (02:40) 7 Chase the Blues Away (04:00) 8 Hi Lily, Hi Lo (03:37) 9 Buzzin Fly (take 9) (05:07) 10 Wayfaring Stranger (04:24) 11 Ashbury Park Version 1 (02:47) 12 Ashbury Park Version 2 (take 14) (03:21) 13 Ashbury Park Version 2 (take 25, labeled master) (03:28) 14 Dream Letter (05:13) 15 The Father Song (02:44) 16 The Fiddler (Phantasmagoria in Two instrumental) (03:26) |
| Works in Progress : Allmusic album Review : Previously unreleased 1968 sessions (with the exception of an instrumental track from 1967) that, for the most part, are a missing link between his second and third albums, Goodbye and Hello and Happy Sad. The process through which Happy Sad evolved was not a smooth one, entailing a few tracks in New York in March 1968 and more unused sessions in the summer of 1968 in L.A., producing a good deal of material that lay in vaults until it was accidentally discovered in the 90s. The four tracks from the New York sessions are a bit demo-ish, featuring just Buckley and his acoustic guitar, Lee Underwoods electric guitar, and an unidentified acoustic bassist (probably Jimmy Bond). Nevertheless, these have a lovely sincerity, particularly the lilting "Danang," which would later form a part of "Love from Room 109 at the Islander" on Happy Sad. There were also different takes of Happy Sads "Sing a Song for You" and "Buzzin Fly," and a sparse version of "Song to the Siren," recorded in a more strained, elaborate manner on Starsailor. On most of the L.A. tracks, Buckley is joined by the Happy Sad band on a mixture of alternate versions and songs that would surface on post-Happy Sad releases. With most of the other alternates, the feel is somewhat more tentative than on the versions listeners are used to. Its interesting to hear the two unfinished tunes titled "Ashbury Park Version 2," which would be the foundation of the first movement of "Love from Room 109 at the Islander," especially as some of them are graced by delicate harp that didnt get used in the final arrangement. This complex assortment of material, it must be noted, is not collector ephemera: its gorgeously melodic music that is both historically important and emotionally powerful on its own terms. | ||
 | Album: 15 of 25 Title: The Copenhagen Tapes Released: 2000 Tracks: 4 Duration: 49:41 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Allmusic Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 I Dont Need It to Rain (21:37) 2 Buzzin Fly (06:28) 3 Strange Feelin (08:59) 4 Gypsy Woman (12:37) |
| The Copenhagen Tapes : Allmusic album Review : This 1968 archival recording captures Tim Buckley in his prime, live in Denmark during the 1968 European tour. With a stripped-down version of his band, with Carter C.C. Collins and John Miller absent, he enlisted local bassist Nils Henning and went without drums throat-first into one of the most enchanting live Buckley sets on record. Those in love with Live at the Troubadour will find many similarities in the sound here, and Buckleys vocal performance is, expectedly, outstanding. None of the burning funk of Starsailor or the folk picking of Happy Sad, the renditions are assimilated into the jazzy, brooding forms explored on Blue Afternoon and Lorca. Non-expendable sideman Lee Underwood and his Telecaster were right there on the groove, providing that inimitable harmonic backdrop. It was Underwoods highly distinguished lead guitar sound that guided the group through the cascading warbles of Buckleys voice; the guitarist seemed to be the only instrumentalist who could really predict where the singers flights might take them. Apparently, the 21-minute opener, "I Dont Need It