"The Complete Album Collection" by TIM BUCKLEY – Seven Studio Albums Plus One Outtakes Compilation Covering 1966 to 1972 - Includes the albums "Tim Buckley" (October 1966 US Debut), "Goodbye And Hello" (September 1967), "Happy Sad" and "Blue Afternoon" (March and November 1969), "Lorca" and "Starsailor" (June and November 1970), "Greetings From L.A." (August 1972) and "Works In Progress" (October 1999 Rhino-Handmade CD-Only Compilation of Outtakes Recorded May 1967 to July 1968) - musicans featured include Lee Underwood, John Balkin, Joe Falsia, Maury Baker and many more (October 2017 UK Elektra/Rhino 8CD81-Track Clamshell Box Set with New Remasters and Mini LP Repro Artwork Card Sleeves) - A Review by Mark Barry...

 

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"...Happy Sad..."

First up – any self-respecting Tim Buckley fan will cringe at the word 'Complete' used in the title of this Clamshell Box Set from Rhino.

 

Without saying so, it covers his output only between 1966 and 1972. Worth pointing this out because Buckley issued two further albums that are not here and hard to find on CD Reissue - "Sefronia" and "Look At The Fool" originally released September 1973 and September 1974 in the USA on Discreet Records – the latter being his final studio set before his tragic passing in June 1975. A more accurate subtle would read – the Straight/Warner Brothers Years.  

 

Blessed with an angelic ring-them-bells voice that would literally make women swoon and Male Sopranos nervous - Tim Buckley's artistry has nonetheless always been a strange thing in collecting circles. Despite his stunning set of pipes and beautiful song arrangements across the first five albums – his catalogue especially after 1970 has been dubbed difficult, un-listenable and even sexist (the lyrics on his 1972 set "Greetings From L.A." will make you both blush and reach for the vomit bag). Like Nick Drake or Jo Ann Kelly or Duncan Browne – Tim Buckley is the very definition of a cult artist beloved by fans and put in a shrine (if some had their way).

 

And yet I've seen the superlative March 2001 Rhino 2CD Anthology "Morning Glory: The Tim Buckley Anthology" fall as low as 75p on some online sites – which if juxtapositioned against his original British sixties vinyl albums - they easily command fifty, sixty, seventy pounds. Masterpieces like "Happy Sad" on orange-Elektra, the gorgeous shimmering hurt of "Blue Afternoon" on Straight that has influenced every Alt Band ever and the wildly uncompromisingly difficult Jazz-Rock madness of "Starsailor" when our Tim was mainlining Captain Beefheart and slapped Double-Bass mayhem are so hard to find clean copies of. But let's deal with what we do have...

 

UK released October 2017 – "The Complete Album Collection" by TIM BUCKLEY on Elektra/Rhino 081227933852 (Barcode 081227933852) is an 8CD 81-Track Clamshell Box Set (no Booklet) with Mini LP Artwork Card Repro Sleeves for Seven Studio Albums and One CD compilation of Outtakes. 

It plays out as follows:

CD1 (34:33 minutes):

1. I Can See You [Side 1]

2. Wings

3. Song Of The Magician

4. Strange Street Affair Under Blue

5. Valentine Melody

6. Aren't You The Girl [Side 2]

7. Song Slowly Song

8. It Happens Every Time

9. Song For Jainie

10. Grief In My Soul

11. She Is

12. Understand Your Man

Tracks 1 to 12 are his debut album "Tim Buckley" – released October 1966 in the USA (December 1966 in the UK) on Elektra Records EK-4040 (Mono) and Elektra EKS-74040 (Stereo) - same LP catalogue numbers for both countries. The STEREO MIX is used for this CD.

 

CD2 (42:47 minutes):

1. No Man Can Find The War [Side 1]

2. Carnival Song

3. Pleasant Street

4. Hallucinations

5. I Never Asked To Be Your Mountain

6. Once I Was [Side 2]

7. Phantasmagoria In Two

8. Knight Errant

9. Goodbye And Hello

10. Morning Glory

Tracks 1 to 10 are his 2nd studio album "Goodbye And Hello" – released September 1967 (December 1967 in the UK) in the USA on Elektra EKL-318 (Mono) and Elektra EKS-7318 (Stereo) - same LP catalogue numbers for both countries. Reissue copies (about October/November 1967) have the catalogue number Elektra EKS-74028. The STEREO MIX is used for this CD

 

CD3 (44:41 minutes):

1. Strange Feelin' [Side 1]

2. Buzzin' Fly

3. Love From Room 109 At The Islander (On Pacific Coast Highway)

4. Dream Letter [Side 2]

5. Gypsy Woman

6. Sing A Song For You

Tracks 1 to 6 are his 3rd studio LP "Happy Sad" – released March 1969 in the USA on Elektra Records EKS-74045 (Stereo only), July 1969 UK with the same Catalogue Number.

