Search - Tim Buckley :: Morning Glory: The Tim Buckley Anthology

The track selection could be better, but get this now

Christopher Culver | 10/29/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Tim Buckley's output was little known during his tragically brief life, but since his death in 1975 more and more people are recognizing him as one of the most outstanding vocalists of the last fifty years. His incredible range was as powerful as any instrument allowed him to eschew large bands, making for intimate and moving songs and giving him the flexibility needed to make original contributions to music. Rhino's MORNING GLORY: THE TIM BUCKLEY ANTHOLOGY collects some of his best material, including songs from the now out-of-print albums BLUE AFTERNOON and the magisterial STARSAILOR.Disc 1 covers Tim Buckley's first two releases, his eponymous debut and 1967's GOODBYE AND HELLO. These albums were in a folk vein, but songs such as the nightmarish "No Man Can Find the War" and the frenetic "Pleasant Street" are complex pieces that move beyond anything that had been offered before in American folk. The first songs show that his first album was somewhat overproduced, with Elektra giving him a string orchestra for no particular reason, but on the tracks that follow the production was ideal, with that amazing voice accompanied by just the right instruments in just the right quantities. The closing track is the live song of "Troubadour", recorded in London in 1968. Even if you have all of Tim Buckley's studio albums, this heartbreaking and tear-inducing song is enough to merit buying MORNING GLORY (or the live album DREAM LETTER, from which it was taken).Disc 2 contains Buckley's work from the latter half of his career. More abstract music, highly influenced by free-form jazz, these songs were blasted by critics upon their release but are now recognized as Buckley's finest work. "Happy Time" rejects easy hooks in favour of solid composition. "I Must Have Been Blind", afterwards made popular in covers by This Mortal Coil and Brendan Perry, moves with a delicate magic. The peak of this disc is without a doubt two songs from STARSAILOR, Buckley's masterpiece and one of the most important releases of contemporary music. "Song to the Siren", whose cover by Elizabeth Fraser and Robin Guthrie of TMC in 1984 resurrected interest in Tim Buckley, is perhaps his finest vocal performance, with a vocal track of wails accompanying him in the background. On the chilling "Monterey" Buckley's voice becomes as abstract and cutting as the wild instruments which back it up. Three songs are featured from his controversial 1973 album GREETINGS FROM L.A., in which the jaded singer wrote songs of desperate love and frank sexuality. "Sweet Surrender" almost reaches the height of his STARSAILOR material with its astounding vocals, and while Buckley's voice usually overshadowed his band, the masochistic "Make It Right" features some incredible drumming.Unfortunately, Rhino was prejudiced towards the folk portion of Buckley's career and I would have preferred more tracks from his free-form period. Considering that STARSAILOR is now out of print and almost impossible to find, it would have been nice if Rhino had put more tracks from that incredible album on this anthology. The liner notes, provided by some critic named Barry Alfonso, are enlightening, but give short shrift to Buckley's post-1972 output. These albums, in which Buckley decided to give the unsympathetic public what they wanted after the poor sales of STARSAILOR, are highly sexual and desperate, but they nonetheless feature incredible vocal performance. It's also a shame that "Dream Letter", a haunting meditation on his distant son Jeff Buckley, who in the 90's put out incredible material and died young like his father, wasn't included.Tim Buckley was an incredible singer and songwriter, and his output went unnoticed and underappreciated for far too long. MORNING GLORY: A TIM BUCKLEY anthrology is a great way to experience his incredible music, and I'd recommend it to everyone."