to Rain," was Buckleys vocal warmup exercise. If that was the case, one could imagine that the sound of him reading a telephone book would be sublime -- this is one of the most beautiful pieces he recorded, live or in the studio for that matter. Following this moody rumination, the group render classics "Buzzin Fly" and "Strange Feeling," which thus far have kept the mood deeply blue, extending the songs into slow-motion sketches of the album versions. Buckley closed the set with a 12-minute "Gypsy Woman," where the group improvises on its theme with fiery jazz intensity. If you can imagine sitting in Denmark in 1968, you can also imagine walking the icy streets home with your perception changed forever following such an extraordinary performance. For those who couldnt make it -- well, thankfully documents like this exist. | ||
 | Album: 16 of 25 Title: Tim Buckley / Goodbye and Hello Released: 2001-01-29 Tracks: 22 Duration: 1:17:31 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 I Can’t See You (02:42) 2 Wings (02:34) 3 Song of the Magician (03:07) 4 Strange Street Affair Under Blue (03:13) 5 Valentine Melody (03:43) 6 Aren’t You the Girl (02:05) 7 Song Slowly Song (04:16) 8 It Happens Every Time (01:52) 9 Song for Jainie (02:45) 10 Grief in My Soul (02:07) 11 She Is (03:08) 12 Understand Your Man (03:05) 13 No Man Can Find the War (02:59) 14 Carnival Song (03:12) 15 Pleasant Street (05:17) 16 Hallucinations (04:53) 17 I Never Asked to Be Your Mountain (06:05) 18 Once I Was (03:23) 19 Phantasmagoria in Two (03:28) 20 Knight-Errant (01:59) 21 Goodbye and Hello (08:40) 22 Morning Glory (02:49) |
| Tim Buckley / Goodbye and Hello : Allmusic album Review : This two-fer from Elektra Records features a pair of LPs by the late Tim Buckley: his first self-titled release and his second, Goodbye and Hello, both originally issued in 1966 and 1967. Highlights from these albums include "Wings," Arent You the Girl," "Morning Glory," "Goodbye and Hello," and "Once I Was." This is a welcome reissue for both fans and casual listeners. | ||
 | Album: 17 of 25 Title: Morning Glory: The Tim Buckley Anthology Released: 2001-03-20 Tracks: 33 Duration: 2:30:40 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Allmusic Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Wings (02:33) 2 She Is (03:08) 3 Song Slowly Song (04:16) 4 It Happens Every Time (01:51) 5 Aren’t You the Girl (02:05) 6 Pleasant Street (05:17) 7 Hallucinations (04:53) 8 No Man Can Find the War (02:59) 9 Once I Was (03:23) 10 Morning Glory (02:52) 11 Goodbye and Hello (08:40) 12 Buzzin’ Fly (06:04) 13 Strange Feelin’ (07:40) 14 Sing a Song for You (02:41) 15 Phantasmagoria in Two (live) (04:42) 16 Ive Been Out Walking (live) (08:20) 17 Troubadour (live) (05:45) 1 Happy Time (03:16) 2 Chase the Blues Away (05:13) 3 I Must Have Been Blind (03:45) 4 The River (05:48) 5 So Lonely (03:29) 6 Blue Melody (04:55) 7 I Had a Talk With My Woman (live) (07:27) 8 Moulin Rouge (01:58) 9 Song to the Siren (03:28) 10 Monterey (04:31) 11 Sweet Surrender (06:47) 12 Hong Kong Bar (07:07) 13 Make It Right (04:07) 14 Sally Go round the Roses (03:46) 15 Who Could Deny You (04:23) 16 Song to the Siren (from "The Monkees" TV Show) (03:15) |