 

CD4 (39:47 minutes):

1. Happy Time [Side 1]

2. Chase The Blues Away

3. I Must Have Been

4. The River

5. So Lonely [Side 2]

6. Café

7. Blue Melody

8. The Train

Tracks 1 to 8 are his 4th studio album "Blue Afternoon" – released November 1969 in the USA on Straight STS-1060 in Stereo - reissued January 1970 in the USA on Warner Brothers WS-1842. Issued February 1970 in the UK on Straight STS-1060 in Stereo.

 

CD5 (39:30 minutes):

1. Lorca [Side 1]

2. Anonymous Proposition

3. I Had A Talk With My Woman [Side 2]

4. Driftin'

5. Nobody Walkin'

Tracks 1 to 5 are his 5th studio album "Lorca" – released June 1970 in the USA on Elektra EKS-74074 (Stereo) and October 1970 in the UK on Elektra 2410 005 (Stereo). Although it doesn’t say so on the artwork, Side 2 of the album was recorded live at The Troubadour in West Hollywood on the 3^rd and 4^th of September 1969.

 

CD6 (36:06 minutes)

1. Come Here Woman [Side 1]

2. I Woke Up

3. Monterey

4. Moulin Rouge

5. Song To The Siren

6. Jungle Fire [Side 2]

7. Starsailor

8. The Healing Festival

9. Down By The Borderline

Tracks 1 to 9 are his 6th studio album "Starsailor" – released November 1970 in the USA (January 1971 in the UK) on Straight STS 1060 (Stereo) – reissued July 1971 in the USA on Warner Brothers WS-1881.

 

CD7 (39:39 minutes):

1. Move With Me [Side 1]

2. Get On Top

3. Sweet Surrender

4. Nighthawkin' [Side 2]

5. Devil Eyes

6. Hong Kong Bar

7. Make It Right

Tracks 1 to 7 are his 7th studio album "Greetings From L.A." – released August 1972 in the USA on Straight/Warner Brothers BS-2631 and October 1972 in the UK on Warner Brothers K 46176. Produced by Jerry Goldsmith – it didn’t chart. Session players included Kevin Kelly on Keyboards, King Errison and Carter C.C. Collins on Bongos, Strings Arranged by Joe Falsia with Vocalists Clydie King, Lorna Maxine Willard and Venetta Fields

 

CD8 (66:32 minutes):

1. Danang (Takes 7 and 8 Intercut) – 6:31 minutes *

2. Sing A Song For You (Take 11) – 5:44 minutes

3. Buzzin' Fly (Take 3) – 6:44 minutes

4. Song To The Siren (Take 7) - 3:28 minutes

5. Happy Time (Take 14) – 3:14 minutes

6. Sing A Song For You (Take 8) – 2:40 minutes

7. Chase The Blues Away (Take 3) – 4:01 minutes

8. Hi Lily, Hi Lo (Take 7) – 3:37 minutes

9. Buzzin' Fly (Take 9) – 5:07 minutes

10. Wayfaring Stranger (Take 4) – 4:24 minutes

11. Ashbury Park Version 1 (Take 8) – 2:47 minutes *

12. Ashbury Park Version 2 (Take 14) – 3:22 minutes *

13. Ashbury Park Version 2 (Take 25 Labelled Master) – 3:28 minutes *

14. Dream Letter (Takes 17-16 Intercut) – 5:13 minutes

15. The Father Song (Take 3) – 2:45 minutes

16. The Fiddler (Rough Mix) – 3:26 minutes **

NOTES: 

Tracks 1 to 16 are the US-only CD Compilation of Previously Unreleased Outtakes called "Works In Progress" – released October 1999 on Rhino Handmade RHM2 7705 (Barcode 081227770525) – initially a numbered limited edition of 2,500 copies (reissued as a 7,500 numbered edition). These outtakes were Produced by JERRY YESTER, ZAL YANOVSKY and JAC HOLZMAN - Tracks 1 and 2 recorded 4 March 1968; 3 and 4 recorded 5 March 1968; 5 to 7 recorded 17 June 1968; 8 recorded 19 June 1968; 9 to 11 recorded 18 June 1968; 12 to 14 recorded June 1968; 15 recorded 14 July 1968; 16 recorded 22 May 1967. All Remixed and Remastered by BILL INGLOT and DAN HERSCH.

