Tim Buckley/Goodbye And Hello - Tim Buckley

...of the album taken from Tim Buckley, his first album. Both these albums have the story telling magic of lyricist/poet Larry Beckett, and the vocal's and musical wizardry of Tim Buckley.

Tim's music was (early in his career) knwon for a strong and atheletic voice capable of reaching any high's or low's, and is said to have had a 5 octave voice.

Track listing
1. I Can't See You
2. Wings
3. Song ...
...but astonishing lyrics about how Tim left his wife. Although not the greatest of subjects perhaps, the lyrics give the song a soft and easy feel of love of the mother of his child, but also a feeling that he can't go back to her. Beckett's lyrics here really do stand apart from most lyricist's since. A song anyone would be proud to do a half decent cover of, due to how well Buckley produces the goods. 10/10

Song of the magician, The ... more

I wrote a review for "Goodbye and hello" as a stand-alone album but then saw this one Ciao, so I've copied my review of that as well as written a review of the first part of the album taken from Tim Buckley, his first album. Both these albums have the story telling magic of lyricist/poet Larry Beckett, and the vocal's and musical wizardry of Tim Buckley.

Tim's music was (early in his career) knwon for a strong and atheletic voice capable of reaching any high's or low's, and is said to have had a 5 octave voice.

Track listing
1. I Can't See You
2. Wings
3. Song Of The Magician
4. Strange Street Affair Under Blue
5. Valentine Melody
6. Aren't You The Girl
7. Song Slowly Sung
8. It Happens Every Time
9. Song For Janie
10. Grief In My Soul
11. She Is
12. Understand Your Man
13. No Man Can Find The War
14. Carnival Song
15. Pleasant Street
16. Hallucinations
17. I Never Asked To Be Your Mountain
18. Once I Was
19. Phantasmagoria In Two
20. Knighterrant
21. Goodbye And Hello
22. Morning Glory

I can't see you, A nice intro with soft guitar sounds and a speedy sounding vocal display. Although not the best song on the disk, it's still an astonishingly great start to the album letting us catch a glimpse of what Tim's all about. With Beckett's lyrics being sang poetically by a brilliant Buckley. 9/10

Wings, My personal favourite from the "Tim Buckley" secotion, with simple but astonishing lyrics about how Tim left his wife. Although not the greatest of subjects perhaps, the lyrics give the song a soft and easy feel of love of the mother of his child, but also a feeling that he can't go back to her. Beckett's lyrics here really do stand apart from most lyricist's since. A song anyone would be proud to do a half decent cover of, due to how well Buckley produces the goods. 10/10

Song of the magician, The simple musical accompaniment to Buckley's overall strong and yet sad words, whci seem to speed up and slow down at will really shows his skill at theyoung age he recorded this. More Beckett lyrics with words that describe Buckley brilliantly "Listen to me with my magical voice". 9/10

Sweet strange affair under blue, An odd title for a song but when you hear the music it's the first time you see what Buckley later attempted, with a slow start progressively getting faster in a race between the vocals and the music, before they are sprinting down an open highway of music. The first minuite and a half is purely magical and the second half of the song doesn't dissappoint either. You will be hard to find a much better song that experiments at all with speed. The weird time signatures seem to follow Buckley's carrer through. 10/10

Valentine melody, A beautiful soft peice with images in abundance from the lyrics. If we could get song like this now a days it would really re-invite modern music. The only shame is after the previous song's speed this seems to be too slow to really convey Tim's feelings. 8/10

Aren't you the girl, A little song about a girl who picked on the singer and then seemingly wants to know him. A song that seems fast in comparison to most others, even more so considering the slow ballad that it followed. The chorus of the song is exceptional, with soft verses intersecting them with simple lyrics "Bucking frilliantly" sang. 10/10

Song slowly song, This is a soft slowly sang song about a lust for a girl, likely to have been written about Mary Guilbert (His ex wife). The simple lyrical composition is sang slowly enough to be understood with the emotions rather than the flaw of "Valentine melody". Although the tempo does seem to make the song stretch out (marginally over 4 minuites) which may be against some people's taste. What Tim sings is brought across beautifully, but the fact it feels stretched does hurt it's rating. 8/10

It happens everytime, The shortest song out of the two albums at 1:52, has you tapping your toes throughout. A wonderful song about lost love, that it's shamefully short. A bit more complex of a melody is playing behind Tim's trademark acrobatic voice. 8/10

Song for Janie, A song for a women he met after he left his wife, the lyrics were co-wrote between Beckett and Buckley, and have a strong feeling of lust. The speed this song travels at is of a slightly up tempo love song, that has the almost Buckley-esque feeling of toe tapping perfection. A simple song with perhaps too simple of a repetative hook for some, but many won't mind this one con to such a wonderful song and insight into Tim's life. 9/10