| Morning Glory: The Tim Buckley Anthology : Allmusic album Review : Buckley whizzed through a bunch of different styles in his approximately decade-long career, and was always an album-oriented artist. That makes the assembly of a best-of collection a difficult task to fulfill without omitting much of the context of what made the singer special. Still, Morning Glory does a pretty good job of touching upon highlights of his work, aided by the generous running time, with two CDs and 33 songs that add up to about two-and-a-half hours of music. It does concentrate on his most accessible tunes, drawing most heavily from his earliest albums and shorter songs, pitching in four tracks from late-60s live recordings that were not released until long after his death. There is nothing at all, in fact, from his least commercial effort, 1970s Lorca (although "I Had a Talk With My Woman" is identified as coming from Lorca in the track list, it in fact is taken from Live at the Troubadour 1969). As is proper, his final albums, in which both his material and voice were in decline, are lightly represented. Theres just one previously unreleased track, though its a goodie: the legendary solo version of "Song to the Siren" that Buckley performed on an episode of The Monkees, with a much sparer arrangement than was used when it was included on 1970s Starsailor, as well as a different lyric. | ||
 | Album: 18 of 25 Title: The Dream Belongs to Me: Rare & Unreleased Recordings (1968-1973) Released: 2001-05-07 Tracks: 14 Duration: 1:02:50 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover | 1 Song to the Siren (03:29) 2 Sing a Song for You (05:43) 3 Ashbury Park (02:48) 4 Danang (06:31) 5 Happy Time (03:12) 6 Buzzin Fly (06:44) 7 Sefronia (03:36) 8 Because of You (04:47) 9 The Dream Belongs to Me (04:56) 10 Falling Timber (04:44) 11 Stone in Love (03:00) 12 Freeway Dixieland Rocketship Blues (04:40) 13 Honey Man (02:59) 14 Quicksand (05:35) |
 | Album: 19 of 25 Title: Starsailor: The Anthology Released: 2011-10-03 Tracks: 33 Duration: 2:35:36 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Song to the Siren (03:28) 2 Morning Glory (02:49) 3 Once I Was (03:23) 4 I Can’t See You (02:42) 5 Strange Feelin’ (07:40) 6 Goodbye and Hello (08:40) 7 Monterey (04:31) 8 Make It Right (04:07) 9 I Never Asked to Be Your Mountain (06:05) 10 Sweet Surrender (06:47) 11 Buzzin’ Fly (06:03) 12 Pleasant Street (05:17) 13 Sing a Song for You (02:39) 14 Starsailor (04:35) 15 I Woke Up (04:05) 16 The Healing Festival (03:15) 1 Wings (02:34) 2 Song of the Magician (03:07) 3 Valentine Melody (03:43) 4 Song Slowly Song (04:16) 5 Carnival Song (03:12) 6 Happy Time (03:16) 7 Dream Letter (05:12) 8 Hallucinations (04:53) 9 Blue Melody (04:56) 10 Lorca (09:59) 11 Come Here Woman (04:11) 12 Cafe (05:28) 13 Move With Me (04:52) 14 Chase the Blues Away (05:14) 15 I Must Have Been Blind (03:46) 16 Jungle Fire (04:39) 17 I Had a Talk With My Woman (06:01) |
 | Album: 20 of 25 Title: Original Album Series Released: 2011-10-10 Tracks: 41 Duration: 3:21:47 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 I Can’t See You (02:42) 2 Wings (02:34) 3 Song of the Magician (03:07) 4 Strange Street Affair Under Blue (03:13) 5 Valentine Melody (03:43) 6 Aren’t You the Girl (02:05) 7 Song Slowly Song (04:16) 8 It Happens Every Time (01:52) 9 Song for Jainie (02:45) 10 Grief in My Soul (02:07) 11 She Is (03:08) 12 Understand Your Man (03:05) 1 No Man Can Find the War (02:59) 2 Carnival Song (03:12) 3 Pleasant Street (05:17) 4 Hallucinations (04:53) 5 I Never Asked to Be Your Mountain (06:05) 6 Once I Was (03:23) 7 Phantasmagoria in Two (03:28) 8 Knight-Errant (01:59) 9 Goodbye and Hello (08:40) 10 Morning Glory (02:49) 1 Strange Feelin’ (07:40) 2 Buzzin’ Fly (06:03) 3 Love From Room 109 at the Islander (On Pacific Coast Highway) (10:49) 4 Dream Letter (05:12) 5 Gypsy Woman (12:19) 6 Sing a Song for You (02:39) 1 Happy Time (03:16) 2 Chase the Blues Away (05:14) 3 I Must Have Been Blind (03:46) 4 The River (05:48) 5 So Lonely (03:29) 6 Cafe (05:28) 7 Blue Melody (04:56) 8 The Train (07:54) 1 Lorca (09:59) 2 Anonymous Proposition (07:48) 3 I Had a Talk With My Woman (06:01) 4 Driftin’ (08:12) 5 Nobody Walkin’ (07:36) |
