Starsailor
Tim
Buckley's sixth (and best) album
At
little more than 35 minutes long, Tim Buckley's sixth album marked a
significant change of direction.
The menacing guitar and
seemingly free-form melody of the opening track "Come Here Woman"
gives an indication of the treats in store for the careful listener. As always
with a Tim Buckley album listen to the voice dripping with emotion and intensity.
Listen in particular to the way in which he sings "While wheel waters
set/Now my blood yearns/Your mouth opens woman"
after 3:00.
This is raw naked emotion guaranteed to invoke an
passionate response from an open mind. Of course, most people hated it when it
came out. If you make three albums of such stunning beauty as
"Happy/Sad", "Blue Afternoon" and (to some extent)
"Lorca", your audience has to be pretty open minded to accept such a
dramatic turnaround as "Starsailor". For me
it was easy - this was the first Tim Buckley album I ever heard! It was only
after loving this album that I progressed on to "Goodbye and Hello"
and only then on to the three albums already mentioned!
"I Woke Up" is very
free form and unstructured and Tim's voice is more mellow. This is a weird
track (what IS it about?) and doesn't really do it for me I'm afraid.
However, "Monterey",
the next track is absolutely riveting. More structured musically with an
exciting guitar riff by Lee Underwood and dramatic drum fills by Maury Baker, Tim's voice soars, glides, swoops and
delivers. "I have run with the damned my
darling/They have taught me to lie"
followed by a series of vocal tricks which are unparalleled and always define
to me what it is that makes music worth listening to.
Then it's "Moulin
Rouge" which I hate because it's straight and predictable.
The last track on side one is
"Song To The Siren" and everybody must know
this. Of course, there's a certain type of person who will prefer the version
by This Mortal Coil. That's O.K. it's their prerogative, and I love Liz
Fraser's voice, but please! Have these people actually listened to Tim singing this
song? Have they listened? How can I, by use of the written word, hope to convey
the intensity of this vocal performance? I can't. It's just stunning. As
always, it's not just the range of his voice; it's not just the emotional
intensity; it's the combination. My record had a horrible scratch at the end of
this track which always spoilt the silence. Now I've got the CD and there's no
time to reflect when the track ends
- it's straight into "Jungle Fire"
Whereas side one of the record
was a mixture of different styles, side two is like one continuous piece.
"Jungle Fire" starts with the free form vocal style of the first two
tracks but after "You were an island behind the sun/Yes an island where my
love could live and life breathes/From deep inside"
an insurgent guitar riff pushes the track into another dimension. As Tim sings
"I love you like a jungle fire" what appears to be a peculiar string
instrument, or maybe a moog synthesizer provides more tension in the
background. Repeated listening to this instrument indicates that this is really
a foretaste of the next track, the title track, because this peculiar
instrument is in fact Tim.
"Starsailor",
the track, is definitely unlike any track you will ever have heard in your
life. It's only Tim singing, but Tim singing in sixteen different voices all
assaulting you at once with a piece of intense beauty. There are no musical
instruments, but I never realised this until I read about it, because the mood
is dark, mysterious, swirling and dangerous. Yes, I know that looks
pretentious, but I can't describe it. To me this is a dangerous trip through
dark, dank caverns with a surprise around every corner. Tim describes it
best... "Oblivion carries me on his shoulder/Beyond the suns I speak and circuits
shiver." In an interview he said "I was as close to Coltrane as
anyone has come." Well, I tried listening to some Coltrane after that and
although I appreciate that Coltrane was able to make a musical instrument sing,
I never responded as emotionally as I do to this album.
"The Healing
Festival" is next and is rhythmic yet free form for ninety seconds before
Bunk Gardner plays the most outrageous sax solo you
will ever hear; he plays like
Tim sings - an immense range of notes and emotion. And listen carefully to that
backing instrument again.
Lastly, the best thing Tim ever
did: "Down By The Borderline". This song has
everything. It opens with a trumpet solo from Buzz Gardner then moves into
another free form riff with the best vocals Tim ever gave. Aficionados of Happy/Sad
won't agree, I know and that's their right too, but listen to the timbre of
Tim's voice (sorry); listen to the intonation; listen to the inflection; listen
to the resonance. I can't write about this song with any sense - it just is the
most exciting thing I own.
Of course the album bombed and
Tim didn't release another album for eighteen months and when he did it was
nothing like this. Most people I play this to, take it
personally and quickly leave. But I love it. Buy it now before it's too late.
The absolutely criminal thing about this album is that it has been long deleted
on CD. Someone release it quickly!
URL:
http://www3.mistral.co.uk/mmacve/star.html