Every review I've ever read about Jeff Buckley tells what a great singer he was. Well he got it from his dad, Tim, and whatever was in the Buckley family vocal genes I'd like to have some of that too please. This album, originally released on that great old LA label Elektra in 1969, and ... Read review
At the top of the list of doomed cult folkies with the angelic Nick Drake, Tim Buckley ... more
built his reputation on his remarkable vocal range, sensitive, moody songwriting and refusal to compromise artistically even when it maddened and confused his most a...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
At the top of the list of doomed cult folkies with the angelic Nick Drake, Tim Buckley ... more
built his reputation on his remarkable vocal range, sensitive, moody songwriting and refusal to compromise artistically even when it maddened and confused his most a...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
At the top of the list of doomed cult folkies with the angelic Nick Drake, Tim Buckley ... more
built his reputation on his remarkable vocal range, sensitive, moody songwriting and refusal to compromise artistically even when it maddened and confused his most a...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 3 to 5 weeks...
At the top of the list of doomed cult folkies with the angelic Nick Drake, Tim Buckley ... more
built his reputation on his remarkable vocal range, sensitive, moody songwriting and refusal to compromise artistically even when it maddened and confused his most a...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
At the top of the list of doomed cult folkies with the angelic Nick Drake, Tim Buckley ... more
built his reputation on his remarkable vocal range, sensitive, moody songwriting and refusal to compromise artistically even when it maddened and confused his most ardent fans. Happy Sad recorded in 1969 with production duties shared by the Lovin Spoonful's Jerry Yester and Zal Yanovsky, showcased what was to become an increasingly jazz tinged direction with intricate song arrangements underpinned by vibes and intricate lead guitar work. The mellow "Buzzin Fly" is the lightest moment here but Happy Sad, only six songs long, is fashioned around two centrepiece numbers, the 10 minute "Love From Room 109 At The Islander [On Pacific Coast Highway"], a darkly romantic meditation set against a backdrop of rolling breakers and the 12 minute stoned groove "Gypsy Woman" in which Buckley sets that incredible voice loose. --Mike Pattenden
Postage & Packaging:Free! Availability:Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
At the top of the list of doomed cult folkies with the angelic Nick Drake, Tim Buckley ... more
built his reputation on his remarkable vocal range, sensitive, moody songwriting and refusal to compromise artistically even when it maddened and confused his most ardent fans.Happy Sadrecorded in 1969 with production duties shared by the Lovin Spoonful's Jerry Yester and Zal Yanovsky, showcased what was to become an increasingly jazz tinged direction with intricate song arrangements underpinned by vibes and intricate lead guitar work. The mellow "Buzzin Fly" is the lightest moment here butHappy Sad, only six songs long, is fashioned around two centrepiece numbers, the 10 minute "Love From Room 109 At The Islander [On Pacific Coast Highway"], a darkly romantic meditation set against a backdrop of rolling breakers and the 12 minute stoned groove "Gypsy Woman" in which Buckley sets that incredible voice loose. --Mike Pattenden
Postage & Packaging:£1.21 Availability:Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Every review I've ever read about Jeff Buckley tells what a great singer he was. Well he got it from his dad, Tim, and whatever was in the Buckley family vocal genes I'd like to have some of that too please. This album, originally released on that great old LA label Elektra in 1969, and co-produced by The Lovin' Spoonful's duo of Jerry Yester and Zal Yanovsky, is one sweet, sweet trip through the extraordinary vocal talents of this man.
...on the white lady on 30 June 1975. Oh, the good ones they do die young. Buckley had an amazing range, going right from falsetto all the way down to a deep snarl. I don't think I've ever heard a male singer capable of doing the same.
Yes, so much of this album sounds like the boys just set out camp in the San Francisco panhandle, smoked some dope and dropped some acid, then got on with the business of making a record, but remember this ... more
Every review I've ever read about Jeff Buckley tells what a great singer he was. Well he got it from his dad, Tim, and whatever was in the Buckley family vocal genes I'd like to have some of that too please. This album, originally released on that great old LA label Elektra in 1969, and co-produced by The Lovin' Spoonful's duo of Jerry Yester and Zal Yanovsky, is one sweet, sweet trip through the extraordinary vocal talents of this man.
Born in Washington DC, 1947, Tim OD'd on the white lady on 30 June 1975. Oh, the good ones they do die young. Buckley had an amazing range, going right from falsetto all the way down to a deep snarl. I don't think I've ever heard a male singer capable of doing the same.
Yes, so much of this album sounds like the boys just set out camp in the San Francisco panhandle, smoked some dope and dropped some acid, then got on with the business of making a record, but remember this was 1968! Paris was burning, the boys from 'Nam were handing in their Purple Hearts, and the rotten administration of Lyndon B Johnson was quaking. All this going on at the time of Altamont, the Kent State shootings and the show trials of the Black Panthers, as the US establishment lashed out at anything resembling a threat to itself.... I am getting a little off the beaten track so sermon over, back to this remarkable collection of songs.
There are only six tracks on this album, but it lasts for 44 minutes, so that should give you some idea of what is going on here, and what is going on here is sparse, light and loose freeform jazz-rock-com-improv that you will never hear anything like on any other record.
Strange Feeling gets the ball rolling, a sparse glockenspiel and acoustic guitar gently open before Buckley comes in with vocals that I can only compare with some sort of delta blues singer. It doesn't change much throughout either. Usually starting an album with a near-eight minute track is to court disaster, but this just drifts out of the speakers and fills your room perfectly, normally I hate "noodling" on any record but I'll make an exception for this one.
The six-minute Buzzing Fly is a simple guitar over more glockenspiel. It's a simple, yet upbeat, love song in which Buckley gives a beautifully rich rendition of lines like....."darling I wanna know, you're the one I talk about, you're the one I think about, but sometimes darling, in the morning, god I miss you so...."
