Customer Reviews

Blue Melody: Tim Buckley Remembered

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Writer Tierney Smith gave Blue Melody an insightful review in Goldmine magazine, July 25, 2003--

When Lee Underwood met an aspiring singer/songwriter named Tim Buckley in Greenwich Village in 1966, the latter had already secured a contract with Elektra Records and seemed well on his way to a promising musical career. In the end, commercial success proved elusive, though Buckley did achieve an impressive cult-level status.

Underwood was Buckley's lead guitarist for seven years, and together they formed a bond so close that Buckley once said of their friendship, "We didn't have sex, but we were married." Still, the author, who interviewed Buckley's family members, bandmates and friends for this project, insists that he's not "blinded by friendship" and can maintain his objectivity toward the man he calls "one of the most interesting, complex and stimulating persons I ever met."

Given Underwood's flair for insightful analysis (of both Buckley himself and the music in question) and his wonderfully descriptive prose - he brings the fast-paced world of New York and the colorful kaleidoscope of Venice, Calif., to life with a vividness that feels almost cinematic in scope - Buckley could hardly have asked for a more eloquent writer to tell his story.

Underwood paints a portrait of a "brilliantly funny" man who disdained the banal conversation of more conventional minds, an intellectual who seemed to find a kindred spirit in the author, who introduced Buckley to the poetry of Western mystics such as William Blake and Rainer Maria Rilke and discussed with him the poetry of Dylan Thomas and Delmore Schwartz.

Buckley, who channeled his musical and literary influences into his art, possessed a musical intelligence that found him rejecting the notion of, in the author's words, "concocting commercially formulated decorations to flatter audience preconceptions." Instead, through his songs, writes Underwood, Buckley gave us "the core of his life, the soul of his being, a cry of love from the heart."

Life was carefree in those early days, recalls Underwood, "full of hope and possibilities wide open for the taking," yet Buckley's inner conflicts were never far below the surface and, in the author's view, had their roots in an unsupportive father, a World War II veteran and ex-paratrooper whose growing mental instability made him "a volatile presence who left a huge emotional emptiness in Tim's life." The late senior Buckley, a self-described "loner" who viewed society as hostile to artists in general, derided his son's artistic ambitions even as he harbored similar unrealized dreams of his own. He counts among the fascinating cast of supporting characters found in these pages.

In a book that strongly focuses on Buckley's music, there is effusive praise for a man whose desire for exploring new musical directions took him further from the more mainstream work of his early folk-rock leanings to the realm of the avant-garde with 1970's Starsailor. Buckley's choices alienated both his fans and his critics, but, as Underwood writes, Buckley courageously stuck to his guns. "When he had to walk in dark isolation because of his choices, he went ahead and walked in dark isolation, sometimes for years on end."

The author also takes to task Buckley's critics who "think [Buckley] should have catered to their tastes instead of aspiring to realize his own visionary explorations in new musical domains." One can sense Underwood's frustration all these years later toward an audience who, rather than rejecting Buckley's work, "could have felt respected, challenged and astonished" by his increasingly more adventurous output. "Buckley gave them diamonds," sums up the author, "the crowd wanted pebbles."

Buckley's growing unhappiness and self-doubt in the wake of the failure of his more ambitious work lends Buckley's story a certain poignancy. His return to a more conventional song structure in 1972's Greetings From L.A. seemed almost an admission of defeat. As Buckley's wife Judy saw it, he was "happy doing it, but there was so much more he had to offer that nobody wanted." In Underwood's view, Buckley's more commercially acceptable fare was motivated by a desire to continue recording and even then he brought as much "grace, style, passion and creative imagination" to the process as he could.

Underwood's exploration of Buckley's death on June 19, 1975, at the age of 28 of a lethal combination of heroin and alcohol (in which he is careful to point out that Buckley was not a regular heroin user) is presented in the same insightful, clear-eye manner that he brings to the whole of Buckley'' creative efforts in this deeply penetrating book.