Greif in my soul, Holding almost the same tempo as the previous song, this time Tim comes across a lot vocally stronger and heavier sounding but with some equsite touches to the chorus means this is probably the best vocal showing on the disk. The chorus although brilliant isn't something you should try to sing along with due to the pace and all out amazement of the original, that you won't be able to even get near to touching. 10/10

She is, A wonderful beach sound opens the song, before Buckley opens his mouth and sings softly of a woman. The images as with all Beckett written song's is second to none. Buckley's guitar sounds for once may be superior to his vocal's which aren't quite upto his particularly high standards. If your a musician you will see lots of wonderful intracities to this, if not you can just sit and listen to a wonderful peice. 9/10

Understand your man, The final song on "Tim Buckley" before the start of "Goodbye and hello". This song seems to take a different direction to most of the rest of the 21 songs on the disk. A strong but slightly deeper song, maybe even more mainstream sounding than the rest. The guitar sounds again seemed to have take a step up, however this time the vocals have also progressed with it. A superb finish to the original "Tim Buckley" album. 9/10

This is where the "second" album starts:

No man can find the war, Is a softly sung song about Vietnam, written by Beckett, before Beckett got drafted. As with most the album the soft music allows buckley's voice to ride the waves above it. At only 2:59 it is a short song (third shortest on the album) which does reflect some what sadly upon it's rating. 7/10

Carnival song, Another softly sung song, with Buckley staying well with in him self to produce an simple but yet brilliant vocal display. At just over 3 mins, and containing only 3 verses Buckley's voice doesn't quite save how simple this song is musically. 7/10

Pleasant street, This should have opened the album, a blissful song thats an absolute pleasure to listen to. It's the first song on the album to actually have a chorus as such and it shows the useage of such a section in a song. The singing is as always delightful, but this time it seems Beckett has given Buckley the perfect lyrics that his voice longs for.Easy contender for song of the album. 10/10

Hallucinations, This is a song where Buckley really comes into his own in the terms of vocals. Again a simple music component with Buckley's deligious voice singing over it. This reminds me of "Song of the Magician" from Tim's first album. The verses can faster then slower, showing to some extent where Buckley was later headed in his career. 9/10

I never asked to be your mountain, A bit of a lyrical marathon, in a song his son later covered. The song which is about Tim's relationship with his ex wife, and son (Jeff) is a lyrical masterpeice with similies and metaphors and other such linguistic devices almost displayed at will. Tim's voice scales peaks that few artists' ever dare, and in this song, tim's voices range's in marvelous fashion. Although Jeff's version is my prefered one, this is still and amazing song. 9/10

Once I was, Another one of Beckett's war related songs, or so you'd think from the opening lyrics, however it is thought to be about Tim's dad (Also called Tim). Either meaning has been accepted by many Buckley fans. As with most song's Tim's soft voice convey's emotions deep down you may not even have known existed. His silky voice makes you feel the sadness he hides behind his music. Though it does seem to miss a little something magical, he again astounds the listener, though not quite upto the very high standards of the previous 3 songs. 8/10

Phantasmagoria in two, A chirpy little peice Buckley seems to convey a happy loving feeling for the listener in the song, this is one of the paciest songs on the album and the vocals as always note perfect. Though the lyrics are less catchy than on some of the better songs such as "Pleasant street". 7/10

Knight errant, A sparkling little peice, that you may hear and forget you ever heard it as it's far too short at less than 2 mins long and seems to fit into the next song. A bright peice that Buckley should have extended. It's definately different to the marjority of the album and seems to feel a little out of place on the album, unfortunately this drags down it's mark. 6/10

Goodbye and hello, A marathon, a stunning tour, a feast. Buckley at his godly best. Starting off with slow music and peaceful singing, The musical "chorus" kicks in and sounds soft but yet you can almost hear theirs a lot more to come from the song. As the next verse approaches theirs a little change in music, before a speeddy interlude with Buckley seemingly going off on a tangent that yet fits so wonderfully and makes you wonder why so few people have replicated the effect that he does a little later in the song. Then back to the musical "chorus", then back to the pacey god send with a slightly high tone this time Tim takes on slightly more complex verse. Then back to a chorus, and so on. This song nears to 9 mins, and theirs not a wasted second. Almost a compendium of musical bravura, all some how fitting into a single peice. It has everything a perfect song has, originality, ease to listen to, lyrical perfect. Only song on the album that really gives "Pleasant street" challange for the best song on the album.10/10

Morning-glory, The second shortest song on the album at 2:49, shows Buckley's voice at his sweetest and Beckett's lyric's at their simple best. The A-A-A-B scheme used throughtout the song probably helps to make this the most conventional song on the album with it's simple verse--verse-chorus-verse-chorus structure sitting easily into modern music. The only shame with that, is the song isn't loud enough to shout above the crashendo of the modern era in music. 8/10  

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