Tim Buckley: Album by Album, note for note appreciation

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by lemonade kid, Oct 20, 2020.

  1. mameyama

    mameyama Forum Resident

    Location:
    Wiltshire, UK
    Definition of phantasmagoria
    1: an exhibition of optical effects and illusions
    2a: a constantly shifting complex succession of things seen or imagined
    b: a scene that constantly changes
    3: a bizarre or fantastic combination, collection, or assemblage

    Again, beautiful, impressive lyricism for a 20-year old. Tim has dominated the album thus far, with 5 of the last 6 sets of lyrics. Maybe things will change tomorrow.
     
    lemonade kid likes this.
  2. gazatthebop

    gazatthebop Forum Resident

    Location:
    manchester
    One of the "Goodbye and Hello" cd liner notes states the album recording started May 8 1967 with recording lasting one month. Sgt Pepper was first issued in USA on June 1st 1967.
    If it was an influence TB must have been stood outside the record shop awaiting its release and played in endlessly for those few days in early June.
     
    Last edited: Nov 2, 2020
    lemonade kid and Clonesteak like this.
  3. Clonesteak

    Clonesteak Forum Resident

    Location:
    Kalamazoo, MI
    :righton::righton:
    I am still surprised this album didn’t do better in the charts in 1967 :confused:

    Thanks gazzatthebop :righton:
     
    lemonade kid likes this.
  4. mameyama

    mameyama Forum Resident

    Location:
    Wiltshire, UK
    Goodbye & Hello was Tim's second most successful album, peaking at #171 in Nov. 1967. (#171 was coincidently the highest chart position for the Velvet Underground & Nico released that same year)
     
    lemonade kid likes this.
  5. gazatthebop

    gazatthebop Forum Resident

    Location:
    manchester
    i had a listen to some (six) of the "Goodbye and Hello" cd's i have earlier. I use to think the 1989 German disc (distributed by Pickwick) was the best sounding but it seems all copies prior to 2001 are the exact same mastering including the japanese. In 2001 the first two albums were issued on one disc, the mastering is different, it runs every so slightly faster and is a bit quieter but sounds pretty much the same. A third mastering is on the 2017 box set, the unsuitably titled "The Complete Tim Buckley album collection". That one is a bit louder and for me had less clear vocals.
     
    lemonade kid likes this.
  6. lemonade kid

    lemonade kid Forever Changing Thread Starter

    track 8) Knight-Errant (Buckley/Beckett)

    As the title suggests, Becketts' lyrics evoke an age of
    knights and ladies (with "O whither..and wandered")...
    yet easily sending us back thru a portal or looking glass back to modern days
    with that gentle baroque psych treatment.

    Tim's lovely straightforward song composition with harpsichord and vocals are perfect for Beckett's gentle poetry.




    O whither has my lady wandered?
    I'll search until I know I've found her

    One green day she left her wings
    And cut away her childhood strings
    But dropping smiles along the trail
    She left a trace I will not fail

    O whither has my lady wandered?
    I'll search until I know I've found her

    When I catch my sudden maid
    I'll deck her out in lace and jade
    I will take her to her room
    I will take her to her room

    I love her upstairs, I love her downstairs
    But I love my lady's chamber
    O whither has my lady wandered?
    I'll search until I know I've found her
     
  7. mameyama

    mameyama Forum Resident

    Location:
    Wiltshire, UK
    Knight-Errant
    This is nice and short at under 2 minutes, and the music is fine and fits the mood of the album.
    But... this is my least favourite Beckett lyric. The double entendre "upstairs", "downstairs", "chamber" just seems a little juvenile and throwaway. Anyone else bothered by that?
    Knight-Errant was the B-side of a UK single. In the sleeve notes to the 2016 CD "Wings: The Complete Singles", Beckett says the song was based on a nursery rhyme, and nearly 50 years on he was still guffawing at the audacity of the lyric. I think both Buckley and Beckett had quite wicked senses of humour- and I mean that in a generally positive way.
    I think quite a few better tracks than Knight-Errant were dropped by Tim. I would have loved to hear a studio version of Cripples Cry, for instance, without the coughing.
     
