Happy Sad - Tim Buckley

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.
 

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