The first two tracks seem to have just been a warm-up though. The sound of ocean waves crashing on the beach is joined by a double bass as the mammoth, but totally brilliant, eleven minute Love From Room 109 At The Islander (On Pacific Coast Highway) takes you on an epic ride. It's kind of like a suite of songs all rolled into one, we have the confident start, very melancholy middle section and chilled-out coda. Just sit down, lie back and let this wash over you like the waves built into this song.
The next song Dream Letter, starts with disorted double bass and bottom end to the fore. Buckley's in melancholic mood here..."was he a soldier, or was he a dreamer, does he help his momma when he can....just like a soldier boy I've been out fighting wars that the world never knows about..." again this is very sparse, but has a bit of an edge to it that the earlier songs don't have.
Gypsy Woman, another epic tune (12 minutes and 19 seconds) starts off with Indian drumming before what resembles a band join in on a manic free-for-all jam. Shamanic, I think they used to call this sort of stuff, and you can easily picture a room full of hippies swaying to this...I think everyone must have dropped a tab or two, smoked some of the good stuff and just left the recording tapes running while they put this down. It is music totally without boundaries, going from driving gruff one minute to a top-end Buckley vocal..."cast a spell on me, darling, cast a spell on me, momma...", he goes from this on one line right down to a snarl on the next! Amazing.
After that, the last tune is Sing A Song For You, the nearest on here to what passes for a "standard" album track. It's another dreamy sparsely produced love song, with rich chocolate covered vocals.
Thank heavens for the late 60's and artists who were given leeway to experiment, records like this could never be made today, with music controlled by accountants. Take this into EMI or Sony nowadays and the suits would politely brush you off, as they check on how many copies of the new Coldplay album they have to shift before breaking even this month.
Put quite simply, this is a totally unique record, I have not heard anything like it before. Truly fabulous. Everyone's heard the albums from his great son Jeff, now perhaps they should hear how great a singer his dad was too. Avaliable for around a fiver online, it would be criminal not to.
Advantages: A wide scoping double CD album Disadvantages: Misses his more experimental work
the Blues Away" (Buckley) 5:13
"I Must Have Been Blind" (Buckley) 3:45
"The River" (Buckley) 5:48
"So Lonely" (Buckley) 3:29
"Blue Melody" (Buckley) 4:55
"I Had a Talk With My Woman" (Buckley) 7:27 (live)
"Moulin Rouge" (Beckett, Buckley) 1:58
"Song to the Siren" (Beckett, Buckley) 3:29
"Monterey" (Beckett, Buckley) 4:31
"Sweet Surrender" (Buckley) 6:47
"Hong Kong Bar" (Buckley, Joe Falsia) 7:07
"Make It Right" (Beckett, Buckley, Falsia, Jerry Goldstein) 4:10
"Saly Go 'Round the Roses" (Buckley) 3:46
"Who Could Deny You" (Buckley) 4:23
"Song to the Siren" (Beckett, Buckley) 3:15 (from The Monkees TV show)
The first disk is primarily concentrating on his early career, from the "TimBuckley" and "Hello and goodbye" albums mainly with some from "Blue afternoon" and "Happysad". This disk seems to try and focus more ...
Product Information for "Happy Sad - Tim Buckley" »
Product details
Title
Happy Sad
Performer
Tim Buckley
Genre
Folk
Sub Genre
Singer/Songwriter
Release Date
02/1992
Recomended Retail Price
10.99 GBP
Original Release Year
1969
Label / Distributor
WEA / Cinram Logistics
Engineer
Bruce Botnick
Producer
Jerry Yester; Zal Yanovsky
Pieces in Set
1
Studio / Live
Studio
Stereo
Stereo
Format
Performer
EAN
75597404524
Catalogue Number
7559740452
SPAR code
AAD
Additional notes
Album Notes
Personnel: Tim Buckley (vocals, 12-string guitar); Lee Underwood (guitar); David Friedman (vibraphone, bass marimba); John Miller (acoustic bass); Carter C.C. Collins (congas). Recorded at Elektra Sound Recorders, Los Angeles, California. HAPPY SAD was more than just an album title for Tim Buckley. Troubled in life, he left a legacy of beautiful, hauntingly moving songs. Buckley had a piercing, mournful cry in his pliant voice, complemented by a unique jazz-folk delivery. His soaring, octave-spanning voice created an eerie mood of despair--the darker, moody side of the era. His weren't the happy-go-lucky flower-child songs, nor were they the multi-colored, paisley pop tunes of the time; his was a deep, dark-blue expression of emotion. His voice was beautiful, well-controlled, and, as exhibited in the breezy "Strange Feelin'," colored throughout by an underlying sadness. "Love From Room 109" is a freewheeling, jazzy track that portrays a man who is as emotionally frayed as he is musically disembodied. The 12-minute "Gypsy Woman" is a raging, gritty, and unbridled epic. Even the more upbeat, pop-oriented "Buzzin' Fly" conveys a sense of melancholy. The closing "To Sing A Song For You" is straightforward, yet rendered complex by Tim's nuances.
Album Reviews
Q (7/93, p.104) - 4 Stars - Excellent - "...Tim Buckley's third album and perhaps the only record to match in mood and quality Van Morrison's contemporary Astral Weeks..."
Titles on disc 1
1.
Strange Feeling
2.
Buzzin' Fly
3.
Love From Room 109 At The Islander
4.
Dream Letter
5.
Gypsy Woman
6.
Sing A Song For You
Ciao
Listed on Ciao since
17/06/2005
Compare Happy Sad - Tim Buckley to other similar Folk & Country »