1. Strange Feeling*
2. Buzzin' Fly*
3. Love from Room 109 at the Islander (On Pacific Coast Highway)
4. Dream Letter
5. Gypsy Woman*
6. Sing a Song for You
***
I didn't much care for the previous Tim Buckley album we had on this list. I felt like he was searching for something and hadn't quite found it, and his lyrics were generally fucking terrible. Here, however, Buckley stretches out and relaxes, his voice is in fine form and more used as an instrument than a delivery mechanism for pseudo-intellectual balderdash, and there are jazz elements that are beautifully incorporated into his mellow brand of folk rock.
That said, I can't really call myself a Tim Buckley fan. I think the problem is that this is basically make out music for depressed heroin addicts, and the closest I can come to that state of mind is lying on my couch drunk at one in the morning. But I mostly listen to these albums during the day, more or less sober, and so I'm not really adequately attuned.
That said, there's a lot to like here. The lyrics are secondary to the music, and as an exercise in sustained mood Happy Sad is pretty great. It's the sort of album that's great to have on in the background when you want to listen to something but don't at the same time. There's much more emphasis on the music, and the feel of the music, than there is on anything else. Buckley's voice is, here at least, pretty incredible - a soulful moan with an incredible range. I just wish there were more actual songs. I like the idea of highly experimental jazz-folk easy listening on paper, but when a guy is capable of writing something as charming as "Buzzin' Fly" I can't help but wish he'd hew a little closer to pop music, or at least something that is recognisably a song.
So I doubt I'll be joining the cult of Buckley, but this is a nice listen, even if it occasionally pissed me off. I have high hopes for Starsailor, which is generally regarded as his magnum opus.
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