The title should have been Tim Buckley Remembered; Or I Got a Lot Of Pussy in The 60's and You Didn't.....Mr. Underwood's tale of Tim Buckley's rise and fall is pretty good; however, his cheap shots at Larry Beckett take away from his tome. There is a whiff of "I was a genius and helped create Tim Buckley" sprinkled throughout the book. Frankly, Mr. Underwood was a very hit-or-miss guitarist. Sometimes good, sometimes great(mostly in a live setting) and sometimes horrible. As to his "inventing" certain guitar techniques, I think his ego may have got the best of him. I will give him this though; Tim Buckley is one of music's most fascinating "shoulda-beens". Some of the music that he wrote stands up with any of his 60's contemporaries and a large chunk of it is better. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to investigate Buckley's music/story; however, a grain of salt should be taken when reading it.....

Lee Underwood's memoir of his years with the amazing Tim Buckley is one of the most heartfelt paeans to friendship and creativity I've ever read - and one of the most honest. Underwood tackles his subject with eyes - and heart - wide open, and the result not only clears up a lot of the mystery that still surrounds Tim's life, but also celebrates the wonderful legacy that remains. As Underwood states in the final chapter, Tim's life can teach us some valuable lessons. `Our span is but a fleeting moment. Death is arbitrary and absolutely democratic. Young or old, the QUANTITY of time doesn't matter...Only quality matters...Let us transform the shining mystery of our lives into art...He did. So can we.'

Buckley was an astonishingly gifted artist - his music always challenged his listeners, dared them to follow him in his dance, celebrating life itself - with all of its joys and sorrows, highs and lows, darkness and light. Those who took that challenge have been rewarded with the shining light that was Tim Buckley - those who abandoned him whenever he took a direction that was too demanding or too painful for them to follow turned their attentions to `easier' music. What a shame.

Underwood was Buckley's lead guitar player on most of his recordings - and above all, he was Tim's friend. He was along for the ride - he was the eyewitness to so many of the singer's peaks and valleys. He opened Tim's eyes and mind to new, stimulating influences - and he watched Tim take them into his mind, heart and hand and run like the wind with them, transforming things he learned and assimilated into new ideas, new tools for his own artistic vision. Along the way, various painful elements from Tim's life reared their heads - as they do for all of us - and Lee was there to witness that as well, trying his best to help his friend through them. Those pains are laid bare in this book - and it's not an easy read, but it's comforting in its truthfulness. Lee has had his share of pains as well - and the hard road he walked working through them is detailed here as well.

As dark as some parts of Buckley's life were, in the end I think they were overwhelmed by the brilliance that shone from him. Anyone who has ever been blessed to hear him - either in person or on his recordings - knows what I mean. It's a brilliance that can be heard and felt - and it can illuminate the life of anyone who will simply let it in.

One of the most fascinating aspects - for me - of this document is the psychological path. The author relates events from time to time that literally jumped off the page at me. I just read Arthur Janov's THE NEW PRIMAL SCREAM for the first time a few months ago - and several things in Lee's account resonated within me. Sure enough, he mentions Janov in more than one place - and refers to psychotherapy on multiple occasions as one of the practices that helped him through some tough times, dealing with issues that won't simply `go away'. I can't help but wonder how Tim's story would have turned out differently if he had been able to avail himself of some of the same assistance - Underwood recommended it to him, but it sometimes takes an individual a while to make the decision to take a trip down that street.

Tim Buckley had the courage and vision to live his life, his art to the fullest - and Lee Underwood has shown the courage to write about Tim's life in a way that shines with the same honesty with which Tim pursued his music (or perhaps surrendered to it). This book is an amazing experience - any fan of Tim Buckley's music should be grateful to Lee Underwood for sharing it with us.

Lee Underwood's "Blue Melody" is an inspired, revealing memoir that could only have been written by someone in close proximity to a beautiful and tragic human life - the artist as fragile human being and as historical event. A unique artist and deeply sensitive witness to life, person, music and culture, Underwood digs deep into memory, impression, music and detail to construct a book on the iconic Tim Buckley, a singer and musical explorer who, the tastes of the listener aside, dug deeper into the human soul and the possibilities of musical expression than most of the more famous legends of "pop" culture.

