Timothy Charles Buckley III (February 14, 1947 – June 29, 1975) was an American musician. He began his career based in folk rock, but subsequently experimented with genres such as psychedelia, jazz, the avant-garde, and funk paired with his unique five-octave vocal range. His commercial peak came with the 1969 album Happy Sad, reaching No. 81 on the charts, while his experimental 1970 album Starsailor went on to become a cult favorite. The latter contained his best known song, “Song to the Siren.”
On June 28, 1975, Buckley completed a short tour with a show in Dallas, playing to a sold-out crowd of 1,800 people. He celebrated the end of the tour with a weekend of drinking with his band and friends. On the night of June 29, he accompanied longtime friend Richard Keeling to his house. At some point, Keeling produced a bag of heroin, some of which Buckley snorted.
Buckley’s friends took him home and, seeing his inebriated state, his wife Judy laid him on the living-room floor and questioned his friends as to what had happened.[10] She moved Buckley into bed. When she checked on him later, she found that he was not breathing and had turned blue. Attempts by friends and paramedics to revive him were unsuccessful, and he was pronounced dead on arrival.
The coroner’s report stated that Buckley died at 9:42 p.m. on June 29, 1975, from “acute heroin/morphine and ethanol intoxication due to inhalation and ingestion of overdose”.
Tim Buckley is the debut album by Los Angeles based singer-songwriter Tim Buckley, released in October 1966. Most of the songs on it were co-written by Buckley and Larry Beckett while they were in high school. It was recorded at Sunset Sound in Los Angeles, California.
In August 1966, Buckley recorded his self-titled debut album in three days in Los Angeles. He was often unhappy with his albums after they were recorded and described his debut album as “like Disneyland”. The record featured Buckley and a band of Underwood and Orange County friends. Underwood’s mix of jazz and country improvisation on a Telecaster guitar became a distinctive part of Buckley’s early sound. Jac Holzman and Paul Rothchild’s production and Jack Nitzsche’s string arrangements cemented the record’s mid-’60s sound.
The album’s folk-rock style was typical of the time, although many people, including Underwood, felt the strings by Nitzsche “did not enhance its musical quality.” Critics took note of Buckley’s distinctive voice and tuneful compositions.
Underwood considered the record to be “a first effort, naive, stiff, quaky and innocent [but] a ticket into the marketplace”. Holzman expressed similar sentiments and thought Buckley wasn’t comfortable in his own musical skin. Larry Beckett suggested the band’s desire to please audiences held it back.
Elektra released two singles promoting the debut album, “Wings” with “Grief in My Soul” as the B-side, and “Aren’t You the Girl”/”Strange Street Affair Under Blue.” (wikipedia)
Buckley’s 1966 debut was the most straightforward and folk-rock-oriented of his albums. The material has a lyrical and melodic sophistication that was astounding for a 19-year-old. The pretty, almost precious songs are complemented by appropriately baroque, psychedelic-tinged production. If there was a record that exemplified the ’60s Elektra folk-rock sound, this may have been it, featuring production by Elektra owner Jac Holzman and Doors producer Paul Rothchild, Love and Doors engineer Bruce Botnick, and string arrangements by Jack Nitzsche.
That’s not to diminish the contributions of the band, which included his longtime lead guitarist Lee Underwood and Van Dyke Parks on keyboards. Buckley was still firmly in the singer-songwriter camp on this album, showing only brief flashes of the experimental vocal flights, angst-ridden lyrics, and soul influences that would characterize much of his later work. It’s not his most adventurous outing, but it’s one of his most accessible, and retains a fragile beauty. (by Richie Unterberger)
Personnel:
Tim Buckley (vocals, guitar)
Jim Fielder (bass)
Van Dyke Parks (piano, celesta, harpsichord)
Billy Mundi (drums, percussion)
Lee Underwood (guitar)
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Jack Nitzsche (string arrangements)
Tracklist:
01. I Can’t See You (Beckett/Buckley) 2.42
02. Wings (Buckley) 2.34
03. Song Of The Magician (Beckett/Buckley) 3.08
04. Strange Street Affair Under Blue (Beckett/Buckley) 3.13
05. Valentine Melody (Beckett/Buckley) 3.44
06. Aren’t You the Girl ? (Buckley) 2.05
07. Song Slowly Song (Beckett/Buckley) 4.16
08. It Happens Every Time (Buckley) 1.52
09. Song For Jainie (Buckley) 2.46
10. Grief In My Soul (Beckett/Buckley) 2.08
11. She Is (Beckett/Buckley) 3.08
12. Understand Your Man (Buckley) 3.10
The now deleted website:
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