  8. lemonade kid

    lemonade kid Forever Changing Thread Starter

    Agree completely...not a real favorite for me either--the same for the next long number--tho' the closer redeems the two previous tracks..
    Knight-Errant is pleasant enough but...pretty thinly veiled imagery indeed...for teenagers' minds to snicker at.

    But yes...Buckley and Beckett were wicked good!
     
  9. Clonesteak

    Clonesteak Forum Resident

    Location:
    Kalamazoo, MI
    Knight-Errant is my least favorite song on this album. Just does not do much for me.
     
    lemonade kid likes this.
  10. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product

    Phantasmagoria in two.

    I like this too.
    It has the feel of a two beat... it probably is a four, but the feel is a two beat thing, and it drives the song along quickly, but the delivery gives it a smooth measured feel.
    If we count it as a four, it sounds like it should be a speed metal track lol
    I like the vocal and musical arrangement.
    We have a melancholy coming through that really works for me.
     
  11. lemonade kid

    lemonade kid Forever Changing Thread Starter

    Me too....but the positive ...it is short. Still, it isn't so terrible to the point of wanting to skip it.
     
    Clonesteak and mark winstanley like this.
  12. lemonade kid

    lemonade kid Forever Changing Thread Starter

    track 9) Goodbye & Hello (Buckley/Beckett)

    Haven't listened hard to this one in a long time...jury's out until later...
    your thoughts, everyone. It is an epic anti-war song in any event.

    Reaction upon the first opening notes, I do remember liking this one,
    and it is the centerpiece of this unique, ambitious and
    quite remarkable 1967 classic LP.

    As many have said, we often remember this in our mind's ear,
    as a dated of-its-time album. But upon a renewed listening via this thread.
    I find it to be quite fresh and timeless...how about you all?




    The antique people are down in the dungeons
    Run by machines and afraid of the tax
    Their heads in the grave and their hands on their eyes
    Hauling their hearts around circular tracks
    Pretending forever their masquerade towers
    Are not really riddled with widening cracks
    And I wave goodbye to iron
    And smile hello to the air

    O the new children dance ------ I am young
    All around the balloons ------ I will live
    Swaying by chance ------ I am strong
    To the breeze from the moon ------ I can give
    Painting the sky ------ You the strange
    With the colors of sun ------ Seed of day
    Freely they fly ------ Feel the change
    As all become one ------ Know the Way

    The velocity addicts explode on the highways
    Ignoring the journey and moving so fast
    Their nerves fall apart and they gasp but can't breathe
    They run from the cops of the skeleton past
    Petrified by tradition in a nightmare they stagger

    Into nowhere at all and they look up aghast
    And I wave goodbye to speed
    And smile hello to a rose

    O the new children kiss ------ I am young
    They are so proud to learn ------ I will live
    Womanwood bliss ------ I am strong
    And the manfire that burns ------ I can give
    Knowing no fear ------ You the strange
    They take off their clothes ------ Seed of day
    Honest and clear ------ Feel the change
    As a river that flows ------ Know the Way

    The antique people are fading out slowly
    Like newspapers flaming in mind suicide
    Godless and sexless directionless loons
    Their sham sandcastles dissolve in the tide
    They put on their deathmasks and compromise daily
    The new children will live for the elders have died
    And I wave goodbye to America
    And smile hello to the world

    O the new children play ------ I am young
    Under the juniper trees ------ I will live
    Sky blue or gray ------ I am strong
    They continue at ease ------ I can give
    Moving so slow ------ You the strange
    That serenely they can ------ Seed of day
    Gracefully grow ------ Feel the change
    And yes still understand ------ Know the Way

    The king and the queen in their castle of billboards
    Sleepwalk down the hallways dragging behind
    All their possessions and transient treasures
    As they go to worship the electronic shrine
    On which is playing the late late commercial
    In that hollowest house of the opulent blind
    And I wave goodbye to Mammon
    And smile hello to a stream

