Cafe Au Go Go, N.Y.

Elektra disker Tim Buckley registers in a traditional folk groove with his acoustic guitar and conga embellishment by Carter C.C. Collins, complemented by the modern touch of Lee Underwood's electric guitar. The singer-songwriter impresses as a unique, gifted artist who is challenged by the choice of one of two roads to take.

As is, Buckley's dramatic, emotional treatment of his material merits the utmost respect of those inclined toward his farfetched folk amblings. His numbers contain the sensitive, touching movements and passages borrowed from classical forms of music. Indeed, his own voice is near-operatic and reaches finely-controlled, yet seemingly spontaneous, exalted heights.

For his artistry, however, Buckley tends to leave no room for auditors' own emotional entrance that would signal a higher commercial potential. Buckley commands intellectual respect, but only sporadically displays the power to lift his audiences to heights of emotional involvement even approaching his own.

His alternate road, then, contrasting perpetuation of the--granted, creative--status quo, is to simplify his compositions' construction just a mere bit so as not to sacrifice his own deserved self-satisfactions while contracting more people.

If his name for the game is the pursuit of artistic perfection, then he will do well in the secluded position that that approach will place him. If he names the game communication, then he'll modify his course for the end of reaching more. The latter will make his talents desirous by more clubowners in turning his act into a b.o. pull for those other than the limited segment of disk purchasers.