* = Tracks 1, 11, 12 and 13 are Fragments from the song that ends Side 1 of the "Happy Sad" album - "Love From Room 109 At The Islander (On Pacific Coast Highway)"

** = Track 16 is an Instrumental Version of "Phantasmagoria In Two" from the "Goodbye And Hello" album  

 

As there is no booklet – let's talk about what's here and what isn't. The inclusion of "Works In Progress" is a seriously good bonus, really showing his genius in the best of lights. But any fan would also crave the "Dream Letter/Live In London 1968" set put out by Demon Records of the UK in June 1990 as a double-album (DFIEND 200) and 2CD Set (DFIENDCD 200). Recorded 7 October 1968, but unreleased until 1990 by Demon, it caused a major stir as a historically important find. A huge collectable among fans ever since, Rhino quite right included three tracks from it on their "Morning Glory..." 2CD Anthology in 2001. Having it here as a gatefold 2CD Mini LP Card Repro Sleeve would have been a 'dream' for many.

 

Also M.I.A. - Rhino Handmade did a 2CD Reissue of his 1966 debut "Tim Buckley" issued in January 2011 in the USA. That gem gave us the Stereo and Mono Mix of the album for the first time and a very tasty 22 unreleased on Disc 2 that included rough recordings of his first band The Bohemians. I have reviewed this sexy little beast – but again - sadly not here. There were also rumours of multiple-disc Deluxe Editions for both "Happy Sad" and "Blue Afternoon" due from Rhino Handmade, but after that branch of Rhino shut – no more was heard. There is a Mono Mix for "Happy Sad" that is unavailable anywhere – and again – no show. 

 

So what do we have? The Clamshell Box Set houses 8 Mini LP Repro Artwork Card Sleeves – none have inserts, but three are gatefold sleeves as per their original albums - "Happy Sad" (March 1969), "Blue Afternoon" (November 1969) and "Greetings From L.A." (August 1972). The last of those three came with a Postcard punch-out die-cut sleeve on original 1972 issues, so not surprisingly that difficult to reproduce original style has not made the transition. But, these are full LP artwork – front and rear – and not like those bordered single sleeve versions you get in the cheap "Original Classic Albums" 5CD capacity wallets. The CD labels too try to ape their originals, but "Blue Afternoon" and "Starsailor" both have a Warner Brothers label (the reissue) rather than the proper Straight Records original.  

 

The sticker on the cover (and no where else) states Newly Remastered – and they sound it too – probably the Bill Inglot and Dan Hersch Remasters used for the "Morning Glory..." Anthology – or Bruce Botnik versions - the Audio Engineer used for the Rhino Handmade debut? Who knows – but they sound great. There is a huge leap in the Audio quality when you go from the self-titled debut to "Happy Sad" and although "Blue Afternoon" is a notoriously quiet album – here it feels fuller – those lovely Bass Notes and Six-String Acoustic Strums – his vocal acrobatics – yum yum. To the tunes... 

 

It's thrilling after all these years to hear gems like "Once I Was" and "Buzzin' Fly" sound this good. Sure there's hiss on some tracks, but the music is alive and clear and tracks like "Happy Time" and the ethereally atmospheric "Song To The Siren" make the hairs on the back on my neck stand up. You can chart his journey from straight-up Folky on the lovely "Wings" through the Harpsichord 60ts Pop of "Pleasant Street" on to his exploration of vocals and jazz rhythms on "Strange Feelin'". Buckley's 12-String Guitar and Lee Underwood's Lead Electric underpin the mournful "Chase The Blues" (a little hiss on this one), while the duo appear again on the beautiful live cut "I Had A Talk With My Woman" recorded at the Troubadour in West Hollywood in September 1969 for the "Lorca" album. I can only imagine what it must have been like for that audience to hear this extraordinary vocal come out of that microphone – "I Had A Talk With My Woman" is showcase - amazing stuff.  