    O the new children buy ------ I am young
    All the world for a song ------ I will live
    Without a dime ------ I am strong
    To which they belong ------ I can give
    Nobody owns ------ You the strange
    Anything anywhere ------ Seed of day
    Everyone's grown ------ Feel the change
    Up so big they can share ------ Know the Way

    The vaudeville generals cavort on the stage
    And shatter their audience with submachine guns
    And Freedom and Violence the acrobat clowns
    Do a balancing act on the graves of our sons
    While the tapdancing Emperor sings "War is peace"
    And Love the Magician disappears in the fun
    And I wave goodbye to murder
    And smile hello to the rain

    O the new children can't ------ I am young
    Tell a foe from a friend ------ I will live
    Quick to enchant ------ I am strong
    And so glad to extend ------ I can give
    Handfuls of dawn ------ You the strange
    To kaleidoscope men ------ Seed of day
    Come from beyond ------ Feel the change
    The Great Wall of Skin ------ Know the Way

    The bloodless husbands are jesters who listen
    Like sheep to the shrieks and commands of their wives
    And the men who aren't men leave the women alone
    See them all faking love on a bed made of knives
    Afraid to discover or trust in their bodies
    And in secret divorce they will never survive
    And I wave goodbye to ashes
    And smile hello to a girl
     
    BrentB likes this.
  13. lemonade kid

    lemonade kid Forever Changing Thread Starter

    I am giving myself (Birthday today) a twofer....:righton:

    track 10) Morning Glory (Buckley-Beckett)

    This IS up there in my favorite, upper echelon of Buckley/Beckett songs...
    or any song by any artist favorite. A Buckley/Beckett masterpiece.

    Quite wonderful and a stunning closer! Hope you all enjoyed this "fantastic
    expedition" into the finest album via the Buckley/Beckett songwriting team.



    I lit my purest candle close to my
    Window, hoping it would catch the eye
    Of any vagabond who passed it by,
    And I waited in my fleeting house

    Before he came I felt him drawing near;
    As he neared I felt the ancient fear
    That he had come to wound my door and jeer,
    And I waited in my fleeting house

    "Tell me stories, " I called to the Hobo;
    "Stories of cold, " I smiled at the Hobo;
    "Stories of old, " I knelt to the Hobo;
    And he stood before my fleeting house

    "No, " said the Hobo, "No more tales of time;
    Don't ask me now to wash away the grime;
    I can't come in 'cause it's too high a climb, "
    And he walked away from my fleeting house

    "Then you be damned!" I screamed to the Hobo;
    "Leave me alone, " I wept to the Hobo;
    "Turn into stone, " I knelt to the Hobo;
    And he walked away from my fleeting house

    :love:

    Oh, and my chuckle of the day is this songwriting credit from Lyricfind:

    Source: LyricFind

    Songwriters: Duke Ellington
    Morning Glory lyrics © BMG Rights Management US, LLC

    ;)

     
    mameyama likes this.
  14. lemonade kid

    lemonade kid Forever Changing Thread Starter

    And for the icing on the cake...a favorite Buckley video!

    Morning Glory...Late Night Line Up, BBC TV.



    The smokey effects only make this even more magical. Tim was one of the
    strongest and most creative vocalists of all time, and if possible,
    he was even better live!

    And witnessing his dreamy amazing performance...it is etched forever in our minds ' eyes and ears.


    Thank you, thank you BBC, for saving this wonderful pristine live video
    for posterity (no lip syncing for Tim). Rejoice Buckley fans everywhere!

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Nov 4, 2020
    Williamson, wayne66 and oxegen like this.
  15. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product

    Happy Birthday @lemonade kid ... hope it's a great day, and year
     
    lemonade kid likes this.
  16. mameyama

    mameyama Forum Resident

    Location:
    Wiltshire, UK
    Goodbye & Hello
    Love this one. Its a staggering musical and vocal achievement by Tim.
    Imagine you are Tim and are presented with a long, complex poem with strangely structured choruses that use a parallel text. You like the sentiment, really feel it captures the zeitgeist, but surely its impossible to turn this into a song.
    But Tim breaks down the poem, working on it stanza by stanza, creating separate pieces for each and linking them into a suite. His singing is so good it almost doesn't matter what he is singing. A theatrical epic, that always stays just the right side of being overblown. It somehow makes me think of Ennio Morricone or the forthcoming "Forever Changes".
    Of note is that lee Underwood played 12-string on this one. And to quote Lee on this track:
    "To this day I stand amazed at the fact that Tim could compose music for Larry's lengthy, complex poem. He had no formal musical education, no extensive knowledge of chords, and no knowledge of composition. But he did it. And he did it well."
    This song was only performed live on November 13th 1967.
     
