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by Frank Valish

The Dream Belongs to Me features rare studio recordings folk hero Tim Buckley recorded during two different periods of his career—in 1968 after his acclaimed second album, Goodbye and Hello, and in 1973 after his funky late period Greetings from L.A. album. The double vinyl package devotes one LP to each.

The first LP here features six tracks from the 1968 sessions and finds Buckley branching out from his folkier early work while maintaining their otherworldly quality. The songs presented here made their way onto later albums—1969’s Happy Sad (“Buzzin’ Fly” and “Sing a Song for You”), Blue Afternoon from the same year (“Happy Time”), and 1970’s Starsailor (“Song to the Siren”). Although Buckley ultimately spreads the tracks over three different albums, here they are all of a piece, a sublime portrait of an artist ready to move beyond folk.

The second LP of this set features songs that ultimately became part of Buckley’s 1973 album, Sefronia. By this time, Buckley had already fully made the transition from folk to the more far-out jazz and avant garde sounds that would define the latter part of his career. His unmistakable vocal prowess is still front and center, but the musical backdrops sashay between funky and jazzy.

The title track here is new to this set, not featuring on any Buckley album, and it’s a slice of bass-heavy quasi-funk that takes to the sky on Buckley’s gigantic voice. And “Falling Timber” skitters along at an upbeat tempo and shows Buckley again stretching his giant chops in vocal workout. Each album in this set represents a very different side of Tim Buckley’s artistry.

But each is essential to understanding who he was in sum. Which makes The Dream Belongs to Me a wonderful complement to his recorded legacy.

Author rating: 7.5/10