Talented folkie and experimental genius

Pieter | Johannesburg | 06/06/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Tim Buckley started out as a folk-rocker but ended up as a musical explorer whose sound would extend the boundaries of popular music and defy categorisation. The billowing beauty of his later work, on Starsailor in particular, would only begin to be appreciated after his death in 1975. His first album Tim Buckley was released in October 1966 when he was only 19 years old. Buckley's passionate voice exquisitely wrapped itself around lyricist Larry Becket's romantic songs like Song Slowly Sung and the lovely Valentine Melody which is absent here. During the hippy year of 1967 Buckley was doing the folk club circuit in New York City where he recorded his first masterpiece, the accessible Goodbye And Hello which was his breakthrough album and largest seller ever. Classic tracks included the impressive I Never Asked To Be Your Mountain, the moving Once I Was, omitted here, and of course the Dylan-influenced title track. But instead of consolidating his success Buckley veered off into the most experimental of directions, rather too unusual for his 1960s folk audience to appreciate. Initially he moved into minimalism on the album Happy/Sad (1968), co-produced with ex-Loving Spoonful guitarist Zal Yanofsky. The wistful Blue Afternoon (1969) and Lorca (1970) are jazz-folk fusions.The next album, Starsailor, was even weirder. It is a strange journey into the realms of avant-garde jazz where Buckley applies his voice as an instrument to spectacular effect. Scott Walker in his weirder moments comes to mind. But it did include two very accessible masterpieces: The poignant Moulin Rouge (sung partly in French) and the exquisite Song To The Siren, which was beautifully covered by This Mortal Coil in 1984.Considered by many to be his opus magnum, the uncompromisingly erotic Greetings From LA (1973) was an enthusiastic embrace of all things funky, effusive and sensual. Move With Me deals with the wrath of a jealous husband, whilst Sweet Surrender is an explanation of his infidelity. There is great sadness in Hong Kong Bar, social commentary in Nighthawkin' (unfortunately not present on this compilation) and shades of sado-masochism in Make It Right, a song comparable in theme to Velvet Underground's Venus In Furs.Greetings From LA was followed by the unremarkable Sefronia (1973) and Look At The Fool (1974), which proved to be his last album as he died on June 29, 1975 in Santa Monica, California of an overdose. Buckley left a memorable body of work that is being appreciated more and more with the passing time. Although not perfect (vide the omissions listed above) this compilation is a great introduction to the work of a unique musical genius. Like Nick Drake and Tim Hardin, Buckley's music has stood the test of time very well and his reputation continues to grow. I give the album only 4 stars because of the omissions."

It's only an introduction to the man...

B. Schuman | NY | 02/02/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"A great two discs, but I can't give it a straight up recommendation, just because, if you're not a huge fan of Tim Buckley after listening to these two discs, you'll feel like you wasted your money, and if you are a huge Tim Buckley fan after listening to these two discs, you'll only want to buy his original albums!
Still, it does have some great tracks which are not available on any other CD, or are from out of print albums which go for $90 used these days, (songs from Starsailor and Blue Afternoon, and the version of Song to the Siren performed live on The Monkees show, which is definitely a great addition). The only song I can complain about is "Goodbye and Hello"- maybe the only song on here I dislike- I listened to it once, but now, I press the skip button every time it starts. Makes me feel bad for people who own the vinyl version, who have to carefully lift up the needle every time it starts... They really should have put two shorter and better songs on instead.
Buying original Tim albums just MIGHT be a better purchase for some people, for several reasons. Like I already said, I wanted to buy all the albums after I heard this. Also, transitions between songs from different albums are not smooth, unlike compilation albums of musicians with more consistent styles. A lot of the tracks from different periods in his career sound awkward together, in my opinion. For this reason (and the inclusion of "goodbye and hello") I almost didn't give this five stars.
Also, it seems that most people prefer a particular period of Tim's career over others, and would probably be better off getting "Tim Buckley" if they like his early Elektra folk stylings, "Lorca" if they like his experimental stylings, etc.
I think anyone can appreciate his inconsistency more if they look at each album individually, not as a progression of his career. I think it's best just to look at each album as Tim doing whatever style he happened to be doing at the time, rather than hold each album up to the standards of a "Tim Buckley" album- whatever their definition of a Tim Buckley album may be. I think that being able to sing "she is the day of love" just as convincingly as he can sing "get on top of me woman" (why was that song not on here? as an incentive for you to buy "Greetings From LA," maybe) makes Tim even more impressive a singer than he would have been if he stuck with the same musical persona.
So, in conclusion- it's worth buying, especially for the out of print "Starsailor" and "Blue Afternoon" songs, but be prepared, it's a real tease, and as one reviewer said, it's not a "best of compilation," it's an introduction to and a sampler of Tim's music. It's function is to give you a reason to buy MORE of his albums, not less."