    Last edited: Nov 4, 2020
  17. lemonade kid

    lemonade kid Forever Changing Thread Starter

    Thanks...great points --

    --it is a major achievement by Tim for his impressive performance. alone..and
    how great and amazing achievement by such a young "untrained" artist, reaching
    such remarkable artistic and songwriting heights.

    A natural genius.
     
    mameyama likes this.
  18. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product

    Goodbye and Hello

    This has an almost baroque meets folk feel about it.
    We have a predominantly 4 beat thing going on at the start, with a couple of ritards thrown in to good effect.
    Then we burst into this almost oom pah pah section that has the feel of a chaotic city landscape. This slides back into the more measured section.
    We move through various incarnations of this frantic verses, reflective scenario, and it give the song, an epic kind of feel.
    The song is very sectional, and the arrangement works quite smoothly. It has this frequently changing feel, but at the same time manages to hold together united.
    To some degree it reminds me, just a little, of the Moody Blues Days of Future Passed in it's kind of layout and presentation.
    It isn't my favourite track on the album, but I think it works well, and I enjoy it.
     
    mameyama and lemonade kid like this.
  19. lemonade kid

    lemonade kid Forever Changing Thread Starter

    Thanks! Pretty remarkable how Tim composed this in an almost classical symphonic or operatic mode with movements and sections that are strangely and perfectly united indeed.
     
    mark winstanley likes this.
  20. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product

    Morning Glory

    We move from the dramatic title track into a beautiful piano ballad.
    Tim seemed to naturally gravitate toward the balladeer, and I think, particularly early on he excelled at this style.
    Again a nice arrangement, and the sequencing gives this an extra kick for me.
     
    lemonade kid likes this.
  21. mameyama

    mameyama Forum Resident

    Location:
    Wiltshire, UK
    Lemonade Kid... Happy Birthday, and glad to hear you were able to change your impressions of G&H.
    Morning Glory:
    I love the transition from G&H into this one. Gorgeous melody and a great way to finish the album. The celestial choir is actually Tim.
    Love Duke Ellington but I dont suppose he ever did this one.
    Album as a whole:
    Revisiting it song by song it has gone up in my estimations. Both lyrically and musically it is a level up from the debut- the listening requires a bit more effort but brings greater rewards.
    I guess its Goodbye to Larry Beckett and Hello to laid-back, jazz-inflected experimentation.
     
    mark winstanley and lemonade kid like this.
  22. lemonade kid

    lemonade kid Forever Changing Thread Starter

    Thanks, mameyama.

    Agree 100% about our greatly elevated estimations of G&H after this track by track.
    The in-depth reviews and critiques by you all have definitely raised my estimations, even more...
    glad I chose to start this thread, and many thanks for all you guys' input...
    and expressions of love for Tim.

    Life's good!

    Stay safe...music is the balm.

    :tiphat:

    [​IMG]
     
    Ern, Clonesteak and mameyama like this.
  23. lemonade kid

    lemonade kid Forever Changing Thread Starter

  24. MikeM

    MikeM Senior Member

    Location:
    Youngstown, Ohio
    Happy Birthday Lemonade Kid!

    I'll be jumping in soon once we get started on Happy/Sad, one of my favorite albums ever.
     
    lemonade kid and mark winstanley like this.
  25. lemonade kid

    lemonade kid Forever Changing Thread Starter

    I listened to Goodbye & Hello, the track, once again and wow...wow. Such an amazing musical composition and lyrics. A mini opera wirh opposing singers i effect playing the two sides to this story in song.

    Quite wmderful.
     
    Clonesteak and mameyama like this.

Share This Page

molar-endocrine