 | Album: 21 of 25 Title: Lady, Give Me Your Key Released: 2016-10-21 Tracks: 13 Duration: 00:00 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover | 1 Sixface (?) 2 Contact (?) 3 Lady, Give Me Your Key (?) 4 Once Upon A Time (?) 5 Once I Was (?) 6 I Never Asked To Be Your Mountain (?) 7 Pleasant Street (?) 8 Knight-Errant (?) 9 Marigold (?) 10 Carnival Song (?) 11 No Man Can Find The War (?) 12 I Cant Leave You Lovin Me (?) 13 Shes Back Again (?) |
 | Album: 22 of 25 Title: Wings: The Complete Singles 1966-1974 Released: 2016-11-18 Tracks: 21 Duration: 1:07:01 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Wings (02:34) 2 Grief In My Soul (02:07) 3 Arent You The Girl (02:05) 4 Strange Street Affair Under Blue (03:12) 5 Once Upon A Time (02:20) 6 Lady, Give Me Your Key (Previously Unissued) (02:38) 7 Morning Glory (02:57) 8 Knight-Errant (02:02) 9 Once I Was (03:26) 10 Pleasant Street (05:17) 11 Carnival Song (03:14) 12 Happy Time (03:15) 13 So Lonely (03:29) 14 Move With Me (03:42) 15 Nighthawkin (03:22) 16 Quicksand (03:24) 17 Stone In Love (03:30) 18 Dolphins (03:14) 19 Honey Man (04:12) 20 Wanda Lu (02:39) 21 Who Could Deny You (04:22) |
| Wings: The Complete Singles 1966-1974 : Allmusic album Review : Tim Buckley was a singularly gifted singer and songwriter, but his body of work seems to defy the traditional logic of a single-disc career-spanning anthology. Buckley was a creatively restless artist, and he jumped from solo acoustic purity to folk-rock to psychedelia to jazz to R&B; to purposefully scuzzy rock in the course of a recording career that lasted just eight years. The beauty and strength of his voice and his skills as a songwriter were the sole unifying threads in his discography, and many fans will even argue about those when it comes to his final three albums. 2001s Morning Glory: The Tim Buckley Anthology comes closest to capturing the artists many facets, in part because its a two-disc set that takes the time to examine his catalog with real scope, but Omnivore Recordings has taken a novel approach to summarizing Buckleys work with Wings: The Complete Singles 1966-1974. This collection features 21 songs that were released as single sides during Buckleys lifetime, including one unreleased track that was intended to be the B-side to a 1967 45 that never saw the light of day. The previously unheard number, "Lady, Give Me Your Key," is a gem, a lovely exercise in Baroque folk-rock that certainly justifies the release of this collection, as well as the inclusion of classic tunes like "Morning Glory," "Once I Was," "Arent You the Girl," and "Pleasant Street." But Wings also confirms one bit of conventional wisdom about Tim Buckley: he thought in terms of albums, not singles, and as good as most of these tracks are, they sound a bit too ornate to have been pop radio favorites in their day. One senses the labels who released these tracks were grasping at straws choosing which might miraculously please a radio programmer. This set also passes on some of Buckleys best known songs because they were never released in 7" format (most notably, "Buzzin Fly" and "Song of the Siren"), and three of his albums -- 1969s Happy Sad, 1970s Lorca, and 1970s Starsailor -- are completely unrepresented. However, while 1973s Sefronia is generally considered a botch, Buckleys cover of Fred Neils "Dolphins" is here to show the album had a hidden gem, and the R&B; raunch of "Move with Me" and "Wanda Lu" plays better here than in the context of the albums where they were first released. Wings doesnt do better than most Tim Buckley collections in making sense of his fascinating, sometimes contradictory songbook, but it does bring together an hour of good to brilliant songs from a one-of-a-kind artist, and the set includes an interview with Buckleys friend and writing partner Larry Beckett that lends some welcome insights into how these recordings came to be. | ||