For a brief overview of Buckley the artist, try reading my review of his Goodbye and Hello; otherwise, Blue Melody is the perfect portrait of the man, his music and his legacy. It is not quite a biography, though it tells a great deal about his early life, his relationships and the arc of his career; it also offers some deeply insightful speculations into the psychological forces that shaped a life of extraordinary openness, love and beauty, and simultaneous self-destruction, interpersonal excess, instability and alienation. From his unique perspective as Tim's best friend and faithful musical colorist (he is a fine and unusual guitarist/pianist himself), Underwood illuminates the often inscrutable paths that Buckley took from one musical inspiration to another. He charts the transformations and distortions in Buckley's personal life that must be seen as the tragic price of living as an acutely sensitive and powerful antenna to the world and to the soul - he comes across as a man barely able to hang onto his relentless need to explore and transform, his desperation to summon and then cast off skins and shells as though ghosts of an untenable life. He felt too much, perceived and responded from within with too much intensity for a sustainable life; as Underwood suggests, through all the pain, it was as though Buckley knew he needed to write and record as much as possible before his time ran out.

Underwood was there with Buckley through most of his albums, through the richness of the New York and California music scenes of the late sixties, and was party and partner in the most wildly creative and diverse period of Buckley's career, as well as co-traveler along the real and figurative roads that took them around the world, between gigs and albums. His writing style is romantic and evocative, but he displays an unstinting clarity and willingness to analyze. A mature writer unafraid of ambiguity and emotional overflow, he offers the rhapsodic sense of a time and a place alongside the irony born of reflection upon blunt facts and an acute awareness of the dark side - a darkness he experienced first hand, both with Buckley, and, revealingly, in painful separation from his friend.

This is a memoir, first and foremost, but it will please lovers of the biographical form, fans of Tim Buckley and students of the American history of the sixties and seventies. It will surely appeal to students of the creative personality who will appreciate a portrait of the quintessential tortured genius whose flame burned out at an age when most flames are still rising.

Recommended without reservation. Now go buy some Tim Buckley CD's, and certainly buy the book.

We raised a lot of hell back then...No one could dance through a melody the way Lee did with his guitar ...he did it again with his words. Having known both he and Tim for years, I can say that you must read this book...you will know them both at the finish. What a sad day for all of us when Tim Died. The world was left with a void that will never be filled. I miss him to this day.I'm so glad that Lee wrote this book...There is a heart beat within these pages. You will feel it.

I can't praise this book enough. It's a gift to any Tim Buckley fan from Tim's personal and professional friend, Lee Underwood. It's poignant, honest, revealing, and answered many of my questions regarding Tim. This is Tim's story. This is Lee's story. For Mr. Underwood, I'm sure this work was cathartic on so many levels. Nothing is sugar-coated, nothing is romanticized regarding him or Tim. It's so real, so real. He has poured out personal memories, both dark and light, and has served them to his readers, one moment in a beautiful jeweled goblet, and in the next-- a blood and tear stained napkin. Lee didn't dictate this story to a ghost writer, he wrote this himself. The delivery is brilliant. Underwood has a gift of words and a succinct way to deliver them. I laughed. I cried. I thank Lee for the personal and candid moments he shared, and I love Tim even more.

