The
40 Essential Albums of 1967
#
23 Tim Buckley Goodbye and Hello Elektra
Tim
Buckley's second album was a far cry from the folk-rock
conventions of his 1966 debut,
rich in acid-Renaissance trimmings (harpsichord, harmonium)
and dominated by the elaborate title suite.
Compared
to the radical vocal freedom and liquid sadness of Buckley's
imminent classics (1969's Happy Sad, 1971's Starsailor),
Goodbye and Hello - produced by Lovin' Spoonful guitarist
Jerry Yester - was a triumph of form, with Buckley's light
tenor voice curling through "Hallucinations" and
"Morning Glory" like incense smoke.
But
Goodbye and Hello was also a deeply personal album, even
though Buckley wrote lyrics to only half of the ten songs
(he co-wrote the others with Larry Beckett). In the thrilling
gallop and stratospheric scat-singing of "I Never Asked
to Be Your Mountain," Buckley soars in desperate need
yet defends the wanderlust that was breaking up his marriage.
The
song was so important to him - the child in the second verse,
"wrapped in bitter tales and heartache," was his
then-infant son, Jeff - that Buckley did twenty-three vocal
takes, singing live with the studio band.