 | Album: 23 of 25 Title: Venice Mating Call Released: 2017-10 Tracks: 13 Duration: 1:48:14 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover | 1 Buzzin’ Fly (05:49) 2 Strange Feelin’ (05:48) 3 Blue Melody (05:42) 4 Chase the Blues Away (06:53) 5 Venice Mating Call (06:53) 6 Gypsy Woman (13:05) 7 I Don’t Need It to Rain (11:42) 1 Driftin’ (08:09) 2 (I Wanna) Testify (09:07) 3 Anonymous Proposition (08:07) 4 Lorca (11:10) 5 I Had a Talk With My Woman (07:24) 6 Nobody Walkin’ (08:25) |
 | Album: 24 of 25 Title: The Complete Album Collection Released: 2017-10-13 Tracks: 73 Duration: 5:43:53 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover | 1 I Can’t See You (02:42) 2 Wings (02:34) 3 Song of the Magician (03:07) 4 Strange Street Affair Under Blue (03:13) 5 Valentine Melody (03:43) 6 Aren’t You the Girl (02:05) 7 Song Slowly Song (04:16) 8 It Happens Every Time (01:52) 9 Song for Jainie (02:45) 10 Grief in My Soul (02:07) 11 She Is (03:08) 12 Understand Your Man (03:05) 1 No Man Can Find the War (02:59) 2 Carnival Song (03:12) 3 Pleasant Street (05:17) 4 Hallucinations (04:53) 5 I Never Asked to Be Your Mountain (06:05) 6 Once I Was (03:23) 7 Phantasmagoria in Two (03:28) 8 Knight-Errant (01:59) 9 Goodbye and Hello (08:40) 10 Morning Glory (02:49) 1 Strange Feelin’ (07:39) 2 Buzzin’ Fly (06:03) 3 Love From Room 109 at the Islander (On Pacific Coast Highway) (10:49) 4 Dream Letter (05:12) 5 Gypsy Woman (12:19) 6 Sing a Song for You (02:39) 1 Happy Time (03:16) 2 Chase the Blues Away (05:13) 3 I Must Have Been Blind (03:46) 4 The River (05:48) 5 So Lonely (03:29) 6 Cafe (05:28) 7 Blue Melody (04:56) 8 The Train (07:54) 1 Lorca (09:59) 2 Anonymous Proposition (07:48) 3 I Had a Talk With My Woman (06:01) 4 Driftin’ (08:12) 5 Nobody Walkin’ (07:36) 1 Come Here Woman (04:11) 2 I Woke Up (04:05) 3 Monterey (04:31) 4 Moulin Rouge (01:58) 5 Song to the Siren (03:28) 6 Jungle Fire (04:39) 7 Starsailor (04:35) 8 The Healing Festival (03:15) 9 Down by the Borderline (05:17) 1 Move With Me (04:51) 2 Get on Top (06:33) 3 Sweet Surrender (06:47) 4 Nighthawkin’ (03:21) 5 Devil Eyes (06:50) 6 Hong Kong Bar (07:08) 7 Make It Right (04:07) 1 Danang (take 7+8 Intercut) (06:30) 2 Sing a Song for You (take 11) (05:43) 3 Buzzin Fly (take 3) (06:44) 4 Song to the Siren (take 7) (03:28) 5 Happy Time (take 14) (03:13) 6 Skies (Let Me Sing a Song for You) [take 8] (02:40) 7 Chase the Blues Away (Take 3) (04:00) 8 Hi Lily, Hi Lo (take 7) (03:37) 9 Buzzin Fly (take 9) (05:07) 10 Wayfaring Stranger (take 4) (04:24) 11 Ashbury Park Version 1 (take 8) (02:47) 12 Ashbury Park Version 2 (take 14) (03:21) 13 Ashbury Park Version 2 (take 25) (03:28) 14 Dream Letter (Takes 17-16 Intercut) (05:13) 15 The Father Song (take 3) (02:44) 16 The Fiddler (Rough Mix) (03:26) |
 | Album: 25 of 25 Title: Greetings From West Hollywood Released: 2017-10-20 Tracks: 9 Duration: 1:08:29 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Buzzin’ Fly (06:18) 2 Chase The Blues Away (06:31) 3 I Had A Talk With My Woman (07:23) 4 Blue Melody (05:41) 5 Nobody Walkin’ (12:26) 6 Venice Mating Call (03:03) 7 I Don’t Need It To Rain (08:36) 8 Driftin’ (07:56) 9 Gypsy Woman (10:35) |