Are you a True "Tim Buckley" enthusiast? Then, Ponder these questions: If you Admire Tim Buckley's two most Astounding Instruments of Artistry: His Haunting, Sweet, Gritty, unmatchable octave range and his outstanding/under-rated-how-did-he-do-that-without-barring-a-cord,12 String Acoustic Gutair Mastery COMBINED with the Magical Marriage of Larry Becketts:Brilliant,Powerful,Authenticity of Melodic poetic, Romantic Lyrics.If, you also feel that Tim Buckley & Larry Beckett's Collaborations were ahead of their time, yet remain timeless. If, Tim's Voice moved you to tears and Becketts PROPHETIC Lyrics, enlightened you or made you wish you were the person who he was falling in love with through his longing Sonnetts. If, You respect the INTEGRITY of a "Musician's Musician" and a "Poet's Poet".. Then, do not waste your time reading Underwood's: Repetitive,Nacissitic, Grandoise ramblings of a bitter bit player, whom many Seasoned Musicians have stated, "aspired and stived to the elevated status of mediocrity", but none the less, by the warped humor of the Universe, was allowed the to bathe in the Blinding Shadow of "Irish Greatness"..Underwood, used the term "WE" a great deal, leading the reader to believe that Underwood Co-Wrote music with Buckley!!! Really? Any well informed Music Lover, Critic or even a Deaf Musician, will tell you that Buckley Wrote his Own Music. Tim's Style, Original.It has been documented for 45 years, way back in the early days when Beckett & Buckley were still in High School in Orange County together, that Tim Wrote Music to Compliment Beckett's Lyrics. Buckley, instructed his "Players", What to Play and then, depending upon the "Groove" or Buckley's "Temperment" which often changed from moment to moment, he sometimes allowed his "players" to take the musical mood to wherever it could soar. This of course, was Obvious when Buckley Recorded "Starsailer" With Buzz & Bunk Gardner from Zappa's Mother's of Invention with Beckett's, Epic "Song To The Siren". Buckley was not a "press person", he took grandee delight in "Storytelling" and "The Art of Elaboration"..He was either completely dishonest, harshly honest or completely "off the Wall". His goal was not Fame, he was rare true Artist that changed genres,experimented and gave every ounce of his soul when he "Made Love, Gave Love Through his Performances"..Underwood??? Is he actually capable of an original thought?? Is he so oblivious to reality that he can not comphehend that we are hip enough to realize that he is just regugitating every "Tribute" or "Rememberance" Article, he has ever written during his "Glory Days" at Downbeat? Typical, Underwood "Nonscensical Banality".New Cover, non- orginal Title, gee "Blue Melody" Wow! Ground-breaking.. Different Photographs, or not..Same, old Flash-backs of some Acid Infused resentments towards his Late But Great, Younger, Handsomer,GIFTED & TALENTED Boss..Serious unbalaced Hallucinations of "Lee's Imaginary Band"..Oh, wait TIM BUCKLEY, not Lee Underwood. Really, man??? His "Tributes" always sting of resentment, perhaps since Buckley fired him in the end. To my Knowledge, which is highly educated in "Buckley-dom" more so than Any One other, than Tim's Mother. Yes, Tim did have a Mother!! Underwood, never "played" with anyone noteworthy, if anyone at all,(Well, with the exception of himself which could hardly be described as noteworthy) after his years with Buckley. 36 years of Profiting off of re-living 9 or ten years he spent lurking in the shadow of his dead Boss? He certainly was not an equal, nor were Underwood & Buckley "Actual Friends". Underwood, proves to be a Sad, Pathethic, Vindictive, little man (Hardly an Objective Biographer) harvesting a vineyard of rather bitter barrels of wine of a rancid quailty of sour grapes. Truth be told? I actually burned this book in my firepit, during a full moon, while playing "Good-bye and Hello" and then, "Song to the Siren"..
Want to get to Know Fragments of Buckley??
Try This method. Listen to his Music, from his beginnings to the "Bitter-End" (The Bitter End was a Club where Tim Played)..Even the, "Ha-Ha-Gotta-fill-my-label-duties-before-they-sue-me-work" had value. My personal favorite,of this genre? "Lorca", not a usual "Fan Favorite" but somehow the Soul and feel of this -gotta-get-something-on-an-album-quick-piece has a certain pure simplicity combined with complexity.It was as if Buckley was "warming up" for something more grandee in the future, which of course, proved to be true.Tim's voice combined with Carter C.C. Collins Percussion-Solo. Bloody Magic. It isn't the Quality of Buckley's Lyrics( as these were not Becketts) but the realm of his voice combined with C.C.'s superb playing..In essence,no one including Tim's Mother could write about Buckley. To get a glimpse, which is all Tim would have wanted, listen to "His Magic Voice",( Okay, I owe, Beckett? (I'll give him a $1.00 a word) $3.00 for that quote. Let Buckley remain a Mystery on paper and discover him through his greatest Truth, his Music..
Dream Brother: The Lives and Music of Jeff and Tim BuckleyTim Buckley: My Fleeting HouseTim Buckley - My Fleeting House / Region 2 PAL DVD from Europe / Song To The Siren / No Man Can Find The War / Morning Glory / Happy Time / Who Do You Love /Sing A Song For You / Happy Time / I Woke Up /Come Here Woman / Blue Melody / Venice Beach (Musi...

