As we approach what would have been Tim Buckley’s 74th birthday, it seems only fitting to look back on the career which saw his buttery tenor stretch across 9 remarkable studio albums.
Born February 14, 1947, the world welcomed one of the finest voices down to earth. At 5 years old the young Buckley was listening to Miles Davis, Judy Garland, and Johnny Cash, an eclecticism guided by his parents’ record collection, (and later alluded to in his rapid sonic evolution during the late 1960s and early 1970s). By the age of 13, Buckley had taught himself to play the banjo, and played in bands throughout high school. At 18, Buckley had married his high school sweetheart Mary Guibert under the pretence that she was pregnant, before packing up and hitting the road to record and tour in 1966 about a month before their son, Jeff Buckley, was born.
1966; Tim Buckley
After signing with Elektra records on account of a six-track demo tape, Buckley recorded his debut LP in just 3 days. The album is an innocent dip into the world of improvisatory folk rock, with guitarist Lee Underwood’s telecaster becoming a motif in early Buckley albums. There is playfulness here, each track rarely longer than 2 minutes the eponymous album is a true delight. It’s accessibility is largely attributed to the simplicity of soundscapes, free from the whacky experimental and at times challenging liberties taken on later works. Albeit there is a sophistication present, lying in Buckley’s ability to be sweet and simple, without boring listeners or recycling ideas. He was only 19 after all.
1967; Goodbye and Hello
Now at 20 years old, Buckley had honed in on his ability to write poetry that reflected more than teenage frivolity. In fact, many lovers of Buckley’s music cite this album to be his finest. In just a year since his debut, Buckley’s voice had deepened further, which when linked with complex time signatures and astute commentaries, rendered a more mature and complete sound.
Goodbye and Hello deals with themes much darker than its predecessor. Through it Buckley reckons with the realities of America’s political makeup in the late 1960s, expressing the psychological nature of war, challenging the role of mass media in painting a generational narrative, and confesses to his young, estranged family whom he’d left to pursue music.
Graduating from the 2 minute pop song to the almost 9 minute title track, Goodbye and Hello is as haunting as it is daring, pushing Buckley out into a world he and his band had created, where experimentation and subverting the conventional became bedrocks of the ‘Buckley sound’.
1969; Happy Sad
The late 60s documented a really interesting time for Buckley and his then developing identity as a practitioner of sonic defiance. Melting ties between jazz, blues, folk and rock, 1968 marks a period between the critical acclaim of folk pioneering in Goodbye and Hello, and the capacious musical opportunities of Happy Sad.
“I can see where I’m heading, and it will probably be further and further from what people expected of me”.
Recorded in ’68 and released in ’69, Happy Sad was Buckley most commercially successful album, reaching no. 81 on the US charts. His sound became jazzier, characterised by the fronting of a vibraphone, chilling out the entire feel of Buckley’s aesthetic. The average track length became even longer. After parting with co-lyricist Larry Becket who had collaborated with Buckley on his first two releases, Tim momentarily moved away from political shading in his music. In doing so he ultimately changed the power dynamic vocalists usually portray; no longer was the lyric or the prose the most important performance, rather, using words to shape different sounds and tones. Buckley’s deep tenor and powerful falsetto was treated as an instrument in its own right, and not solely as a vehicle for carrying words.
Among the vocal acrobatics, came more pertinent allusions to the jazz musicians Buckley had grown up adoring. ‘Strange Feelin’ borrows Miles Davis’ melody from his track ‘All Blues’, whilst ‘Gypsy Woman’ is reminiscent of captured jam session. There is freedom and chaos here, and it’s incredible.
1969; Blue Afternoon
Once Happy Sad had been released, it was back to work for Buckley who began writing songs that would appear on the following 3 records, Blue Afternoon, Lorca, and Starsailor.
Blue Afternoon was a momentary lapse back into the strictly folk realm. Whilst many bathe in its beauty, those close to Tim and even he himself resigned to the fact that this was a record intended to please managers, labels, and radio stations; it was something to keep Buckley connected to a space of plausible commercial support.
Things were about to get weird from here on out.
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