Happy Sad

Herein lies the restless spirit of a young man searching ; chasen by loneliness and chasing love. The fey baroque chamber folk of his first two offerings are replaced on this, Tim Buckley's third album, by a sound more substantially soulful. Folkjazzrock, maybe, and out of the sixties, but this is a timeless and genreless classic collection. Tim's voice and 12-string acoustic guitar are joined by a small band of musicians (electric guitar, vibraphone, bass, and on one track, congas) who gell to make an exciting and original whole.

The first two songs are rhythmically skimming and skipping ; teasing us with joy. In the third there are darker concerns of loneliness and longing, while "Dream Letter" is an affecting missive from absent father to infant son.

The musical and vocal tour de force, "Gypsy Woman", follows. Urgency and depth are provided by the addition of Carter Collins' congas and by David Friedman switching to the more funky bass marimba. Lee Underwood's electric guitar is allowed to stretch out and there's even a quasi-Eastern episode with de-tuned acoustic. On this twelve minute work-out Buckley is dealing with erotic desires, his naughty boy voice whoops and hollers. The men don't know, but the little girls understand.

The final thump and chord of this dies and we are left with his sweetest tune here, "Sing A Song For You". More delicate, honest exposure and a fine end to this, perhaps Tim Buckley's best album.

This is the album Tim really made a giant artistic leap (not that his two previous efforts weren't sublime) forward. The Q review that amazon have posted is pretty bang on when it relates this album to Astral Weeks. Both are albums of exceptional poetic beauty and yet have a fluid, organic feel. Happy Sad is rhymically diverse incorporating different grooves and particularly jazzy in the way that Tim's vocals float around the meandering rhythms. Tim's voice is particularly stunning on Love From Room 109 and Sing A Song For You. What I like about Tim's vocals is that wonderful tone and vibrato, often sounding ecstatic and melancholy at the same time. Considering Tim wrote all the lyrics himself Happy Sad really does stand out as a work of art..which has a human vulnerability that i must admit is lacking from the odd moment on Starsailor (it is still a masterpiece and one of the bravest albums ever made.) The great aspect to Tim's music is that it still sounds fresh today. Every track is a triumph but it must be said that Love From Room 109 is my favourite. The melody is so aching and original, the lyrics simple but poignant (you can;t help feeling empathy), the sound of the waves an inspired touch, Tim's vocals are understated yet it remains one of his greatest moments...oh and the arrangements are as good as anything lennon and McCartney wrote, and that is NO exaggeration. For under £10 this will bring you a lot of pleasure in the summer evenings or indeed on a wet november morning!

It took me a while to get to grips with this, as it did for me to get to grips with Tim Buckley at all, and there are a whole host of reasons for this. Perhaps the fact that I was more aware of his son prior to being aware of him, perhaps it was too jazzy for my tastes at the first fence. The comparison has been made by other reviewers, maybe because it is an easy comparison to make, to Van Morrison's "Astral Weeks". Praise doesn't come much higher and in this instance it is truly deserved. It is not particularly similar in style, tempo or theme (though arguments can be made for all three) but in the sense that both are emotional travelogues, spiritual journeys that rise and lilt in equal measure.The jazz repetition of "Strange Feeling" is a perfect introduction to the album, superficially relaxed with undercurrents of tension. From there the journey really begins through the romantic and (relatively) simple "Buzzin' Fly" via the epic and meaningful "Love From Room 109 At The Islander", the intense jazz exploration of "Gypsy Woman" eventually to the sweet end of "Sing A Song For You".They don't make albums like this any more that's for certain - it is of its time yet it is absolutely timeless. Truly incredible, any collection is bereft without it.