 

Side 1 of "Happy Sad" cemented his young brilliance in my mind – the stunning threesome of "Strange Feelin’", "Buzzin’ Fly" and the huge near eleven-minutes of "Love From Room 109 At The Islander (On Pacific Coast Highway)" – four outtakes/fragments of which turn up on Disc 8 - "Works In Progress". The sound effects on "Carnival Song" are very clear, the bass and instruments really warm as are the so-quiet acoustic notes that open "Hallucinations" – both from the "Goodbye And Hello" – a record that saw him experimenting with instruments and his vocal phrasing. "Once I Was" is a wee bit hissy in places yes, but how pretty is its wailing Harmonica ache – so very Fred Neil (a high compliment). Even though its very left-speaker concentrated (as it was originally Produced) – the sonic attack of all those acoustic strings and conga rhythms on the fabulous "I Never Asked To Be Your Mountain" is amazing – a truly glorious racket and all of it imbibed with the feeling that something sensational is going on here. And in December 1967 in the USA, Elektra put out what is my fave 45-single by Buckley – the magisterial anthem to homelessness called "Morning Glory" with the lovely "Once I Was" on the flipside – EK-45623 in my Top 100 best singles lists with a bullet ("...tell me stories...I call to the hobo...")  

 

I know people rave about it, but I have to come clean about the extraordinarily difficult "Starsailor" LP – a wild Jazz-Fusion Avant Garde set that I feel did for him. Despite its smiling/beguiling photograph front cover of the handsome marriage-age troubadour, what waits within is anything but pleasant valley Sunday. I have always found "Starsailor" to be bloody hard work - listenable pieces including the cod-French "Moulin Rouge" and the Zappa-esque "Monterey" - all sounding great as the remaster really lifts them up. As much as I find the whole LP an avoidance I must make ("Come Here Woman" and "I Woke Up" feel like they are deliberately trying to grate) – there are some who worship at its Trout Mask Replica feet. Having said that you have to acknowledge the beauty of the uncharacteristic "Song To The Siren" that ends Side 1 - among his most ethereal of songs – a gorgeous magical swooping acoustic track that has influenced songwriters for decades since. 

 

Like Springsteen's "Nebraska" or Jackson C. Frank's self-titled debut from 1966 or Terry Callier's "New Folk Sound" also from the mid 60s on Verve Folkway - I like stripped back and bare-lonesome. Although there are instruments on both "Lorca" and "Blue Afternoon" - both LPs feel 'light' on the ear - a sort of trippy peacefulness about the music. I would say that with stuff like "The River", "So Lonely" and "The Train" from "Blue Afternoon" - it's a near perfect Tim Buckley album. Hardly surprising then that Rhino picked no less that 6 of its 8 tracks for representation of their "Morning Glory" 2CD Anthology. 

 

But then you get the loverman Funk of "Greetings From L.A." which has amazing grooves on it and top class Production values - until you clap ears on the lyrics which are all sex-obsessed and not in a good way. The band is on fire for "Move With Me" - the opening cut on Side 1 (Clydie King, Venetta Fields and others ladies of distinction providing the Soulful backing singers). In fact with its radio-friendly saxophone Al Green Funk-groove, Warner Brothers tried it as a US 45-single in October 1972 with Side 2's "Nighthawkin'" on the flipside, but both it (WB 7623) and the album tanked. The crying shame is that tracks like the six-and-a-half minute "Sweet Surrender" and "Nighthawkin'" have great guitar groove ideas and fantastic vocal gymnastics, but the lyrics about lady's reputations and hurting each other as a turn-on and hunting redneck blood thrills in taxis feel oddly like they're on the wrong side of the argument. The acoustic clap-and-chug of "Hong Kong Bar" lifts things somewhat – and even at seven-plus minutes doesn't feel like it's overstaying its groove-driven welcome. But the LP ends on the whip-spank-beat me lyrics of "Make It Right" which again musically sounds like a great Rock-Soul-Funk discovery - until you hear the deeply disturbing words.

After the mishmash of 1972, Disc 8 that cuts back to 1967 and 1968 Elektra recordings is an embarrassment of riches that lifts up this Box Set big time.  The gorgeous 5CD "Forever Changing..." Box Set (issued 1999 in Hard Back Book Form and LP-Sized Super Deluxe) covering the history of Elektra Records uncovered the magnificent 1967 outtake "Wayfaring Stranger" – a Traditional song Buckley covered. Well it is here in all its glory on CD8 "Works In Progress". Tim strums – he soars – he wails - I can say one word on this fantastic find – wow!  

 

Tim Buckley was a musical genius, a mercurial talent, a song-smith and truth be told probably a bit of an idiot when it came to career choices and substances that would take such a light so quickly.  

 

But flawed or not and even it this 8CD missing too much variant - "The Complete Album Collection" is a winner. Hopefully in the future, we will see the real Complete Box Set and man will that be something to behold... 

 

PS: Vinyl lovers should know that Elektra/Rhino reissued this Box Set in the USA and EUROPE on 7 VINYL LPS in July 2019 - but Warner Brothers 603497856268 controversially didn't include the "Works In Progress" set (CD8).