Tim Buckley, 45 Years Gone

I remember first hearing his name mentioned in a Melody Maker aerticle on Ride - their 2nd lp was out and they listed their influences. I'd not heard his name before so trekked off to Virgin in Cardiff to have a search. IIRC I came out with Dream Letter and the Peel Session CD. Later I picked up Starsailor. Daunting, challenging but undeniably beautiful.

The Dream Letter set especially got a lot of plays. His cover of Dolphins just did it for me! Stunning instantly recognisable voice.

Haven't listened to any Tim Buckley for quite a while, so its definately time to dive back in!

 

First time I'd heard of him was seeing adverts in the music papers for Dream Letter in the early 90s.

A decade later, after hearing that he was worth seeking out I decided I'd take a punt on something. Into the record shop and they only had Greetings From L.A. which I bought.

Loved it on the first listen and quickly acquired the rest of his available catalogue, which more varied than I'd expected. Of course Blue Afternoon and Starsailor were long out of print on cd and any used vinyl that I could find (not much) was ridiculously priced. I eventually bought Blue Afternoon on a vinyl reissue that came out about 15 years ago.

I've been enjoying the recent live releases that have been coming out over the past years eg Troubadour, Chicago etc. I'm still hoping for something to appear from the 70s.

The My Fleeting House dvd is well worth getting as along with the music you have input from Larry Beckett and Lee Underwood giving real insight into the happenings.
It was rumoured at the time that there was going to be a second dvd with the rest of Boboquivari and other performances but that obviously never came to anything.

 

I became obsessed with Happy Sad a few years back and have continued on exploring other parts of his catalogue in greater depth. What a tremendous artist.

 

Yes, I similarly became obsessed with this album. It is my favorite of Tim's.

The live Dream Letter set is like like having a 2-CD live version of this album.

 

I love Pleasant Street also! What's weird is when I bought Goodbye And Hello in high school I used to skip over that track, my faves were I Never Asked To Be Your Mountain and Morning Glory. Then one day I decided to listen to Pleasant Street carefully and it hit me like a ton of bricks...I realized it was possibly the best song on the whole album and it's now one of my favorite songs of all time.

Speaking of Morning Glory, that song may have been the first Tim Buckley tune I ever heard...not Tim's version but the one by Blood Sweat and Tears, I heard it on the radio around in 1971. Man I love that version, sung by Steve Katz. Then when I bought Tim Buckley's album I was like "So that's where that song came from!"

 

I just ran across Buckley’s ‘Venice Mating Call’ live album this morning for the first time. I guess it was recorded sometime in the ‘Lorca’ period. I’m enjoying it quite a lot.

 

Greetings From West Hollywood & Live at the Troubadour are other live albums recorded at the same venue at the same time as Venice Mating Call, I think, over 4 gigs. As far as I know nothing is duplicated over the three releases.

 

This check was written by Frank Zappa as a $600 loan to Tim Buckley in November 1973.

Even if that was an advance, it indicates that Tim was having some hard times in November 1973. Tim was recording for Discreet (Zappa's label) at that time.

I assume this cancelled check leaked out in an estate sale after Zappa's death.

 

Great thread!
And Buckley lovers can unite here also:

Tim Buckley: Album by Album, note for note appreciation