Customer Reviews

Best of Tim Buckley (Mcup)

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This new single CD Rhino compilation of Tim Buckley's music is a beautiful testimony to his incomparable talents.
The remastered material featured here is excerpted from the nine studio albums issued before Buckley's death in 1975. Track 10 is, however, an alternate take already issued on posthumous CD releases.
These nine albums were originally issued on four labels: Elektra (4), Straight (2), Bizarre/Warner (1) Bros and Discreet/Bizarre (2) during the 1966-1974 period.

I have worshipped all aspects of Buckley's music (the singing, the compositions, the arrangements, the musicians' backing) since I bought his "Goodbye and Hello" Elektra LP in 1967. Contrary to some fans, I love (to varying degrees) all of the original Buckley albums (his last three LP's received a lot of, IMO, unfounded criticism from some quarters). To me, Buckley was an extraordinarily gifted singer-songwriter, one of my favourites indeed. The material gathered here ranks from good (and I mean: good!) to truly exceptional. .

Buckey was definitely a LP orientated recording artist. During the course of his career, his music kept evolving at a fast pace and in often wildly different directions. Therefore, any collection is always going to be the subject of some debate. But there is certainly not one track here that I wish Rhino had left out.

I will also add that, in 2001, Rhino issued a remastered, lavishly packaged, 2-CD, 33- track anthology under the title of "Morning Glory". Seven out of the eighteen titles featured on the single CD under review did NOT appear on the earlier set. Moreover, besides the alternate take mentioned above, this CD uses the original studio version of "I Had a Talk with My Woman" which appeared in a live version on the 2-CD set. The scope of this 2-CD set is, of course, broader. It is also more expensive.

Therefore, if you are relatively new to Buckley's oeuvre, and are interested in just the one CD, this compilation will offer you definitely more than a glimpse of the musical treasures he left behind. Prepare yourself for a sheer aural delight!

Ah, the sweet sound of Tim Buckley. I had a couple of his early albums on vinyl way back when. Long gone of course. I had picked up a copy of his Greeting From L.A. on CD but still was missing his more familiar (to me) first two albums. This disc has several of those tunes as well as some other songs I had never heard, all very good. Too bad he left us so soon. Some of these songs are very pertinent today. Highly recommended, but I still will have to find those first two releases to fill the missing pieces.

We have discussions about the relative merits as singers,of father and son whenever one or the other runs the rotations. Well, best not to, really. Let them coexist as extraordinary talents. But for songwriting alone, Tim gets my nod. Rhino have issued, or re-released a 'best of' that encapsulates a broad sampling of the master. It should quench the first of those new to Tim's well. Mind you, this is only an amlified version of the LP they put out in 1983, which still graces my shelves. I do welcome the addition of, 'Move With Me' and,'Look at the Fool'. The one reservation, and its a scant quibble at that, is the writing in of organ pieces in selections from,'Goodbye and Hello'. That's what we're stuck with, like it or not. For me, it dates the music utterly(rather similarily as it does on David Ackles self-titled,initial outing. I don't like much his version of Wait's, Martha, for that matter. And how spooky, again with the hindsight of his son's death, is,'The River'. Tim's versatility is breath-taking, drawn from many sources, as protean and resourceful as Dylan, in his own way. Highly recommended.

This is a great collection of songs from Rhino. I heard about Tim Buckley secondhand through This Mortal Coil. I heard Jeff Buckley before listening to his father. I personally think the son is overrated and the father is underrated. It's a tragedy that both father and son died so early.

I am getting to know this near great better and better and this reprise helps.