BLUE MELODY is a biography of musician Tim Buckley by his long-time lead guitarist Lee Underwood, who worked with Buckley from before this recording of his first album in 1966 to his tragic death in 1975. Underwood not only knew Buckley intimately and can share many stories of his life, but he also appreciated him selflessly and at times the book approaches hagiography.

While the strongest part of Underwood's biography is Buckley's folk period, up until around 1969, I was happy to see him dedicate a great deal of space to the era of STARSAILOR, which Buckley--as well as many fans--considered his masterpiece. Underwood discusses the impact of the album on the music world and concert-goers, and speaks about the musical innovations of that superlative album. The work is divided into two sections, in which the first--the bulk of the book--charts Buckley's life, and the second recounts the circumstances of his death and lasting impact.

This book has a lot of problems. For one, it appears to be a vanity-press offering with little professional editing. Underwood's writing is cliched and repetitious, with the same handful of positive adjectives ("beautiful", "sensitive", "immaculate") used to describe every person he liked. His biggest failing, however, is that he often gets so lost in his memories that Tim Buckley is left beside and the reader wades through Underwood's fond recollections of his own personal life, with all its drug use and illicit road sex.

The last chapter of the book concerns Jeff Buckley, and Underwood swings between lightly praising him and harshly criticizing him as an unappreciative son and a man of limited talent and even more limited acheivement. I found this last section incoherent and quite unfair, for there are many people who are fans of both Tim and Jeff without feeling that the father's career was betrayed by the son's.

BLUE MELODY is a poorly-written and edited recollection that is only for diehard fans of Tim Buckley. I would encourage those looking to know something about the all-too-brief life of this great artist to turn to David Browne's biography of Tim and Jeff DREAM BROTHER.

Tim Buckley was a musician from the 1960s and 70s whose life ended tragically at the age of 28 by a heroin overdose. His style was hard to label; he was influenced by a plethora of people, musically by names such as Dylan Thomas and Nat King Cole and literarily by Lorca and Rilke. He refused to be tied down, making CDs as diverse as his folk oriented first album Tim Buckley, his somewhat psychedelic and strange Lorca, and the sexy dance-music album Greetings from LA.

Lee Underwood was Buckley's guitarist and best friend for many years. He experienced countless moments with Buckley and brings memories into this book. His personal relationship with Buckley allows for greater insight into the man as a person and not just as an artist. On the downside, it also makes him incredibly biased, and Underwood is often quite redundant about Buckley's talents. In addition, as many of the stories are based on memories, the book is only vaguely chronological. It also includes a lot of information about Underwood himself, such as his relationships with women and his bout with alcoholism.

Perhaps the biggest hindrance to the book is the fact that most of Buckley's lyrics were unable to be published. Coupled with the inaccessibility of many of Buckley's albums, the reader could feel a bit lost for some references.

The book is supplemented by a few interview transcripts, a discography, a bibliography, and an index.

Many people know Tim Buckley simply as the father of Jeff Buckley; this is how I came to find this book. There are many similarities between the two, some of them are discussed in the text, but it is obvious that the two were very different people. If one finds it difficult to separate the two, this book would be an excellent source.

Even if one does not like Tim Buckley's music, it is easy to respect his musical views and ideas. He was an intelligent man, a gifted artist, and a fascinating musical figure.

I picked this book up as soon as it was released, and read it completely soon after, I couldn't put it down. Mr. Underwood writes beautifully crafted prose, which is articulate, stimulating and even stirring. Whether you are a Tim Buckley fanatic or just starting to discover their wonderful music, this book will help you appreciate, and treasure their music that much more. The info gained is stuff you *won't read anywhere else, and his poem to Tim is moving (yes this guy can write some beautiful poetry too) BUY IT!
Thanks so much for writing the book Mr.Underwood!!

Daniel